It should be quite clear by now that the bureaucracy of the Department of Veterans Affairs needs a drastic purge. Its perfidy became obvious about a year ago when Americans learned that various officials had been gaming the system in order to preserve their own performance bonuses and give the appearance that veterans were getting timely care. The practice was widespread and many were complicit as veterans died and suffered in silence without the medical treatment they were promised.

Since then, a great many other problems in the agency have been revealed, including cover-ups of lethal infections at VA facilities, hospitals that consume resources and serve no patients, and pill mills.