President-elect Joe Biden tapped Denis McDonough to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to the Associated Press. The agency is facing increased pressure to deliver medical services to both aging and returning veterans during the coronavirus pandemic.
Biden’s choice makes McDonough, who served as former President Barack Obama’s White House chief of staff, responsible for caring for some 9 million veterans nationwide, including some 800,000 aging Vietnam War veterans.
It was assumed Biden would select a post-9/11 veteran from the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, where more than 2.7 million U.S. soldiers have served. Instead, the president-elect opted for another Obama-era official with no military experience.
McDonough was Obama’s second term chief of staff from February 2013 until the end of his tenure, serving previously as deputy national security adviser from October 2010 to January 2013. The Stillwater, Minnesota, native and Georgetown University graduate also served as chief of staff of the National Security Staff and as deputy national security adviser for strategic communications.
Before serving in the Obama White House, McDonough was a foreign policy adviser for the Obama transition team and worked on the former president’s 2008 campaign. McDonough brings congressional and policy think tank experience to the VA as well, having worked as a foreign policy adviser to former South Dakota Democrat Tom Daschle and as a senior fellow at the liberal Center for American Progress.
McDonough would take the helm under serious challenges for America’s new generation of veterans who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan and suffered from ailments, including post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and high rates of veteran suicide.
The vast VA apparatus employs more than 377,000 people and supports 170 medical centers and more than 1,000 outpatient sites. All of its facilities are attempting to digitize services and keep pace with increasing demand and longer wait times for veterans needing basic services while keeping them safe from COVID-19.
McDonough replaces Trump appointee Robert Wilkie, who, in his final months, hid from public view and avoided controversial topics from the press, including ailments caused by burn pits and cancers related to the toxic exposure Afghanistan War veterans who served in Uzbekistan faced.
His nomination follows a Biden pattern of naming former Obama administration officials to senior posts, such as Antony Blinken’s nomination for secretary of state.
