New York, NY (May 14, 2014) – President Obama today temporarily reassigned Rob Nabors, current White House Deputy Chief of Staff of Policy, to work directly with Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Eric Shinseki to help fix the current issues that have come to light after the Phoenix VA allegations.

Tonight Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) Chief Policy Officer Tom Tarantino released the following statement:

“We are glad the President took this first step to ensure the White House is involved in solving this crisis at the VA,” said Tom Tarantino, IAVA Chief Policy Officer. “We need bold reform to establish a culture of accountability throughout the VA system and hope that the presence of Mr. Nabors will help ensure that this type of failure never happens again. This is a good first step, but we, and our vets expect more. We expect results. And quickly – vets on these alleged lists can’t afford to wait.”

In light of recent reports of poor care, falsified records and possible cover-ups, IAVA and the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) will announce a joint effort to protect whistleblowers who have information about wrongdoing within the Department of Veterans Affairs tomorrow, Thursday, May 15 at 8:30 am at The Mott House.

IAVA Chief Policy Officer Tom Tarantino will also address what post-9/11 veterans need to hear from Secretary Shinseki when he testifies later Thursday morning in front of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee about the growing controversy.