‘SIGNIFICANT DEFICIENCIES’

Watchdog: Trump’s Whistleblower Office at Veteran Affairs Has Failed

A 100-page report says the office hasn’t fulfilled its core mission to turn around the department’s culture of retaliation against whistleblowers.

A 100-page inspector general’s report released on Thursday claims the Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection, which was created in 2017, hasn’t fulfilled its core mission to turn around the Department of Veterans Affairs’ culture of retaliation against whistleblowers. The creation of the office was one of President Trump’s signature initiatives but, according to Inspector General Michael Missal, it has punished those it was intended to protect and held few wrongdoers accountable. Missal’s report claims that the office has shown “significant deficiencies” from the top to the bottom, including poor leadership, uneven training, and a failure to discipline senior leaders for misconduct.