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Eric Shinseki, the retired four-star general who currently heads the Department of Veterans Affairs, said his agency is "working diligently" to better aid veterans suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and other mental health issues.

Shinseki appeared on CBS' "The Early Show" Wednesday, a day after attending a memorial for the 13 victims of the Fort Hood shooting rampage. As a former Army chief of staff, Shinseki described the attack as a "heart wrenching, terrible tragedy - unexplainable."

He also said President Barack Obama's speech during the ceremony was important to "bring the community together and begin the healing."

Special Section: Tragedy at Fort Hood
Fort Hood Memorial

Shinseki said one of the focuses during his first nine months at the helm of Veterans Affairs has been on the increasing diagnoses of PTSD, traumatic brain injuries and other mental health issues – a problem "Early Show" co-anchor Harry Smith noted was exacerbated by multiple tours of duty in combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Well, we are working diligently to increasing our capabilities here," Shinseki said, adding that Veterans Affairs employs 19,000 mental health professionals to address the problems.

Shinseki also said the department is busy implementing a new post-9/11 G.I. bill.

"We have a large backlog of claims that has been there for years. And that's the next priority. And we've begun taking that down, as well."

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President Obama announced this morning that the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs will cooperate to launch an electronic system for storage of veterans’ healthcare records called the Joint Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record.

The president was joined by Secretary Gates and Secretary Shinseki when he made his announcement. He spoke to leaders from various veterans organizations, veteran patients and healthcare providers from veterans facilities.

Mr. Obama called the initiative a "first step towards creating one, unified, lifetime electronic health record for members of our Armed Services that will contain their administrative and medical information from the day they first enlist to the day that they are laid to rest."

There is currently no way for paperwork to get from the Departments of Defense to the Veterans Administration, the president said, noting that records are often lost or held up.

The president said he has asked both departments to work together for a "simple goal': "when a member of the Armed Services seperates from the military he or she will no longer have to walk paperwork from D.O.D. duty station to a local V.A. healthcenter. Their electronic records will transition along with them and remain with them forever."

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This afternoon, President Obama stopped by the Department of Veterans Affairs to commemorate its 20th anniversary as part of the Cabinet.

"Twenty years ago, on the day the Veterans Administration was officially elevated to a Cabinet-level agency and renamed the Department of Veterans Affairs, a ceremony was held to swear in the administrator of the old entity as Secretary of the new one," Mr. Obama said. "And in his remarks that day, President George H.W. Bush declared that the mission of this agency is 'so vital that there's only one place for the veterans of America: in the Cabinet Room, at the table with the President of the United States of America.' I could not agree more."

The president used the appearance to outline his plans to boost funding for the department, specifically for health benefits, mental health care, improved technology and to help homeless veterans. He also said he will implement a new "GI Bill for the 21st century."

"And that's how we'll show our servicemen and women that when you come home to America, America will be here for you," Mr. Obama said.

The president also took a personal tone in the speech, talking talked about his own history and his grandfather's Army service during World War II.

"My grandfather enlisted after Pearl Harbor and went on to march in Patton's Army... When my grandfather returned, he went to college on the GI Bill; bought his first home with a loan from the FHA; moved his family west, all the way to Hawaii, where he and my grandmother helped to raise me."

Mr. Obama added: "And I think about my grandfather whenever I have the privilege of meeting the young men and women who serve in our military today."

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