Veterans for Common Sense

October 30, 2008, Baghdad – Iraq wants to remove any possibility that U.S. troops could remain after 2011 from a proposed security agreement now under negotiation, a Shiite lawmaker close to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Thursday.

The current draft would have U.S. soldiers leave Iraq by Dec. 31, 2011, unless the government asks them to stay to help with training or other missions. But Ali al-Adeeb, a member of the prime minister’s inner circle, said the government wants that possibility removed.

“The Iraqi side wants to remove any mention of a possible extension of U.S. troops, fearing that the existing clause might be subjected to misinterpretation or could bear different interpretation because Multinational Forces might demand for extension depending on their evaluation of the security forces or the incomplete readiness of the Iraqi forces,” al-Adeeb told The Associated Press.

The Bush administration’s hope to secure the deal while in office was fading with the new Iraqi demands.

“The window for any kind of discussions, negotiations is rapidly coming to a close,” State Department spokesman Robert Wood said Thursday, alluding to Jan. 20 when a new president takes over.

Wood said officials continue to go over the Iraqi proposal for changes, but he repeated the administration’s insistence that the existing draft is a “good text.”

Iraqi lawmakers have to approve
Administration officials are troubled by the proposed Iraqi amendments to a text U.S. negotiators had thought was complete. And even if those issues are resolved, there is still no guarantee that the Iraqi parliament will approve the so-called Status of Forces Agreement. Failure to bridge the gaps would leave two options: extend the U.N. mandate after its current Dec. 31 expiration or suspend all U.S. operations in Iraq.

U.S. officials have urged the Iraqis to consider what could happen here if the U.S. suspends military operations.

Violence is down here sharply after the Sunni revolt against al-Qaida and the routing of Shiite militias in Baghdad and southern Iraq last spring. But the U.S. military also provides considerable help to Iraqi ministries in infrastructure and quality of life projects which would have to stop.

The White House, State Department and Pentagon on Thursday all refused to discuss possible alternatives to securing a deal, saying they are still reviewing Iraq’s proposed amendments received on Wednesday.

But officials bristled at suggestions that negotiations, which ran from May until earlier this month, could be reopened. They also insisted that they are not yet looking at extending the United Nations mandate.

“Once we have something to say on it, we will,” Wood told reporters. “But for the moment, we’re just taking our time in reviewing it to make sure that we’ve got a good sense of what it is the Iraqis have put forward.”

U.S. sources voice pessimism
Privately, U.S. officials briefed on the Iraqi amendments are growing pessimistic about an agreement.

One official said there was a chance that some of the four main points of contention — the withdrawal deadline, demand for inspections of U.S. arms shipments and a ban on using Iraqi territory for attacks on neighboring states — could be “finessed.”

But Iraqi demands for more jurisdiction over American soldiers — currently limited to troops who commit major crimes while off duty and off base — likely crossed a “red line” for the administration and Congress. Congressional approval of the agreement is not required, but lawmakers will almost certainly protest any surrender of U.S. authority over U.S. troops.

Al-Adeeb said the Iraqis want a joint U.S.-Iraqi committee to decide whether U.S. soldiers accused of crimes off base were really on authorized missions.

“We are waiting for a response from the U.S. negotiators on how much they can accommodate,” Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Thursday on CNN. “I think both sides here have reached the moment of truth. The time window is closing, and a decision has to be made as soon as possible.”

October 31, 2008 – The prospect of a Black president has America’s bastions of hate in an uproar. Leaders, including the wizard of the Imperial Klans of America, Ron Edwards, have long warned the white race is under attack and must be defended. Federal authorities say web sites have featured ugly calls to target Senator Barack Obama.

And twice now since August, two sets of self-proclaimed neo-Nazi skinheads have been caught in what officials say were feeble but still troubling plots to assassinate Obama.

“If Obama is elected president, these people see the world as they know it to end,” said Morris Dees, co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

In the most recent case, federal agents say two men, Daniel Cowart and Paul Schlesselman, planned to go on a killing spree against more than a hundred African Americans and then, they told the Secret Service, go out in a blaze of glory, dressed in white tuxedos and top hats during the assassination attempt. Cowart is described as the leader.

October 31, 2008 – An Iraq war veteran who now opposes the conflict said his First Amendment rights were violated when he was removed from last weekend’s Bellmore Street Festival, where he had set up a last-minute display.

The Chamber of Commerce of the Bellmores, which organized the annual festival, denies the removal constituted a free-speech violation, contending it was justified because he was there without permission.

Kristofer Goldsmith, 23, of Bellmore, who served with the U.S. Army in Iraq in 2005, initially had applied for, and received, a spot to represent the group Iraq Veterans Against the War. The festival, originally scheduled for September, was postponed and, when it was rescheduled, Chamber of Commerce staff told him they no longer had enough space to accommodate his table.

Goldsmith attended Sunday’s fair and shared space with a local Democratic club before moving to a vacant table nearby, where he placed voter guides and photos of soldiers killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

About two hours later, he said, Chamber of Commerce staff insisted he leave. Goldsmith said he believes his anti-war sentiments were the cause.

Goldsmith has testified before Congress and spoken at local colleges about his war views. “I’m absolutely disgusted that anyone would try and say that I didn’t earn my First Amendment rights,” he said. “I’ve never walked into such trouble with setting up a table and getting my views across.”

Joni Caputo, festival coordinator and Chamber of Commerce executive director, said Goldsmith was not the only festival exhibitor removed from the original lineup when the date was rescheduled. The removals were a result of last-minute space constraints, she said. She could not provide the number of exhibitors affected.

She said if Goldsmith had asked her for a spot at an empty table, instead of setting up without approval, he wouldn’t have been asked to leave. “Nobody is allowed to come into the festival without permission,” she said. “Nobody is allowed to share space.”

Caputo said Goldsmith was invited to next year’s fair. “Did we have anything against Kris or his organization?” she said. “Absolutely not.”

The Nassau Chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union is investigating the situation, said executive director Tara Keenan-Thomson.

“We’re researching what the legalities are,” she said, “and we intend to inquire about the selection process of different groups for the event.”

A spokesman for the Nassau police, who were at the festival, said no one was arrested.

A denied VA claim is just a click away. Altering files and changing dates all too common.

October 31, 2008 – They have names like COVERS, VACOLS and MAP-D.  They are just a few of the computer software programs used by the Veterans’ Benefits Administration (VBA) of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA) to process a veteran’s claim.

And, they are all subject to tampering.

Recent revelations of documents vital to veterans’ claims showing up in shredder bins at VBA’s Regional Offices (VAROs) and further revelations that thousands of pieces of unopened mail were found have captured the interest of veterans and their veterans’ service organizations (VSOs). 

Full background here: http://www.vawatchdog.org/VAshredderscandal.htm

But, nothing has been said about computer tampering as the VBA moves toward electronic processing of claims.

Now, we find that it’s just as easy for a claim to be delayed or denied by the simple click of a computer mouse as it is to achieve the same result by dumping a document in a shredder bin.

The following information was developed from interviews with current and former VBA employees.  Much of the information is highly-technical, so I’ve eliminated most of the “geek speak” and used examples that are, for the most part, easy to understand.

One of the easiest ways to tamper with VBA’s computers is to simply change the date.  This is accomplished at the employee’s Windows-based computer at their desk.  They simply open up the date/time menu and set back the date to whatever is desired.  Then, they can make entries and generate documents on that “adjusted” date… documents that never existed on that “adjusted date.”

“MAP-D .. this program contains all claims listed over at least the last 5 years, including all notations, and cannot be deleted — even though information can be ‘added or adjusted’ by altering the date on the user’s START menu in Windows… the server views the information as being updated on whatever day is set in the Windows Program Menu.”

“[A VBA employee] can cover themselves by stating in notes that an issue was resolved, or that the Veteran Service Rep that was working the claim had called the veteran and told him to resend information because it was never received. With the truth being that the veteran was never called, and then it becomes the VA’s word against the veteran, only that the VA now has a paper trail that they created after the fact.”

Here’s information about the COVERS program and an operation known as “rebuilding” the folder.

“This program shows the entire history of the veteran’s claim file electronically. These files are barcoded, and tracked through scanners. If the file is ever lost or destroyed, it will be listed as a ‘rebuilt folder’ which is being seen more frequently, and then it becomes an issue of the VA’s word against the veteran’s as to what information was actually in the claim folder.”

“This was at the XXXXX VARO. Veteran sent in a claim on the 3rd of the month for temporary 100{cd9ac3671b356cd86fdb96f1eda7eb3bb1367f54cff58cc36abbd73c33c82e1d} disability. On the 9th, the Triage dept acknowledged that the claim from the veteran and original documentation from the VAMC doctor was received and being sent to the Pre-Development Team. The claim was suddenly cancelled for no reason on the 14th of the same month, the veteran was never notified, and the veteran never wrote in anything to have his claim cancelled. This claim was started, and cancelled within just 11 days! The history of the claim showed that the folder was currently being ‘rebuilt’ due to the fact that the ENTIRE CLAIM FILE was ‘lost’ or ‘destroyed.'”

If you think the above is bad, how about the same thing happening with claim appeals.  Here’s a look at the VACOLS program.

“This appeals program is used to track the progress of the appeal, including a full history of all of the veteran’s appeals. Understand that it is quite easy to end an appeal by simply stating that a letter was sent to the veteran and required a response in 60 days. This letter will 90 – 95 {cd9ac3671b356cd86fdb96f1eda7eb3bb1367f54cff58cc36abbd73c33c82e1d} of the time, never be scanned or even acknowledged as being sent, yet the appeal will be decided after the letter was ‘never returned’ because it was actually never mailed to the veteran. This will close the appeal with the reasoning that the veteran failed to respond, and therefore, his claim was closed and denied. The veteran is never notified of this happening, and believes the entire time that the appeal is still being processed.”

One of the ugliest uses of computer tampering is to put the blame back on the veteran when, in reality, the veteran has done everything by the book.

“If a veteran calls the VA and it is reported that the veteran has sent in a XXXXX form for the 8th time, all by certified mail, yet still the VA has not acknowledged the claim being received for the past four months, and these calls have been documented in notes through the MAP-D program, and now the veteran states that he is involving his Congressman since he feels his claim is being thrown in the trash as soon as it is received — the VA supervisor that notices the inquiry sent in by the Call Center employee about a review of the veteran’s file to see if the form was overlooked, and the supervisor is well aware that those claims are being shredded before they are inputted in the system as being received, decides that they need to cover themselves before the Congressional Inquiry is made to come in and review the physical file. This is done by changing the date in the Windows Menu, going into the MAP-D program and simply making a note from a date six weeks prior, showing that the veteran’s claim was received, however it was returned to him because it was not signed, or properly filled out, or was only half-way filled out. This changes the issue… and now the doubt is placed on the veteran, and a review would support the VA as following procedure and the veteran as not doing what they were supposed to.”

After reading the above, the question that needs to be asked is:  Can a “date adjusted” computer file be used to generate a hard copy document that ends up in a veteran’s file… a real piece of paper?

“The answer is yes. The system bases it’s date info off of the windows program. So if that is changed, then the date in MAP-D follows, from where the letter is written.”

I could go on for many more pages with examples like these.

Besides the veteran, other losers in this data manipulation game are veterans’ service officers (SOs) who help veterans file claims and attorneys who practice veterans’ law.  I can’t tell you how many times veterans have written me claiming that their SO or attorney never sent in a form or screwed-up their claim in some way.  Now, there’s another explanation.

How much of this type of cyber-crime is going on at VBA?  It’s impossible to tell because there’s virtually no way to track it.  I’ve been told it’s commonplace because “a closed file is a good file,” and makes everyone from the bottom up at the VARO appear to be more efficient.

As the VA tries to run and hide from the shredder scandal, the Office of Inspector General (VAOIG) continues to investigate documents in shredder bins, unopened mail and other mishandled documents.

Now, it’s time for VAOIG to put their cyber-crime experts to work.

October 25, 2008, Tampa, FL – A review this week of 57 regional offices of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has turned up nearly 500 benefit claim records that were set to be destroyed, agency officials said Friday.

The VA is now recommending that veterans – those who have not been contacted for six months or more about their claims for benefits – call their regional benefits office “to make sure the claim has been received, and everything is there,” said Alison Aikele, the VA’s press secretary in Washington, D.C.

The documents that were found in bins of paper waiting to be put through a paper shredder included veteran applications and change requests for benefits, which are needed to properly process an individual’s claim.

The department is keeping in place an agency-wide ban on shredding while investigators from the VA’s Office of Inspector General complete an audit of the St. Petersburg regional office. Staff there found eight documents in a shred bin last week that should not have been put there.

Investigators also have been asked to review allegations at two other regional offices that staff intentionally tried to destroy documents.

More than half of the 498 veterans’ documents found in shred bins came from regional offices in St. Louis, Cleveland and Columbia, S.C. Both Columbia and St. Louis have placed one employee each on administrative leave pending the probe.

“There is a suspicion … that those documents may have been mishandled intentionally,” Aikele said.

As of Wednesday, only 18 benefits records had been found misplaced in shred bins at four offices. That number ballooned as each regional office stopped shredding and employees began going piece-by-piece through paper bins.

“We didn’t really know what to expect,” Aikele said.

The St. Petersburg regional office is the hub for all benefits claims for Florida’s 1.8 million veterans. It had already been originally scheduled for a routine audit of mailroom operations prior to the Inspector General’s discovery last week of misplaced documents in Detroit, St. Louis and Waco, Texas.

The question now facing the VA is how to determine how long such documents may have been placed in shred bins and how many documents might have been destroyed.

“We just don’t know,” Aikele said. “We don’t have an idea how far back it could go.”