Heartless Hypocrisy

The federal employees who worked the Informal Claims Project  were referred to as the "Fab Five". They all served our Country honorably. A majority of the federal employees who worked this project were disabled veterans who had personally experienced processing delays of their own benefits claims. CONTACT: Nick Schwellenbach, (202) 254‐3631; nschwellenbach@osc.gov WASHINGTON, D.C./October 13, 2016 –   In a letter sent to the White House and Congress today, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) reported that the Veterans Affairs Regional Office (VARO) in Oakland, California, failed to process veterans’ benefits claims accurately and in a timely manner. This delayed the accurate payment of benefits to veterans and their dependents, in some cases by years. Three Oakland VARO whistleblowers came to OSC with disclosures of the Oakland VARO’s deficiencies, prompting an investigation. Those whistleblowers are Rustyann Brown, a former claims assistant, Roselyn Tolliver, a veterans service representative, and L

By Jamie Fox #protectveteranprivacy @veteranprivacy Thank you Whistleblowers of America (WoA) for helping me make my voice heard. #USTOO: Whistleblowers of America (WoA) is a nonprofit organization assisting whistleblowers who have suffered retaliation after having identified harm to individuals or the public. They unite whistleblowers seeking justice. Together, whistleblowers can speak truth to power. https://whistleblowersofamerica.org/ Today I witnessed valor. It is not often one gets to experience valor, but I have been witnessing valor ever since Whistleblowers of America became my champion. Anyone can conjure up valor if they choose too. While valor is generally used in the context of war or the battlefield, it is also considered an element of love, linked with the act of speaking truth to power, especially when an injustice is committed. It is far too common in today’s society to pretend ignorance of the injustices of our world. Self-absorption in one’s own world is a key threat that undermines

By Jamie Fox  #protectveteranprivacy @veteranprivacy Rep. Mike Thompson Officially Inducted into the “VA Hall of Shame”               Representative Mike Thompson and his VA liaison Rebecca Hermosillo have been officially inducted into the “VA Hall of Shame” for violating veterans’ privacy and ignoring constituents who report government corruption and who request protection from government employees who abuse their civil servant positions. U.S. Congressman Mike Thompson represents California’s 5th district, which includes Sonoma and Napa counties. Mike Thompson and his non-veteran VA liaison Rebecca Hermosillo have repeatedly demonstrated over a period of almost 3 years that they do not care about veterans’ privacy. In fact, Hermosillo does not think safeguarding protected information is important. Hermosillo herself violated privacy laws when she emailed me my very private and protected medical information, which included personally identifiable information (PII) and Sensitive Personal Information (S

By Jamie Fox  #protectveteranprivacy @veteranprivacy On Thursday October 5, 2017, I sent the secretary of the VA, David Shulkin, an email titled “Repeatedly VIOLATED by corrupt VBA managers through privacy breaches – I respectfully request your assistance.” I then forwarded the same email I had sent to Shulkin, to Thomas Murphy, Acting Under Secretary for Benefits, and Vivieca Wright Simpson, Chief of Staff. The email I sent to top VA leadership read as:   Email sent October 5, 2017: Subject:  RE: Repeatedly VIOLATED by corrupt VBA managers through privacy breaches – I respectfully request your assistance Dear Dr. David Shulkin, I come to you out of desperation – I am at my whit’s end. I have exhausted every possible way I know how to resolve this issue. I started over 2 years ago at the lowest chain of command level before contacting you. I have been met with enormous resistance and bureaucratic red tape the whole way.  What is and has been happening to me is illegal, unethical, and immoral. Not only

By Jamie Fox  #protectveteranprivacy @veteranprivacy Since getting media coverage in 2012 about my own story with the VA, people across the country have reached out to me. I listened to their stories and discovered there is a pattern of unethical practices across the country at the VA. I listened to a few stories of women who were once employed by the VA, but had the unfortunate experience of being sexually harassed. They too, thought they were protected by law, if they came forward to get help to stop the harassment. However, once regional counsel got involved, the woman was investigated, rather than the man’s misconduct. These women were terminated based on behavioral issues. This kind of termination is so general and so vague that these women were unable to fight it in court. It reminded me in a way of how the military tends to blame the victim and blocks recourse. When the VA slaps a woman with a behavioral issue, as the reason for why they terminated her, rather than investigating and stopping the m

By Jamie Fox  #protectveteranprivacy @veteranprivacy Dear Oakland VA Regional Office, I want to personally thank each and every former manager and co-worker, who not only invaded my privacy, but abused their public positions to further hurt me. You absolutely know what you did to me was wrong and unethical. For some of you it wasn’t enough that I lost my case against you for retaliating against me for reporting harassment of a co-worker. In 2013 I had cut my losses and moved on, but it appears none of you did. Instead you used your public positions to add insult to injury. I was very disappointed to learn that some of you, who I thought were good and ethical people, would take such unethical measures against me. There is no justification for what you did. I know many of you think you are well insulated from the consequences of your actions, but thankfully to our founding fathers, the First Amendment gives me the right to warn the public and expose your malfeasance and heartless hypocrisy. My journey starte

By Jamie Fox  #protectveteranprivacy @veteranprivacy Why? Why are VA managers allowed to scrub FOIA audits of veteran C-files? For that matter, why is Kim Graves, the director of St. Paul Regional Office, allowed to scrub FOIA audits of veteran employee C-files? Can someone please tell me why? Why, why, why? Why is the VA allowed to police itself?  I mean who in their right mind thinks this is a good plan? Why don’t we just have the rest of society follow this ideology and have the inmates watch the other inmates?  Or why don’t we just have thieves guard the bank? Having the VA patrol itself is like having a fox guard the henhouse. Heck that is the very definition of a fox in the henhouse.  Who was the freaking idiot or idiots that came up with that idea?   If there is a fox in the henhouse folks, then that means there will be problems if there aren’t already problems. Just in case you weren’t quite clear about the relationship between a fox and a hen, I posted links on the blog of an actual fox break

Dear VA Veteran Employees (this also includes contractors, VSO employees, work study/interns employed at VBA, and their families), Take heed! Let no one deceive you. Be vigilant, particularly when it comes to protecting your private information. Your information is your property protected by law and anyone who does not have permission to view it - is a thief. If you are not familiar with how a veteran’s information is restricted and protected, I highly advise you to make some time to learn about it now. Many of you wrongly believe that your co-workers and managers do not have access to the information contained in your C-file. I hate to be the bearer of bad news – but they do. Many of you wrongly believe that something in the computer software programs will deny them access. Many of you wrongly believe that some sort of alarm will ping in IT when an unauthorized person accesses your C-file. Many of you wrongly believe that the RACC restricts people from viewing your C-file. The RACC only restricts people

Episode 003 By Jamie Fox  #protectveteranprivacy @veteranprivacy For a variety of reasons our government has not been able to make VA managers accountable for abusing their positions of power. In my case, my former VA managers at the Oakland VA regional office were able to use the new VA computer program called, Veterans Benefits Management System (VBMS), to seek revenge against me, because I came forward as a witness to report harassment of a co-worker I did not know. Since management favored the man harassing my co-worker they used their positions to protect him, rather than stop him from harassing my co-worker. Ten years later these same people used the VA system to further hurt me, by using the VA system against me, to invade my privacy – they read my medical records, military records, education and banking records and more - they tried to cut my VA benefits, made bogus claims in my name, and claimed I owed the VA money. These people know they do not have permission to be accessing my information but di

By Jamie Fox  #protectveteranprivacy @veteranprivacy When I served honorably in the US Navy, I was injured in service, and was instructed by the Navy to receive help from the Department of Veterans Affairs, also referred to as the “VA”, after I was discharged. The VA is divided into 3 main branches, National cemetery, Veterans Health Administration also referred to as “VHA”, and Veterans Benefit Administration, also referred to as “VBA”. VBA can access VHA health records, but VHA cannot access VBA records.    The VBA created a file about me, known as a claim-file or C-file, every veteran’s C-file contains all of their military records, medical records and more. About 10 years ago, I started working at the VBA regional office that processed and stored my C-file in Oakland California. My managers were supposed to transfer my C-file to Reno VARO within 3 days of my employment there, because it is a conflict of interest to have veteran employees’ C-files on location where they are employed. I later learned th

Amtssprache - The Most Dangerous Language In The World Amtssprache = Bureaucratic or Office Language When Adolph Eichmann was asked, "Was it hard for you to send these tens of thousands of people to their death?" Eichmann replied, "To tell you the truth, it was easy. Our language made it easy."   Marshall Rosenberg's voice during one of his lectures on non-violent communication