Hagel tempers support for Shinseki

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Thursday offered lukewarm support for embattled Veterans Administration Secretary Eric Shinseki.

Hagel said Shinseki, as a retired four-star general, understands the depth of the problems plaguing the VA medical system and what veterans deserve in terms of quality healthcare.

“This has to get fixed and this is as high a priority as the country has — taking care of its veterans,” Hagel, a Vietnam War veteran, told reporters while en route to Singapore. “I’m not going to get into Gen. Shinseki’s future. I’ll leave that to others.”

Hagel said the VA inspector generals’ interim report on the medical facility in Phoenix shows there are “problems” within the agency’s medical system.

The initial findings showed, among other things, that veterans had to wait an average of 115 days before they could see a doctor and that the staff kept multiple patient wait lists, some fraudulent and some secret, in order to get around VA procedures.

Earlier this week, Hagel ordered a 90-day review of the healthcare system serving the active military to ensure that similar delays and schemes are not happening at those facilities.

Shinseki has seen most of his support on Capitol Hill wash away in the wake of the IG interim report, with 10 Democratic senators and several House members called out for his resignation.

Speaking at a National Coalition for Homeless Veterans on Friday, Shinseki apologized for the ongoing scandal and said he had been “too trusting” of subordinates.