Letters

Today, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Mike Bost (R-Ill.) released the following letter he sent to Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Denis McDonough regarding the Department’s process to document ethics recusals of senior officials, particularly Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology and Chief Information Officer Kurt DelBene, who was previously an executive at Microsoft. This letter was sent due to the Department’s failure to meet the June 2nd deadline as stated in the Chairman’s initial May 10th letter.

“During the meeting, Mr. DelBene and VA Special Counsel Michael Waldman confirmed that VA currently does not have a formal process in place to document Mr. DelBene’s [ethics] recusals – or for that matter recusals of any of its executives – including recusals related to former employment,” the Chairman wrote in his letter. “I am concerned that, more than a month after the meeting with Mr. DelBene, I have not received a response from you or your staff.”

Full text of the letter the Chairman sent can be found here and below:

Dear Secretary McDonough:

On April 27, 2023, my staff met with Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology and Chief Information Officer (CIO) Kurt DelBene to discuss Mr. DelBene’s ethics waiver and relationship with his former employer, Microsoft.

During the meeting, Mr. DelBene and VA Special Counsel Michael Waldman confirmed that VA currently does not have a formal process in place to document Mr. DelBene’s recusals – or for that matter recusals of any of its executives – including recusals related to former employment. Mr. Waldman acknowledged that it may be a good idea to start a formal recusal documentation process and volunteered to discuss the idea internally and inform the Committee of their conclusions. To that end, I sent you a letter, dated May 10, 2023, asking you to provide a written summary of VA’s plan to document Mr. DelBene’s and other similarly situated VA executives’ recusals, if any, or VA’s reason for not adopting such a process. I asked you to provide me with this information by June 2, 2023, and coordinate a time to brief Committee staff.

I am concerned that, more than a month after the meeting with Mr. DelBene, I have not received a response from you or your staff. As Chairman, I take government ethics and conflicts of interest seriously. I trust you do as well. When can I expect to receive your response?

Sincerely,

MIKE BOST
Chairman