Veterans Affairs officials promised a full investigation into the operations of their suicide prevention hotline a day after whistleblowers told Congress that some unstable callers may be getting ignored or lost in the system.
In a letter to Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee ranking member Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, VA Secretary Denis McDonough said the goal of the Veterans Crisis Line must be to “make sure that veterans get the support they need, whenever and wherever they need it” and that he takes the recent whistleblower allegations “very seriously.”
McDonough also committed to working with an upcoming Government Accountability Office investigation into the allegations.
On Wednesday, Moran voiced concerns about “gross mismanagement creating a danger to the health and safety of veterans nationwide” in the crisis line’s operations and called for a full examination of the service.
Vets calling crisis line get lost in system, whistleblowers warn
The Veterans Crisis Line has seen a rapid expansion in recent years, growing from about 900 full-time employees in early 2021 to more than 1,800 today. It has also seen a dramatic rise in demand since last summer, when federal officials launched a new three-digit dialing system — 988 — for individuals seeking emergency mental health care.
A group of current and former employees told Senate staff that the extra workload has prompted leadership at the Veterans Crisis Line to establish a special unit designed to handle “callers with...
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