VA security staff compromised safety and Shulkin violated ethics rules, oversight report says
Source: Washington Post
By Katie Mettler January 17 at 2:34 PM
Former Veterans Affairs secretary David Shulkin violated ethics rules and the department’s Executive Protection Division compromised safety procedures during Shulkin’s tumultuous time at the agency, according to a new report from the Veterans Affairs inspector general.
The IG investigation was commissioned after “various complaints” alleged broadly that VA’s protection division was being mismanaged, including “ineffective procedures, scheduling and overtime abuses, pay administration issues, time card fraud and various policy violations.”
There were inadequate threat assessments, the report found, and “insufficient written operational procedures that resulted in security vulnerabilities.”
In one example, agents habitually stored the keys for Shulkin’s motorcade vehicle behind the fuel door, rather than returning them to a secure location. Agents also weren’t wearing proper protective gear, and one agent shared details of the secretary’s whereabouts with unauthorized people.
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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/01/17/va-security-staff-compromised-safety-shulkin-violated-ethics-rules-oversight-report-says/
Source: USA Today
Former VA secretary violated ethics rules by allowing employee to drive his wife around
Donovan Slack, USA TODAY Published 12:05 p.m. ET Jan. 17, 2019
WASHINGTON – An investigation of former Veterans Affairs secretary David Shulkin largely cleared him of allegations he misused his security detail for shopping and other errands, but concluded he violated ethics rules by allowing his driver to provide transportation for his wife, the VA inspector general said in a report Thursday.
Investigators determined Shulkin permitted his driver to transport his wife on several occasions, in one case to a train station in a government vehicle when he was on duty and in other cases, in his personal vehicle on his own time ostensibly as a favor.
Using government vehicles for unofficial purposes was prohibited in this case, and the personal transportation services would have qualified as a gift, the inspector general concluded. Federal ethics rules bar employees from accepting gifts from subordinate staff.
“Secretary Shulkin was aware that these services, which benefited him at least indirectly, were being offered to his wife,” the inspector general’s report said. “Accordingly, he had an ethical obligation to decline the gift.”
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Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/01/17/david-shulkin-improperly-allowed-employee-drive-his-wife-around/2597172002/
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