On Feb. 8, 2021, Denis McDonough was confirmed by the Senate to be the United States’ 11th Secretary of Veterans Affairs. He heads into the job with a rich background filled with experience navigating the government’s complex bureaucracy. Being a veteran of Capitol Hill, he aims to leverage his knowledge to better serve our nation’s military Veterans.
In this episode of Borne the Battle, McDonough touches on topics important to many Veterans:
- His vision for Community Care.
- His priorities when improving the VA health care system.
- Ensuring every Veteran gets a COVID vaccine in a timely fashion.
- Making sure rural Veterans can consistently and reliably access VA health care services.
- Maximizing VA mental health services to best benefit Veterans in need.
- Transitioning VA records from paper to electronic.
While being VA Secretary is a new position for McDonough, he has taken steps to bridge the gaps in his knowledge by renewing a tradition that he followed as White House chief of staff. He reached out to as many former VA Secretaries he could to ask them for advice. In the interview, McDonough said the conversations have served him well so far and he intends to maintain these relationships moving forward.
And while McDonough is not a Veteran, he contacted multiple Veterans during his first weeks as secretary to solicit their advice and general thoughts on the state of VA. In doing so, McDonough said he has learned valuable information on what issues are important to Veterans and has used those discussions to shape his priorities.
Many of the comments McDonough made in this episode reflect the statements he made during his Senate confirmation hearing:
Being a lifelong civil servant, McDonough enters his new position with a vast wealth of knowledge about navigating the federal government to achieve goals. Whether he successfully leverages his extensive experience from Capitol Hill to effectively serve America’s Veterans – he says that will ultimately be decided by you.
This article was originally published on the VAntage Point blog and is republished here with permission.
