Despite E-mails, VA Boss Denies Cover Up

Michael Kussman, the VA’s Under Secretary For Health, Denied Any Wrong Doing During VA Lawsuit

(CBS)  CBS News investigative producer Pia Malbran wrote this story for CBSNews.com.

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The head of health care at the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) denied any wrong doing by the agency on Thursday as more internal emails surfaced showing VA officials discussed withholding suicide information from the public.

While on the stand in California federal court, where the VA is facing a lawsuit filed by veteran advocates who are demanding better health care, Dr. Michael Kussman, the VA’s Under Secretary for Health, said, “I disagree with the premise that there was some effort to cover up something.”

On March 10 of this year, Everett Chasen, the chief communications officer for the VA’s Veterans Health Administration (VHA) sent an e-mail message to several top agency officials including Kussman. At the time, CBS News was preparing a report about attempted suicides among VA patients. Chasen wrote, “I don’t want to give CBS any more numbers on veteran suicides or attempts than they already have - it will only lead to more questions.”

In response, Kussman said he did not “recall” the message. He said, “Obviously I’m [copied] on the e-mail but I get [copied] on a huge number of e-mails everyday.”

In another e-mail - dated December 15, 2007 - Dr. Ira Katz, who oversees mental health at the VA, informed Kussman that “there are 18 suicides per day” among all vets and “4-5 suicides per day” among those being treated by the VA. When asked by lawyers in court if these figures raised any concerns, Kussman said, “Any suicide is cause for concern.” However, despite repeated requests by media and members of Congress, the VA has never made these figures publicly known.

Two other e-mails presented in court on Thursday show VA officials calling a CBS News investigative report on veteran suicides “defensible” with a methodology that “appears to be correct.”

CBS News spent five months compiling nationwide suicide data based on state death records after the VA said they did not collect this kind of information. The report was broadcast last November and heavily criticized by VA officials.

Kussman was asked if the VA ever told Congressman Steve Buyer, R-Ind, who questioned the accuracy of the CBS News report, that the report was “defensible.” Kussman said, “I don’t know if that was specifically communicated to the congressman.”

[radiob-2009]

this is code of conduct for the media What a joke and there integrity is damaged tremendously and every American that reads a newspaper or watch tv news or listen to the news on the Radio should wonder are they telling the truth?


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Posted by starleo14672


If the media did its job then we would not be in Iraq, would not have NAFTA and alot of other problems.

[starleo146]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/25/cbsnews_investigates/main4044399.shtml

[tibu987]

It is time for a complete overhaul of the VA.
From the lackadaisical employees who seem to have time for everything except taking care of the vets.
From the top, the decision makers who decide that a vet who has lost a quarter of his brain and head and is given only a 10% disability.
And, for the VA hospitals that have a higher death and MRSA rate than all other hospitals.
Etc., etc., etc.

Our vets deserve nothing less than the very best care that this Country can give, NOTHING less.
And, it is our duty as appreciative Americans to see that our vets get the very best of everything.
Write the President, your senator, your congressman and tell them.
I do.

[bookwerm314]

Can''t wait until ANY new prez gets in.. we can clean the sewage out of the government that Bush sucked in! Mein Gott they suck. Layers and layers.. FAA treats the airlines as their CUSTOMER! No, not their WATCHDOG.. they don''t work for US . no sirre bob.. not in the BUSH world.. sure, what are a few crashes and risky things between golfing buds? Huh?

[macusweil]

"Wow. But pleeeze tell me his is patriotic and
wears his flag lapel pin. That would make everything ok."

Bet he also puts his hand over heart during both the pledge AND the national anthem, plus has whack-a-doodle magnetic yellow ribbon on his SUV!!

[macusweil]

GOP standard operating procedure: when caught red handed deny everything, public will soon forget whole thing anyway. Our Vets pay the price, twice.

[starleo146]

The use of these analysts was a glaring violation of journalistic standards. As the code of ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists explains, journalists are supposed to:

* Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived.

* Remain free of associations and activities that may compromise integrity or damage credibility.

* Refuse gifts, favors, fees, free travel and special treatment, and shun secondary employment, political involvement,

public office and service in community organizations if they compromise journalistic integrity.

* Disclose unavoidable conflicts.

this is code of conduct for the media What a joke and there integrity is damaged tremendously and every American that reads a newspaper or watch tv news or listen to the news on the Radio should wonder are they telling the truth?

[starleo146]

Make the news media talk about this, make it known who is involved with this cover up, and why, did they feel we the people should should be kept in the dark,and Why. War is the last thing we should contemplate,Lies, Lies, and we knew the Bush administration lied, but the news , we cannot believe them either.No wonder they let all the reporters ride with the troops to Iraq.Pay off maybe?

[starleo146]

Thank you for your post ToolMangler we use to have investigators as you stated now what ever the pay off is to keep quiet is the News of today, disgusting and should not go blindly into the night, All should be held accountable. Especially Rumsfelds right arm and mouthpiece who we have still listen to Victoria Clarke

[toolmangler-2009]

She may have changed jobs and employers since leaving the Pentagon, but her work remains the same.

Posted by starleo14672 at 04:07 PM : Apr 25, 2008


Edward R. Murrow was one of the last journalists to tell it like it is. Most of the others like their "phoney-Balogney" jobs and are scared to buck the system, Murrow put integrity ahead of politics

[inventagod2]

I-EEE KNOWWWW NUZINKKK!!!

[rushlimpdrug]

"This war would never have been possible had the mainstream news media done its job. Instead, it has repeated the Big Lies that sold the war. This war would never have been possible without the millions of dollars spent by the Bush Administration on sophisticated and deceptive public relations techniques such as the Pentagon military analyst program that David Barstow has exposed.
Posted by starleo14672 at 04:07 PM


Bravo for saying what MILLIONS of Americans know
and the media thinks we don''t know.

[rushlimpdrug]

Wow.

But pleeeze tell me his is patriotic and
wears his flag lapel pin.

That would make everything ok.

[starleo146]

This war would never have been possible had the mainstream news media done its job. Instead, it has repeated the Big Lies that sold the war. This war would never have been possible without the millions of dollars spent by the Bush Administration on sophisticated and deceptive public relations techniques such as the Pentagon military analyst program that David Barstow has exposed. It should come as no surprise to anyone that Victoria Clarke, who designed and oversaw this Pentagon propaganda machine, now works as a commentator for TV network news. She may have changed jobs and employers since leaving the Pentagon, but her work remains the same.

[starleo146]

Now that Barstow has blown their cover, the TV networks have generally refused to comment about this matter. Further compounding their violations of the public trust, they are blacking out coverage of the New York Times exposi, no doubt on advice of their own PR and crisis management advisors.

Since the 1920s there have been laws passed to stop the government from doing what Barstow has exposed. It is actually illegal in the United States for the government to propagandize its own citizens. As Barstow''s report demonstrates, these laws have been repeatedly violated, are not enforced and are clearly inadequate. The U.S. Congress therefore needs to investigate this and the rest of the Bush propaganda campaign that sold the war in Iraq.

The attack and occupation of Iraq continues, with no end in sight. Estimates of the number of Iraqi dead range from the hundreds of thousands to more than a million. The cost to American taxpayers will eventually be in the trillions of dollars. More than 4,000 US soldiers have lost their lives, and this is just a part of the horrific toll of mental and physical disability that the war is taking on hundreds of thousands of troops and their families.

[starleo146]

* Be vigilant and courageous about holding those with power accountable.

* Deny favored treatment to advertisers and special interests and resist their pressure to influence news coverage.

* Be wary of sources offering information for favors or money.

The networks using these analysts as journalists shamelessly failed to vet their experts and ignored the obvious conflicts of hiring a person with financial relationships to companies profiting from war to be an on-air analyst of war. They acted as if war was a football game and their military commentators were former coaches and players familiar with the rules and strategies. The TV networks even paid these "analysts" for their propaganda, enabling them to present themselves as "third party experts" while parroting White House talking points to sell the war.

[starleo146]

eat your heart out. Goebbels is history''s most notorious war propagandist, but even he could not have invented a smoother PR vehicle for selling and maintaining media and public support for a war: embed trusted "independent" military experts into the TV newsroom. As with most propaganda, the key to the success of this effort was the element of concealment, as these analysts and the Bush administration hid the fact that their talking points and marching orders were coming directly from the Pentagon.

The use of these analysts was a glaring violation of journalistic standards. As the code of ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists explains, journalists are supposed to:

* Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived.

* Remain free of associations and activities that may compromise integrity or damage credibility.

* Refuse gifts, favors, fees, free travel and special treatment, and shun secondary employment, political involvement,

public office and service in community organizations if they compromise journalistic integrity.

* Disclose unavoidable conflicts.

[starleo146]

Barstow spent two years digging, using the Freedom of Information Act and attorneys to force the Bush Administration to release some 8,000 pages of documents now under lock and key at the New York Times. This treasure trove should result in additional stories, giving them a sort of "Pentagon Papers" of Iraq war propaganda.

In 1971, when the Times printed excerpts of the Pentagon Papers on its front page, it precipitated a constitutional showdown with the Nixon Administration over the deception and lies that sold the war in Vietnam. The Pentagon Papers issue dominated the news media back then. Today, however, Barstow''s stunning report is being ignored by the most important news media in America -- TV news -- the source where most Americans, unfortunately, get most of their information.

[starleo146]

Brent T. Krueger, eventually signed up more than 75 retired military officers who penned newspaper op/ed columns and appeared on television and radio news shows as military analysts. The Pentagon held weekly meetings with the military analysts, which continued as of April 20, 2008, when the New York Times ran Barstow''s story. The program proved so successful that it was expanded to issues besides the Iraq War. "Other branches of the

administration also began to make use of the analysts. Mr. Gonzales, then the attorney general, met with them soon after news leaked that the government was wiretapping terrorism suspects in the United States without warrants, Pentagon records show. When David H. Petraeus was appointed the commanding general in Iraq in January 2007, one of his early acts was to meet with the analysts."

[starleo146]

Clarke and her senior aideBrent T. Krueger, eventually signed up more than 75 retired military officers who penned newspaper op/ed columns and appeared on television and radio news shows as military analysts. The Pentagon held weekly meetings with the military analysts, which continued as of April 20, 2008, when the New York Times ran Barstow''s story. The program proved so successful that it was expanded to issues besides the Iraq War. "Other branches of the

administration also began to make use of the analysts. Mr. Gonzales, then the attorney general, met with them soon after news leaked that the government was wiretapping terrorism suspects in the United States without warrants, Pentagon records show. When David H. Petraeus was appointed the commanding general in Iraq in January 2007, one of his early acts was to meet with the analysts."

Bar