title: ULTIMATE DISRESPECT: VA Sent Mail Related To Disability Claims From Vets To Shredder
text: Our current government can t be bothered with resolving these heinous acts against our veterans who rely on our government for their health care. They ve got more pressing issues in our military that need to be addressed, like pushing a gay agenda in our military:The VA s Office of Inspector General said it launched an  unannounced inspection  of the Los Angeles office after hearing allegations that the VA staff there was shredding mail related to veterans  disability compensation claims. Though the OIG said it can t measure how often this might have happened, it did say it found some examples of mail lined up for the shredder that instead should have been opened and read. Although we cannot quantify or identify claims-related documents that the VARO may have shredded prior to our review, we found nine claims-related documents that VARO staff incorrectly placed in personal shred bins for non-claims related documents,  the OIG reported.  Eight of the nine documents had the potential to affect veterans  benefits and one had no effect on the veteran s benefits. The OIG said the placement of these letters in  shred bins  means that they were able to bypass the first level of control, which requires letters to be reviewed before they are shredded. Of the nine claims-related documents, five did not have required initials of both the employee and supervisor and the remaining four had only the employee s initials,  the report said.  If   staff and their supervisors followed VBA policy, these nine claims-related documents would not have been placed in personal shred bins that are designated for non-claims related documents. The report said if the OIG had not stepped in,  it is likely that.   staff would have inappropriately destroyed the nine claims-related documents we found. It added that a records management officer was supposed to be on staff in Los Angeles to prevent this from happening, but said there was no one in that position from August 2014 until February 2015. The original records officer was promoted, and the office s assistant director  determined that it was not necessary to fill the   position. Officials who tried to take over that role  lacked training regarding maintaining, reviewing, protecting and appropriately destroying veterans  and other governmental paper records,  the report said.The OIG said the Los Angeles office couldn t provide any documentation at all on what documents it had shredded over the past two years.The watchdog recommended that the Los Angeles office should  implement a plan and assess the effectiveness of training  when it comes to handling, processing and destroying these records. The arbitrary destruction of mail by officials at the Los Angeles VA is a stark reminder of the need for true reform of the Veterans Administration,  said Concerned Veterans for America CEO Pete Hegseth.  Rather than make sure each veteran s voice was heard, and each claim was handled professionally, VA officials instead effectively silenced those who fought for our freedom and security, casually sending their letters to the shredder. Here is the watchdog report:Vash RedVia: Washington Examiner