[Senate Hearing 112-14]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 112-14
NOMINATIONS OF BRIG. GEN. ALLISON HICKEY TO BE UNDER SECRETARY FOR
BENEFITS AND STEVE MURO TO BE UNDER SECRETARY FOR MEMORIAL AFFAIRS,
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
APRIL 6, 2011
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs
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COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS
Patty Murray, Washington, Chairman
John D. Rockefeller IV, West Richard Burr, North Carolina,
Virginia Ranking Member
Daniel K. Akaka, Hawaii Johnny Isakson, Georgia
Bernard Sanders, (I) Vermont Roger F. Wicker, Mississippi
Sherrod Brown, Ohio Mike Johanns, Nebraska
Jim Webb, Virginia Scott P. Brown, Massachusetts
Jon Tester, Montana Jerry Moran, Kansas
Mark Begich, Alaska John Boozman, Arkansas
Kim Lipsky, Staff Director
Lupe Wissel, Republican Staff Director
C O N T E N T S
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April 6, 2011
SENATORS
Page
Murray, Hon. Patty, Chairman, U.S. Senator from Washington....... 1
Isakson, Hon. Johnny, U.S. Senator from Georgia.................. 3
Tester, Hon. Jon, U.S. Senator from Montana...................... 5
Moran, Hon. Jerry, U.S. Senator from Kansas...................... 5
Begich, Hon. Mark, U.S. Senator from Alaska...................... 66
Brown, Hon. Scott, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts............... 68
Webb, Hon. Jim, U.S. Senator from Virginia....................... 70
WITNESSES
Hickey, Brig. Gen. Allison A., USAF (Ret.), nominee to be Under
Secretary for Benefits, Veterans Benefits Administration, U.S.
Department of Veterans Affairs................................. 7
Prepared statement........................................... 8
Response to prehearing questions submitted by Hon. Patty
Murray..................................................... 10
Questionnaire for Presidential nominees...................... 20
Letter from the Office of Government Ethics.................. 32
Letter from the nominee to the Office of General Counsel,
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs........................ 33
Muro, Steve L., nominee to be Under Secretary for Memorial
Affairs, National Cemetery Administration, U.S. Department of
Veterans Affairs............................................... 34
Prepared statement........................................... 36
Response to prehearing questions submitted by Hon. Patty
Murray..................................................... 37
Questionnaire for Presidential nominees...................... 40
Letter from the Office of Government Ethics.................. 57
Letter from the nominee to the Office of General Counsel,
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs........................ 58
NOMINATIONS OF BRIG. GEN. ALLISON HICKEY TO BE UNDER SECRETARY FOR
BENEFITS AND STEVE MURO TO BE UNDER SECRETARY FOR MEMORIAL AFFAIRS,
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
----------
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6, 2011
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Veterans' Affairs,
Washington, DC.
The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:35 a.m., in
room 418, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. Patty Murray,
Chairman of the Committee, presiding.
Present: Senators Murray, Webb, Tester, Begich, Isakson,
Brown of Massachusetts, and Moran.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. PATTY MURRAY, CHAIRMAN,
U.S. SENATOR FROM WASHINGTON
Chairman Murray. Good morning and welcome to today's
hearing to consider nominations of Brigadier General Allison A.
Hickey to be Under Secretary for Benefits and Steve Muro to be
Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs.
Before we begin, I do want to make one quick announcement
about a step this Committee is taking to both embrace new
technology and save Committee funds on those endless stacks of
paper that we get on our desk that we all know about.
Today marks the first Committee hearing that Members will
be using tablets like this. Everyone of us has one up here so
that we can digitally reduce all of those piles of paperwork
and have it available for our Members and our staff as well.
As Chairman I believe it is important, particularly at a
time when we are counting on the VA to make some big overdue
changes in terms of IT, that we, as the Committee, are also
taking whatever steps we can to improve and share information.
So we are very excited about this step even while we will
all try to get used to it. I am told that we are the first
Committee in the Senate to make these changes, and I hope it
will be the first of many for this Committee that is really
aimed at improving our hearings and access to information and
resources for our veterans.
And we will be training our Committee Members, Senator
Isakson, how to use these tablets. But it is going to be a
great change for us, and we are looking forward to having them
help save money for the Senate too.
General Hickey, thank you for being here and welcome. I
want to say at the outset that I commend you for accepting this
nomination because, if confirmed, you will have a tremendously
difficult job in front of you. Without question, I believe that
the VA disability claims system is broken.
It is broken when we have veterans waiting an average of
190 days for a claim to be adjudicated. It is broken when we
have nearly one million veterans currently caught in a backlog
that continues to climb, and it is broken when our veterans
have simply lost faith in the system.
If confirmed, you will you be looked upon to fix this
broken system and to reduce the skyrocketing backlog of claims
that it has produced. You will be asked to think boldly about a
problem that has vexed your predecessors. You will need to move
quickly on innovative solutions, including viable technological
changes, if we are going to begin to turn this problem around.
It will not be easy. In fact, just last month I got a first-
hand look at the problem that you face.
I went out to Seattle to go to the Seattle Regional VA
Office, and I saw the impact that paper alone has on an
employee's ability to process a claim. I saw these huge files
that were as thick as a phone book and completely devoid of any
organization whatsoever that made it impossible to find
anything in them, and even harder to move to a paperless file.
I heard about claims that should be getting expedited treatment
but that were not.
In fact, it took the Seattle Regional Office nearly 9
months to expedite the claim for a veteran that was terminally
ill with cancer, and that veteran's claim was finally granted,
3 days after the veteran died.
That is totally unacceptable, and it has to change. Our
veterans, especially those who are most vulnerable, those who
are terminally ill or homeless or in danger of becoming
homeless, deserve better than the way that some VA offices are
treating them, and I know from my many years on this Committee
this problem is not in just one pocket of the country. It is
widespread.
The problems I saw in Seattle are not just an isolated
incident. It is one example of a problem that has plagued the
VA. And it is a problem that is growing.
Although the VA knew that more Agent Orange claims would be
coming into the system, the claims have still overwhelmed the
new case workers that Congress provided funding to hire.
The VA knows more and more OIF and OEF veterans will be
making claims, and we need assurance that VA is preparing for
this influx of new claims.
General Hickey, while I am impressed by the credentials you
bring to this job, I have to believe this is a job like no
other you have had before and a challenge that you may not face
again. But it is one of the biggest we have to meet.
If confirmed, I look forward to working closely with you to
address this issue because we cannot allow our veterans to wait
for the benefits they have earned any longer.
Mr. Muro, welcome, thank you to you for joining with us
today.
Mr. Muro, if confirmed, you will be responsible for
maintaining the high-level of service and customer satisfaction
in the National Cemetery Administration. Obviously, over the
last year, and again last week, we have read with horror about
the disgraceful management of Arlington National Cemetery.
Unorganized records and sloppy management have led to a
tragedy not only for the families of servicemembers buried on
those hallowed grounds but for our country as a whole. We must
get Arlington on track.
Arlington must become known as a place of comfort to
families, efficiency of administration, and a model of customer
service equal to that of VA's National Cemeteries, which you
will be tasked with managing.
I look forward to hearing from you about what we can do to
make sure that these management failures never happen at our VA
cemeteries.
I also look forward to discussing the other challenges you
will face, including meeting the unprecedented need for
additional capacity in heavily populated urban areas.
As a housekeeping note, after the Members give their
opening statements, I will swear in our nominees, then
introduce them. I will then ask each of you to introduce any
friends or families that are with you today. Our nominees will
then give their opening statements, then Members will have a
chance to ask questions.
So again, General Hickey, thank you very much.
Mr. Muro, thank you for being here. I look forward to your
testimony.
With that, I turn it over to Senator Isakson, who is
standing in for Senator Burr today.
STATEMENT OF HON. JOHNNY ISAKSON,
U.S. SENATOR FROM GEORGIA
Senator Isakson. Thank you very much, Madam Chairman.
Today, we will discuss the qualifications of the nominees
to serve in two demanding roles at the Veterans Administration.
General Allison Hickey and Steve Muro, both of whom I have met
and enjoyed very much meeting. I appreciate, as the Chairman
said, their commitment to the job ahead of them.
General Hickey, the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA)
provides a range of benefits and services to help improve the
lives of veterans and their families and their survivors. But,
in some areas, VBA struggles to deliver effective benefits and
services without hassles or delays. Primarily, VBA's disability
claims processing, which the Chairman has already mentioned,
has been criticized for many years for large backlogs, long
delays, and inaccurate decisions. And the problems are expected
to get even worse with the volume of veterans returning.
Between 2009 and 2012, the number of pending claims is
projected to more than double, and the average time it takes to
complete a claim is expected to increase by nearly 70 days.
Getting this situation under control has to be your top
priority.
To that end, VA has a number of IT solutions and other
initiatives underway. But we must make sure VA has a realistic
and comprehensive plan to pull these efforts together so there
will be lasting improvements in VA's ability to provide
accurate and good services. Veterans in Georgia and across the
country deserve no less.
Another challenge is the large difference in service
provided by VA's regional offices around the country. Some
consistently meet expectations, while others struggle. As the
VFW put it, ``The real question is why these vast differences
exist between regional offices? Is it management? Is it
training? Or is it leadership?'' We need answers to those
questions and, more importantly, we need solutions.
VA is also working with the Department of Defense to roll
out an Integrated Disability Evaluation System, which allows
injured servicemembers to find out what benefits they will get
from both agencies before being medically discharged.
And I might interject--I am reading a prepared statement
for Senator Burr--but I wanted to interject a statement here,
if I might.
I commend General Schumacher's work in the seamless
transition from active DOD medical health care to veterans
health care that has taken place at the Augusta Charlie Norwood
Center. That transition has helped veterans to transfer from
DOD care to veterans' care with a seamless system where they do
not fall between the cracks, and I commend General Schumacher
on what he has done. I hope you find him, General Hickey, to be
of help to you in your transition.
General Hickey, if confirmed, these are just a few of the
pressing issues you would find ahead of you at the Veterans
Benefits Administration. I look forward to discussing your
plans to tackle them, and I again thank you for your
willingness to serve--I am willing to help in any way I can to
facilitate and make the job as easy as possible.
Mr. Muro, thank you for your service to the country and
your willingness to take on a very, very important duty. As you
know well, VA's National Cemetery Administration has the solemn
mission of honoring and memorializing our Nation's fallen
heroes. For veterans of every generation, it is the aim of our
grateful Nation to provide a final resting place worthy of
their sacrifices and to respectfully tend to their grieving
loved ones.
As shown in the recognition NCA has received for high
levels of customer service, NCA has been diligently fulfilling
that role. But, as the Chairman mentioned, the issues that have
come to light at Arlington National Cemetery should remind all
of us how critical it is to remain vigilant so that veterans
and their families receive the top-notch service they deserve,
now and in the future.
Mr. Muro, I look forward to serving with you. You will have
the pleasure of working with a former U.S. Senator from
Georgia, now head of the Battle Monuments Commission, Senator
Max Cleland, who is a dear personal friend of mine. My
predecessor in this seat, Zell Miller, was actually a board
member of the Battle Monuments Commission for a while. So, we
have a long tradition in Georgia.
We recently opened--and you were there, if I am not
mistaken--the new veterans cemetery on the mountaintop in north
Georgia, which is probably, of all that I have seen around the
country, the most breathtaking and beautiful cemetery that we
have in the entire VA.
So thank you for your willingness, Mr. Muro.
General Hickey, that you for yours.
And Madam Chairman, I yield back the remainder of my time.
Chairman Murray. Thank you very much.
If any of our Members have an opening statement, if you
make it real quick, we can get to our nominees.
Senator Tester.
STATEMENT OF HON. JON TESTER,
U.S. SENATOR FROM MONTANA
Senator Tester. I will be quick.
Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you, Senator Isakson, for
your comments. I will not be repetitive, but I would like to
associate myself with both of them.
I want to thank you guys for being here. I want to thank
you for your willingness to serve. I will tell you that last
week General Shinseki was in front of the Appropriations
Committee. Mr. Muro, you were there too. Three of the six of
his top people were not confirmed at that point in time but
were on that panel.
I think it is incumbent upon the Administration to put good
people in front of us in a timely manner. I think it is
incumbent upon us to get you confirmed in a timely manner, and
I look forward to your testimony and your confirmation.
Thank you.
Chairman Murray. Thank you very much.
Senator Moran.
STATEMENT OF HON. JERRY MORAN,
U.S. SENATOR FROM KANSAS
Senator Moran. Madam Chair, thank you very much. I am very
honored to be a Member of the Senate Veterans' Affairs
Committee. I served for 14 years in the House as a Member of
that companion Committee, and there is no group of Americans I
hold in higher regard than those who have served our country.
I am pleased to see that we have such high-quality nominees
and look forward to developing a good working relationship with
you on behalf of the 250,000 veterans in Kansas and those all
across the country.
I thank you for your military service to our country, and
thank you for your willingness to serve others who have served.
Thank you.
Chairman Murray. Thank you very much.
Under the rules of this Committee, the testimony of all
Presidential nominees appearing before the Committee shall be
taken under oath.
So, General Hickey and Mr. Muro, will you now stand for the
administration of the oath.
Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you are about to
give before the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs will be
the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help
you God?
General Hickey. Yes.
Mr. Muro. Yes.
Chairman Murray. Thank you very much.
With that, I will introduce both of our nominees and turn
to them for their opening statements.
Each of these nominees, if confirmed, will play an integral
role in the overall management and day-to-day operation of the
VA. So I am delighted to have the opportunity to have you
before us today.
General Hickey is a 27-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force,
active National Guard and Reserve. She is also a graduate of
the U.S. Air Force Academy, class of 1980, the first class to
include women.
She has served as a pilot and aircraft commander and led
the Air Force's Future Total Force Office and served as the
Assistant Deputy Director for Air Force strategic planning,
leading one of the largest mission and culture change efforts
the Air Force has ever gone through.
She currently serves as a human capital management
executive for Accenture and has led a team focused on thousands
of personnel actions every day, ranging from recruitment to
retirement.
Mr. Muro is a Vietnam veteran who served in the U.S. Navy
from 1968 to 1972, beginning his career with the VA as a
maintenance mechanic at the West Los Angeles VA Hospital in
1975, joining the National Cemetery Administration in 1978.
Over the next 30 years, he moved up through the ranks in
progressively more responsible positions, working in cemeteries
nationwide. As Acting Director and then Director of the Office
of Field Programs from 2002 through 2008, Mr. Muro created a
number of proactive programs that have improved the quality of
cemetery administration to the high level in place today.
In 2008, he became the Deputy Under Secretary for Memorial
Affairs, and, in 2009, he became the Acting Under Secretary.
With that, General Hickey, do you have any family or
friends you would like to introduce before we do opening
statements?
General Hickey. Thank you, Chairman Murray, for the
introduction. I would like to introduce my family who is here
today, beginning with my father, Lieutenant General William J.
Hilsman, behind me here, who was a career Army officer and also
a Vietnam veteran himself.
My mother, Mrs. Jean Hilsman, is a past president of the
National Military Family Association and DOD's first family
policy office director.
My husband, Colonel Rob Hickey, is a 30-year veteran
himself and continues his service to the government working in
the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
My oldest son, Tyler Hickey, graduates from James Madison
University in May. My daughter, Chelsea Hickey, graduates from
Virginia Tech in May, and my youngest son, Michael Hickey, is
our ninth grader and just completing his Eagle Scout grade.
With me also in the room are my sisters, Mrs. Karen Paul
and Mrs. Donna Link, and their husbands, Lieutenant Colonel
retired Skip Paul and Wesley Link, and my brother Bill Hilsman.
Chairman Murray. OK. Mr. Muro.
Mr. Muro. Thank you, Madam Chairman.
I would like to introduce my family: Dr. Linda Johnson and
Amanda Muro. Also I would like to acknowledge my son, Steve; my
daughter-in-law, Rebecca; and my grandson, Stevie, who are out
in California.
I would also like to acknowledge some of the NCA colleagues
of mine and the Honorable William Tuerk.
Thank you.
Chairman Murray. That explains the jammed audience today.
Very good.
Thank you both very much for appearing before the
Committee.
General Hickey, we are going to start with you and your
opening statement.
STATEMENT OF BRIGADIER GENERAL ALLISON A. HICKEY, USAF (RET.),
NOMINEE TO BE UNDER SECRETARY FOR BENEFITS, VETERANS BENEFITS
ADMINISTRATION, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
General Hickey. Thank you, Chairman Murray.
Chairman Murray, Ranking Member Burr, distinguished Members
of the Committee, good morning and thank you for the
opportunity to appear before you today.
I am deeply honored that President Obama and Secretary
Shinseki have nominated me to join their leadership team as
they transform the Department of Veterans Affairs to meet the
emerging challenges of the 21st century.
I am eager for the opportunity to add my leadership,
passion, and commitment to their efforts to continue to repay
the debt of honor owed to the men and women, and their
families, who have borne the battle.
I still remember the day in November 2009, when I heard
Secretary Shinseki's inspiring remarks to thousands of military
leaders about his vision for a VA that is people-centric,
results-driven and forward-looking.
I heard his call to action to find an integrated approach
that includes well-trained people, efficient and effective
processes and proven new technologies all to deliver benefits
and care for a changing population of veterans who bring
increasingly complex needs to VA.
He spoke with compassion, conviction, and confidence that
ignited my desire to again serve my country and shape my
journey to this nomination hearing today. I humbly present
myself to you today, bringing a deep commitment to veterans and
a strong desire to join Secretary Shinseki's efforts to make
bold and comprehensive changes that transform VA for the 21st
century.
Before I continue, I want to recognize the over-35 years of
service to veterans by the Acting Under Secretary for Benefits,
Michael Walcoff, who is here today. Starting with VA as a
claims examiner in Philadelphia in 1974, he culminates his
distinguished career leading the Veterans Benefits
Administration.
I am also deeply appreciative of the presence here today of
our Veterans Service Organizations. If confirmed, I intend to
continue VA's close collaboration with them as partners.
If confirmed as the Under Secretary for Benefits, I would
be responsible for administering vital programs that provide
support for veterans, their families, and survivors. Each
program and benefit delivered can mean the difference between a
roof over their heads, a college education, or a home that is
retrofitted to accommodate a disability or a world without that
support.
As a veteran myself, I have recent firsthand experience in
transitioning to veteran status. As a result, I will never lose
sight of the experiences of all our veterans and their
families. This includes our National Guard and Reserve, who
have honorably responded to their country's call in incredibly
high numbers over the last decade.
As a woman veteran, I also recognize the growing population
of women who have served their Nation admirably and are now
seeking VA health care and benefits in record numbers. I
understand we need a VA system that meets their needs,
something I know is a priority for Secretary Shinseki and this
Committee.
For over 30 years in government, military, and industry,
including 17 years of leadership positions in DOD, I have
worked in strategic and transformation planning, program
implementation and organizational management.
I spent over 5 years in the Air National Guard's
productivity and quality office, establishing a culture of
process improvement for the organization.
I spent more than 7 years in the Air Force strategic
planning office, where I led one of the largest mission and
culture change efforts since the inception of that department,
which affected more than 140 new units, and their new
capabilities and moved billions of dollars to establish those
new capabilities.
My recent industry experience includes a focus on areas
directly related to VBA's core mission, including transactional
business operations, customer relationship management, and
experience with information technology systems that provide
transparency, increase accountability, and speed the delivery
of services to customers.
I believe that my past experience makes me highly qualified
to manage the complexities and challenges of the claims
transformation efforts currently underway at VBA, as well as
other areas vital to our veterans' benefits.
If confirmed, eliminating the disability claims backlog and
accomplishing the Secretary's goal of having no veteran wait
more than 125 days for a quality decision with a 98 percent
accuracy rate would be my central focus.
I have first-hand experience building and implementing
transformational efforts, have focused on integrated solutions
of people, process, and technology necessary to accomplish
large complex goals.
If confirmed as Under Secretary for Benefits, I am
committed to working with this Committee, the Congress more
broadly, the veteran services organizations, the dedicated
employees at VBA and other stakeholders to ensure that the VBA
provides timely and quality benefits and services to America's
heroes.
Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. I
look forward to answering any questions you might have.
[The prepared statement of General Hickey follows:]
Prepared Statement of Brig. Gen. Allison A. Hickey (Ret.), USAF,
Nominee to be Under Secretary for Benefits, Veterans Benefits
Administration, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Chairman Murray, Ranking Member Burr, distinguished Members of the
Committee: Good morning and thank you for the opportunity to appear
before you today.
I am deeply honored that President Obama and Secretary Shinseki
have nominated me to join their leadership team as they transform the
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to meet the emerging challenges of
the 21st century. I am eager for the opportunity to add my leadership,
passion and commitment to their efforts to continue to repay the debt
of honor owed to the men and women, and their families who have ``borne
the battle.'' I still remember the day in November 2009, when I heard
Secretary Shinseki's inspiring remarks to thousands of military leaders
from all 54 States and Territories and the District of Columbia, about
his vision for a Department of Veterans Affairs that is people-centric,
results-driven and forward-looking. I heard his call to action to find
an integrated approach that includes well-trained people, efficient and
effective processes and proven new technologies all to deliver benefits
and care for a changing population of Veterans who bring increasingly
complex needs to VA. He spoke with a compassion, conviction and
confidence that ignited my desire to again serve my country and shaped
my journey to this nomination hearing today. I humbly present myself to
you today--bringing a deep commitment to Veterans and a strong desire
to join Secretary Shinseki's efforts to make bold and comprehensive
changes that transform VA for the 21st century.
Before I continue, I want to briefly introduce my wonderful family
with me today. They are part of what drives my passion to care for
Veterans and their families. My father, Lieutenant General (Ret.)
William J. Hilsman, served as a career Army Officer and is a Vietnam
Veteran. My mother, Mrs. Jean Hilsman, served as a military mother and
spouse, the first Director of the Department of Defense Family Policy
Office and a Past President of the National Military Family
Association. My husband, Colonel (Ret.) Rob Hickey, is a 30 year
Veteran, who served as an A-10 and C-130 pilot, Logistics Group
Commander, and who continues to serve the Nation working in the Office
of the Director of National Intelligence. And finally and most
importantly, I am blessed to be the mother of three remarkable
children--Tyler, Chelsea and Michael. Tyler and Chelsea both graduate
in May from James Madison University and Virginia Tech respectively,
both with a focus on public service careers. Soon to be awarded his
Eagle Scout Rank, Michael is on the same path toward dedicated
citizenry and service.
I also want to recognize the over 35 years of service to Veterans
by the Acting Under Secretary for Benefits, Michael Walcoff. Starting
with VA as a claims examiner in Philadelphia in 1974, he culminates his
distinguished career leading over 20,000 dedicated employees of the
Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA). Working closely with all of VA,
Veterans Service Organizations, and Congress, he has been instrumental
in laying critical foundations to ``break the back of the backlog'' and
pursue other important initiatives that will improve service to
Veterans.
I am also deeply appreciative of the presence here today of our
Veterans Service Organizations. If confirmed, I intend to continue VA's
close collaboration with them as partners--seeking opportunities to
continue to enhance our interactions early in the improvement processes
we explore for VBA. I will call upon their decades of experience and
knowledge to help find and implement solutions for our Veterans, their
families and survivors.
If confirmed as the Under Secretary for Benefits, I would be
responsible for administering vitally significant programs that provide
crucial support for Veterans, their families and survivors. Each
program and benefit VBA delivers is important to those we serve. It can
mean the difference between a roof over their heads, a college
education, or a home that is retrofitted to accommodate a disability--
or a world without that support. If confirmed, I will never lose sight
of the importance of VBA's work on the individual lives of Veterans and
their families.
As a Veteran myself, and a military family spouse, I have firsthand
and recent experience in transitioning to Veteran status. Because of
this background and my military family upbringing, the concerns of
Veterans, their families, and survivors are never far from my mind and
are close to my heart. This includes our National Guard and Reserve and
their families who have honorably responded to their country's call in
incredibly high numbers over the last decade and more, serving in Iraq,
Afghanistan, and operations around the globe and here at home. I have
the unique experience of serving in all three of the military
components--Active, National Guard, and Reserve--and, if confirmed, I
would work to ensure that VBA continues to support each of these groups
of Veterans. As a woman Veteran, I also recognize the growing
population of women who have served their Nation admirably and are now
seeking VA health care and benefits in record numbers. I bring shared
and unique experiences with this group of dedicated Veterans and an
understanding that we need a VA system that meets their needs--
something I know is a priority for Secretary Shinseki and this
Committee.
For over 30 years in government, military, and industry--including
17 years of leadership positions in the Department of Defense--I have
focused on strategic and transformation planning, program
implementation and organizational management. I have helped develop
plans for major reorganization, restructuring, and refocusing of large-
scale and complex organizations and programs to enable them to better
meet their mission.
I believe that my past experience makes me highly qualified to
manage the complexities and challenges of the claims transformation
efforts currently underway, as well as other areas vital to our
Veterans' benefits. Eliminating the disability claims backlog and
accomplishing the Secretary's goal of having no Veteran wait more than
125 days for a quality decision with a 98% accuracy rate would be my
central focus. I have firsthand experience building and implementing
transformational efforts that focus on the integrated solution of
people, process, and technology necessary to accomplish large complex
goals. I spent over five years in the Air National Guard's Productivity
and Quality office establishing a culture of process improvement, and
over seven years in the Air Force Strategic Planning office leading
major transformation efforts. In my experience with industry, process
improvement and transformation were key to business performance results
and client satisfaction levels. The ``right'' mix of focus on an
integrated approach to people, process, and technology has been at the
center of much of the work in my career. That is why, if confirmed, I
am confident that I can lead VBA in delivering better service to
Veterans.
In the Air Force, I led one of the largest mission and culture
change efforts since the inception of that Department. This work
included leadership and oversight of four divisions covering strategic
planning, mission development, public and congressional affairs, and
program and resource implementation. The effort affected more than 140
new Air Force units and their associated missions, and shifted billions
of dollars toward new capabilities across the Air Force portfolio. The
initiative also involved new organizational models for a worldwide
500,000 person organization including Active Duty, Air National Guard
and Air Force Reserve units and personnel to create a common Air Force
policy, mission, and culture. This significant transformation directly
impacted more than 50,000 members of the Air Force, provided new
capabilities for the joint war fighter and redesigned the Air Force
future force structure plan.
I also bring experience in the private sector in two areas that
directly relate to VBA's core mission. The first area is human
resources operations from recruitment to retirement--building and
retaining a quality workforce. The second area is customer relationship
management to include call center practices, customer relationship
management system implementation and other 21st century information
technology systems that provide transparency, increase accountability
and speed the delivery of these services to customers.
It is my firm belief that it is an organization's employees who
drive the real success that occurs in vital programs. I am committed,
if confirmed, to making the VBA workforce successful, creating an
environment that engages them and develops them to their full
potential.
If confirmed as Under Secretary for Benefits, I am committed to
working with this Committee, the Congress more broadly, the Veterans
Service Organizations, other stakeholders and all of the wonderful
employees at VBA to ensure VBA provides timely and quality benefits and
services to America's heroes. Should I be confirmed, I will serve with
passion and conviction as an advocate on behalf of all of America's
Veterans.
Thank you again for the opportunity to appear before you today. I
look forward to answering any questions you may have.
______
Response to Prehearing Questions Submitted by Hon. Patty Murray to
Brig. Gen. Allison Hickey to be Under Secretary for Benefits, U.S.
Department of Veterans Affairs
Question 1. Why do you seek this position?
Response. I still remember the day in November 2009 when I heard
Secretary Shinseki's inspiring remarks to thousands of military leaders
from across our country about his vision for a Department of Veterans
Affairs (VA) that is people-centric, results-driven and forward-
looking. I heard his call to action to find an integrated approach of
well-trained people, efficient and effective processes and proven new
technologies all to deliver benefits and care for a changing population
of Veterans who bring increasingly complex needs to the VA. He spoke
with a compassion, conviction and confidence that ignited my desire to
again serve my country and shaped my journey to seek this position. I
have successfully led major transformation efforts in complex
environments during my career and I look forward, if confirmed, to the
opportunity to apply that experience in the Veterans Benefits
Administration (VBA). I have recent Program Management experience with
21st Century IT systems that are used by well-trained employees to
exercise streamlined and documented processes to deliver high
performing results. I come from a family where service to others is
part of our DNA. Most importantly, I feel called to advocate for all
Veterans and their families who sacrifice so much for a safe and secure
world. Each of these issues and more compel me to seek this position.
Question 2. What do you believe are the most important problems and
challenges currently confronting VBA? Which of these problems and
challenges will you focus on and how do you intend to address them?
Response. I strongly support the priorities that Secretary Shinseki
has established as articulated in the Department of Veterans Affairs
Strategic Plan Refresh FY 2011-2015 and agree with the focus it
outlines for VBA and all of VA to ``transform the Department to meet
the emerging challenges of the 21st century, so we may continue to
repay the debt of honor owed to the men and women, and their families,
who have ``borne the battle.'''' If confirmed, the four strategic goals
and integrated objectives will drive my focus to work across VA
organizational lines to improve the quality and accessibility of
benefits for Veterans and their families and survivors, as well as
increase their satisfaction with education, training, and other
benefits and services. As a person with extensive background in
strategic planning, the Secretary's approach for tackling these
opportunities resonates with me. It is clear to me that the number one
issue facing VBA is the continuing challenges associated with the
claims backlog. I understand that the claims have grown in both numbers
and complexity, which drives workload and workforce training issues. My
previous experience in government and private sector suggests that a
challenge with this amount of complexity can only be solved with
improvements to the business processes and integration of appropriate
technology that allows an organization to fundamentally transform the
way the work is done and improve the results. Therefore, I believe that
if confirmed, I would focus on the people, processes and technology
that will provide VBA the methods to achieve the Secretary's goals of
eliminating the disability claims backlog by 2015 and ensuring no
Veteran has to wait more than 125 days for a high quality decision with
a 98% accuracy rate. I will also focus on preparing the workforce for
these changes through a focus on training, communication and
preparation for the various new transformational business processes
that will become central to their daily operations.
Question 3. What is your management style? Are you a ``hands-on''
manager? Do you rely on significant delegation? Do you seek consensus
with those on your management team before making a decision or do you
generally gather relevant information and input, and then make a
decision?
Response. I am a highly collaborative leader who seeks input from
both internal and external stakeholders to the maximum extent possible.
My experience tells me that when you bring all stakeholders into the
process early, you avoid missteps and build consensus around the
approach to an issue. I am careful to keep the bias for action on the
decision, so lengthy processes do not stall the need for timely
decisions in order to achieve actions that drive results. I also gather
reliable data as one element of my decision process or the group's
decision process and watch for trends in the data to inform decisions
or adjustments to the direction.
I approach most aspects of my leadership from a ``balanced''
approach. I seek solutions that are good for the mission, considerate
of the people that need to deliver on that mission, and always focused
on the customer--in this case, if confirmed, the Veterans, their
families and survivors. I balance my approach to ``hands on''
involvement and delegation in the same way. When the situation requires
little intervention because the organization is delivering customer
excellence, then I tend to stay abreast of the issues but delegate more
to the high performing leader. When the situation requires more of my
engagement because the organization is challenged to deliver, then I
first ask myself if the barriers to performance are created by
something I or the leader on the team controls. Does the workforce have
the resources, tools, guidance, or policy they need to do the job?
Regardless of the circumstance, I am always willing to ``roll up my
sleeves'' and assist further until the performance is achieved.
As a leader I believe that information is a vital resource to
achieve operational excellence. I believe this information needs to be
in the hands of those who require it to effectively lead others or
execute on their job/task. I am a leader who believes in the model of
``servant leadership'' where taking care of those who do the work on a
daily basis translates into better performance and higher levels of
client satisfaction.
Question 4. Describe how you intend to work with the Secretary and
two other Under Secretaries. Please also describe how you will work
with others in the Agency who work directly impacts VBA (e.g. policy
and planning).
Response. I hold the utmost respect for Secretary Shinseki, Deputy
Secretary Gould, Under Secretary Petzel, Acting Under Secretary Muro
and Chief of Staff Gingrich. If confirmed, I will work closely with
each of them to raise issues, challenges, and offer assistance in
solving problems to better serve Veterans. I am excited for the
opportunity to work with this leadership team, to collaborate and
coordinate across the department to solve cross-cutting challenges from
a One-VA perspective, with an understanding of the interdependence of
the different Administrations, Staff Offices and Organizations within
VA. In particular, if confirmed, I would closely collaborate with
Assistant Secretaries Baker and Henze, whose offices of Information and
Technology and Policy and Planning are key to the success of VBA in
terms of our leveraging new technology and our coordination with the
Department of Defense.
Question 5. In your view, how long should a veteran have to wait to
have his or her initial claim for compensation adjudicated?
Response. I am aware that Secretary Shinseki has set goals in this
area and look forward to working with him, if confirmed, to ensure that
by 2015, no Veteran has to wait more than 125 days for a decision with
a 98% accuracy level. If confirmed, I would enter the Under Secretary
post with the understanding that we will work tirelessly to achieve
this goal. Veterans deserve a system responsive to their needs and
ready to deliver the benefits they have earned through their military
service in the fastest manner with a strong commitment to accuracy. It
serves no one to achieve a fast decision if it is not our best work. If
confirmed, I am committed to furthering the important work underway
toward new paperless processing systems along with business practices
that will provide our hardworking VBA workforce the 21st Century tools
they need to serve America's Veterans. I am interested to learn more
about new rules-based tools and calculators VBA is developing to help
ensure accuracy while improving on speed.
Question 6. How do you plan to work with the veterans service
organizations? Do you anticipate meeting with the VSO representatives
on a regular basis?
Response. If confirmed, I plan to work both closely and often with
the Veterans Service Organizations. If confirmed, I anticipate building
on the existing substantial efforts VBA has taken to involve these
knowledgeable and highly experienced organizations early in developing
initiatives to improve the disability claims process and other areas so
as to get their candid feedback and recommendations. I look forward to
building relationships with them and together focusing on a shared
passion for Veterans, their families and survivors.
Question 7. Committee staff access to career professionals at VBA
is critically important as they conduct oversight of the Agency on
behalf of members. In the past, VBA staffs from all business lines have
been made available for briefings, questions, and related activities.
Committee staff view these open channels of communication as vital. Do
you intend to allow Committee staff the same level of access to VBA
career employees?
Response. I agree that open communication with Committee staff is
vital to the oversight mission of the Senate Committee on Veterans'
Affairs and I fully support the continued access to VBA leadership and
staff.
Question 8. Accurate forecasting of usage of veterans benefits is
essential in planning for resources to administer those benefits. What
do you see as the Under Secretary's role in forecasting the need for
additional staffing resources so that Congress can appropriate those
resources in a timely manner?
Response. As in any large enterprise, I believe the role of the
leader is to ensure the organization has the data, information, and the
analytical capability to make high quality forecasts that have the
confidence of those who appropriate the resources. The Under Secretary,
working in coordination with the Office of the Secretary, must timely
convey accurate forecasts and resource requirements to Congress. If
confirmed, I look forward to assessing VBA's capabilities in this area
and ensuring we fill whatever gaps may exist.
Question 9. VBA has come under fire for the lack of timeliness of
its claims processing. While VBA has made progress in improving
timeliness and accuracy of disability claims processing, further
improvement is needed. VBA turned its attention to decreasing the
amount of time it takes to process a claim, but that improvement seems
to be at the cost of a decrease in the quality of its decisionmaking.
Do you have any views on how a more balanced approach can be reached?
Response. I have an extensive background in quality management
principles and processes and am a strong proponent of training as one
key element to improve results. It is my belief that there is no
inherent conflict between speed and quality if employees are supported
in obtaining the necessary skills through effective training programs
and decision-support tools. Speed and quality will go hand-in-hand if
we ensure employees receive the right training and tools, combined with
efficient business processes and systems that incorporate rules-based
technologies. I also believe that the ongoing work on the Disability
Benefits Questionnaires (DBQs) will improve the ``data in'' portion of
the process. If confirmed, I will work to ensure that the training,
tools, and systems needed to provide quality and timely decisions are
available to VBA's claims adjudicators.
Question 10. Many in the newest generation of veterans are
technologically savvy. Veterans can submit claims for compensation over
the Internet. What role do you envision for VA in improving the use of
technology for the processing of initial applications for compensation
and to aid in the timeliness and accuracy of claims adjudication?
Response. Veterans, especially the younger generation, expect to
have self-service options available to apply for benefits and services
and to interact with VA on the status of their claims--at a place and
time of their choosing. Since I have done considerable work in the area
of customer relationship management, I am most eager to learn more
about the ongoing development efforts of the Veterans Relationship
Management (VRM) initiative and VA's plans to integrate VRM with the
new paperless processing system. In my view, from outside the
organization, it seems important for VA to optimize client interactions
and leverage data and information sharing between VRM and the Veterans
Benefits Management System (VBMS), as well as with the joint VA/DOD
Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record (VLER) initiative. I believe
integration of today's technologies and communications channels in the
claims process will drive major improvements in both timeliness and
accuracy when combined with streamlined business processes, effective
training, and appropriate job aids.
Question 11. For some medical conditions that occur after service,
the scientific information needed to connect the medical condition and
the circumstances of service may be incomplete. When information is
incomplete, Congress or the Secretary of Veterans Affairs has authority
to presume disabilities and diseases as service-connected for purposes
of compensation. If confirmed as Under Secretary, what would be your
approach for recommending whether a presumption is warranted?
Response. If confirmed as Under Secretary, my approach would be to
follow the legal requirements established in law to guide any
recommendations made to the Secretary. If confirmed, providing timely
compensation and care for our Veterans will always be my top priority
and I look forward to learning more about the presumptive disability
authorities under the law.
Question 12. VA's Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment program
is one of the smallest, yet most important, programs within the
Department. It is the linchpin for helping veterans who incur service-
connected disabilities achieve a fulfilling and gainful future. I am
deeply committed to making sure that this program lives up to its full
potential, especially when individuals who have sustained serious
injuries in combat are concerned. What are your thoughts on the role
that vocational rehabilitation plays in terms of the total
rehabilitation of an individual recovering from severe combat-related
injuries?
Response. I recently had the opportunity to briefly meet with
Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (VR&E) leadership to hear
about this vital employment program for Veterans with disabilities and
employment handicaps. As you are aware, VR&E's primary mission is to
assist Veterans prepare for, obtain, and sustain suitable employment.
In my opinion, every rehabilitation plan must maximize the Veteran's
current skills and interests, translating their military experience to
the demands of the civilian labor market to achieve suitable employment
in a career field. If confirmed, I will ensure that VBA maintains its
focus on addressing the rehabilitation needs and expectations of
Veterans with severe combat-related injuries. These Veterans have so
much to offer our country; we must do all we can to help them succeed.
Question 13. Through VA's vocational rehabilitation program, VA
assumes certain responsibilities for the provision of employment
assistance to veterans who complete a plan of vocational
rehabilitation. This assistance can take a variety of forms. I am
concerned that VA cooperate and coordinate with the Department of
Labor's Veterans' Employment and Training Service so that duplication
of effort can be minimized. If confirmed as Under Secretary, what will
you do to involve both DOL and DOD in efforts to ensure that
employment-related issues are addressed seamlessly and without
duplication of effort?
Response. If confirmed as Under Secretary, I will work to enhance
the relationships VBA currently has with DOL and DOD. It is my hope
that my previous career in DOD will allow me to leverage those contacts
and relationships to strengthen coordination. I understand that VR&E
and DOL work together in a collaborative and cooperative partnership to
assist Veterans with disabilities secure suitable employment. I will
also ensure that VR&E continues to work closely with DOL on employment-
related issues and engage in joint discussions with DOD, DOL, and other
key external stakeholders to ensure that the transition of
Servicemembers into civilian employment is seamless and non-
duplicative.
Question 14. Eligibility for VA's vocational rehabilitation program
requires both a service-connected disability and a clearly defined
employment handicap, as defined by an impairment of a veteran's ability
to prepare for, obtain, or retain employment consistent with his or her
abilities, aptitudes, and interests. Concerns have been expressed that
in practice, VR&E encourages veterans to take lower paying employment
vice career-oriented professions. What do you believe can be done to
address these concerns?
Response. Now, more than ever, the employment needs of Veterans
must remain among VBA's top priorities. I understand that many
separating Servicemembers and Veterans want and need immediate
employment to ease their transition into civilian life. As such, VBA's
focus must be to provide services that give Veterans the option to
accept transitional employment while also planning for their careers,
thus ensuring long-term stability and upward mobility in line with each
individual's skills and interests.
If confirmed, I will make certain that VBA continues to seek new
and better ways to assist disabled Veterans who are striving to achieve
employment stability and upward mobility.
Question 15. Under current policies, there is a protracted period
of evaluation and multiple reviews of decisions concerning seriously
disabled veterans seeking independent living services. If confirmed,
will you look into what steps might be taken to shorten the evaluation
period and reduce the layers of the review?
Response. Assisting Veterans with the most severe disabilities is
of the utmost importance. If confirmed, I will discuss with VR&E
leadership additional options to shorten the evaluation period,
streamline processes, and reduce the layers of the review for Veterans
seeking independent living services.
Question 16. Under Secretary Shinseki's leadership, VA has gone to
great lengths to develop and implement a fully electronic claims
process for GI Bill, and compensation and pension claims. These new
technologies still require more development and wider adoption. How
would you use your leadership to ensure the promise of each new
technology is fully realized?
Response. My career has provided me with significant background in
program management and ensuring projects deliver the desired tools on
time and with proper integration and adoption within an organization.
If confirmed, I would seek enhancements that put Veterans in control
where possible, with easy access to information about their claims and
the capability to communicate with VA offices and receive outreach
messages through a variety of technologies that match their
preferences. VA must ensure that the promises of automation are
executed with a common Veteran-centric focus, and that technological
innovations are developed to provide maximum return to our Veterans. I
understand VBA already has a rigorous schedule of regular meetings with
Veterans Service Organizations at multiple levels to solicit their
input on process improvements and transformational initiatives such as
VBMS. This regular interaction and sharing of ideas would remain a high
priority. To realize the promise of paperless processing and other
technology enhancements, it is critically important to consult with
industry experts and work closely with the Department's Office of
Information and Technology. If confirmed, I would also rely on dialog
with and input from this Committee as VA refines its strategic
direction along the road to success.
Question 17. VBA has had some success in the past with improving
the efficiency of claims processing by consolidating certain services
into fewer offices. What are your views on the pros and cons of such
consolidation?
Response. Generally I believe that opportunities exist to improve
service delivery and achieve greater efficiencies through
specialization and consolidation of processing activities.
Consolidation can also facilitate the delivery of standardized training
and quality assurance programs, leading to improved quality and
decision consistency. With that said, if confirmed, I would want to
look at any consolidation plans on a case-by-case basis and understand
the proposed benefits and potential downsides to any changes.
Question 18. What changes, if any, do you anticipate making to the
way quality of claims processing is measured at VBA?
Response. In general, I am a proponent of building quality into a
process upfront as opposed to assessing quality at the end of the
development process. I am also a proponent of measuring quality
throughout a process--especially at critical ``handoff'' stages. While
I am not in a position at this time to assess the adequacy of the
methods currently used by VBA to measure quality, I am aware that in
the compensation and pension area, VBA has a number of methods of
assessing quality including the Systematic Technical Accuracy Review
(STAR) program, consistency assessments, site surveys and special
reviews. If confirmed, I will look at each in depth to determine what,
if any, changes are appropriate.
Question 19. Given your background, what areas do you see in which
VA and DOD can do a better job with collaboration and cooperation so
that more timely access to benefits can be provided?
Response. I see great opportunity in the efforts announced by
President Obama, Secretary Shinseki, and Secretary Gates to create a
Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record of medical and administrative
information accessible by both Departments which would significantly
assist in the disability evaluation process. I am excited by the
opportunity to further enhance collaboration through initiatives such
as the Integrated Disability Evaluation System and the eBenefits
portal--both designed to improve information sharing to the benefit of
Veterans, family members and survivors. If confirmed, I look forward to
using my background serving in the DOD, including significant time
working with the National Guard and Reserve, to further enhance our
people-centric collaboration and cooperation with DOD.
Question 20. I am interested in hearing about your views on the
IOM's report for the VDBC on Evaluation of the Presumptive Disability
Decision-Making Process for Veterans. That IOM Committee recommended a
new process for VA to follow in establishing presumptions. Can you
please comment on your view of this new process?
Response. I have not read the report, but I understand that this is
a very complex area. If confirmed, I will need to study this subject
area further in order to understand more fully the recommendations of
the IOM. If confirmed, I would also look forward to hearing the views
of the Committee and Veterans Service Organizations on this important
topic.
Question 21. With respect to presumptive disability decisionmaking,
IOM also recommended a standard of ``causal effect.'' In some cases,
servicemembers may have been subjected to multiple potential exposures
of uncertain dosage. If causation is unclear, should evidence of
increased incidence of certain disabilities be a basis for service-
connection?
Response. Similar to the subject of Question 20, I have not read
the report but understand that this is a very complex area and, if
confirmed, I will need to study it further in order to understand more
fully the recommendations of the IOM. If confirmed, I would look
forward to hearing the views of the Committee and Veterans Service
Organizations on this important topic.
Question 22. VA recently entered into a memorandum of understanding
with Indian Health Service in order to enhance the services available
to Native American and Alaska Native Veterans. Please describe how you
believe VBA can fulfill its responsibilities under this arrangement.
Response. Although I have not had opportunity to review this
agreement with Indian Health Services, it is my understanding that
through this partnership VBA will increase access to services and
benefits for Native American and Alaska Native Veterans. If confirmed,
I would make it a priority to ensure VBA is fulfilling its
responsibilities under this agreement and developing and implementing
innovative and effective outreach strategies to ensure this population
of Veterans are aware of, and can easily access, their VA benefits.
Question 23. In recent months, contracting out of medical
disability examinations has increased through the implementation of the
Integrated Disability Evaluation System program. Under your leadership,
would you continue to rely on contracting out for these examinations to
supplement those that VHA provides?
Response. If confirmed, I would look at the entire examination
process and the various methods and options that are available to
ensure medical disability exams are performed in a complete and timely
manner. I would not want to state an opinion until I have been briefed
and fully understand all the implications of using or not using
contracting to supplement disability examinations. The Veterans Health
Administration would be a crucial partner for any work in this area.
Question 24. Do you foresee a time when contracting out of
disability medical examinations will be the norm--and that VHA will not
be expected to provide disability medical examinations?
Response It is my understanding that contract physicians currently
perform 20 percent of all C&P examinations. VHA completes the remaining
80 percent. Given this information, I would not foresee contracting
vehicles being used as the sole source for completing disability
examinations.
Question 25. VBA is in the process of developing the Veterans
Relationship Management (VRM) initiative. What is your vision for the
development of the next wave of VRM improvements?
Response. From my understanding, the VRM's focus is to transform
the Veteran's experience with VA through greater client-centric
operations. I have considerable experience in assisting clients in
implementing customer relationship management (CRM) systems and
software and, if confirmed, look forward to applying that background to
this effort. I was pleased to learn that the next wave of VRM
improvements focuses on the iterative deployment of CRM tools. Through
state-of-the-art CRM, VA will begin maintaining a shared record of
contacts between VA organizations and Veteran-clients, which will be
critical to achieving a better understanding of their needs and
improving VA's ability to provide personalized experiences and superior
customer service. If confirmed, I look forward to the opportunity to
provide leadership and direction on this major initiative of extreme
importance to Veterans and their families.
Question 26. VA recently created a new Benefits Assistance Service
(BAS) to ensure customer satisfaction, among other things. What role do
you envision for the BAS during your term?
Response. From my understanding, the BAS's goal is to serve as the
key VBA organizational component that directs, coordinates, and
oversees an expanded and enhanced program of outreach and client
services that fulfill VA's advocacy responsibilities to Veterans and
their families. If confirmed, I will work to ensure the BAS continually
assesses and improves awareness, access, and service delivery so that
VA is building proactive relationships with Veterans, and Veterans are
provided accurate, professional, and compassionate services every time
they contact VA for assistance. I believe this major customer
relationship management initiative to provide multiple access channels
and self-service options for Veterans and up-to-date tools for
employees is vital to achieving the client-centered and personalized
services Veterans expect and deserve to receive from VA.
Question 27. Given the fairly recent media controversy over VA's
insurance programs, do you envision any further changes to the programs
to ensure transparency and confidence in the programs?
Response. Overall I am aware this program has sustained over time a
very high level of customer satisfaction. As I understand it, changes
have been made to ensure that beneficiaries have a clear choice in how
they want to receive their insurance payments. If confirmed, I will
constantly look for new ways to further enhance all programs under
VBA's jurisdiction.
Question 28. Committee oversight too often finds veterans who are
unaware of the benefits available to them. What type of outreach do you
have planned to ensure that Servicemembers and veterans are aware that
they can utilize their benefits?
Response. I know the topic of outreach is one that is very
important to this Committee and to VA. If confirmed, ensuring Veterans
are aware of and know how to access their benefits will be a priority
for me. From my understanding of current efforts there are significant
outreach activities underway in VBA and across VA. The eBenefits portal
is but one part of this effort, which also includes the use of social
media tools. Part of outreach work entails understanding how
Servicemembers, Veterans and their dependents access VA information,
and then developing a multi-channel way to connect to them based upon
their personal preference. In my view, VBA's outreach efforts must
proactively engage Servicemembers and their families (Active Duty,
National Guard and Reserve) through early communication of benefits
beginning at accession and throughout their military careers, with
effective communications continuing after separation from service.
Outreach programs must also be redesigned to more effectively engage
Veterans and their families in their communities. If confirmed, I will
work to strengthen partnerships with Veterans Service Organizations,
Federal agencies, and other state and local organizations to ensure
VBA's outreach programs provide the right information and assistance at
the right time. It is also crucial to ensure coordination between any
VBA outreach program and other similar efforts across the Department.
Question 29. Employee training is one of the most crucial efforts
VA can put forth to break the back of the claims backlog by 2015. To
that end, do you envision any changes to the current status or format
of employee training?
Response. As a strong proponent of training, I share the emphasis
the Committee has placed on employee training as a tool to break the
back of the claims backlog by 2015. Highly skilled and well-practiced
claims processors can deliver benefits to Veterans accurately,
efficiently, and quickly when also provided with the right tools. I
believe improvements can be achieved through standardization of job-
skill training at the national level for both entry-level employees and
experienced employees, and the development of formal training products
that can be delivered to employees at their locations, and when they
need the training.
For critical positions that do not currently have nationally
standardized curricula, if confirmed I would focus on new development
to provide consistent training to support consistent performance. For
critical positions that already have nationally standardized curricula,
my focus would be on increased emphasis on evaluation and
accountability for completion and to support timely delivery of
training that is relevant to national quality issues.
Question 30. Women veterans are the fastest-growing segment of the
veterans' population. And because there are no frontlines on the
battlefield in the current wars, we know that women are engaging in
combat with the enemy. Unfortunately, because of the DOD policy
prohibiting women from serving ``in combat,'' this reality is not well
understood here at home, including by some in VA. This knowledge gap
obviously impacts the ability of women veterans to receive disability
benefits from the VA. What will you do to ensure that all VBA staff are
aware that women are serving in combat and that they must have equal
access to the benefits that they have earned?
Response. As a Veteran and a woman, ensuring women Veterans are
receiving quality benefits, care and customer service is a top priority
for me. If confirmed, I will work to ensure that women Veterans' unique
needs and issues are understood by our employees and remain at the
forefront. Continuous and effective training is key to ensuring that
awareness. When compensation benefits involve physical injury incurred
by women in a combat theater, there should be no inequality in access
to benefits because of the fact the physical injury will be recorded in
military treatment records. However, I do know from my own military
experience that when disability benefits involve mental health issues
incurred by women based on stressful events in a combat theater,
documentary evidence of the stressful event would often be difficult to
obtain. For that reason, I am very supportive of Secretary Shinseki's
regulation change related to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) that
makes it easier for Veterans, including women Veterans, to obtain PTSD
benefits when the stressor is based on a fear of hostile military or
terrorist activity. This updated approach to PTSD compensation
acknowledges that women are subjected to the same dangers and stresses
as their male counterparts. If confirmed, I will ensure that
comprehensive training programs exist for both new and experienced
decisionmakers that appropriately address women's issues. I will also
look to VA's Center for Women Veterans, the Advisory Committee on Women
Veterans, and the Veterans Health Administration to continue to assist
VBA in meeting the needs of women Veterans.
Question 31. One of the biggest challenges that VA has faced over
the course of the last two years is the implementation of the Post-9/11
GI Bill, which was signed into law on June 30, 2008, and became fully
effective on August 1, 2009. Although at times, implementation has
posed daunting problems with the timely delivery of benefits, VA has
made progress and is moving forward with a long-term solution for
processing and paying benefits to veterans and other students. Have you
been able to make an assessment as to whether VA will be able to meet
future timelines for improvements in this area and what will you do to
make sure that it does?
Response. I am aware that VA has established a timeframe for
implementing technology that will expedite the delivery of education
benefits. After initial challenges in implementation of the Post-9/11
GI Bill, I understand that VA has made significant progress in
administering this program and using automation tools to enhance
delivery of benefits. I am also aware of recent legislative changes
that impact the way VA currently administers the Post-9/11 GI Bill and
other benefits. If confirmed, I look forward to learning more about
VBA's implementation timeline for the changes required by the new
legislation as well as the overall efforts to develop and roll out
additional technology tools for processing of educational claims and
providing educational benefits.
Question 32. Some of the underlying causes of homelessness among
veterans are inadequate income, lack of affordable housing, and lack of
accessible and affordable health care. What role, if any, do you
believe VBA should play in preventing and ultimately ending
homelessness among veterans?
Response. If confirmed, I am committed to supporting achievement of
the Secretary's goal to eliminate Veteran homelessness within four
years. Having served in a faith-based community effort to assist the
homeless of Washington, DC, this effort is one of the initiatives that
drew me to pursue the position of Under Secretary. I have had personal
conversations with homeless veterans and am proud to see VA tackle this
issue. I know that VBA is a key partner in achieving the Secretary's
goal. I understand there are Homeless Veterans Outreach Coordinators at
each VA Regional Office to help ensure homeless Veterans and their
claims are properly identified and expeditiously processed. I have been
informed that these Outreach Coordinators also make referrals that
incorporate VHA and other Federal and community partners into the
Veteran's life.
I also understand that VBA's home loan guaranty program plays a
central role in preventing homelessness by helping Veterans retain
their homes in periods of financial difficulty. If confirmed, I will
work in a collaborative manner with VHA and other partners inside and
outside VA to promote efforts that target this vulnerable population of
Veterans and provide assistance with reintegrating them into the
community.
Question 33. With the increase in the number of women veterans, how
do you, if confirmed as Under Secretary, intend to better utilize the
Women Veteran Coordinators at the VA Regional Offices?
Response. As a Veteran and a woman, ensuring women Veterans are
receiving quality benefits, care and customer service is a top priority
for me. If confirmed, I would work to ensure that all VBA Women Veteran
Coordinators proactively reach out to women Veterans within their
community. VBA coordinators must receive appropriate training and be
equipped with toolkits to advise and counsel women Veterans regarding
VA benefits and services. As mentioned earlier, if confirmed, I would
also work closely with the VHA's Women's Health Program, VA's Center
for Women Veterans, and the Advisory Committee on Women Veterans.
Question 34. At the present time, military recruiters are actively
recruiting Servicemembers from countries in the Pacific Islands, such
as the Federated States of Micronesia. Some veterans' benefits, such as
vocational rehabilitation services, VA home loans, and health care are
not normally provided outside of the United States. In your view, what
obligation does the government have to provide non-citizen disabled
veterans benefits and services needed to compensate for and overcome
the disabilities which they incurred after being recruited into United
States military service?
Response. I have been informed that the primary factor for
determining eligibility to VA benefits is ``Veteran status,'' which is
based on active military, naval or air service. I understand that non-
citizen disabled Veterans are eligible for many of the same benefits as
Veterans who are U.S. citizens and reside outside of the United States.
If confirmed as Under Secretary for Benefits, I will ask for a briefing
on this topic to understand what limits may exist for the provision of
benefits outside of the United States.
Question 35. The Committee has conducted extensive oversight of the
Integrated Disability Evaluation System. It is clear to me that
challenges remain in implementing the program worldwide--which is the
stated objective of both VA and DOD. Please describe how you will
participate in decisions made with regard to the program given that
responsibility for the program lies with Policy & Planning?
Response. The Integrated Disability Evaluation System (IDES) effort
is a joint VA and DOD initiative. If confirmed, I look forward to
working with external and internal partners to continue its progress.
It is my understanding that the Department's VA/DOD Collaboration
Service, located within the Office of Policy and Planning, serves as
the coordinating office to ensure that the various VBA and VHA elements
of the organization are aligned in the IDES effort while the actual
execution of the IDES rollout remains with the Administrations. If
confirmed, I see my responsibilities in the areas of the Military
Services Coordinators and the rating activities in the IDES. I
understand that IDES is on track to be rolled out to all Continental
United States, Hawaii, and Alaska locations prior to October 2011. If
confirmed, I will participate in decisions by having my staff provide
me with complete analyses to include manpower and resource requirements
and impact on existing programs before I make recommendations on the
IDES program. It is my understanding that, if confirmed, I will sit on
the Senior Oversight Committee and, in that position, will have the
opportunity to become actively engaged in any decisions that may impact
VBA.
Question 36. What role, if any, do you believe VA has in ensuring
that veterans and others using educational assistance benefits receive
quality education and training experiences?
Response. I share the Secretary's view that VA plays an important
role in ensuring all schools are held to the same quality standards,
and that Veterans have adequate information to make informed decisions
about how to use their VA education benefits to obtain a quality
education. I am also aware that VA has procedures in place for
oversight of participating schools and educational programs. If
confirmed, I look forward to learning more details about maximizing
VA's strategies for ensuring that Veterans receive a quality education
in exchange for their earned VA benefits.
Question 37. I have heard from constituents that very little
information is available to veterans on the Native American Veteran
Direct Loan program. What actions do you intend to take in the way of
program outreach, local partnerships, and/or other mechanisms to ensure
that eligible veterans are aware that they may participate in this
program?
Response. I understand that information regarding the Native
American Veteran Direct Loan (NADL) program is currently available
online, provided to separating Servicemembers during Transition
Assistance Program briefings, and through outreach to local tribes at
conferences sponsored by the Native American Indian Housing Council and
the National Congress of American Indians. If confirmed, I will
continue to work with State Veterans' Affairs Departments and inter-
tribal groups such as the United Southern and Eastern Tribes to ensure
information is distributed to all appropriate audiences.
Question 38. Are you concerned with any portion of the
Administration's budget request for FY 2012 as it pertains to VBA?
Response. I fully support the President's Budget. I believe it
fully supports the VBA's highest priority; eliminating the disability
claims backlog and ensuring no Veteran has to wait more than 125 days
for a high-quality decision.
Question 39. The Advisory Committee on Minority Veterans
recommended that VA increase and fund more full-time Minority Veterans
Program Coordinator (MVPC) positions, as the average VBA MVPC spends
only twenty-four hours per quarter targeting outreach activities due to
the conflict between the ancillary nature of this duty and production
quotas. Do you think that the MVPC should be a full-time
responsibility? How will you measure and benchmark the impact of VBA's
outreach efforts to the minority veterans' community to ensure that
these efforts are effective?
Response. I believe that VBA's Minority Veterans Program must be
appropriately staffed to provide effective outreach and assistance to
minority Veterans. If confirmed, I will work collaboratively with the
Center for Minority Veterans to identify ways to measure and ensure the
success of our outreach efforts.
------
[The Committee questionnaire for Presidential nominees
follows:]
[A letter from the Office of Government Ethics follows:]
[Letter from the nominee to the Office of Legal Counsel,
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs:]
Chairman Murray. Thank you very much, General Hickey.
Mr. Muro.
STATEMENT OF STEVE L. MURO, NOMINEE TO BE UNDER SECRETARY FOR
MEMORIAL AFFAIRS, NATIONAL CEMETERY ADMINISTRATION, U.S.
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
Mr. Muro. Chairman Murray, Ranking Member Burr,
distinguished Members of the Committee, good morning and thank
you for the opportunity to appear before you today.
It is a great honor to be the President's nominee to serve
as Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs for the Department of
Veterans Affairs, National Cemetery Administration. I am
honored by the trust Secretary Shinseki has placed in me.
The National Cemetery Administration is meeting the needs
of veterans through innovation and increased access to
benefits. We are providing a lasting tribute to veterans across
the centuries, from the Civil War to the conflicts of today.
Before I continue, let me also recognize the veterans
service organizations in the room today. I want to thank them.
Throughout my career, they have been a support, and I
appreciate all the support they have given me.
If confirmed, I intend to continue that close
collaboration, leveraging their ideas to find and implement
solutions for our veterans.
NCA is truly a remarkable organization where a wage-grade
auto mechanic, such as myself, may rise through the ranks to
the position of Acting Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs. I
have devoted my entire career to serving the organization in
various positions including: Cemetery Director, Director of
Memorial Service Network V, Director of the Office of Field
Programs, Deputy Under Secretary, my current position as Acting
Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs.
In these senior leadership positions, I directed the
largest expansion of the National Cemetery System since the
Civil War, by planning, constructing, and opening 11 new
national cemeteries.
The entire organization is committed to serving veterans
and their families with the highest level of customer service.
For four consecutive times over the last decade, the National
Cemetery Administration has achieved the top rating in the
Nation on the American Customer Satisfaction Index, established
by the University of Michigan.
NCA's scores exceeded those of over 100 Federal agencies
and the Nation's top corporations such as Ford, FedEx and Coca
Cola. We are not surprised by these scores and results since
more than 70 percent of our workforce are veterans.
NCA leads Federal agencies in the percentage of employees
that are veterans, including 190 veterans who have served in
Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. NCA
accomplishments are due to relentless focus on three goals:
fostering a culture of accountability, maintaining our national
cemeteries as national shrines; and, most importantly, meeting
and exceeding the expectations of veterans and their families
in the one chance NCA has to serve them as we commit their
loved ones to their final resting place.
During my 33-year career, I have expanded burial access so
that nearly 90 percent of veterans benefit from a burial option
in a national cemetery or State veterans cemetery within 75
miles of their residence.
We have incorporated state-of-the-art technology for record
keeping and claims processing and we have instituted
organizational standards and performance measures across all
business lines.
Our management approach has made our operations more
efficient. Our National Cemetery Training Center reinforces
customer, service and performance standards by addressing
professional development throughout NCA. Our National
Scheduling Office centralizes eligibility determinations and
scheduling across the system.
If confirmed, under my leadership, NCA will continue to
focus on innovations, partnerships, and efficiencies. For
example, by using pre-placed crypts nationwide, we have saved
land and reduced maintenance and operational costs.
We are generating renewable energy by harnessing wind and
solar power, employing new technologies to improve
accountability and reaching out to the newest generation of
servicemembers and their families with social media.
In addition, we are embarking on a study of emerging burial
practices and surveying our veterans and their families for
their preferences for memorial benefits.
Our partnerships with the States through the Veterans
Cemetery Grant Program are vital to meeting veterans' burial
needs in rural and tribal areas. Recently, Congress expanded
the grant program so that we may assist States in meeting
national shrine standards of appearance with operations and
maintenance grants.
If confirmed, I will continue to be a tireless steward of
the national cemeteries entrusted to our care that serve as
national shrines that honor the sacrifices of the Nation's
veterans.
I am grateful for the opportunity to come before you this
morning to offer my vision for this agency to which I have
dedicated my life's work.
Thank you again. I look forward to answering your
questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Muro follows:]
Prepared Statement of Steve L. Muro, Nominee to be Under Secretary for
Memorial Affairs, National Cemetery Administration, U.S. Department of
Veterans Affairs
Chairman Murray, Ranking Member Burr, distinguished Members of the
Committee: good morning and thank you for the opportunity to appear
before you today. It is a great honor to be here today as the
President's nominee to serve as Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs
for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)'s National Cemetery
Administration (NCA).
I would like to introduce my family here with me--Dr. Linda
Johnson, and my daughter, Amanda--and although not able to attend, I
would like to acknowledge my son, Steve, my daughter-in-law, Rebecca,
and my grandson, Stevie--without their help and support, I would not be
here before you today.
In my current position as Acting Under Secretary for Memorial
Affairs, I am honored by the trust Secretary Shinseki has placed in me,
and in the dedicated men and women I am privileged to lead, in serving
Veterans and their families. In concert with the Veterans Benefits and
Veterans Health Administrations, the National Cemetery Administration
is meeting the needs of Veterans through innovation and increased
access to benefits. We are doing this today based on a long-standing
tradition of providing a lasting tribute to Veterans across the
centuries, from the Civil War to the conflicts today in Iraq and
Afghanistan. If confirmed, I am committed to continuing that important
work.
Before I continue, let me also recognize the presence here today of
our Veterans Service Organizations. I have worked with many of them
throughout my career and I have greatly appreciated their support and
counsel. If confirmed, I intend to continue that close collaboration,
leveraging their ideas to find and implement solutions for our Veterans
and their families.
NCA is truly a remarkable organization where a Wage Grade auto
mechanic, such as myself, may rise through the ranks based on a
commitment to serve Veterans ``who shall have borne the battle, and for
his widow, and his orphan'' and serve in the position of Acting Under
Secretary for Memorial Affairs. I have devoted my entire career to
fulfilling NCA's mission while serving in various positions throughout
the organization. Following my service in the U.S. Navy, I served in
many NCA leadership positions including leading and directing the
staffs of six different national cemeteries, overseeing 18 cemeteries
in seven western States as the Director of Memorial Service Network V,
serving as the Director of the Office of Field Programs in Central
Office and later as Deputy Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs,
leading me to my current position. In these senior leadership
positions, I have had the opportunity, working with the talented
employees of NCA, to direct the largest expansion of the National
Cemetery System since the Civil War--planning, constructing and opening
11 new national cemeteries.
Based on my broad experience, I can tell you that every level of
the organization is committed to serving Veterans and their families
with the highest level of customer service. NCA achieved the top rating
in the Nation four consecutive times on the prestigious American
Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) established by the University of
Michigan. On the most recent 2010 survey and over the past decade,
NCA's scores exceeded those of over 100 Federal agencies and the
Nation's top corporations including Ford, FedEx and Coca Cola. Our own
surveys of our customers confirm this exceptional level of performance.
In 2010, 98% of our survey respondents rated the appearance of national
cemeteries as excellent; and 95% rated the quality of service as
excellent.
We are not surprised by these results since more than 70 percent of
our workforce has served in our Armed Forces. NCA leads Federal
agencies in the percentage of employees who are Veterans, including
over 190 Veterans who have served in Operations Enduring Freedom and
Iraqi Freedom.
NCA accomplishments are due to relentless focus on three goals: 1)
fostering a culture of accountability; 2) maintaining our national
cemeteries as national shrines by continually improving our operations
and performance standards; and 3) most importantly, meeting and
exceeding the expectations of Veterans and family members in the one
chance NCA has to serve them in their hour of need, as we commit their
loved ones to their final resting places.
I am proud to be part of an organization that continually seeks to
raise the bar and look for new ways to serve Veterans and their
families. During my 33-year career, we have expanded burial access so
that nearly 90% of Veterans--about 20 million--benefit from a burial
option in a National or State Veterans cemetery within 75 miles of
their residence; we have incorporated state-of-the-art-technology for
recordkeeping and claims processing; and we have instituted
comprehensive organizational standards and performance measures across
all business lines.
Our eligibility experts staff a centralized Scheduling Office
operating 7:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. CST, 7 days a week (362 days/year).
Our National Training Center reinforces customer service and
performance standards by addressing professional development at every
level of our workforce, from grounds maintenance to grief counseling
and supervisor training. If confirmed, my focus will continue to be to
provide the best service through efficiencies, innovations, and
partnerships.
Today, by using pre-placed crypts nationwide, we save land and
reduce our maintenance and operational costs; these efficiencies ensure
we can provide burial access for more years and are an example of NCA
leading the industry with best practices. We are generating renewable
energy by harnessing wind and solar power, employing technologies like
Geographic Information Systems to improve accountability, and reaching
out to the newest generation of Servicemembers and their families with
social media and other emerging outlets. In addition, we are embarking
on a study of emerging burial practices and surveying our Veterans and
their families for their preferences for memorial benefits that honor
their military service.
Our partnerships with the States through the Veterans Cemetery
Grants Program are vital to meeting Veterans' burial needs in rural and
tribal areas. Recently, Congress expanded the grant program, so now we
may assist States in meeting national shrine standards of appearance
with operations and maintenance grants.
If confirmed, I will apply my intimate knowledge of NCA in
collaboration with Veterans and their families, Veterans Service
Organizations and Congress to meet the evolving needs of a new
generation of Veterans. I will continue to be a tireless steward of the
national cemeteries entrusted to our care that serve as national
shrines that honor the sacrifices of our Nation's Veterans. I am
grateful for the opportunity to come before you this morning to offer
my vision for this agency to which I have dedicated my life's work.
Thank you again.
I look forward to answering any questions you may have.
______
Response to Prehearing Questions Submitted by Hon. Patty Murray to
Steve Muro to be Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs, U.S. Department
of Veterans Affairs
Question 1. Have you formulated any thoughts on what your job
responsibilities will be and how you will approach those
responsibilities if confirmed?
Response. Having served as Acting Under Secretary for Memorial
Affairs for the last two years, I am very familiar with the roles and
responsibilities of this position and if confirmed I look forward to
continuing my work fulfilling them. Dignity and respect for Veterans
and their families is, and if confirmed will be, at the center of my
work. During the time I have served as Acting Under Secretary, NCA has
strengthened its processes and has served Veterans and their families
with high levels of dignity, compassion, and customer service. My
approach has been and if confirmed will remain one that is people-
centric, results-driven and forward-looking.
The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), administered by
the University of Michigan, has recently completed its assessment of
more than 225 private sector companies and 100 public organizations who
participated in the national customer satisfaction index. On
January 25, 2011, the Federal Consulting Group, a Federal agency fee-
for-service franchise operation within the Department of Interior and
created by an act of Congress, presented the Fifth Annual Customer
Satisfaction Achievement Award to the National Cemetery Administration
(NCA) in recognition of our commitment to outstanding customer service
to U.S. Armed Forces Veterans and their next of kin. This commitment
has been demonstrated by achieving extraordinarily high customer
satisfaction scores throughout the last decade--the highest in
government and the ACSI overall. If confirmed, I intend to continue
leading NCA in achieving unsurpassed levels of customer satisfaction in
2012 and beyond through sound leadership and investment in our valued
resources, including people, training, and processes.
If confirmed, I will continue to keep our Veterans and their loved
ones at the forefront by pursuing even greater levels of service and
satisfaction in meeting our solemn obligation to maintain VA's National
Cemeteries as National Shrines. I will also continue to sustain the
important work with State partners, through the State Cemetery Grants
Program, to assist them in establishing, expanding and improving State
Veterans cemeteries.
Question 2. How would you describe your management style and how is
it suited to this particular position?
Response. Having started my career at a very different stage in the
cemetery process, as a WG-9 mechanic, I have a management style that
considers the health, effectiveness, and efficiency of the entire
organization. While fulfilling the NCA's vision and mission, my
management style tends to consider the entire workforce and the entire
suite of roles and responsibilities. I am known to have a participatory
and collaborative approach and, in my view, the NCA employees and
leaders are more engaged in the decisionmaking process as a result of
their involvement in discussions and planning. The staff members feel a
real sense of contribution in the decisionmaking process and therefore
feel ownership of our successes. I have witnessed how this management
style energizes the employees and strengthens their sense of
responsibility and ownership, especially in serving our Veterans and
family members. There is amazing dedication and expertise throughout
the 131 National Cemeteries, the five Memorial Service Networks, and
Central Office. The staff has an enormous amount of experience that is
beneficial to NCA and how we conduct our business. I believe the recent
ACSI award is a reflection, in part, of my management style and the
empowerment felt by the employees, especially as it translates into
caring for Veterans and their families.
Question 3. Have you and Secretary Shinseki discussed the duties
and the role you would assume as Director of the National Cemetery
Administration if you are confirmed? If so, what specific areas of the
job were discussed?
Response. As Acting Under Secretary for NCA for the last two years,
I have had frequent opportunities to discuss the leadership and
functions of the NCA with Secretary Shinseki. I meet with Secretary
Shinseki on a weekly basis and have discussed his expectations of me as
the leader of NCA including his goals and objectives for NCA. My
approach has been, and if confirmed will continue to be, in direct
alignment with his goals of being people-centric, results-driven and
forward-looking. NCA's role is to honor our Veterans and loved ones
with their final resting places. We have one chance to get it right and
we try our very best to make that happen.
Question 4. Are there any specific problems or challenges that you
have already identified that you would like to tackle in this new
position?
NCA is continually identifying opportunities to ensure our
cemeteries have the resources required to meet the needs of our
Veterans and family members. I am constantly seeking cost-saving and
innovative ways to ensure NCA's ability to meet the Veterans' needs of
today and in the future. Some of the efficiencies and innovations that
have been put into place over the past two years that I have served as
Acting Under Secretary are an indication of the types of initiatives I
would continue to work on, if confirmed.
For example, NCA is applying new concepts and innovations to our
cemetery processes. These include: the application of the system-wide
use of crypts to preserve land and reduce maintenance/operating costs;
application of ``water-wise'' landscaping that conserves water and
other resources; installation of alternative energy products such as
wind turbines and solar technologies that supply power to facilities;
utilization of bio-based fuels that are homegrown and less damaging to
the environment; and installation of innovative headstone/marker
foundations to ensure long-term height and alignment. Another effort
has been to ensure effective obligation of the $50 million provided by
the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for national shrine
projects, equipment and infrastructure repairs. To ensure responsive
service through burial options for Veterans, we are evaluating other
burial practices such as ``green'' burials and rural burial options.
Through the First Notice of Death Office (FNOD) established in
October 2009, we successfully discontinued $56 million in benefit
payments for deceased beneficiaries and avoided possible collection
actions on benefit recipients.
If confirmed, I would continue to focus efforts on technology and
other improvements that would allow NCA to improve upon the already
successful tracking and monitoring of decedents and gravesites.
Question 5. Oftentimes, the only contact that a Veteran and his/her
family will have with VA is through the National Cemetery
Administration. What will you do to make certain that this contact
remains positive?
Response. NCA continues to lead the Government in customer
satisfaction, and if confirmed I will lead this organization to sustain
and where possible improve this high level of satisfaction. I will
maintain an emphasis on training for excellence throughout the National
Cemetery Administration. From the groundskeeper to the Cemetery
Director, our employees are actively involved in the process of
fostering a culture of consistency and excellence across all areas of
cemetery operations. From the minute contact is made with our National
Scheduling Office until our Veterans or family members are honored at
their final resting place, our customers should be treated with the
utmost dignity and respect. In my view, training is the cornerstone of
this process, and if confirmed, NCA will make every means available to
our employees and leadership to continue to strive for National Shrine
status at our 131 Cemeteries.
Question 6. What are your thoughts on the increasing demand for
ecologically-friendly interments and burial facilities and how do you
envision that could impact the NCA?
Response. Currently, a study is underway regarding ecologically-
friendly interments and burial facilities that will examine alternative
methods that could benefit NCA and the environment. Another area of our
focus is energy efficiency. Presently, NCA has a wind turbine in place
at Bourne National Cemetery, MA, which provides 90% of the cemetery's
energy needs. To conserve natural resources in the West, four of our
cemeteries have implemented water-wise capabilities. For example, the
Bakersfield National Cemetery in California has utilized natural desert
soil, ground cover of natural materials, and drought resistant and
indigenous plants. At San Joaquin Valley National Cemetery in
California, burial areas are seeded with a grass mix that resists
drought. Fort Bliss National Cemetery in Texas has converted to water-
wise landscaping. The National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona in Arizona
uses a ground cover comprised of decomposed granite that is landscaped
with plants adapted to grow in sand and seven miles of drip irrigation
tubing supply water to the 1,800 plants. If confirmed, I will ensure
NCA constantly seeks ways to conserve natural resources and strives to
become even more ecologically-friendly.
Question 7. What do you believe will be your most daunting
challenge and how will you confront it?
Response. If confirmed, my most significant challenge will be
ensuring and maintaining an excellent and effective workforce.
Retirements, interest in upward mobility, career changes and ambitions
are a few of the reasons why the workforce will undoubtedly change. If
confirmed, I must ensure that NCA has effective succession planning
that sustains a high caliber, professional workforce. To do this, I
must maintain a highly successful and dynamic administration and
management team that recruits, develops, and retains the right staff.
In addition we will need to achieve optimum training at all levels, and
provide inclusion and on-boarding activities to keep staff abreast of
the organization's activities, priorities, needs, and opportunities for
change and growth.
Question 8. If confirmed, what would you most like to leave as your
legacy?
Response. If confirmed, I would want to leave behind a legacy of
sustained commitment to quality where people will ask ``how does the
National Cemetery Administration do it?'' I would like NCA to be the
model for customer satisfaction in government and the private sector.
If confirmed, I will keep NCA focused on our core methods for achieving
this excellence in service, making sure we have the best trained
employees who respect our mission and want to honor our Veterans and
their loved ones, as they would want to have their loved ones treated.
It is also about leadership that empowers employees to be visionaries
and to always look for new ways to improve. In addition, if confirmed,
creating new urban national cemeteries is an initiative that I would
like to see fulfilled, and I look forward to working with Congress on
this opportunity.
------
[The Committee questionnaire for Presidential nominees
follows:]
[A letter from the Office of Government Ethics follows:]
[Letter from the nominee to the Office of Legal Counsel,
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs:]
Chairman Murray. Thank you very much to both of you.
We have had a number of Committee Members come in. You have
all noticed that we have new technology changes for this
Committee. I am proud that this is the first Committee that is
moving to a paperless Committee.
You have all the background information, and you have all
of our witness information that you would normally have in a
large binder in front of you.
We are happy to help any of you as you work your way
through learning this; but we hope to have some great advances,
that we will be able to talk to some of our witnesses using
these; and when charts and graphs come up, we will have them in
front of us. I encourage all of you to take advantage of this.
With that, I am going to begin my questions to both of our
witnesses. As everyone knows, the Congress and the President
are trying to find a path forward on the budget today; I want
to ask both of you to help me address the concern that benefits
and services may be affected by a government shutdown.
I understand there is some reticence to discuss this issue,
but as Chairman of this Committee, I need assurances that our
veterans will continue to receive vital services and payments
that they have earned.
Mr. Muro, I wanted to ask you: would services be affected
at the National Cemetery Administration? Most importantly,
would burials still take place during a shutdown?
Mr. Muro. Thank you for that question, Chairman Murray.
Burials will continue at national cemeteries.
Chairman Murray. They will?
Mr. Muro. Yes.
Chairman Murray. General Hickey, have you received any
information on what would be happening at VBA? I really want to
avoid what happened during the last shutdown when veterans
received checks late and some services were curtailed. Have you
received any information yet?
General Hickey. Chairman Murray, thank you for the
question. I am not privy to any of the information and
discussions at VBA on these issues.
Chairman Murray. OK. All right. Well, I appreciate it.
These are concerns that all of us as Members have and I think
we are all working very hard to try to come a resolution so
that we do not need to worry about that. But I think it is
important that we do understand that. So I will be pursuing
those questions with others before this week is over.
Mr. Muro, let me start with you. We talked briefly about
Arlington National Cemetery when you and I had a chance to meet
last week, but I want to get this issue on the record so that
we can offer our veterans some peace of mind.
We know now that the problems with misidentification of
remains at Arlington may be worse than was originally thought.
Arlington is obviously not run by the VA and, therefore, will
not be yours to oversee.
However, VA cemeteries are national shrines and are so
important to our veterans and their survivors. I wanted to ask
you today what safeguards are in place to keep what happened at
Arlington from happening at our VA national cemeteries.
Mr. Muro. Thank you, Chairman Murray.
Within the National Cemetery Administration, we have our
burial operation system that tracks all burials from the time
we take the application to the time we set the headstone. We
keep burial records electronically.
We also have procedures for tracking when the individual is
brought to the cemetery. We have the service. We document every
step of the burial process to ensure they are placed in their
proper gravesite and that the headstone is also placed on the
proper gravesite.
Chairman Murray. Are you helping Arlington with this matter
at this point?
Mr. Muro. Yes, we are. The new superintendent of Arlington
National Cemetery, Pat Hallinan, was a 30-year career NCA
individual that came up through the ranks, became a cemetery
director, moved on as Director of Field Operations, and now is
over at Arlington.
We have also sent over other employees on details to assist
him, and we provide copies of our operational policies and
guidance to help them move forward, and we are also working to
assist them with their electronic systems.
Chairman Murray. Do you think that Arlington should be
realigned to fall under the NCA?
Mr. Muro. I think that we ought give the new team at
Arlington the opportunity to address the issues that are there
so that the Nation's veterans and those in uniform will feel
good about Arlington again.
Chairman Murray. General Hickey, as Under Secretary, you
are going to need to keep a handle on who is receiving bonuses
at VBA and why. Last year, of those VBA executives who received
bonuses, the average was more than $17,000.
How would you justify to veterans that at a time when they
are going to be waiting on average nearly 200 days to get a
decision that a bonus should be given to some VBA executives?
General Hickey. Chairman Murray, thank you for your
question. I will just tell you I have not been briefed on the
bonus situation at VA other than to understand that bonuses are
focused on performance if they are awarded, and I am just not
aware of the level of bonuses that have been distributed inside
of VBA. But if confirmed, I look forward to learning not only
about the entire performance structure and how we reward people
for good performance in service delivery of benefits, but also
the entire human resources structure as well.
Chairman Murray. OK. We will look forward to that and watch
very closely with you.
General, I know I do not need to tell you how vitally
important education benefits are to our veterans, especially
those that are trying to transition from the military into the
civilian world.
I am hearing a lot from veterans today about the cap on
private universities as well as the stop in the payments for
breaks between semesters. Veterans are telling me they are very
concerned that when this stop happens, they will not be able to
pay their rent and will end up dropping out.
I am going to be introducing legislation very soon to fix
this problem. I hope to be working with Senator Burr on this.
It is, I think, very important that we take a look at this and
address it.
Will you commit to working with us on those fixes?
General Hickey. Thank you, Chairman Murray, for your
question.
First, let me start by thanking the entire Committee,
specifically Senator Akaka, Senator Webb, and the rest of the
Committee for your hard work on what is known and seen by
veterans across the Nation as an extraordinarily positive
benefit, not only for themselves but the ability for them to
use it with their families, if necessary, as well as the
benefit that it will afford the Nation by offering this benefit
to our veterans.
So thank you very much for that.
I will say that I know and have been briefed that VBA right
now is conducting a very major outreach effort to all of the
students who are impacted by the changes in the second
legislation, and they are making a strong effort to give them
as much advanced warning as possible.
If confirmed, I absolutely look forward to seeing your
legislation and commenting on that legislation in that respect
but also look forward to learning other ways that we might be
able to assist in this matter.
Chairman Murray. OK. I appreciate that. One more question
for you then I will turn it over to Senator Isakson.
General Hickey, if you are confirmed, you are going to have
one of the toughest jobs at the VA. You are going to be facing
nearly a million pending claims and a massive amount of paper.
I cannot underscore enough the level of frustration that
veterans have with the claims backlog today. I talked about it
in my opening statement.
It takes 190 days to process a claim right now, and we know
the situation is getting worse. VA is now predicting it will
take 230 days to process a claim in 2012, in part due to the
recent decision on Agent Orange claims.
When we met last week, I asked that you provide the
Committee with a plan within the first 45 days on the job on
how you intend to cut the amount of time it takes to give a
veteran a correct answer on a claim, and I want to put that in
the record today.
Are you willing to work and provide this Committee with a
plan within the first 45 days?
General Hickey. Chairman Murray, thank you very much for
your question. And you are right. It is a very big and complex
problem. We have, from my perspective, the very best situation,
which is a senior-leader environment under Secretary Shinseki's
guidance. His really strong staff focused on the solutions, not
just a single way to come at this problem, but multiple ways to
come at this problem by pulling apart the processes and taking
out the waste and the delays and the cost of poor quality and
streamlining those processes by working with the workforce to
prepare them for this change and to train them with good
standard operating procedures and also to bring on new
technology with the veterans benefits management system that
will facilitate and enable them to do these claims in a more
efficient and effective way with broad-based capability within
it that allows that decision and that adjudication to be made
faster, better, and more responsive to our veterans who are in
need.
Yes, ma'am, you have asked me for a 45-day plan. If
confirmed, I am committed to delivering that plan to you and
talking to you about that.
Chairman Murray. OK. Good. I would also ask you if you
could send a training team out to Seattle. When I went out
there and my staff went out there over the last recess, we
found a significant number of problems. I would like to work
with you to get somebody out there to help do some training. If
you could work with me on that.
General Hickey. Chairman Murray, one of my major focuses in
all of quality management is to resolve issues right up front
in a process and that begins with a major focus on training. I
can commit to you that, if confirmed, my focus on training will
be paramount in working with the workforce and others to ensure
that we are providing that in consumable, appropriate ways and
that it is a focus on quality throughout the process throughout
their careers to ensure that we are delivering on that.
Chairman Murray. Thank you very much.
Senator Isakson.
Senator Isakson. Thank you, Chairman Murray.
I want to apologize to both Members that I am going to have
to leave. I have someone waiting for me in my office that I
have to attend to.
But before I do, I want to say two things. One is Chairman
Murray is absolutely correct on what the one focus of your job
is going to be, General Hickey, and the claims problem that we
have got here has to be solved. I will pledge to you any
support that I can give to help you in accomplishing that. I
think that is the number 1 task.
Second, some veterans' benefits are delivered by third
parties. When we met, I discussed with you the issue of VA
refinances on the VA home loan benefit.
As you know, we discovered in Georgia that veterans were
being overcharged on closing fees on VA refinances by some
lenders. It was brought to my attention by an attorney who
represented some veterans.
I want to commend the Administration. When I brought it to
their attention, they immediately began investigating it,
confronted the lenders that had moved the charge around. And we
have gotten refunds over $10 million to our veterans which I
think is to the credit of the Administration.
But it does point out how we should be observant of those
third parties who are delivering, in part or in whole, benefits
to our veterans which you will be in charge of.
And with the permission of the Chairman, at some point in
time after the first 45 days, we would like to have a hearing
on the VA home loan program to make sure that those services
are being delivered appropriately to our veterans, and I will
call on you at the time at that hearing to do so.
General Hickey. Thank you, Senator Isakson, for your
question on the loan guarantee program.
And I, from the exposure I have had thus far, would say
that one of our highest veteran satisfaction areas is in our
home loan program, where they take very seriously the
responsibility to ensure that a veteran remains in their home
and their families remain in their home.
I know that they have some rather significant checks and
balances in the process as they work with the mortgage
providers and lenders and that they take very quick action. I
thank you for the comment on their response. They take very
quick action when they find a process that is not appropriate,
in support of those veterans and advocating for those veterans.
If confirmed, sir, I look forward to learning more about
this particular area in relation to those checks and balances.
Senator Isakson. Thank you very much and thanks to you both
for your service.
Thank you, Madam Chairman.
Chairman Murray. Thank you.
Senator Tester.
Senator Tester. Thank you, Madam Chair.
General Hickey, I will start with you, and first of all, I
will preface this by saying thanks to the both of you for
coming to my office and having a nice visit.
The Chairman asked you a question about the backlogs. In
your testimony, you said it was a central focus of your job
coming in, and you laid down some ideas with the answer to the
Chairman's question.
Have you thought about or do you consider working with
VSOs. Can the VSOs play a role in this backlog issue? Have you
thought about that? And if so, what role could they play, if
any?
General Hickey. Thank you, Senator Tester, for your
question and also for our visit.
If confirmed, my focus with VSOs would be a very strong
partnership. I think they already do provide services in this
area today, and so I would look forward to continuing that
relationship with the VSOs as they assist many veterans in the
preparations of their fully developed claims and other areas
associated with their benefits options and choices.
So my particular approach would be to be very engaged with
VSOs and to look for any opportunity where we could partner
together to make a difference in our veterans' lives.
Senator Tester. OK. Do you have any--and I know you are
supposed to know the answer to a question before you ask it,
but do you have any idea what percentage of veterans do not
take advantage of the VA system?
General Hickey. Senator Tester, I am not going to guess at
that number. I will just say that I know that of the 23 million
veterans that we serve in general, about 8 million of those
veterans, from the numbers I have received in open-source
environments.
Senator Tester. Eight million take advantage of it, and so
we have about 15 million or so that do not.
General Hickey. Sir, I say those are the numbers that I
have seen.
Senator Tester. OK. Is there anything we can do about that?
I mean, we have veterans out there who have earned benefits, I
guess maybe they are not buying what we are offering. Is there
anything we can do about that?
General Hickey. Thank you, Senator Tester, for your follow-
up. I know that VBA, in particular, from a benefits perspective
is pushing very hard in outreach. In fact, my understanding is
that VBA has established the Benefits Assistance Service in an
effort to do exactly that which is outreach to the many
veterans that have served so well our Nation so well.
Senator Tester. Any idea on how effective that has been?
General Hickey. Sir, my understanding is that it is fairly
recent. But I will say that one of the major efforts that I
have actually seen myself as a veteran is the e-benefits site
where they can literally take advantage of self-service options
to potentially pull their DD-214 and have it on the spot, to
look up some of the other benefits they are entitled to, and
see what the status of that is, even to access their payment
history for things like their schools.
Senator Tester. Part of that outreach hopefully will be
focused on rural America, where we have a lot of veterans,
whether you are talking about Montana or Alaska or any other
rural State--we have a ton of them.
We talked about the GI overpayment issue and whether it is
a, for whatever reason, clerical error, cumbersome process,
whatever it might be. Currently, if the VA overpays a person it
really puts the veteran in a bind. And I am talking about if
they are going to school particularly. We talked about that in
my office.
Have you had a chance to consider this issue at all to look
for any remedies, and if so, what would they be?
General Hickey. Thank you, Senator Tester, for that
question. I support the Secretary's position that the student
needs to be focused on their education and completing that
education and not worrying about the financial situations
associated with that education.
What I can tell you is that the outreach effort is out
there but it is also inclusive of a willingness and the
leaning-forward nature of VBA to work with that student to, if
necessary, readjust payment options and anything that might be
more facilitative to the student to really focus on their
schoolwork and not on this issue.
Senator Tester. That is great. Is there any effort going to
be put toward the people who are on campus that are
administrating these programs?
General Hickey. Sir, my understanding is that currently
there are relationships with schools and with the education
business line and that a focus for them is to build those
partnerships and relationships and to communicate with them so
that they are understanding what the issues are and who their
students are.
Senator Tester. When you get confirmed and you get into
this position and you do the outreach, I think those people on
the campuses can be a tremendous resource for you as you move
forward to solve this problem because they have been a
tremendous resource for me, quite frankly.
Just in closing real quick, I would just say that, Steve, I
want to keep on your radar screen the Yellowstone cemetery. It
is a big deal for veterans across Montana, northern Wyoming,
and hopefully we can get that settled as soon as you are
confirmed if not before.
So thank you.
Mr. Muro. Thank you.
Chairman Murray. Senator Moran.
Senator Moran. Thank you, Madam Chair.
General Hickey, I have heard from VA officials for a long
time about the number 1 priority that you plan to address is
the backlog.
What makes this different? What do you intend to do
differently considering what we have heard over a long period
of time about solving this issue?
General Hickey. Thank you, Senator Moran, for your
question.
I would start by first acknowledging the really hard work
that has been done by the VBA staff. Yes, in fact, there was
1.2 million claims in the door in 2010, but they have also
reached record heights in completing a million claims in 2010,
and so I thank again this Committee for providing the resources
that allow them to do that.
What I would say the difference now that perhaps did not
exist for my predecessors in this position is the culmination
of first and foremost, a OneVA approach to this challenge.
I think in the past it may have been seen as a VBA issue so
VBA needs to go solve it. But under this Secretary's leadership
and under the leadership of Deputy Secretary Gould and the
colleagues in VHA and even the National Cemetery
Administration, I think that the focus of this issue now being
seen as a OneVA effort is first and foremost, an opportunity.
Second, the fact that the process has been unpacked very
diligently, like never before, really looked at hard, and then
brought back together in a way that shapes the business rules
for the veterans benefit management system is a second. So a
real strong focus on the process.
Third, frankly, the VBMS system itself will move VBA from a
paper-bound process, as you well described and I have actually
seen--pictures with mountains of papers that barely leave desk
space for our hardworking VBA employees--I think that VBMS
system and my experience using systems like that in my day job
today, is a significant way forward. When you combine that with
the process. But critical to that will be the preparation of
the people, training them to use that system, getting to a
standard operating procedure and training methods to prepare
them for VBMS.
I think that creates an opportunity that has not existed
before.
Senator Moran. If I understand your answer correctly, in
large part this is the culmination. We have been working a long
time on getting the backlog under control. The Secretary is
clearly emphasizing the importance of the entire VA but because
of the progress that has been made to date, we are now in a
position to make significant progress and the backlog greatly
diminished. Is that accurate?
General Hickey. Senator Moran, thank you for the follow-up.
I will say that it is very much the goal the Secretary has
established in his strategic plan, and I am a strategic planner
by trade so I value the guidance provided which is to have no
veteran wait more than 125 days for a good-quality decision at
a 98 percent accuracy rate.
Senator Moran. What it is in your experience at Accenture
that lends itself to the leadership necessary to accomplish
this goal?
General Hickey. Thank you, Senator Moran, for allowing me
to tell a little bit about that side of my life. I will say
that one of my roles was to do the requirements development for
a Federal agency in customer-relation management and call-
center practices.
So while certainly I am not an ``Xs and Os'' code developer
of any kind, and never claimed to be, I really did see the
value associated with large throughput of transactions, how you
triage that, how a system allows you to communicate with your
customer more effectively in whatever means they choose to do
with you, whether it was fax or phone or email or app or iPad,
in your example.
Also my understanding is that combined with what I do today
in program management where I oversee a team that does all of
the transactional H.R. services for another Federal client,
seeing how it does not matter, it is not personality or person-
dependent or even desk-dependent, when we push our work through
a system. Any qualified individual can work on that same file
knowing all the data and all the work that has been done before
and there is good accountability in that process, and it
reduces the burden of the paper flow issues that are created as
well.
So that would be the two major things. And the third,
frankly, is the program management experience that I have. So
working toward deadlines and timelines and achieving what we
promise and what we committed to in the inception of the
program.
Senator Moran. General, thank you very much.
If confirmed, I look forward to helping you reach that goal
on behalf of the veterans of Kansas and the country.
Mr. Muro, we have three national cemeteries and four State
cemeteries in Kansas. I think at some point in time we need to
talk about some expansion but I appreciate and just would
acknowledge your rise within the organization and it is
pleasing to me that there are those opportunities for people to
begin as a mechanic and end up as the Under Secretary.
If confirmed, I offer my congratulations to you on that
success in your personal life.
Madam Chairman, thank you very much.
Mr. Muro. Thank you.
Chairman Murray. Senator Begich.
STATEMENT OF HON. MARK BEGICH,
U.S. SENATOR FROM ALASKA
Senator Begich. First, congratulations to both of you for
being nominated, and I appreciate your being here today.
Let me, if I can, ask a couple of questions. First, General
Hickey, last year I held a field hearing in Alaska regarding
the VA and IG report that was published, and it was published
in 2009. I am not sure if you are familiar with it but I am not
expecting you to be specifically.
But in that report basically said the Anchorage office did
not meet the VA requirements in thirteen of the fourteen
regional areas, and it kind of had a shopping list of issues.
They have been working through it.
But one of the big issues, and I was just intrigued by your
conversation here about customer service and some of those
elements that you are familiar with is the relationship and
confidence in the system because when you get a strong IG
report obviously there is a lack of faith that things will get
done.
And as they start to get done, the question is how do you
get that information out to people so that they feel more
confident in the system as these changes are being done.
First, let me ask you: are you familiar with the report? I
am not expecting you to be.
General Hickey. Thank you, Senator Begich, for your
questions. I have not read the report but I understand at a
very high level the issue.
Senator Begich. Do you think when there are reports like
this, and I would be interested in your feedback, and I am
assuming positive confirmation, on the report and kind of the
status of how to deal with the relationship and getting the
confidence level higher with the VA regarding the outcome of
the work they have been doing based on that report.
Give me some thoughts as to how you might address that.
General Hickey. Thank you, sir, for the follow-up. I will
start by saying it is my understanding that the issues raised
in the IG report have been closed, resolved and closed.
Senator Begich. Right.
General Hickey. So my other experience, frankly from a
military perspective where we did a great number of inspections
and reviews through IG assessments and evaluations, is that and
I do not know how the IG works within the VA, but I would
assume there were some similar interactions between IGs.
As to the first issue, no matter who we are working with in
our VBA environment, there are appropriate standards, and those
standards are assessed. I do know that the VBA or the VA IG do
periodic assessments through a sampling of the different
offices to assess performance.
I believe in assessing performance. I have lived in an
environment where assessing performance validates that you are
on the right track and that you are going in the right
direction and that you do not need additional assistance.
I do not necessarily think sometimes that finding something
in a performance assessment from an IG perspective is a bad
thing. It highlights it. It lets us put resources and
appropriate training or appropriate adjustments to the process
to fix it and resolve it and move forward.
And aside from that, I would just simply say communication
for me regardless of the topic is very vital. Outreach is very
vital. If confirmed, I am committed to getting the word out as
often and as frequently--seven times seven different ways, if
necessary--to communicate.
Senator Begich. Very good. Let me go onto another issue. A
couple of weeks ago I held a meeting with many of the Federal
agencies, kind of an interagency group on homelessness.
And the veteran population is growing fairly dramatic
especially in rural areas. Senator Tester talked about rural
Montana. Rural Alaska is even more rural than Montana. We
always joke about that, he and I.
Tell me, what are your thoughts on how to ensure that the
veteran homeless population access the VA in areas that are
remote in Alaska?
And how would you reach out to the rural communities,
especially in getting benefits to the rural homeless that is
clearly growing? There is no question about it in Alaska. You
see it.
General Hickey. Thank you, Senator Begich, for your
question and for your concern for those veterans who are really
struggling without a roof over their head and perhaps many
other benefits associated with that as well.
I will just start my comments by saying that particular
issue, I know, is a significant one to the Secretary and to VA
at this point in time and is, frankly, one of the issues that
drew my interest to this position--finding a way to meet the
needs of our homeless veterans.
So if confirmed, I look forward to exploring with VBA and
with the offices in VA who have that charge to tackle that
issue, on ways in which VBA can assist in providing methods to
provide benefits to our homeless veterans. I know that they do
that today.
Senator Begich. Assuming you get confirmed, my time is
expired, but I would love to invite you to Alaska, and
obviously at whatever time, to kind of visit some of the rural
areas so that you get kind of that sense of the struggles we
have there in trying to meet those services.
General Hickey. Thank you very much, Senator Begich. I have
had the wonderful opportunity in my Air Force career to make
two great trips to Alaska and spent quite a bit of time up
there, one in the dead of winter and one in the glorious all-
day sunshine.
So I would look forward to visiting with you.
Senator Begich. You get extra points for being there in the
winter. That is a plus up. You have great enthusiasm. I think
it is exciting. Do not let the system beat you down because I
think that enthusiasm you have is going to be a huge plus to
the VA.
General Hickey. Thank you very much, Senator, and I will
work my best to not let that happen.
Chairman Murray. Thank you.
Senator Brown.
STATEMENT OF HON. SCOTT P. BROWN,
U.S. SENATOR FROM MASSACHUSETTS
Senator Brown of Massachusetts. Thank you, Madam Chair.
First of all, thank you for holding the hearing and obviously
congratulations to both of you.
General, starting with you, you mentioned your private-
sector experiences providing knowledge on building, retaining a
quality workforce, and then customer relationship management
especially. What lessons do you think you could apply from the
private sector to these areas, to the areas that we have been
talking about, if you are confirmed?
General Hickey. Thank you very much, Senator Brown, for
your question and also for your continued service in the
National Guard.
I have a long history with the National Guard, and it is a
very proud one so I especially appreciate what you do for your
State as well in that regard.
So, my experience with industry has been very remarkable. I
will be honest in saying it was not my experience in the
military. Learning the way that industry uses technology,
combined with processes, how it prepares the workforce to be
really comfortable in that method was new to me.
So I have just been very eager in understanding all that
industry has learned about leveraging IT; but specifically I
will say that, in application to this role, I have learned that
you do not just throw IT in an organization and expect that to
be successful.
I have learned that you need to prepare with good change
management, with good communication, with good training plans
in advance of an IT system integration in that you need to
also, in conjunction with that IT, make sure that it is
capturing the best and right process.
And if you are doing that in an agile way, meaning you are
willing and flexible to improve upon that over time, then you
really can continue to improve a process and really drive
efficiencies even higher.
The last thing I will say: I have always been a focused
person on data and analytics but even more heightened in my
experience in industry and I will drive my decisions not
exclusively on data and analytics but heavily looking for data
to drive decisions.
Senator Brown of Massachusetts. Indeed, it is certainly
important, but what I found and I think everybody who is here
in Congress has found that the lack of personal attention to
soldiers' claims is the driving force. They feel neglected.
They get lost in the quagmire of paperwork and statistics and
the like.
Have you given any thought to actually working in teams and
having one team start and then finish the claim and doing it in
a more potentially timely and personable way?
General Hickey. Thank you, Senator Brown, for your follow-
up question. It is my understanding, and I look forward to
confirming this, that our VBA workforce takes every one of
those applications and sees it not as a piece of paper or as a
number or as a statistic, but as a deserving veteran who
deserves their care and compassion. Everyday they get up and
come to work to do that.
I would offer to you that we will continue to encourage
personal relationships with those that they serve in VBA. But
also, as I have been throughout my career, always open to ideas
that would help us to operate better and more efficiently.
I have, in my experience, both in the Air Force and in my
current industry experience, worked on matrix teams and learned
that sometimes to tackle big problems you have to look at the
way in which you work together to expedite things.
So if confirmed, I look forward to having more discussions
and understanding how VBA operates today and its teaming
structure.
Senator Brown of Massachusetts. I would suggest putting
everybody in a room and have them then take a file and go from
``A'' to ``Z'' within the confines of that room and just
solving a problem and banging out that workload.
I think everyone here will agree, that is the number 1
issue I get phone calls on in Massachusetts. We have a big wall
in our office of claims that we have settled and it is through
really unorthodox manners that we, in fact, have to do it.
Fortunately, they are in the same building, and we are able
to go down and look them eye to eye but not for that, my gosh,
I cannot even imagine. I would ask you to focus on that.
I am going to shift gears, sir. How has the National
Cemetery been able to avoid some of the mistakes that plague
the Arlington Cemetery?
Mr. Muro. Thank you for that question, Senator Brown.
I believe it is our culture of accountability and training
of our employees plus the responsibility to report any type of
situation that may occur up the chain of command to ensure that
the families of the funeral homes be notified if something does
occur. We do not hide anything we do. We are up front. We train
our employees to ensure everyone understands that the
responsibility of maintaining our cemeteries as national
shrines and providing dignified burials for veterans and their
family is the most important part of our job.
Senator Brown of Massachusetts. I do know when Senator
McCaskill and I had a hearing, we actually discovered a lot of
what was going on and we filed legislation that passed in a
bipartisan, bicameral manner. So we have tried to track those
particular issues.
How do you plan on recruiting the right people, continuing
to recruit the right people to continue with your mission?
Mr. Muro. Well, one of the things that we do, and if
confirmed will continue to improve on--hiring veterans is a
strong way for us to continue quality service and also going to
the colleges to bring people in at different levels and
different programs like the SCEP programs where we can train
them and promote them so that they understand the culture of
the National Cemetery Administration.
Senator Brown of Massachusetts. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Chairman.
Chairman Murray. Senator Webb.
STATEMENT OF HON. JIM WEBB,
U.S. SENATOR FROM VIRGINIA
Senator Webb. Thank you, Chairman Murray.
This is my first opportunity to congratulate you on having
taken over the chair. I am very pleased to be remaining on the
Committee with you.
I would like to thank both of you for having come by my
office and we had, I think, pretty extensive conversations on
areas that I feel are of particular concern.
General Hickey, I think this whole area of seamless
transition as it applies to the disability evaluation system is
something we really need to get better coordination with
between DOD and VBA, and I am pretty comfortable with the
conversation we had on that.
Both of you have, I think, the types of careers that should
really commend you to the positions that you are going to
undertake.
I have to say that I am extremely impressed with Mr. Muro's
journey. I think you probably know where all the nooks and
crannies of the system are. I will resist the pun that usually
comes along with that.
But I have one area that I want to make sure, for the
record, that we are clear on with respect to the concern of my
office. Mr. Muro, yours is the only office in government where
I think this still has relevance, but I assume that you would
agree that it is the position of the VA that Confederate
soldiers have the same status as Union soldiers when it comes
to memorial affairs, from the Civil War.
Mr. Muro. Thank you, Senator Webb. I think that all of
those who served our Nation and the responsibilities we have to
ensure that they are properly memorialized is important to the
VA and the National Cemetery Administration.
Senator Webb. So in terms of legal status at this point in
our history, Confederate soldiers and Union soldiers have the
same legal status?
Mr. Muro. They do have the same legal status as the Union
soldiers and we provide them memorialization in the same
manner, depending on the location of their burials.
Senator Webb. This is not an idle question, as you know. We
are coming up on a period here with the 150th anniversary of
the Civil War. This was not always the truth. This was not
always the case with the Federal Government, particularly in
the area of, well, actually after the Civil War in a number of
areas but during the past century, particularly in the area of
memorial affairs, how our Confederate soldiers were remembered,
and there is a tremendous amount of misunderstanding, I think,
in this country about the reasons that people served during the
Civil War.
We can take the political questions aside. You and I served
during the Vietnam era. We know the difference between
political questions and actual service.
But when you look back at that era--a lot of people forget
this--that only 5 percent of whites in the South owned slaves
and only 25 percent had anything to do economically with the
system. That is from John Hope Franklin, the most eminent
African-American historian of the last century.
Yet one out of every three white southern males between
ages 18 and 40 died in the Civil War, and it has taken a great
deal of effort to have them properly memorialized.
I view this not only personally because of my own family
journey but because we up here are the stewards of the service
for those who came before us. Just as people are someday going
to memorialize what you and I did during the Vietnam era.
With that in mind, I raise the issue of the cemetery in
Richmond which we have had correspondence on, the Oakwood
Cemetery, where, depending upon who is counting, there are
about 14,000 Confederate soldiers buried.
I had a long discussion on this. The question seems to be
the statutory interpretation of what it means to have a marked
grave. What we are trying to do, as you know, with the support
of the Virginia government and the city of Richmond, is to get
upright markers where we can actually have names on these
markers.
I know the position that we received from the VA when we
asked this question was that because these graves were marked
in some way with these flat, numbered markers that that
constitutes a marking by law.
Let me ask you: is that interpretation from the general
counsel at the DVA or is that legal interpretation from your
office? Do you know?
Mr. Muro. Thank you for the question, Senator Webb. It was
guidance from the legal counsel in VA in reference to the
interpretation of what is considered a marked grave whether in
a national cemetery or private cemetery.
Senator Webb. So this was legal advice but not a legal
opinion from general counsel?
Mr. Muro. It was legal guidance provided to us that the
graves are considered marked because of the historical fact
that the women's organization responsible for determining the
type of markers they wanted to mark the graves, came to the
conclusion that the square blocks with the numbers was the way
they wanted to mark those graves.
Senator Webb. And as we discussed the other day, one of the
reasons was that private citizens were having to pay for the
markers at that point in 1905 or whenever that was. Is that
correct?
Mr. Muro. That is what we assume why they decided to buy
those particular markers. They followed the footsteps of other
cemeteries that used a similar marker.
Senator Webb. If you read the statute, what we are talking
about here is headstones or markers being provided at the
expense of the United States which is the traditional policy.
Mr. Muro. That is our policy today. We do provide them
today.
Senator Webb. We may want to continue the discussion. I
hope you can find some sort of resolution here that will honor
these people.
Mr. Muro. We look forward to working with you and your
staff, Senator.
Senator Webb. Thank you.
Chairman Murray. Thank you very much.
General Hickey, let me turn back to you. Right now, we have
a situation where modern medicine is not reflected in how
disabilities are rated. My staff uncovered a case recently
where a veteran was prescribed a very dangerous drug to treat a
disability identified as cancer by the National Cancer
Institute. Yet the veteran was rated at zero percent and
received no compensation for his cancer.
Are you committed to fixing the rating schedule?
General Hickey. Thank you, Chairman Murray.
It is my understanding, from the discussions that I have
had to date, that there currently is an ongoing effort to
update the rating schedules for VA and that is being done in
conjunction with both the internal VHA experts but also medical
experts outside of VA, and I think and believe that even some
of our experts in VSOs are participating at some level as well.
So, if confirmed, I look forward to learning more about
that VA schedule process and to being part of the process that
is required from VBA's perspective.
Chairman Murray. Thank you. We have talked about several
times today the VBA moving from this paper system into one that
uses technology to help speed up work and improve the final
decision.
I have seen some of these claims you mentioned. You have
seen photos. Where do you begin in taking these massive files
of paperwork and distilling them down to something that works
in a paperless environment?
General Hickey. Thank you, Chairman Murray, for the
question. I think I begin by, if confirmed, seeing how the
process works both in the unpacking of process effort that was
done by the Secretary but also getting my feet on the ground
and my sleeves rolled up and out with the workforce, seeing and
hearing how they do their work every single day and the
barriers to that work.
So I would start there. Then I would also focus in on and
learn in much more detail what the technology will do for VBA
and for the benefits distribution in the big picture view. I
would like, if confirmed, to really get down into the
capabilities and requirements that they are building those
systems to and understand that and how they correlate with the
processes that have been described.
So I would need to defer until, if confirmed, to make a
good assessment and provide you a better answer on where to
start because I think inherent is the understanding of the
process, the people, and the preparation of those people and
the technology and how that all comes together.
Chairman Murray. I do not need to tell you it is not going
to be easy, but it has to be done so I look forward to hearing
from you once you are confirmed, and have actually seen some of
these files like I have how we are going to move from a file
that is mass paper to something that is doable for literally
thousands and thousands of claims.
General Hickey. Chairman Murray, I might just add my
personal experience, my current experience with the program
that I work at right now in my company. We actually have
converted Federal agency official personnel files and have done
that through a very major scanning project effort.
It takes a bit of time to do, but with the right kinds of
high-speed technology enhancements or things of that nature
there are things that can be done to tackle those issues, at
least from my external perspective.
Certainly, that is not from my internal VBA perspective. I
am not privy to those kinds of operations that exist today.
Chairman Murray. Thank you.
Mr. Muro, let me turn to you. I think we need to
continually re-evaluate the burial needs of our veterans, and I
know that the VA already has begun this process.
According to the President's budget request to us, the VA
is establishing an urban initiative to provide enhanced service
to densely populated areas like Los Angeles, San Francisco, or
New York.
Can you describe to us this initiative and any others that
you think will help the burial needs of our veterans?
Mr. Muro. Thank you for that question, Chairman Murray.
The urban initiative will actually be columbaria-only
cemeteries. That is for cremated remains niches in the urban
areas, Los Angeles, San Francisco Bay area, Chicago, New York.
That is a start.
We got results from the annual surveys we do with our
customers and they are telling us they would come more if
cemeteries could be closer; and with the increase of cremation
in the United States, we are looking at building the
columbaria-only cemeteries to provide closer service to those
veterans that live in urban areas.
In the reference to rural America, the Secretary has
charged all of VA to improve access to those veterans that live
in rural America. And NCA is looking into that now. And if
confirmed, I will ensure that we provide some kind of a burial
option for those veterans in rural America.
Chairman Murray. OK. We look forward to hearing more on
that.
One more question for you. You have worked your way up
through the National Cemetery Administration and served the
past 2 years as the Acting Under Secretary. So you are
intimately familiar with our national cemeteries.
You stated in the pre-hearing questions that, if confirmed,
you would pursue even greater levels of service and
satisfaction to meet our solemn obligation to maintain our VA
cemeteries as national shrines unlike what has occurred in
Arlington.
Can you talk for a minute about what your plans are to
achieve higher levels of service and satisfaction, and most
importantly, how you will measure your success?
Mr. Muro. Thank you for that question, Chairman Murray.
One of the ways we are doing that is that we are actually
looking at our surveys, not only the surveys we conduct
annually through a contract but also through Michigan
University, the survey they do.
And we are looking at those cemeteries that have high
scores, 97, 98, 99 in customer service, and we are actually
benchmarking them. We have gone out and done studies at those
cemeteries to see what it is that they are doing that has rated
such a high score.
One of my concerns is that 5 to 6 percent of the veteran
population did not give us a high score. For example, my lowest
scored cemetery is 84. That is not a low score, but that is not
an acceptable score.
So we are looking at what can we do, what are the
cemeteries at the top doing, how can we instill these best
practices at the other cemeteries. The National Training Center
is one of the ways we are doing this.
We just kicked off a new training class for our caretakers.
It is cemetery caretaker training that teaches them all aspects
of cemetery operations. So all new caretakers coming in will go
through it.
My goal is to have all our caretakers that are on the roles
right now which is close to 800 attend one of the classes
within the next 24 months so that we can certify that all of
those individuals have been trained in all aspects of their
job.
Chairman Murray. OK. Thank you very much.
Senator Begich, do you have any additional questions?
Senator Begich. Just a couple of quick ones.
General, regarding the paperless system you are going to
which I think is great, I just want to put one cautionary note
from a customer coming in, for example, in Alaska especially
our rural communities, it will take 30 minutes to download a
1040-EZ form because we have the slowest speeds in the country
when it comes to high-speed broadband.
So I just want to give you a caution. For example, a lot of
our communities now in rural Alaska, to fill out grant
applications and so forth, that is now down almost 48 percent
because they just do not have the broadband capacity.
So as you think about your internal system and how you use
that to connect with your customer, people filing the claims,
keep in mind that some areas may be connected but not have the
speed to do it appropriately.
Just imagine a 1040-EZ form. I mean we are going to get a
lot of calls these next 2 weeks, I know it already, thank you,
April 15th is right around the corner. So I just want to give
you that cautionary note as you do this work.
General Hickey. Thank you, Senator Begich. If confirmed, I
will certainly keep our rural veterans and those who are not in
close proximity to bandwidth capabilities in mind as we work
through this issue.
Senator Begich. Again, it is not that they will not
necessarily be connected. It is just the speed, and that is the
big problem.
The other thing, I just want to point this out, something I
hope you look at. I know within our Anchorage office there
seems to be brokering out some of the claims to, I think it is
Montana and Salt Lake City.
That tells me there is a volume issue or staffing issue. We
have lots being shipped out. The problem, of course, is that is
2,000 miles away from us.
So as you again get confirmed, could you look at that and
give my office some feedback on what you see as the challenge
there and why so many are being brokered out to outside of
Alaska.
Again, that just tells me there is a staffing issue here or
some sort of systematic problem.
General Hickey. Thank you, Senator Begich, for your
question. My answer would be, if confirmed, to look at that
more specifically from an Alaska perspective but I do not have
that level of specificity right now.
Senator Begich. Great.
General Hickey. I would say that the overall objective for
VBA when it comes to claims adjudication is to get to no
veteran waiting over 125 days and a 98 percent accuracy rate.
I think if we can get there leveraging new processes, a
good workforce well-trained in the new systems and a new
technology approach, then I think no matter where you live you
will be a satisfied veteran, and we will work hard to consider
the needs of our rural vets in that respect.
Senator Begich. Fantastic.
The last thing, Mr. Muro, I know you are probably aware of
this, but in Alaska we have two cemeteries, one in Sitka and
one in Anchorage.
The one problem with that is there is a lot of our northern
region that is not connected really to Anchorage or Sitka so we
are looking at a new facility in Fairbanks, and I do not know
if you have already started some discussions in your current
role with the State of Alaska.
So I am curious. I wonder if you are aware of that or if
you have started any discussions that you want to share or will
put this on your list to kind of keep in mind.
Mr. Muro. Thank you for that question, Senator Begich.
Yes, I am. I work closely with Frank Salvas, our director
of the Veterans Cemetery Grants Program. I know that the
cemetery is on the list and he is working closely with the
State to ensure we get a cemetery up there in Fairbanks.
Senator Begich. Great. I know they are looking at the sites
right now and trying to determine that. I just wanted to make
sure you have that kind of on your radar. It is great to have
Sitka. That takes care of southeast. Anchorage kind of takes
south central.
But we have another large military population, as you know,
in the Fairbanks interior regions, and Fairbanks would be,
obviously, an appropriate place.
So thank you very much.
Mr. Muro. You are welcome.
Senator Begich. Thank you, Madam Chair. I have no other
questions.
Chairman Murray. All right.
Thank you very much, General Hickey, Mr. Muro, for your
full and open participation in today's hearing.
Every organization needs a leader, and I am anxious to have
permanent leadership at the top of both the VBA and the NCA.
The VBA in particular is facing some real issues. We talked
about a lot of them today that have to be addressed by
permanent leadership as soon as possible.
Before I adjourn the hearing, I do want to acknowledge Mike
Walcoff, who has been at the helm of the VBA for over a year
now as the Acting Under Secretary for Benefits. Mike knows what
a tough job both General Hickey and Mr. Muro have in store for
them. And he is in the audience today to lend them his support.
Mr. Walcoff, if you want to stand, I just want to thank you
for your service. I appreciate all you have done. [Applause.]
I would ask that any Member who wishes to submit
posthearing questions to General Hickey or Mr. Muro, do so by
this Friday so that this Committee can move forward with the
nomination process as soon as possible.
With that, thank you very much to both of our witnesses
today, and this hearing is officially adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 11:24 a.m., the Committee was adjourned.]