2010 AUGUST

House Bill Supports Funding for Agent Orange Exposed Vets

Shinseki Unveils New Vet Contracting Strategy

Arlington Cemetery Leaders Grilled Over Mismarked Graves

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House Bill Supports Funding for Agent Orange Exposed Vets

House Gives "Overwhelming Support" To Bill with Money for Agent Orange-Exposed Vets. In continuing coverage, CQ Weekly (Mulero) reports, "The House gave overwhelming support in late July to the first of the fiscal 2011 spending bills to reach the floor - a $141.1 billion measure to fund the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Pentagon military construction projects." The legislation, which includes money for claims by Vietnam "veterans exposed to the defoliant Agent Orange, would appropriate $6.5 billion, or 5 percent, more than fiscal 2010 funding and matches President Obama's request."

Shinseki Unveils New Vet Contracting Strategy

VA Using New Contract Strategy, PTSD Rule. In continuing coverage, the lead "Veterans Journal" story for the Providence (RI) Journal ( Reilly) notes that Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki has "announced a new contracting strategy" for information technology (IT) "projects that will give veteran-owned small businesses more opportunities to work for...VA." After noting that the strategy is called the "Transformation Twenty-one Total Technology –– or T4 –– program," the Journal says Shinseki "estimated...the T4 strategy will enable veteran-owned small businesses to receive $800 million to $1 billion in contracts." The column, which in its second story took note of VA's new post-traumatic stress disorder rule, went on to report that Shinseki "also said...VA is cracking down on contractors who represent themselves fraudulently as veteran-owned small businesses."

Arlington Cemetery Leaders Grilled Over Mismarked Graves

Senators Grill Arlington National Cemetery's Former Leaders. NBC Nightly News( story 2, 0:50, Miklaszewski) broadcast that 29 July, the US Army "came under fire" for problems uncovered at Arlington National Cemetery. NBC continued, "Angry Senators," including Missouri Democrat Claire McCaskill, "grilled the cemetery's former leadership, demanding to know how more than 200 graves could have been mismarked or have no headstones at all." After noting that McCaskill "said the actual number could be as high as 6,600," NBC said former cemetery "superintendent John Metzler accepted responsibility," while his former deputy, Thurman Higginbotham, "refused to even answer most questions, invoking the 5th amendment."

The CBS Evening News, (1:35, Couric) broadcast that during his appearance before senators, Metzler "said he only discovered" Arlington's problems recently, a statement that was angrily disputed by McCaskill, who "calls this a case of heartbreaking incompetence." CBS added, however, that the "new team in charge...of Arlington says eventually all the discrepancies will be corrected."

McCaskill Calls for Section-By-Section Investigation of Cemetery

ABC World News(0:40, Sawyer) broadcast that McCaskill is "calling for a section-by-section investigation of Arlington," which would involve "300,000 grave sites." A brief report on the Senate’s activity was also aired by CNN's The Situation Room (6:47 p.m. ET). The Los Angeles Times (Love), meanwhile, notes that the hearing was conducted by the "Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee," which is chaired by McCaskill. The Chicago Tribune (7/30) runs the same story.

Former Deputy Superintendent Refuses to Answer Questions about Contracts

The Washington Post (Davenport, Davis) reports, "Invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination," Higginbotham during his testimony before a "heated Senate subcommittee" hearing, Higginbotham "refused Thursday to answer...questions about his role in approving millions of dollars' worth of botched contracts" at Arlington.

The AP (7/30, Flaherty), meanwhile, says, "While Army officials have described Metzler as an ineffective manager who turned a blind eye" to Arlington's problems, "investigators accuse Higginbotham of botching contracts and creating an 'unhealthy organizational climate' for employees."

Gibbs: Extent Of Problems At Arlington Is "Completely Unacceptable."

AFP reports, "US military authorities lost track or mishandled remains at thousands of gravesites at Arlington National Cemetery, where many national heroes are buried, a Senate report revealed Thursday." In response to the report, released at Thursday's Senate hearing, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said that "the latest figures were 'shocking' and 'completely unacceptable,'" although he added that "Army Secretary John McHugh 'has made correct personnel changes.'"

Man Who Ran Arlington Says VA Grave Site System Was Incompatible With Army's

USA Today (Brook) notes that during Thursday's hearing, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) asked Metzler "why Arlington had not adopted the automated system the Department of Veterans Affairs uses to keep track of its grave sites." When Metzler responded that..."VA's system wasn't compatible with the Army's and could not be transferred," Collins said, "This just sounds like bureaucracy at its worst."

Officials Tout Culture of Innovation at VA

The "Wired Workplace" blog for NextGov (Ballenstedt) said that when it "comes to changing the culture at federal agencies to support more innovation, it appears as though federal managers could learn a lot from the example being set at the Veterans Affairs Department." During an "event...at the Partnership for Public Service, VA Chief Information Officer Roger Baker and VA Chief Technology Officer Peter Levin said that three changes must take place at an agency to make innovation possible: cultural change, which is the hardest; infrastructural change, which is the easiest; and process change." Levin "said even the cultural change turned out to be easier than expected, in part because employees responded in such large numbers to innovation initiatives and contests," while Baker took note of a "red flag process," which he said allows employees to fail at innovation attempts without it being a "negative thing," thus giving them the courage to make the attempts.

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