VA places 60 staff on leave after shutting down DEI offices

By Leo Shane | Military Times

At least 60 Veterans Affairs employees have been placed on administrative leave following the closure of multiple diversity, equity and inclusion offices across the department, part of a government-wide crackdown on the issue.

In a statement to Military Times, VA officials said that all department DEI offices are “permanently closed” and that the workers on leave were solely focused on those inclusion policy efforts. They did not provide any additional information on when a decision will been made to reassign or fire those workers.

On Wednesday, acting VA Secretary Todd Hunter sent a staff-wide message announcing the closure of the offices in accordance with White House guidance earlier in the week. Similar messages were sent by other department heads, although Hunter’s memo also included a line saying the “programs divided Americans by race, wasted taxpayer dollars, and resulted in shameful discrimination.”

The moves have left numerous department employees on edge. Internal department message boards, portions of which were shared with Military Times, have been peppered with fears about additional firings and other actions against individuals who worked on initiatives related to the closed offices.

At the same time on those message boards, one employee pushed new administration leaders to go even further, asking for officials to roll back policies like requiring identifying pronouns from official emails and to punish staffers who championed those kinds of efforts during the last administration.

The White House has also set up a special effort to identify “efforts by some in government to disguise these programs by using coded or imprecise language” and is encouraging federal workers to report co-workers engaging in such behavior to administration officials.

Earlier this week, the program manager for VA’s Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (I-DEA) Influencers Network — responsible for a host of initiatives to bring more minority and LGBTQ+ veterans into the department’s network — announced the shuttering of that office with a note stating, “please know that this transition does not diminish the value of your contributions or the importance of the work you have championed.” . . . (read more)

VA ends DEI, stops millions in spending on DEI (VA Press Release)

The Department of Veterans Affairs announced today that it has completed its initial implementation of President Trump’s executive order to end DEI within the federal government.

To date, VA has placed nearly 60 employees who had been solely focused on diversity, equity and inclusion activities on paid administrative leave.

The combined annual salary (base pay, locality pay and additional earnings) of these employees totals more than $8 million, an average of more than $136,000/year per employee.

One such employee is making more than $220,000 per year.

Additionally, VA has identified several contracts for DEI-related trainings, materials and other consulting services, which the department is currently working to cancel. The combined value of these contracts totals more than $6.1 million.

In the coming weeks and months, VA will be working to reallocate these resources to better support the Veterans, families, caregivers, and survivors the department exists to serve.

VA is also in the process of taking down a variety of DEI-related media from its various digital properties.

“Under President Trump, VA is laser-focused on providing the best possible care and benefits to Veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors. We are proud to have abandoned the divisive DEI policies of the past and pivot back to VA’s core mission. We look forward to reallocating the millions of dollars the department was spending on DEI programs and personnel to better serve the men and women who have bravely served our nation,” said VA Director of Media Affairs Morgan Ackley.

https://starrs.us/category/dod/veterans-affairs/