I always get a bang out of vA press releases. In this instance, it sounds so noble and altruistic. Always the the jerk who looks at the underbelly of the beast, I examine it from the pre-transparency era. In other words, if the President has directed that VA and other federal agencies write up policies that dictate all the below, does that mean they are going to model it on his campaign promises for a more transparent administration where everything is exposed to the light of day?  I only say this because in spite of what we were promised, it seems a lot of it is rather opaque. An example in my mind was the new Health Care Act that no one was allowed to read until after it was passed.

In the same vein, does this admission imply that the vA was anything but forthcoming and transparent in the past?

vA Publishes Draft on Scientific Integrity for Public Comment

At the direction of the President, VA and other federal agencies have drafted policies to foster a culture of transparency, integrity, and ethical behavior and to protect researchers from inappropriate influence in the development and application of scientific and technological findings.
Read the draft policy and comment.

We look forward to a transparent ex parte process. Ideally, the vA will keep us abreast of our claims as they do them rather that summarily open the bomb bay doors and drop it on us after the fact several years after filing. Few Vets know that our judicial process is supposed to be interactive. The Court has lamented often that the veterans Administration is remarkably recalcitrant about engaging the Vet, choosing  instead to marginalize him, holding him and his representative at arm’s length until the adjudication is over and done with.

As an example, a VLJ and his/her staff are encouraged to contact Vets and clarify what they meant by certain testimony. Similarly, they or the RO should come back and ask you if you have your SMRs when they don’t. No one wants to read about it 20 months later. A case in point is mine. I informed the vA at my DRO hearing on July 11, 1990 that there were far more medical records than what they were basing their denial decision on. I informed the hearing officer , one D.L. Peterson, that they were located at a civilian hospital in Thailand and gave him everything but the street address. When they continued the denial in my SSOC, I voiced my displeasure again. In desperation, I wrote the hospital and obtained  part of the records and submitted them. The BvA decided they weren’t going to be bothered either, and denied without obtaining them.

In this day and age, that would be legal (Caffrey v. Brown 1994). The duty to assist is only violated if you complain before the fat lady sings. I did, but by not going up to the Court, I allowed an incomplete record to stand as an incorrect record. What they did to me was CUE in 1992, but subsequently made legal in 1994 via Caffrey.

What I found most risible was this:

 and to protect researchers from inappropriate influence in the development and application of scientific and technological findings.

Huh? Would that be the same researchers who refuse to investigate whether bugs can be transmitted via jetguns? Yes, I hear you say “Well, gee Nod dude, they don’t use these guns anymore so the research would be wasted effort.” Tell that to the 1,600 Vets whose claims came up before the BVA in 2011. They are still getting the bum’s rush with the “speculative and plausible” argument. Transparency seems to be in the eye of the beholder.  Research is as research does would sum it up in Forrest Gump’s vernacular.

The appearance of propriety will continue as before until the political nature of the vA is subsumed by a meaningful process. As a Veteran and accomplished armchair quarterback, it is my opinion that an independent vASEC be appointed who has no political bent. He should not be hand picked by the party in power, but run for it as an elective office. Veterans might at least have more say in the choosing of the Head Bozo In Charge that way. To make it even more above board, I’d insist that only Veterans be allowed to vote in this elective process. What a concept. I realize this is heresy and antithetical to the concept of a true democracy, but what we have now is a far cry from what President Lincoln envisaged when he inaugurated the vA.

We haven’t come a long way yet, baby.

Hopefully, if and when my grandson chooses to follow this avocation, he will find the aftermath easier to navigate and more “Veteran friendly”.