The Center for Naval Analysis enters
our Hall of Salutes for their outstanding
work in the developing and outting
the National VA Raters & VSO Study
during the Veterans Disability Benefits
Commission public hearings, and
for validating what all of us
Activists had been saying at the
VDBC up until the survey Findings
were publicly released.

I had the chance to personally meet
with Dr. Joyce McMahon a couple
of times during the many appearances
of CNA there, and thank the team
of statisticians who brought top
level review surveys into the
VDBC forum to show the new and
true story of what was really
going on inside of Veterans claims.

Incompetence and mental illness
among those who sat in those jobs
are what the CNA ably discovered,
and it was here that the VDBC
Commission was all ears. Up to
this point, Col. Mike Parker and
myself had pointed, pointed, and
pointed to where all of the breakdown
and failures were inside the
VA agency and it's claims brigade,
but it was the wisdom of General
Terry Scott and the rest of the
Commission who issued the contract
reviews at the CNA to see what
could "officially" be found.

The CNA efforts were in tandem
with the Institute of Medicine,
and it was through the "nesting"
of investigations which went
on over the 2 year period, one
after another after another, that
outted the garbage PROCESS
of the VA as unoversighted,
unqualified, and an all out mess.
It was the more ya look, the more
ya find. Mike and I could not
have been happier about the
results because at times, so
called "panelists" were called
in to appear from the Dept. of
Defense (not realizing that CNA
had just finished a major "outting"
presentation before the Commission)
and they entered with business
as usual and "canned" responses
only to tip off the entirety of
the Commission that they were
lying.

And General Scott came to know
over the duration of the hearings,
that many of us Activists who
were ongoing attendees of the
hearings, actually knew more about
the system than the officials did.

The Center For Naval Anaylsis
got the job done and stepped up
to the plate to be counted in
the struggle for human rights and
justice for Veterans everywhere.

The CNA delivered the competetive
edge against the Dole-Shalala Commission
where those people insisted on
using obsolete or existing data.
The VDBC outran this race by miles
and miles, and it was the CNA
and IOM separately or together
who delivered the over-the-top
results, a full 114 recommendations
for change at the VA and how they
do things, which has set all of
Washington down the road to
an all out Bills war on Capitol
Hill over which solution is the
best to rescue our trapped and
harrassed and pestered sick Veterans
who are inside the lifetime backlog
at the VA.

CNA, we were all just SO darn glad
to have you there on our side to
testify before the VDBC and
to execute your contracts with
clarity and on-target information.

Vets for Justice plays the Battle
Hymn for the Republic in honor
of the Center for Naval Anaylsis.

http://www.cna.org/about/cna/