Swords to Plowshares

The Department of Veterans Affairs Office of the Inspector General recently released a new report on, Alleged Research Funding Irregularities at the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System, Temple, TX [pdf link].

The Austin American-Statesman reports:VA investigators find some waste at UT-based project
They find no evidence of widespread fraud or cronyism, as alleged

August 3, 2008, Austin, Texas - A Department of Veterans Affairs investigation has partially substantiated allegations of waste and mismanagement in a VA brain-research program housed at the University of Texas.

Leaders at the VA’s Central Texas branch made contracting mistakes that cost possibly hundreds of thousands of research dollars, according to the VA’s Office of the Inspector General. The investigators also concluded that VA officials moved too slowly when apprised of concerns by Dr. Robert Van Boven, who oversees the $6 million research program.

Paul Sullivan, the director of advocacy group Veterans for Common Sense and a VA critic, said that whatever the VA decides to do about the program, it should decide it quickly. “This is research that could help our wounded troops,” Sullivan said, “and they’re the ones who are hurt by this delay.” Read on…