Two years ago, Veterans’ Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki left office in disgrace after it was discovered that more than 100 agency facilities were keeping secret lists to cover up how long veterans were kept waiting for medical care.

The deception, detailed by an agency official in an email he didn’t expect to be made public, hid a huge backlog of appointments. The subterfuge allowed bureaucrats to be paid performance bonuses that they had spectacularly failed to earn. Officials were betraying the men and women they were employed to serve, but the gravy train kept rolling.