SAFETY FIRST

VA Secretary’s Bodyguards Have Bad Body Armor, Questionable Guns: Watchdog

Members of the Executive Protection Detail are wearing aging, ill-fitting ballistic vests and carrying weapons that may jam, according to an internal audit.

The special agents guarding Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough and Deputy Secretary Donald Remy have been doing their jobs with guns that may need replacing and aging body armor that is ill-fitting and out-of-warranty, according to an inspector general’s report issued Tuesday. One officer, who had been part of the VA’s Executive Protection Division (EPD) for six years when the report was being compiled, in fact “did not have any ballistic armor of his own to wear” at all, investigators say. A whistleblower also alleged that some one-third of agents’ official-issue firearms often suffer “misfeeds, double feeds, failure to feed,” and other malfunctions due to age. The IG investigation was unable to substantiate this, but still is recommending a “review of the condition of all firearms currently assigned to EPD special agents and… whether any are in need of replacement.” The VA accepted the IG’s findings and submitted corrective action plans, the report says.