The historic nomination of the Department of Veterans Affairs deputy secretary could be held up over whistleblower protection complaints by the same senator who stalled another top nominee.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, is expressing concerns that nominee VA Chief of Staff Tanya Bradsher is in part responsible for failing to safeguard whistleblowers’ identities from their bosses — a long-promised reform to the VA’s internal messaging system. If Grassley doesn’t get a satisfying answer, he could halt the promotion of the first woman of color ever to hold the second-highest leadership post in VA.

“VA and Ms. Bradsher must immediately explain their failure to protect this information for so long, even after being notified of these potential violations of federal data privacy laws,” Grassley wrote in a letter to VA Secretary Denis McDonough last Friday, just one day after Bradsher appeared before the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee for her confirmation hearing. “VA must also explain its delays in investigating the matter, while this sensitive information apparently remains available to those who should not have access to it.”

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By Leo Shane III

At issue is VA’s Integrated Enterprise Workflow Solution (VIEWS) system, used by department officials to track all correspondence. Last year,...

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