VA Nominee Duckworth Plans Online Outreach to Veterans

War-wounded nominee wants to expand use of social media

By John Yaukey

WASHINGTON — Tammy Duckworth, wounded as a helicopter pilot in Iraq and now up for a top job at the Department of Veterans Affairs, told lawmakers yesterday that the government needs to be more modern in its approach to helping veterans.

Duckworth — a one-time Hawai’i resident and 1985 graduate of McKinley High School — is in line to become the VA’s assistant secretary for public and intergovernmental affairs. She testified before the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee from her wheelchair.

If confirmed by the Senate, Duckworth would become part of a reformation of the VA led by retired Army Gen. Eric Shinseki, who is from Hawai’i.

Her confirmation to the post is almost assured.

Duckworth told senators yesterday that: "To become a 21st-century organization, the DVA (Department of Veterans Affairs) will have to change some past methods. It’s no longer enough to hand out brochures at demobilization ceremonies. We must develop social networking strategies, use nontraditional outlets such as blogs, and employ the wide variety of new media available to get the message of available benefits to our veterans."

In 2004, Duckworth was piloting a Blackhawk helicopter when it was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. The explosion took her right leg above the knee and her left leg below the knee and almost destroyed her right arm, breaking it in three places.

Still, Duckworth, 41, has enjoyed a highly successful professional career.

In 2006, she lost a tight race for a House seat in Illinois, and she has served as director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs.

When Barack Obama was elected president, Duckworth’s name was circulated as a possible replacement for him in the Senate from Illinois.

If confirmed, Duckworth would essentially become the "public face" of the VA, said U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawai’i, chairman of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee.

"There must be trust and confidence in the VA if it is to serve veterans effectively," he said.

Struggling agency

Duckworth’s nomination comes as the VA struggles to regain its financial footing and credibility among veterans.

Reports by the Government Accountability Office in recent years have concluded that the VA has concealed funding problems and failed to implement key recommendations by an advisory committee created to improve treatment for veterans.

The two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have also created major challenges. Policymakers and caregivers now must treat legions of returning warriors suffering from traumatic brain injuries and stress-related illnesses that the military has come under fire for failing to recognize and treat earlier.

Meanwhile, suicides among combat veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan have reached alarming levels.

Shinseki, now secretary of Veterans Affairs, has said he would modernize what critics have called a lumbering bureaucracy in which benefits claims languish.

Shinseki, who was born in 1942 in Lihu’e, Kaua’i, has said his top priorities include implementing the new Veterans’ Assistance Act, which will expand educational benefits for military veterans who have served since Sept. 11, 2001.

He has also promised to try to expand benefits to many middle-income veterans who were excluded under the Bush administration because they made more than about $30,000 annually.

Approval expected

Yesterday’s confirmation hearing indicated Duckworth will get strong bipartisan support in the Senate.

Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., the leading Republican on the Veterans Affairs Committee, praised her "courageous" service and urged her to look carefully at how to improve the delivery of benefits to veterans in rural areas and inform them of their options.

"This is critical because VA programs cannot help improve the lives of veterans if veterans don’t know about them," he said. "We have veterans in all corners of the nation, including very rural areas."