President-elect Trump made few campaign promises more passionately than his pledge to gut the mismanaged Department of Veterans Affairs and offer servicemen and servicewomen the dignified treatment they deserve, but his ability to deliver those results will likely depend on the people he chooses to lead the agency.

With more than 300,000 employees, the VA is the largest federal agency by personnel, aside from the Defense Department. It is the fifth-largest agency by budget. And much of that sprawling bureaucracy has succumbed to backlog, waste and even corruption as veterans increasingly find themselves waiting longer for worse care.