Chairman Mitchell, Ranking Member Brown-Waite and Members of the Subcommittee, I am pleased to be here today to participate in this hearing regarding media outreach to veterans.  Thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about an important tool the VA has been given.   With the recent decision to allow VA to use advertising resources we are excited to share with you our ideas on using this tool to modernize and reshape our efforts to more effectively reach and educate veterans and their families about VA’s benefits and services.

Our mission at the Department of Veterans Affairs is clear: to do all within our authority and ability to help service members readjust successfully into civilian society after their military experience ends and to make sure they know the VA is there to provide health care, benefits and other services they have earned.  I am confident that our use of this tool will allow us to dramatically modernize our techniques to reach out to veterans and their families in more creative and effective ways.

It is particularly exciting to me that we are now free to look at additional options to reach and connect with these veterans.

I would be remiss if I did not thank you, Chairman Mitchell, and Congressman Boozman for your role invigorating this effort, as your interest led to a reexamination of the scope of VA’s authorities in this area.  On June 16, less than a month ago, Secretary Peake lifted the restriction on advertising.  I am an enthusiastic supporter of this effort on the advertising policy and my office gladly accepts this new responsibility for coordinating the Department’s media advertising efforts. 

Secretary Peake’s decision requires the Under Secretaries to coordinate with the Assistant Secretary for Public and Intergovernmental Affairs about outreach, media plans, education, and awareness campaigns and initiatives, and for me to recommend to him further steps to improve our ability to reach veterans and their families.   In the few weeks since the change, there have already been a number of meetings with the Veterans Health, Benefits and National Cemetery Administrations and staff offices working together to move this effort forward.   Mr. Chairman, we are committed to keeping the Committee informed as we turn these plans into concrete actions.  This partnership with Congress and your support is critical to the success of this effort.

One of the key parts of the rescission allows the Under Secretaries to purchase advertising in media outlets for the purpose of promoting awareness of benefits and services, after coordinating with the Department's public affairs office. 

The decision allows us to use proven modern advertising techniques that will appeal to veterans of all ages and their family members. It will give VA, with its variety and diversity of services and benefits, the ability to provide the right message through the right medium to reach veterans.  Traditional advertising venues such as broadcast and print are available to us. But we are also looking at social marketing and internet based non-traditional media such as YouTube, MySpace and Facebook, as well as podcasting.  All can be considered and evaluated in our outreach effort to veterans and their families.  

Our goal is to reach veterans who have just returned from Iraq and Afghanistan as well those who served in World War II, Korea, the Cold War, Vietnam, and the Persian Gulf War – we want to reach all veterans of all eras of service with the messages of greatest concern to them through the medium that is most effective.  Facebook might work best for veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, but not be the best to reach our Vietnam era veterans.

On November 14, 2006 VA submitted to Congress a five-year strategic plan (2006-2011) which included an outreach component.  At that time we were still precluded from using paid outreach advertising.  It is now being revised to include a robust advertising approach.  It is our goal to provide the updated outreach strategic plan to you in December 2008 when we submit our scheduled Report of Outreach Activities to the Congress.   We also aim to include this fiscal year’s accomplishments of our current business plan objectives which will be linked to the strategic plan goals in the report.   

Of course with every opportunity there are new challenges.  Moving forward we intend to develop a sound approach, with steps that will include:

•  An internal committee including key legal, budget, and communications staff who have already begun meeting to move forward and take action quickly. 
•  We are developing a request for proposals to contract for outside professional advertising expertise to assist VA.
•  We are reviewing the budget to determine the available funding for the remainder of Fiscal Year ’08 and Fiscal Year ‘09. 
•  We are engaged with the National Ad Council and the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America to coordinate on their fall national public service campaign on mental health for returning veterans. 

One concrete action already moving is a Veterans Health Administration pilot outreach campaign on suicide prevention.   I will share with you today some of the examples we will be using in our initial effort to reach out to veterans in the Washington, DC area.   The Department will assess its effectiveness, and if successful, it will be exported to other areas in the country.

As a Department we recognize that we must seek outside professional outreach and advertising assistance.  While I am proud of our public affairs professionals, we simply don’t have the advertising expertise within the Department at this time.

Our goal is to make veterans and their families aware of the benefits and services VA has to offer.   Looking to the future, we intend to use whatever outreach and advertising techniques appear to work.  We will keep an open mind and aggressively seek to find the best advertising technology available.

As we move forward we will work closely with you, and welcome your suggestions.   We believe the opportunities are vast and we will pursue this new approach with vigor.  On this issue, I believe we are in total agreement – we must move quickly with sound expertise based upon the strategic needs of this Department using a variety of options to reach out and positively connect with veterans and their families. 

Mr. Chairman, this concludes my formal statement.  We will continue to seek your counsel as we move forward.  I am pleased to respond to any questions you or the subcommittee members may have.