This story originally published Dec. 11, 2020 at 6 p.m. EST. It was updated at 7:14, 9:21, 10:19 p.m. and Dec. 12 to include information from additional veteran organizations'.
All of the largest national veteran service organizations have called for the removal of the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs following a scathing watchdog report that found he and his senior staff sought to discredit a veteran who reported being sexually assaulted at a VA hospital.
Disabled American Veterans (DAV) was the first major veteran service organization to call for VA Secretary Robert Wilkie's removal Friday evening, opening the floodgates for its fellow organizations. DAV was soon joined by AMVETS, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) -- all among the largest and most influential nonpartisan veteran service organizations in the country.
The American Legion and Vietnam Veterans of America followed on Saturday, rounding out the "big six" of the oldest, largest veteran service organizations all united calling for Wilkie's removal.
Minority Veterans of America, Service Women's Action Network (SWAN), Modern Military Association of America (MMAA), National Veterans Legal Services Program and the NYC Veterans Alliance joined the larger, older VSOs calling for VA leaders to be held accountable. Minority Veterans of America, MMAA, NVLSP and the Alliance called for Wilkie's resignation or removal, while SWAN said he and VA leaders "cannot be relied upon to provide safe care" for women veterans, without specifically calling for Wilkie's firing as of Friday evening.
The groups said Wilkie and his senior deputies violated veteran trust and failed to protect those they were appointed to serve.
VA made it clear Wilkie has no intention of resigning.
"Secretary Wilkie has led VA to achieve landmark improvements in veterans’ trust, quality of care and employee satisfaction," Press Secretary Christina Noel told Connecting Vets Saturday. "He will continue to lead the department, including its historic response to the COVID-19 pandemic."
The White House did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
"DAV no longer has confidence that Secretary Wilkie can effectively lead the department and calls for his immediate removal," said Randy Reese, executive director of DAV's Washington Headquarters. "It is clear based on the troubling findings and conclusions of the recent VA OIG report that Secretary Wilkie's personal actions in response to a reported incident of sexual assault at the D.C. VA Medical Center breached the trust of those whom he is beholden to honor and serve.
"Rather than swiftly investigating the sexual assault allegations and focusing on preventing future incidents, Secretary Wilkie and other senior VA leaders took actions to investigate and disparage the veteran who was assaulted," Reese continued.
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AMVETS accused Wilkie of betraying the trust veterans place in VA.
"AMVETS supports DAV's call to remove VA Secretary Wilkie," AMVETS National Commander Jan Brown said Friday. "Women veterans already hesitate to use VA services for a number of reasons and we need a Secretary who will make our community feel welcomed. I am calling on the VA Secretary to resign immediately."
IAVA said Wilkie is not working for the best interest of veterans "and does not deserve to lead the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. IAVA joins those who have lost the trust and confidence in his leadership and we call for his immediate resignation."
Lindsay Church, executive director and founder of Minority Veterans of America said on Twitter Friday it was "about time" VSOs spoke out against Wilkie and his staff "who not only mishandled this but have been downright complicit in the assault of a woman veteran."
In its statement, Minority Veterans of America called Wilkie's leadership "toxic" and called for an ethics investigation into Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, also named in the watchdog report. Crenshaw's staff previously denied that he had any involvement or contact from VA regarding the veteran's case.
VFW Executive Director B.J. Lawrence called the watchdog report about Wilkie and his senior staff "damning" and said the VFW has "lost all confidence in the performance of Secretary Robert Wilkie".
"The accountability, professionalism and respect that our veterans have earned, and quite frankly deserve, is completely lost in this current VA leadership team," Lawrence said. "Sexual assault is a criminal act. We expected the Secretary to properly investigate this serious matter, yet he and close members of his team focused on questioning the credibility of the alleged assaulted veteran. The VFW can no longer entrust Secretary Wilkie with leading our VA or caring for our veterans. Trust is lost and our veterans cannot wait until Jan. 20, 2021 for a new leadership change. Secretary Wilkie must resign now."
PVA Executive Director Carl Blake said the report was "another sign of the pervasive culture that allows for sexual assault and harassment as well as retaliation against those who raise these issues to continue within VA.
"We call on the President of the United States to fire Secretary Robert Wilkie, if he doesn’t resign. Additionally, the senior leaders who enabled this to happen and allowed this culture to fester should be held accountable," Blake continued. "Condoning unacceptable behavior through inaction has for too long defined the culture of VA. Immediate systemic change is needed to ensure all veterans have access to VA care without fear of assault or harassment."
By the next day, the American Legion and VVA had joined the other major veteran service organizations, uniting the influential groups representing millions of American vets in their calls for Wilkie's removal as VA Secretary.
“The American Legion has long supported legislation that brings accountability to the Department of Veterans Affairs," Legion Commander Bill Oxford said. "We have also called for the equal and respectful treatment of women veterans. It is clear that Secretary Robert Wilkie failed to meet the standard that the veteran who came forward with the complaint deserved ... By the promises set forth by his own department, Secretary Wilkie should resign. Wilkie’s top lieutenants Pam Powers, James Hutton and Curt Cashour should also step down because of their roles in this violation of trust.”
DAV said it has repeatedly called for a culture change at VA "at the highest levels of leadership" for all veterans to feel safe accessing care at the department.
"VA's top leaders must set the example and hold accountable anyone who violates this trust," Reese said. "It is clear that from the onset, the Secretary’s and other senior officials’ handling of this case was at serious odds with the department’s no-tolerance policy toward sexual harassment," Reese said. "The Secretary’s failure to meet this standard or hold others accountable undermines decades of work that advocates — including many VA staff — have done to bring an end to sexual harassment and assault throughout the department. VA can and must do better."
After a nearly yearlong investigation, VA's independent watchdog, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), released a report Thursday that found Wilkie and senior VA officials sought to discredit the veteran and senior Congressional advisor, repeatedly questioning her credibility and failing to properly handle her case.
VA leaders also failed to take action against the man accused of sexually assaulting the veteran. VA police ran a background check on the veteran almost immediately, sharing it with senior leaders, but it took days for them to run the same check on the man accused of the assault -- a VA contractor with a history of sexually harassing VA staff, a criminal background and a lack of credentials to be at the hospital the day of the assault.
Wilkie denied allegations made against him, including accusations that he sought damaging information on the veteran and ordered his staff to investigate her and then shop that information to national media. While the OIG could not substantiate that Wilkie formally investigated, or ordered staff to investigate the veteran, it did find he mishandled the case, that he and his staff repeatedly disparaged her, and his staff sought, on at least one occasion, to shop information to national media.
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The VSOs join House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Mark Takano, D-California, in calling for Wilkie's removal, along with other senior VA leaders. On Saturday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also demanded Wilkie's resignation.
“The VA Inspector General report makes clear that Secretary Wilkie engaged in an extremely disturbing cover-up campaign of sexual assault against a veteran," Pelosi said in a statement. "Secretary Wilkie has not only been derelict in his duty to combat sexual harassment, but has been complicit in the continuation of a VA culture that tolerates this epidemic. He has lost the trust and confidence to serve, and he must immediately resign."
SWAN, a women service member/veteran advocacy group, called the OIG report "shocking."
"They are privileging the continuance of both sexual assault and sexual harassment at the very veterans' facilities from which they should be erasing these scourges," SWAN Director of Government Relations Lory Manning said of VA leaders.
Though #NatSecGirlSquad is not a dedicated veteran organization, it is one that focuses on advocating for women in national security and the military. Its founder, Maggie Feldman-Piltch, told Connecting Vets on Friday her organization also supported Wilkie's removal.
Wilkie, a Navy Reserve veteran and colonel in the Air Force Reserve, was confirmed by the Senate in 2018 after his nomination by President Donald Trump. He previously served as the Defense Department's Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness and was Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs under President George W. Bush.
Read the full Inspector General report here.
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For confidential help with sexual assault 24/7, call the National Sexual Assault hotline at 800-656-4673 or go to online.rainn.org.
Reach Abbie Bennett: abbie@connectingvets.com or @AbbieRBennett. Sign up for the Connecting Vets weekly newsletter to get more stories like this delivered to your inbox.
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