VA Hid DOD Confirmation of C-123 Veterans' Exposures for Two Years – concealed evidence vital to veterans' Agent Orange claims

VBA Agent Orange Desk Policy??

VA HID VITAL DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE OFFICIAL CONFIRMATION OF AGENT ORANGE EXPOSURE EVIDENCE FROM C-123 VETERANS. (click for full source file of this report)

VBA's Agent Orange desk hid evidence from the Board of Veterans Appeals and US Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims! The personnel involved (staffers in the Veterans Benefits Administration) violated every trust a veteran is asked to have with the Department of Veterans Affairs. VA let valid C-123 veterans' claims be denied by withholding official DOD information which would have established service connection. VA thus insured through this arbitrary and capricious abuse of authority that all our claims were denied.

Revealed in VA emails and other correspondence released last week under the Freedom of Information Act are proofs of the intensity and creativity, as well as total disregard for veterans' rights, with which VA's Agent Orange desk in Veterans Benefits Administration fought all C-123 veterans' Agent Orange exposure claims.

This was done not as matter of law, nor even VA's own regulations, but because of the personal policy preferences of a few individual staffers.

"Quick...hide the Agent Orange evidence!"

VA's operations manual VAM21-1MR states that VA will ask DOD's Joint Services Records Research Center (JSRRC) to verify non-Vietnam War veterans' Agent Orange exposures. Vietnam War veterans are considered by law to have been exposed, but veterans exposed elsewhere have the assertions investigated by JSRRC. And JSRRC affirmed the C-123 exposures.

VA has had all this proof from JSRRC for over two years (March 13 2013 and perhaps earlier from veteran-submitted documents which VA ignored.) The agency never revealed anything to its regional claims adjudicators, Decision Review Officers, veterans, veterans service organizations, or VA's Board of Veterans Appeals where denied claims are reconsidered. 

Once the C-123 issue arose, VA was overly selective about what evidence it would accept from JSRRC, insisting it had to be contemporary military material only. In effect, VA was cherrypicking evidence from what JSRRC provided, accepting anything against the veterans, refusing anything helping the veterans. 

After VHA informed VBA of its position against honoring any C-123 veterans' claims, VHA Public Health staffers put out a web page (click...pre-2015 page) insisting their review of "all available scientific information" (actually, cherrypicked information to prove their own point) was against the exposure claims. VA then cited their own web page as proof in subsequent claims and BVA decisions. "It's true because we say it is, and the proof is that we said it." Simply put, this was policy-driven (non)scientific deception.

VA's web pages were false, and were finally modified to a more neutral tone on March 15, 2015. The Institute of Medicine confirmed the veterans' Agent Orange exposure and harmful effects on January 9, 2015 in its report to Secretary McDonald. VHA and BVA opposition to C-123 veterans' claims since 2011 was wrong. The dozens of reports from the CDC/ATSDR, NIH, universities, physicians and USPHS all were ignored or disputed by VA, but in the end VA was proven wrong.

Many federal agencies (including the deputy director and two successive directors of the CDC/ATSDR) and independent scientists had provided expert federal agency input to JSRRC hoping to get it to VA for proper evaluation of C-123 veterans' claims. To ignore these proofs, VA insisted to JSRRC the materials that only DOD materials offered were acceptable: No input from other federal agencies, universities, state governments or scientific associations would be acceptable to VA. 

We thought that senseless barrier had been resolved when two US Public Health Service physicians informed JSRRC...and USPHS commissioned corps physicians are military officers by statute. One was Rear Admiral Robin Ikeda (MD, USPHS) at that time Acting Director CDC/ATSDR. Another was Captain Aubrey Miller (MD USPHS) assigned to the NIH/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

VA's Secretary Hickey was also visited by the Director National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences who discussed the science and veterans' exposure proofs. 

Mountains of legitimate, persuasive, and expert input, but VBA and its Agent Orange desk ignored it all.

Players: 

•at JSRRC, Mr. Dominic Baldini, Chief

• at VA, Manager, Agent Orange Desk, Veterans Benefits Administration

Documents:

• 2013 email between JSRRC and VBA's Agent Orange desk; JSRRC's chief provides confirmation documents adequate to approve claims. VA never acts on these and over years permits claims to be denied without providing them in fulfillment of VA's duty to assist every veteran's claim.

• JSRRC response on a C-123 veteran's exposure assertion; happens to be mine because I have no access to any others due to privacy protections. 

VA's VAM21-1MR states that VA will inquire at JSRRC for a veteran's exposure to be substantiated. It says nothing about whether VA must act on that but implies it. Nothing is said about VA not acting, however that clearly violates VA's statutory obligation to assist the veteran. 

For years, VBA callously permitted sick C-123 vets' claims to be denied, and their appeals to the BVA denied, without providing these readily available and affirming JSRRC materials which would have been so decisive in any fair forum. Amazing that DOD ad  "yes" but VA still chose to interpret that as the "no" VBA's Agent Orange desk prefered.

VBA repeatedly (2011 through late 2014) advised regional offices and VA personnel everywhere that there was no basis for VA to "concede" C-123 veterans' Agent Orange exposure. Because the Agent Orange desk refused to "concede" the veteran's exposure, that amounts to directions to regional offices to deny the claims, and many simply wrote, as on the Paul Bailey initial denial, "VA regulations forbid..." 

With Senate inquiries heating up the issue, VA later admitted it has no such regulation and no "blanket policy" against C-123 claims. Even today, VBA insists C-123 claims are handled on a case-by-case basis, yet on a case-by-case basis every single one is denied. Still, it certainly sounds like a blanket denial of all claims!

We ask our fellow citizens and legislators to remember that despite all the controversy and VA-pushback, C-123 veterans were eventually proven correct by the IOM C-123 report. VA was shown to be in scientific and procedural error in opposing reasonable claims. VA all this JSRRC and other federal agencies' proof in its possession since 2011, yet allowed exposed veterans to sicken and die by hiding the evidence.

VA treatment of veterans' rights

They had all the DOD evidence necessary for the benefit of the doubt, pro-veteran, non-adversarial confirmation of our exposures from 2011 on, but chose to ignore, denigrate or simply hide that evidence to insure their policy of "no C-123 claims will be approved" as per statements by VHA Post Deployment Health. VA used its rules against veterans' interests where desired, but freely ignored the rules when staffers had their anti-veteran personal agendas to pursue. These staffers should re-read opinions by federal courts that emphasis VA's regulation VAM21-1MR has the force of law...adhering to it is a veteran's responsibility and also VA's.

​Related topic:

DOD's Agent Orange contractor produced their 2006 list of Agent Orange storage, transport, manufacture and testing sites outside of Vietnam. DOD was asked by VA to provide this. VA cites it when confirming or denying veterans' claims for exposure in other than the Vietnam "boots on the ground" basis.

As part of his 2012-2014 $600,000 no-bid sole source contract with VBA, the contractor submitted a report, citing himself, which generally concluded no changes were necessary in his 2006 report. Each of his monographs produced under the contract confirmed VA policy, perspectives, opposition to various veterans' claims, etc. None challenged or suggested changes, improvements, nothing.

DOD (Armed Forces Pest Management Board apparently has responsibility) has refused per the AFPMB director to amend this list even with IOM, ATSDR and other proofs of additional sites, yet VA continues to cite it in denying claims and denying appeals at BVA.  (example one)  (example two) Both VA and DOD have refused to update this nine-year-old list.

Any "proof" cited by the government to provide or deny a citizen's rights should be accurate. This DOD list is not accurate and is fatally flawed, yet VA employs it to block claims.

Why has no C-123 veteran's claim ever been honored by VA?

AGENT ORANGE DESK           Regional Claims office         

Easy answer: because with encouragement from its outside consultant and instructions from VHA Public Health, the VA HQ Agent Orange desk orders all our claims to be denied.

Here's VA's deception.

For years, VA has insisted on their website, in communications with Congress and the media, and with all the veterans' organizations, that C-123 claims are evaluated on a"case-by-case basis." VA objected to our use of the phrase "blanket denial," insisting each claim receives a full, fair, impartial evaluation.

Nuts. VA bosses might somehow consider ours a case-by-case evaluation only in that each C-123 claim is individually stamped "DENIED" and then tossed into VA's trash heap with 100% of all other C-123 applications. Vigilant VA gatekeepers have insured that not a single C-123 claim got approved on their watch!

VA's rule book VAM21-1MR, requires claims from veterans who didn't serve in Vietnam but who claim Agent Orange exposure to be forwarded from the regional offices to VBA's Agent Orange desk.

And that's where all C-123 veterans' claims are denied through an automatic negative "advisory opinion." VA's Agent Orange desk has already determined that none of the C-123 veterans were exposed. They misinterpreted the 1991 Agent Orange Act and the burden veterans no longer have regarding proving medical nexus for illnesses already recognized by the Institute of Medicine and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs as among the "presumptive illnesses."

Here, VA's Agent Orange consultant is respected, very highly thought of, and his influence clearly seen. In fact, the consultant while an Air Force officer was assigned to VA's Agent Orange desk. The consultant's no-bid sole source $600,000 VA contract (2012-2014) would have its greatest impact on encouraging the Agent Orange Desk to continue rejecting C-123 claims.

Thus, personal policy at the VBA Agent Orange desk where administrators predetermined all C-123 claims were to be denied trumped the VA's assurance to Congress, veterans, and the media that each claim is evaluated on "a case by case basis."

• How can this be when the evidence shows 100% of C-123 veterans' claims are denied?

• How can this be true when VA's own paperwork trail shows, as in the Agent Orange Desk email below, that VA's Agent Orange desk informs VBA, VHA and the regional offices that "there is no basis for service connecting AO disabilities" for our veterans? Golly...why bother applying?

How VA avoids its duty for "case by case" C-123 claims decisions (& also violates patient privacy at the same time*)

Here's how they do it. Here's how Veterans Benefits Administration and Veterans Health Administration/Public Health Section dooms a veteran's claim to denial followed by three to five years waiting for the Board of Veterans Appeals (BVA) to "remand" the claim for minor errors to be corrected...all adding up to years in which the Department of Veterans Affairs prevents all medical care and other benefits.

Below is an email between VA employees in their Veterans Benefits Administration and Veterans Health Administration. It was released last week through the Freedom of Information Act and under supervision of the US District Court/Washington DC. The court got involved because VA fought tooth and nail to prevent these things coming to light, and only the court's intervention forced VA to comply with the law.

VA's VAM21-1MR explains that regional offices will forward to the VA's Agent Orange Desk in Washington all Agent Orange disability applications for its opinion when the veteran claims an exposure but wasn't in Vietnam. VA will inquire through the Department of Defense Joint Services Records Research Center (JSRRC) for any official records which might substantiate the claim.

JSRRC has detailed my Agent Orange exposure proofs to the VA, but VA has ignored that response altogether because such confirming JSRRC responses don't fit with VHA's objective of denying C-123 veterans' claims.

The VA email above explains that VBA will be refusing my own claim for Agent Orange exposure. The law, and VA's published procedures in the Federal Register, clearly state the only requirement of exposure, and not medical nexus. I provided nearly 100 pieces of supporting evidence and expert medical and scientific opinions, which the VA email dismisses as "his PhD supporters."

The VBA writer said he was weighing my supporters against the VHA Public Health website evidence. The website was the product of two VHA physicians, one VHA toxicologist, and a VHA veterinarian also with a PhD in Public Health. VA's references were selected to argue the VHA position and all references which helped prove the veteran's' exposure were disregarded. VA dismissed any peer review.

This is called cherry-picking, not science. It is called policy, not medicine. The VA error is clearly evidenced in the January 8 2015 Institute of Medicine C-123 report to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in which the IOM (under VA contract) confirmed the C-123 contamination and the exposure and harm done the veterans who flew and maintained those planes.

Dismissed like my JSRRC confirmation or simply ignored among my submitted proofs were expert opinions (all unpaid) (plus my private physicians, not listed here) including:
• Dr. Jeanne Stellman, PhD, Columbia University
• Dr. Fred Berman,  DVM PhD, Oregon Health Sciences University
• Dr. Arnold Schecter MD, University of Texas
• Dr. Tom Sinks, PhD, CDC
• Dr. Linda Birnbaum, PhD, NIH/National Institute of Environmental Health Science
• Dr. Christopher Portier, PhD, CDC Director Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry
• Dr. Mark Garzotto, MD, Portland VA Medical Center/Oregon Health Sciences University
• Captain Aubrey Miller, MD US Public Health Service
• Rear Admiral R. Ikeda, MD US Public Health Service
• Concerned Scientists and Physicians – dozens of experts who submitted a group letter to VA

The EPA did not provide their own opinion but they concurred in the NIESH opinion of Dr. Birnbaum. Thus agencies represented in affirming my exposure claim were EPA, NIH, NIESH, CDC, and USPHS. Opposing the claim was the Public Health Section, Veterans Health Administration and its staff of four. They did this simply by typing up a web page for the VA's website on which they said, based on their personal views, C-123 vets weren't exposed. Thereafter, rating officials, BVA and even CAVC cited the fault-laden website as somehow proof itself.

The law requires VA to give a veteran's claim every benefit of the doubt. "Resolving all doubt in favor of the veteran" is how VA is supposed to work, yet here and probably in many other unrelated cases VA personnel develop their own policy and bend all science, all rules, all laws to that policy. Here the policy was to prevent C-123 claims, and the policy has worked perfectly from 2007 to this very day.

The same VA players are still in place, feeding the Secretary of Veterans Affairs deceptive reports, having him sign misleading, dishonorable and error-laden letters to the Senate.

It is samo-samo. An uphill struggle where VHA expects veterans to wimp out at trying, discouraged by the barriers VA invents, the landmines used to blow up all protections in VAM21-1MR and other regulatory and statutory protections which should be extended veterans.

They can wait us out...after all, we're the old and ill veterans beating our heads against the wall at 810 Vermont. They simply close the door and lock us out until we die off or go away.

* PS...about the patient privacy. Read the email at the top of this entry. See how casually VBA sends over to VHA staffers information about a veteran's name, claim, disability status and personal medical information. As well as his personal observation that "100% must not be enough." Does this staffer think my spinal cord injuries, cancers and heart disease are "enough?" Is VA annoyed with my claim? Is this why this staffer disapproved my claim by dismissing all proofs and also by insisting that Agent Orange is harmless?

Note: Title 38 USC addresses this issue: (1) Any officer or employee of the Department of Veterans Affairs, who by virtue of his or her employment or official position, has possession of, or access to Veterans Affairs records which contain individually identifiable information the disclosure of which is prohibited by 5 U.S.C. 552a or by § 1.575 series established thereunder, and who knowing that disclosure of the specific material is so prohibited, willfully discloses the material in any manner to any person or agency not entitled to receive it, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and fined not more than $ 5,000

US Senators – Do I have the RIGHT to demand their assistance?

Yes, of course, if we consider the Constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech and the many ways such as print, video, websites in which that freedom can be exercised. There is nobody who would challenge me for expressing myself, given the understood exception of unlawful extremes.

What I mean is, do I have the RIGHT to demand their assistance in a way beyond the mere exercise of that freedom? Do they have to listen? Do they have to decide whether to respond or can they simply ignore me as they would any other pest?

No – they can't ignore a citizen's voice, although they do. They have to listen, although they often won't. They must respond but seldom do. I still maintain, however, it's their job to listen, their job to care and their oath of office to oblige them to these chores. Below I've listed reasons senators are obliged to listen, and in a perfect world, or in a world where the senator had to account for the resolution of each citizen's complaint...they would listen. Of course, I must emphasize the greater likelihood of them actually listening if good manners are used to conduct a civil discourse!

First reason Senators have to listen to my demands:

I spent the majority of my military career flying aeromedical evacuation. Most of it was years of training for the few days of live medevac missions in an aircraft carrying my fellow soldiers out of harm's way. 

If at any moment in my twenty-six years of service I had failed to do my duty, or failed to correct flaws or errors or mistakes, others could have suffered. 

Neither the Air Force nor our legislators would tolerate any failure on my part which could result in failure of the aeromedical evacuation mission. Too much was at stake, and still is in today's medevac. 

One can imagine the angry roar from the Hill if anybody in the aeromedical evacuation mission simply opted not to do their duty, and allowed patients to suffer and die. Every senator and congressman with patients from their states whom I'd allowed to suffer would be screaming for my head and demanding the most severe penalties under UCMJ. 

Our legislators demand that people like me, people who've taken the military oath to serve and obey, will do so to the best of our abilities and to the point of death if necessary. 

It stands to reason that if they demand that and more of me because I accepted the obligation to serve and obey, and accepted an office in which I was confirmed by the Senate,  I have no less a right to demand they fulfill the duties of their own oaths of office.

Second reason Senators have to listen to my demands:

I got sick doing my duty. The science is no longer in question, having been affirmed by the Institute of Medicine report to Secretary McDonald. The law is clear. 

But still VA refuses to care for men and women like me who flew these airplanes. 

Today I'm old and ill and unable by myself to move the VA to action. I've wasted four of the last years of my life in pursuit of what VA should have offered from Day One. I seek no new legislation, but rather pressure by the Senate on the VA for Secretary McDonald to act. 

Forty-one years have passed since my first flights aboard the former Agent Orange spray airplanes. Twenty-one years have passed since the Air Force identified the heavy TCDD contamination in Patches. Four years have passed since the Air Force Surgeon General elected not to inform our C-123 veterans of our Agent Orange exposures "to prevent undue distress" (his actual words!) And just before his decision the USAF quietly destroyed all remaining C-123s as toxic waste.

Years have passed, and these were years the Senate should have been exercising its oversight in these matters to protect us airmen. Years have passed, and the only action by the Senate has been two two joint letters to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and terrific staff support from the teams of Senators Brown, Blumenthal, Wyden, Warren, Merkley, Burr and Bennet. Seven voices among the one hundred, all of whom took an oath which obliged them to protect servicemembers, yet nobody did until Senator Burr's first efforts in 2011. 

The law says we should be eligible for VA medical care and benefits. VA says so also, but hasn't gotten around to doing anything to begin caring for surviving our C-123 veterans.  I became ill in a line-of-duty situation, the facts of which have been confirmed by numerous federal agencies, universities, VA physicians, and independent scientists. VA should act but still they hesitate. Still VA keep its hospital doors locked to us.

Members of the United States Senate, ninety-three of whom continue to stand silent when I call for help, owe me a good listen. It's their job, because I did my job. My claim, and those of the 2100 men and women I served with, is just and reasonable, provided for in law but lacking only the VA's plan for implementation.

Members of the United States Senate, I respectfully demand your consideration of our situation. I respectfully insist you show me and the veterans I represent the same loyalty and excellence in serving us as we served you and our fellow citizens. 

It's only right. At least, I can hope. The Senate owes us at least an evaluation of what VA is putting us through, and hopefully when each senator has seen enough of this mess each of you will join your colleagues in demanding VA action. Thank you.

Another day waiting for VA to process my claim – Another day wasted.

VA has a neat website called eBenefits. You can find a lot of info there about their various programs, and also learn that any application for them takes months, usually years. Most usually, years.

Widely derided by veterans for its sluggish response to changes even when they do happen, the general advice by claims experts is and always has been, don't bother monitoring your claim process on eBenefits. Or by calling VA's 800-number, either. In fact, there is nothing any more effective than simply watching the postman to see if you get "the big brown envelope" some day years after applying.

Of course, VA's backlog of older claims has been cut and congratulations to Veterans Benefits Administration for that. A combination of forced overtime, retraining, online applications, computer-based awards calculations, "fully developed claims," and increased staff have brought deserved praise for the improvement.

But buried in the applause for VBA's success is the dirty secret: the claims numbers are manipulated by a variety of tricks. The biggest one is denied claims. A denied claim is then either dropped by the veteran or passed along for decision three to five years later by the Board of Veterans Appeals.

BVA then usually "remands" most claims back to the regional offices for whatever VA shortcomings they identify...wrong forms, forgotten physicals, ignored rules or procedures – a whole raft of VA errors and a list of them so long they can't all be mistakes by the original claims adjudicators. About 70% of these denied claims reaching the BVA are remanded...which is no solution as the regional office then takes months or a year to return the claim to BVA where, still, a huge percentage are simply remanded back again. More mistakes, or original mistakes not even attended to.

It can't all be by accident. And it is a terrible cycle, with claims often decided well past the veteran's death.  Another VBA "secret" is stacking difficult or complex claims for future (if ever) consideration while turning to more straightforward claims which are easier to pump out, thus allowing adjudicators to meet production goals. VA even warns veterans that their complex claims or applications with several issues at hand will take longer. Actually...we should print "PROMISES" veterans such a delay.

BVA is famous among veterans principally for the delay involved in getting one's claim before their judges. Regardless of the particulars, claims can take three to five or even more years to cycle from the local claims office through the Board of Veterans Appeals. My 2011 claim, below, has been awaiting appeal for over two years and hasn't been forwarded yet from the regional office to BVA. I can expect two or more years ahead and then odds are against any resolution, but instead, only a remand.

A frequent error committed by VA in processing claims is to deny them without even having ordered a Compensation and Pension exam, or by ordering one for some irrelevant issue not even claimed by the veteran. In either case, the denied claim forces the veteran to appeal, then has the BVA simply remand back to the regional office for the proper exam. Net loss to the veteran: perhaps one year in the basic claim and three more waiting for BVA and then another year at the local office to either award or, more likely deny again.

Fellow citizens, the months and years that VA refuses care to disabled veterans until claims are approved are terribly long periods to do without medical care, hoping to survive. Despite the wonderful people...and there are many...in BVA, too many veterans are faced with what even VA's own inspectors termed a "high risk" medical system. However, the inspectors didn't add the impact of veterans having care denied to the quality of care itself...that would have earned something even worse than "high risk."

Perhaps non-existent would be a good description for care in such a situation.

VA worked & spent $$$ to oppose Institute of Medicine C-123 result

Documents released today under supervision of the US District Court Washington DC provide all the details: VA submitted the C-123 exposure question to the Institute of Medicine for evaluation, but then worked behind the scenes to insure the IOM gave only the desired conclusion...the conclusion VA staffers felt best met their own policies. Thank God (and IOM staffers,) IOM didn't fall for VA's tricks.

This week, after years of delays and obstruction by VA, hundreds of pages of internal correspondence and emails were released dealing with the C-123 Agent Orange exposure concerns of over 2100 veterans who flew these transports following Vietnam. The aircraft were contaminated, but VA from the beginning took extraordinary steps to prevent exposed veterans from receiving vital medical care and disability compensation.

The efforts seem to date back to 2007, when LtCol Aaron Olmsted's Agent Orange exposure claim was denied by VA on the basis he had no proof his C-123s were the ones actually used in Vietnam for spraying Agent Orange. Records show Olmsted flew hundreds of hours in these aircraft, but VA's legal "duty to assist" was viewed by the Department with disdain.

No effort was made by VA to locate readily available records to confirm Olmsted's assertions, something veterans themselves did with a simple phone call and two days' waiting for results from the Air Force Historical Records Agency. VA could and should have done this in meeting its duty to help the veteran locate records, but their victory over his claim was more important. Even when proof of Olmsted's claims was finally offered the VA, it was ignored by the BVA, by the regional administrator, and by the attorney who opposed Olmsted at the BVA hearing.

In more recent years, VA's tricks included paying its principal consultant while he appeared before the IOM to "defend the VA's science" and most certainly, to oppose the great volumes of science supporting the C-123 veterans. The consultant had been awarded his VA no-bid sole source $600,000 contract, the work product of which focused on obstructing C-123 exposure claims. The contract, and its obvious conflict of interest (or certainly the suggestion of that possibility) was not revealed to the committee by VA or the consultant.

Note also that in 2011 the consultant labeled C-123 veterans with disdain as "trash-haulers, freeloaders looking for a tax free dollar...I have no respect." One senses this profoundly negative attitude even better endeared him to the VA, rather than disqualifying him as it should have from any effect on the health care of these 2100 exposed veterans he dislikes so much.

His 2009 role in having recommended destruction of the stored surplus C-123s as toxic waste and to prevent veterans from learning of the contamination was not discussed with the IOM. It should have been...so many things should have been revealed, both to the veterans and the IOM.

Previously a paid consultant to both Dow and Monsanto in their efforts to fight veterans' claims, and with years as an Air Force officer manning VA's own Agent Orange desk helping prevent such claims, the consultant was the perfect go-to guy for VA's Veterans Benefits Administration and Veterans Health Administration, whose senior staffers personally opposed expanding Agent Orange coverages to anyone.

Records now show that VA coordinated closely with their consultant, who nonetheless insisted he wasn't before the IOM to represent the VA. Not only did VA pay him $600,000 for work including monographs attacking the veterans' claims, but he was under that lucrative VA contract even at the time. IOM's questions to the consultant were answered only after first being passed by the VA to insure they met the Department's policy objectives, before being released to the IOM:

In the following email, the consultant writes the US Air Force and clearly states he is presenting to the IOM C-123 committee "on behalf of Compensation Service and the (VA) Office of Public Health." No, not independent at all, but he was presenting to the IOM as VA's voice:

The VA consultant referred frequently to his many monographs being "peer reviewed." This is highly questionable, as no researcher is permitted to select the reviewers as was done here. Peer review is meant to be a critical challenge to protect the scientific record, not this buddy-stamp from close associates holding identical views. Despite VA's own high standards for scientific research, this was allowed to pass without challenge to its many violations of VA Directive 0005 (Scientific Integrity.)

This attitude persisted into more recent years, as detailed in this week's FOIA results. VA expressly sought to "counter" scientific materials with paid-for input from selected sources, rather than letting science and the IOM proceed independently:

Besides contracting with its preferred "go-to" Agent Orange consultant, Veterans Health Administration also paid Sandia Labs to construct arguments against the many scientific experts whose professional opinions were universally in support of C-123 veterans' exposures;

Veterans have tried to stress the fact that of the dozens of independent scientists and physicians who concluded the veterans were exposed and harmed, none were paid.

VA didn't waste a penny seeking any independent views or opinions which might agree with the veterans' claims, but spent hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of dollars to insure the defeat of those veterans' hope for VA recognition of Agent Orange exposures. Hardly "pro-veteran, non-adversarial, every benefit of the doubt rests with the veterans." 

Rather, we see the firm, steady determination to prevent C-123 veterans' access to medical care by spending VA dollars, bending rules and procedures, creating obstructions, implementing personal policies, and the deception of senior VA executives by staffers by feeding them error-laden memoranda to sign.

VA staff and contractors even tried to deceive IOM and senior VA leadership with data from tests performed on "Patches," the USAF Museum's former Operation Ranch Hand C-123. The contractor stressed a point about "only two areas" being TCDD contaminated. In fact, the testing officials determined that there were two "hot" spots but the majority of the C-123 interior was not contaminated, or was an area not tested for lack of accessibility. Big difference.

VA C-123 Update: "Nothing to report, Be patient."

"Nothing to report, Be patient."

That was today's report when I asked for an update from a VA official. "Be patient," was the reply, as it has been all along.

Five months into the post-IOM process (counting from the January 2015 IOM report, and four years two months into the claim process (counting from our first C-123 Association veterans' claims) we're asked to be patient.

These months and years have been a very long time to do without VA medical care. No VA or other public employee with health care coverage would tolerate such a delay in their health care.

But VA's inertia and disinterest, preceded by VA's determination to prevent claims regardless of merit, has left veterans without life-saving and quality of life enhancing service.

Besides denied medical care and disability compensation, C-123 veterans have been forced to forfeit pharmacy, dental, optometry, rehab, counseling, hospice, home health care, independent living services and all the other VA programs designed around the needs of disabled veterans.

Its not that VA disagrees with C-123 veterans' eligibility for care. Its just that they haven't gotten around to resolving whether it is to be provided by legislation, regulation or some other process.

This doesn't come as a complete surprise to VA. After all, they are the ones who proposed the IOM study in 2012 (although they also quickly broke their promise to do the study) and who finally ordered the C-123 study in 2014, which was finally submitted to the Secretary on January 8, 2015. The IOM report would only have one of two findings...C-123 veterans were exposed, or they were not.

Two possible outcomes. Neither of which VA prepared for during the year-long study, and now VA continues to insist they are coming out with something in a few weeks or so. Did the answer somehow catch VA by surprise, as they had only a year or so to anticipate the result and prepare?

Only two responses to the C-123 report had to be considered: were the veterans exposed and harmed, or not? VA prepared for neither conclusion, virtually welcoming its own lack of preparation as justification for five more months of delay. Assurances about VA's C-123 veterans' program announcement were given to the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee under oath in February, yet nothing happened that we know of. Similar promises made during the last five months had similar results...nothing.

We know there are folks inside VA who care mightily about us, as is their duty. Unfortunately, their struggle within the Department pits them against numerous staffers whose personal policies conflict with the IOM recommendations, and who are far less motivated to permit our access to VA care – we might even say, based on the track record, many VA staffers remain as determined as ever to prevent our claims despite all legal and scientific merit.

Today, the word from VA was "samo-samo." Meaning go away, find your medical care somewhere else. Anywhere but the VA. Be patient.

"PINO" – Senators Who Are Patriots in Name Only?

PINO: "Patriots in name only."

The accusation seems harsh, and honestly, is unjustified when considered in the totality of a Senator's public service.

But it feels at least a bit appropriate when C-123 veterans suffering Agent Orange illnesses turn to the Hill for help with such a fundamental need as our access to VA medical care we've earned. And, which even VA says is due us.

PINO. Only seven of one hundred United States Senators cared enough about us to lend their names, influence and prestige by signing letters to VA Secretary McDonald. Perhaps they've acted in other ways we are unaware of...but why aren't we aware if they've done anything at all?

Our simple problem is we need to gain access to VA medical care. Even though the GAO rates VA medical care as "high risk" we still need it and our other earned benefits. Of course, part of VA's high risk in our case is their fighting us for four years so far, even though the science eventually proved us right.

And still VA fights doing right by us. Trying to minimize the number of C-123 personnel they'll consider. Trying to delay any resolute action by the Secretary as long as possible. Trying to prevent retroactive benefits. Trying to create illogical statutory barriers. Trying to refuse Freedom of Information Act requests.  Trying to prevent access to the VA Agent Orange Registry exam. If VA has been helping in the months since the January 9 2015 Institute of Medicine report, it is being kept very, very quiet.  And very, very delayed.

Senators could help, just as the bipartisan group formed by Senators Bennet, Merkley, Burr, Warren, Blumenthal, Brown and Wyden have done in challenging Secretary McDonald to act.

Only seven voices among one hundred.

Silence by the 93 seems louder than the voice of the seven Senators who've shown care. In fact, we've never heard silence this loud, a silence so comforting to the VA in supporting its actions against us, but a silence of little comfort to us.

PINO. No, not that. No, it just feels and acts and results some little bit like it.

C-123 Veterans Ask, "Where is my Senator's help with our Agent Orange illnesses?"

Saturday, Ohio's C-123 veterans gathered to enjoy the fellowship of each other's company. They also discussed the Agent Orange exposures suffered during the years of flying former Operation Ranch Hand C-123 spray aircraft. They were joined by Dr. Pete Lurker who explained the C-123 contamination studies done by the USAF and the Institute of Medicine.

For fourteen years Ohio's volunteers were subjected to this deadly toxin which the VA has only recently acknowledged. But...VA has done nothing further, nothing to help.

Although VA has accepted the findings of the Institute of Medicine which confirmed both the C-123 contamination and the veterans' exposures, Secretary McDonald of the VA has yet to permit any medical care or other benefits earned by these men and women.

Members of the Senate have spoken up in defense of C-123 veterans. In an effort first led by Senator Burr of North Carolina and Senator Merkley of Oregon, and joined by Senators Warren, Wyden, Bennet, Blumenthal and Brown, the VA has been called to task for its stubborn refusal to care for C-123 veterans' Agent Orange illnesses.

Ohio's veterans and C-123 vets from every other state besides Oregon ask, "Where is my senator – why isn't any help offered in our struggle with the VA? Are we vets not worthy of our senators' involvement in this bipartisan and bicameral effort?"

Oregon is the only state with both its senators involved. Five states have one of their two senators helping but forty-four states are represented by legislators who've not yet stood with us!

Colorado veterans ask about Senator Gardner (R) and hope he'll help as has Senator Bennet (D.) We ask as well about every other senator not shown below. Why, in particular, is Senator Burr the sole Republican in this worthy cause, in an effort he initiated way back in 2011?

Does consideration of our suffering move Democrats more that it moves Republicans?

The VFW, DAV, American Legion, Air Force Sergeants Association, Paralyzed Veterans Association, Vietnam Veterans of America, C-123 Veterans Association and Reserve Officers Association ask why Secretary McDonald has not yet acted to protect C-123 veterans. VA has known of our Agent Orange exposures for four years or more but the Secretary still forbids any care for their resulting illnesses. Our legislators can ask any of these veterans organizations about the justification and the need to press VA to care.

Please, Senators...invite leaders of the veterans' groups or invite our own C-123 veterans to learn more about this issue. We'd appreciate the opportunity to brief staff (we hear the real work is done there!)

We all ask, why aren't all one hundred members of the United States Senate shown below along with these seven legislative leaders who truly care about America's veterans?

National Guard Association Publishes Details on VA Failures With Exposure Claims

Expand VA Care to Exposures

By 

Maj. Wes Carter USAF (Ret.)

 May 7, 2015

Guardsmen encountering harmful toxins, biologics or viruses can develop illnesses in the natural course of those exposures, such as an Ebola exposure, resulting in the disease manifesting itself weeks later. Present Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) policy is that for VA benefits all exposures must result in illness during a Guardsman's military duties. If the servicemember has returned to civilian status, the VA will not provide medical care or other benefits when exposure illnesses develop. 

Only illnesses diagnosed during military duties are recognized by VA for considering the Guardsman a "veteran" under statute and deserving of VA​ care.  But harmful exposures to a virus like Ebola can take weeks to attack, or toxins like Agent Orange take months or years to cause illness, leaving Guardsmen unprotected after they return home.  VA’s vital “caring embrace” for servicemembers made ill will not be there as expected, unless Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs Robert McDonald exercises his authority to act.

Veterans organizations, including VFW, DAV, American Legion, Paralyzed Veterans of America, Jewish War Veterans, Air Force Sergeants Association, and Reserve Officers Association, along with Yale Law School legal scholars and leadership from both the House and Senate, have called on Secretary
McDonald to use his authority. But he hasn't. Nothing has been done.

VA's hesitation to act endangers readiness. Commanders have a moral obligation to inform their volunteers of this gap in care.

Secretary McDonald is presently considering VA's response to the C-123 post-Vietnam reservists’ Agent Orange exposures.  VA regulations enacted to address these Agent Orange illnesses must be non-specific, and broad enough to address other exposure threats as well. Otherwise, VA will simply have to turn to Congress for authority to treat the next virus or toxin to sicken troops once they're home and off duty.

The author is a retired major of the U.S. Air Force.

Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Repeats C-123 Support During Under Secretary for Health Administration Confirmation Hearing

At yesterday's confirmation hearing for the next Under Secretary for Health Administration, members of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee restated their support for C-123 veterans' claims and solicited the nominee's support as well. At the 51:28 minute mark, Senator Blumenthal begins his discussion. Senators Brown and Blumenthal both stressed the importance of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs acting via his own authority rather than postponing any action through his demand for a legislative approach.

Blumenthal: "Nothing will be a test of your effectiveness in this job more than to have that policy (of forbidding C-123 claim approvals) reversed."

Institute of Medicine C-123 Agent Orange Report – Still No Action 5 Months On

– Months since IOM report to VA






– C-123 Veterans' claims permitted by VA 

VA Refused Fort Collins Veteran Surgery for Prostate Cancer

Talk about Catch-22 upon Catch-22, cancer style! I initially elected "watch and wait" on my cancer,
but it seems I was doing the waiting, and nobody was doing the watching for me even as my PSA numbers went up and alerts from the lab went out.

Watch and wait turned into a spreading cancer addressed far too late.

On my own and through a civilian urologist, I asked for a biopsy after a year or so had passed since the last one at VA Portland, but it was too late to be as helpful as it might.

I asked the 800-number for VA's Choice Program for local surgery for aggressive prostate cancer, but was immediately turned down. Seems I live within the 40 miles from a local VA day clinic so Choice Program determined me "ineligible."

Even though my Fort Collins VA day clinic does no surgery at all, the VA rules are that outside care is only permitted if no VA facility exists within a magic forty mile circle from one's home.

It doesn't matter whether the nearest VA facility provides that, or any other service...if it exists within 40 miles, under its Choice Program a veteran can only get non-existent VA treatment and not outside contracted care...read: "Do without."

So carrying the conversation further, I inquired about prostate cancer surgery at the nearest VA hospital, which is Cheyenne. They explained they don't do that procedure any longer, and that they refer patients to local providers. Probably, the same ones I wanted VA to send me to in the first place!

BUT...I'd have to wait at least a month to see a VA physician in Cheyenne for the necessary referral, then wait whatever time is required for an appointment with the referral surgeon, and then get the operation scheduled someday in the future.

Problem:  Stage Three cancers don't wait. Certainly, not the three months or even more VA requires to begin treatment for cancer already spread past the prostate. I didn't want to wait three months for the cancer surgery, which we now know would have been three months for the cancer to continue spreading. So, like many other 100% service-connected veterans eligible for non-existent (or at least, very hard to get) care at the VA, I was forced to fall back on other options.

I also believe the VA's limit on a vet seeing one's primary care provider but twice a year played a harmful role. As a veteran already rated 'catastrophically disabled" its hard to see how all the issues at hand can be addressed in two face-to-face meetings a year.

When I asked about trying to see my wonderful VA primary care provider earlier as problems arose, I was told instead to go to the Cheyenne, Wyoming VA emergency department, 50 miles away and difficult to get there with a wheelchair.

So instead, I sought out our local hospital's ER where I was treated for eye injuries, shoulder surgery, and probable hip replacement as well as non-urgent medical concerns for which I sought attention between the VA's six month visits.

For me, the system didn't work, neither for caring for me as the cancer started elevated PSAs nor for the surgery to catch it before it metastasized. For VA, it worked perfectly as designed...they saved thousands by building a health care system which avoids providing care. Especially in the case of C-123 veterans.

C-123 Veterans' FOIA Ignored For A YEAR

Washington is one amazing place. Often they get things done, and yet more often than that, somehow things get marvelously fouled up.

Here's a perfect example. One year ago we submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the VA for information about our C-123 issues. VA let out a $600,000 no-bid sole-source consulting contract in 2012 and the information about it was (and still is) important to us.

So the VA, for some reason, forwarded the FOIA to Headquarters US Air Force. Which sent it to Wright-Patterson AFB. Which, almost exactly one year after our inquiry, finally acknowledged us.

Amazing. Can you imagine what would happen if we ran aeromedical evacuation missions with this degree of excellence? At least, we can certainly trust that they're not trying to keep important health-related information from us. Right???

Note the date of the letter on the left, and the date of the request in the first sentence.

Senator Burr (NC) Statement on C-123 Agent Orange Claims

Bipartisan Group of Senators Urge Action from VA for Care & Benefits of C-123 Veterans Exposed to Toxic Agent Orange

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Richard Burr (R-NC), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Ron Wyden (D-OR) wrote to Department of Veterans’ Affairs Secretary Bob McDonald requesting that the department utilize its existing statutory authority to provide care and benefits to veterans exposed to toxic herbicide residue decades ago while they served on aircraft used to spray Agent Orange in Vietnam. 

“Justice for these veterans is long overdue and you have the authority and the ability to finally right this wrong,” the Senators wrote. "For nearly four years, the VA denied these reservists’ exposure to toxic Agent Orange residue in contaminated C-123s. On January 9, 2015, the Institute of Medicine issued a final report… which ‘emphatically' rejected VA’s assertion as to exposure. As a result, we understand you conceded that this group of veterans was, in fact, exposed to toxic Agent Orange herbicide. However, we also understand a question has arisen about whether some of these reserve airmen satisfy the statutory definition of ‘veteran' for purposes of eligibility for VA benefits. We fundamentally disagree and believe VA’s precedential interpretations of the relevant statute and the policy principle and legal precedent of construing statutes in favor of veterans requires VA to find these reservists eligible for benefits. We ask that you stand by those interpretations, which we outline in this letter, and which show that no additional statutory authority is necessary for you to immediately begin providing care and benefits to the C-123 veterans.”

SECVA Again Promises C-123 Decisions "Within Weeks"

In his first comment following February 27's promise of an announcement within a week, VA Secretary McDonald addresses C-123 veterans' Agent Orange exposure concerns Saturday May 2, with assurances of his announcement "within weeks."

Respectfully, Mr. Secretary, eight weeks and more have passed since the last promise.

Eight weeks, indeed the four years since we began asking VA's help, is a very long time to keep your hospital doors locked to veterans sickened by Agent Orange exposure. It is a very long time for VA to insist...or pretend, as Compensation and Pension wrote, "no conclusive evidence of TCDD causing adverse health effects."

VA executives, alerted to the infamous C&P "TCDD is harmless" advisory opinion termed it "an unfortunate choice of words." Indeed. Also medically and scientifically wrong in the extreme. Ask any VA oncologist or urologist! However, VA has been perfectly comfortable with allowing claims denied with that "unfortunate choice of words languish in the BVA deadwaters for years. Really, we see the cancers as even more unfortunate than VA's choice of words with which C&P orders C-123 claims denied.

Mr. Secretary, many of us have cancers, ALS and other illnesses that don't improve with VA's delay. Also, we have needs of our widows and widowers we'd like to bring to your attention.

By Holly Zachariah
The Columbus Dispatch  •  Saturday May 2, 2015

As a young man, Ralph DeSanto Jr. took apart the valves in front of him, valves that had come from C-123 aircraft that had repeatedly sprayed Agent Orange over Vietnam.

Each time he popped a rubber seal, he said, a tiny plume of red dust rose up. Inside each valve was the crystallized chemical from the herbicide that was widely deployed to kill the vegetation that concealed the enemy in the jungles and forests during the Vietnam War.

DeSanto never once thought that he should be worried, that he may be putting himself in danger, that with every touch of those airplane parts or with any swipe of residue he might have been increasing his risk for diseases.

But pressure is increasing by the day for the Veterans Administration to heed its own commissioned report released in January by the Institute of Medicine that said flight and maintenance crews such as the one that DeSanto was part of were exposed to high levels of dioxin. Advocates say the VA should expand the list of those eligible to receive benefits and care for Agent Orange-related claims to include them.

Until now, because those crew members were Air Force reservists and not classified as active-duty personnel, the VA has denied them veteran status and has not allowed their claims to any Agent Orange-related illnesses.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and six other senators last week sent a bipartisan letter to VA Secretary Robert A. McDonald, urging him to immediately use his executive authority to clear the way for the reservists’ claims.

“The VA’s position has been disappointing,” the letter reads. “It is our desire to see that C-123 veterans who suffer today because of service-related exposure to Agent Orange receive the help they need.”

Such a move could include as many as 2,100 former Air Force reservists from three bases, including perhaps as many as 1,200 who worked at Rickenbacker from 1972 to the mid-1980s, when the last C-123 that had been used to spray the chemical left the base.

Senator Jeff Merkley (Oregon) – Statement of Support for C-123 Agent Orange Veterans

Senator Merkley and his colleagues insist
that VA act now for C-123 veterans

Washington, D.C.  May 1, 2015   STATEMENT:

The Vietnam War ended almost 40 years ago, but some of our veterans are still suffering long-term health issues as a result of that war.  And there's at least one group of veterans who never even served in Vietnam, yet are casualties of the war nonetheless.  It's time to get them the health care they need and deserve.

Their story stems from their service aboard Fairchild C-123 planes in the '70s and early '80s.  Those planes were used to spray Agent Orange during the war, but were never properly decontaminated. An estimated 1,500 to 2,100 of our service members, including many reservists, trained and served on those planes until they were decommissioned in 1982, exposing them to dangerous levels of dioxins.

For nearly four years, I have worked to get the VA to recognize the claims of post-Vietnam veterans who flew in these contaminated planes.  Earlier this year, an Institute of Medicine study confirmed what I had been telling the VA for years: post-Vietnam veterans who served on the affected planes were exposed to potentially dangerous levels of dioxins - deadly compounds found in Agent Orange and other herbicides.

Recently, the VA took the first step towards ensuring veterans with diseases resulting from that exposure receive the proper benefits and compensation they deserve.  But our work is far from over.  The VA is still refusing to help former reservists.

Last week, I called on VA Secretary Robert McDonald to take the next step and extend full benefits and compensation to all affected C-123 veterans -- including reservists, who may constitute a vast majority of those affected.

Taking care of our service members is fundamental to who we are as a nation. We must uphold our promise to those who wear the uniform and fight for our nation. In the coming weeks, I will continue to push the VA to ensure that C-123 veterans get the help they deserve. They have stood up for us, and we must stand up for them.

How Can (or Should) SECVA Address C-123 Agent Orange Claims"

We have maintained since first reading the Federal Register statements by VA about non-Vietnam Agent Orange exposures that the Secretary has every authority needed to act now. Without delay and without unnecessary legislation.

We also felt it was appropriate to also skip additional regulations. After all, three times VA explained to Congress and the people that VA would act to treat all non-Vietnam veterans' exposures the same as Vietnam veterans' exposures as regards presumptive service connection.

Why? Because a new regulation has to be published in the Federal Register and a period for public comment provided. The comment period, anywhere between thirty and ninety days, is to invite as broad a response from the public and stakeholders as possible. Sometimes, even 180 days might be provided. Whatever the comment period, that's time our folks are bared from VA hospital and other federal and state benefits...time we no longer have to fritter about waiting for VA to get itself organized.

So we'd recommended a comprehensive training letter instead. Telling the VBA and VHA staffs, especially claims adjudicators, that VA would henceforth recognize C-123 veterans' Agent Orange claims seemed a logical, simple and expedient approach.

If this mess is ever resolved without legislation, it will require such a training letter, or a new regulation under the Secretary's present authority.  If it is to be a regulatory approach, we can only hope that the comment period will be the minimum thirty days, and that some interim steps might be provided for meeting veterans' needs while the process plays out.

It has been years. There are so many fewer of us today than in 2011 when we began. VA: do something.