By Jamie Fox  #protectveteranprivacy @veteranprivacy

On Thursday October 5, 2017, I sent the secretary of the VA, David Shulkin, an email titled “Repeatedly VIOLATED by corrupt VBA managers through privacy breaches – I respectfully request your assistance.”

I then forwarded the same email I had sent to Shulkin, to Thomas Murphy, Acting Under Secretary for Benefits, and Vivieca Wright Simpson, Chief of Staff. The email I sent to top VA leadership read as:

 

Email sent October 5, 2017:

Subject:  RE: Repeatedly VIOLATED by corrupt VBA managers through privacy breaches – I respectfully request your assistance

Dear Dr. David Shulkin,

I come to you out of desperation – I am at my whit’s end. I have exhausted every possible way I know how to resolve this issue. I started over 2 years ago at the lowest chain of command level before contacting you. I have been met with enormous resistance and bureaucratic red tape the whole way.  What is and has been happening to me is illegal, unethical, and immoral. Not only is it a breach of privacy, but it is also a breach of trust. When I volunteered to serve in the military and civil service I did not volunteer to be subjugated to the criminal abuse of public office power. Since coming forward in 2008 as a witness for a former co-worker who was being harassed – in order to help her stop the harassment -- I have been continuously harassed, punished, and retaliated against by the same people who protected the predator. I was violated (physically assaulted) in the military service. I continue to be violated (mentally assaulted) by corrupt civil service managers in the VBA who have access to all of my military records, medical records, and veteran claim file records. These people have violated my constitutional rights to fair and unbiased due process. These people have violated VA law. These people have violated moral law. Since the VA has done nothing to stop these people from violating other people’s rights, it leads me to believe that the VA as a whole condones this immoral behavior – but I refuse to believe that and that is why I am coming to you. If the VA truly cares about veterans then the VA will do what it takes to protect every veteran’s rights, privacy and property (information). What I say to my doctor is no one else’s business unless they absolutely have to view the information and were authorized to view the information. I am not interested in a lawsuit. I am interested in making the VA better for veterans, including myself. Trying to get an accurate accounting of disclosures of my C-file from the VBA should not take an act of congress and it should not take months rather the disclosures must be made available immediately upon request. When I walk into the privacy officer’s office on VHA side they will print out the list of everyone who has ever viewed my medical records while I am there in the office or they will email or mail it to me within a couple of days. It is my right to see who has accessed my private information and it is my right to restrict who sees my information. I know of no veteran who will want to work for the VA after learning what I have learned, that VA managers have carte blanche to everything with impunity!  I love my job. I love helping other veterans. I want to be what is right and moral about the VA and help those who sacrificed so much for our great country. If I get fired for refusing to tolerate the intolerable --- by having all of my rights and dignity violated --- then I will know for sure the VA is a totally corrupt and bogus entity. Please demonstrate to me through action that the VA cares about veteran’s rights and privacy and that the VA can and will do the right thing, which starts with transparency. Every veteran has the right to know who has been viewing their private information even on the VBA side and why in a timely manner,