Today we have two great guests with us
to take a look at the first couple of weeks after the 2016
presidential election of Donald Trump. We are starting to see some
of the president-elect's choices for various cabinet positions. The
current employees in the executive branch are having a somewhat
visceral reaction to the impending changes. For those of us who have
labored under the over-reach of the Obama administration this is a
welcome and much anticipated brand new view from the oval office.
We'll probably have a little fun at Hillary's expense today too ;-)
Doctor Lyle Rapacki is a
Private-Sector Intelligence, Behavioral Analysis and Threat
Assessment Specialist. Since June of 2010, Dr. Rapacki has provided
selected members of the Arizona Legislature Intelligence Briefings
on Border Security and threats to Arizona sovereignty. Lyle also
receives, analyzes and disseminates critical intelligence from and
to law enforcement, intelligence, and governmental communities. He
is the author of dozens of White Papers, bulletins and briefings,
many of which have received distribution to and by local, state, and
federal law enforcement, intelligence and public safety agencies
nationally. Lyle is the owner of Sentinel Intelligence Services, LLC
which carries out these functions, as well as provides consultations
to elected officials in and out of Arizona and clients in industry.
Lyle earned a Bachelor’s Degree in
Political Science and Master’s Degree in Counseling from Northern
Arizona University, and his Doctorate from Clayton College of
Natural Medicine specializing in the treatment of psychological
disorders. He also holds a Post-doctorate Diplomate in Forensic
Counseling and another in Behavioral Psychotherapy. Dr. Rapacki
taught in the Criminal Justice Department at Wayland Baptist
University, Phoenix campus, and at Grand Canyon University where he
also held the position of Director for the Public Safety
Administration, Homeland Security and Crisis Management programs. He
is a member of the FBI InfraGard Program for Arizona, Vice President
of the Association for Intelligence Officers AZ Chapter; the
Association for Threat Assessment Professionals, and the
International Association Law Enforcement Intelligence Analysts. He
is a Charter Member of Oath Keepers, and Constitutional Sheriffs and
Peace Officers Association.
Dr. Rapacki is most privileged to provide intelligence as a Watchmen
to the Christian community nationally, and to write a regular
commentary for The Olive Branch Report, an online Christian
publication. His commentary is then carried by about 25 additional
publications..
BRIEFING CLASSIFICATION: NOT
RESTRICTED – OPEN SOURCE INTELLIGENCE//OSINT
BRIEFING LEVEL: Public
SUBJECT OF BRIEFING: Obama Birth Certificate
FOR YOUR ANALYSIS AND CONSIDERATION:
Five years and quite possibly over five million words later, the
findings of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department – Cold Case
Posse investigation into the Obama Birth Certificate will be brought
forward and made public. Many, many obstacles have deliberately been
put in place to hinder the investigation, character assassinate
anyone close to the issue much less the actual investigation, and
discredit the findings. The findings are now ready for release. The
facts and findings of the investigation into the Obama Birth
Certificate will prove compelling and conclusive. Mentioned below is
a recent interview by the lead investigator. You will learn both
background explanations as to why things are and have been the way
they are, and you will find some nuggets in preparation to the
formal press conference. Go to the site mentioned below:
http://www.thepostemail.com/2016/11/10pnn-radio-interview
.
The formal press conference announcing the findings of the
investigation is scheduled for December the 15th, 2016.
Date: November 11, 2016 at 8:20:37 AM MST
Subject: ZULLO: “BEFORE JANUARY, WE’RE GOING TO REVEAL WHAT WE HAVE”
PNN Radio Interviews Cold
Case Posse Lead Investigator Mike Zullo
ZULLO: “BEFORE JANUARY, WE’RE GOING TO REVEAL WHAT WE HAVE”
My name is Kristen Ruell.
I am an authorization
quality review
specialist at the
Philadelphia Regional
Office. My primary job
duty includes performing
quality reviews on the
accuracy of benefit
payments paid out from
the VA to its
beneficiaries. This
August will mark my 9th
year of employment with
the Philadelphia
Regional Office at the
United States Department
of Veteran Affairs. The
agency has potential to
be the greatest place to
work in the entire
country. The feeling of
being able to give back
to the American citizens
that served our country
is truly satisfying.
Kristen is now part of the MyVA task force
http://www.va.gov/myva/
Try the new MyVA infrormation hotline: (844) MyVA311
From:V21MAC
All Staff SA Sent:Thursday,
November 17, 2016 7:48 PM To:V21MAC
All Staff Subject:Moratorium
on Awards Processing until further notice
All
VANCHCS Staff,
We regret to inform
you that there is a VA wide moratorium on processing
all awards until further notice as indicated in the
message from VA Central Office below. This means we
will not be giving out performance awards prior to
Christmas as we have in the past. We hope to hear
soon that the moratorium is lifted. However, based
on the information provided, we expect a reduced
amount of award money will be available. We will
keep you informed when we receive updated
information.
Recently enacted legislation has the potential to
significantly reduce the VA’s award budget from
previous years. This Congressional action requires
further review and analysis, as well as establishing
a methodology to equitably distribute award monies.
Once the methodology is determined, the Office of
Management (OM) will compute the awards budgets for
each Administration and Staff Office, based upon the
limitations imposed by Congress. Therefore,
I am
immediately imposing a moratorium on processing all
awards until further notice. We are
addressing the urgency of this matter as
expeditiously as possible, via email, acknowledging
that VA Handbook 5013, Part I, Paragraph 8, requires
supervisors to communicate performance appraisals
ratings for those employees who have a fiscal year
rating cycle, and HR offices to code the ratings
into HR Smart as soon as possible, and no later than
90 calendar days after the end of the rating cycle,
Awards include, but are not limited to:
•Individual
cash awards (such as superior performance awards and
individual special contribution awards);
•SES
performance awards;
•Group
cash awards (such as group special contribution
awards);
•Suggestion
awards;
•Organizational
awards;
•Gain-sharing/productivity
awards;
•Quality
Step Increases (QSIs);
•Special
Advancements for Achievement (SAA) (certain Title 38
and Hybrid Title 38);
•Special
Advancements for Performance (SAP) (certain Title 38
and Hybrid Title 38);
•Exemplary
Job Performance and Exemplary Job Achievement (RNs
and CRNAs only);
•Cash
awards of up to $2,000, in accordance with 38 U.S.C.
§7452(b), for RNs and CRNAs for obtaining specialty
certification;
•Referral
awards
V/R,
Employee Relations & Performance Management Service
Office of Human Resources Management
VA Central Office
Great
message from the MyVA director:
Friends,
I hope everyone had a wonderful Veterans Day last
week. Thank you to all those who have served, are
continuing to serve, and for all your support of
Veterans.
I would like to share the latest MyVA Transformation
Update which we released publically last week.
Additionally, I’ve attached a 2 page infographic
page, 1 one page overview of VA’s 2016
accomplishments…and here is a link to a 15 minute
video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_o5WS0YgGg&feature=youtu.be)
which we’ll soon be chopping into shorter segments
that are easier to consume.
A few quick highlights:
We are
re-earning Veterans trust by improving the
Veteran Experience. A year ago, only 47% of
Veterans told us they trust the VA to fulfill
our country’s commitment to Veterans; that
number is now 60%. Still way too low, but we are
very encouraged by the movement and we
understand that trust is built over time.
Veterans are telling us that we are more
effectively delivering on our care and services
(from 65% to 75%), we are becoming more “user
friendly” (from 46% to 66%) and we are
increasingly showing empathy and making Veterans
feel valued (from 54% to 68%). We want all these
numbers over 90%
Access to
healthcare, and quality of healthcare, is
improving.
At ~116
(of 166) Medical Centers, we are now
have the processes/systems in place to
provide same-day services for those
Veterans that need it, in primary care.
At ~113 Medical Centers, we have the
processes/systems in place to provide
same-day services for mental health. 86
facilities are able to provide same-day
services for both primary care and
mental health. We continue to drive
towards our goal of all 166 Medical
Centers are providing same-day services
in both by the end of this December.
At ~115
Medical Centers, Veterans are now able
to schedule optometry and/or audiology
appointments directly, without first
going through primary care. This means
that Veterans can more easily/quickly
get their eyeglasses or hearing aids.
By
September 2016, the average wait time
for a completed appointment was down to
less than 5 days for primary care, less
than 7 days for specialty care, and less
than 3 days for mental health care.
However given the size of the VA, there
is variability; and we are working to
reduce that unfavorable variability at
our lower performing sites.
In FY
2016, VA completed nearly 58 million
appointments – 1.2 million more than in
FY 2015 and 3.2 million more than FY
2014. More of them are provided by a
network of more than 350,000 community
providers – a 45% increase in the number
of providers since last year.
While we
are improving access, quality is also
improving – in the past year 82% have
improved significantly in quality
metrics (SAIL).
VA is
answering the phone.
As crazy
as it sounds, in January 2016 59% of
phone calls to our VBA national call
center were being blocked because of
call volume and long wait times to get
served. This is now less than 1% and
average speed to answer is down to less
than 3.5 minutes (our goal is less than
30 seconds).
On Monday
we will be rolling out a single phone
number, 1-844-MyVA311(698-2311); in case
a Veteran does not which of our 975
1-800 numbers to call. The MyVA311 line
will direct you to the right person (we
are modeling our phone experience to
that of which many Veterans are familiar
at USAA).
Not long
ago, when Veterans called a Medical
Center they would receive a message that
if in crisis to “hang up and call
1-800-273-8255 and Press 1”. That is no
longer the case; Veterans now can be
automatically transferred by pressing 7.
We are doubling our capacity to handle
crisis calls and have opened up a second
hub for the VCL in Atlanta.
Vets.gov is
transforming the on-line experience. See for
yourself (https://www.vets.gov/).
In collaboration with the US Digital Service
team (a bunch of ridiculously smart Silcon
Valley-type choosing to take a hiatus from the
commercial world to help Veterans/government) by
March we will have overhauled this experience
and collapsed our 500+ Veteran-facing sites into
1 amazingly slick experience. We have increased
online healthcare application submissions from
62/day to 500/day (traditionally 10% of our
applications were online, it will now be so easy
that 50% will be online); and have rolled out
new online education app that launched this week
that will make it easier and faster for Veterans
and service members to apply for programs such
as the Post-9/11 GI Bill®. Coming soon will be a
single login, a much slicker prescription refill
function, secure messaging with your doctor, and
much improved online claims status function.
Also, in January Veterans will be able to
schedule primary-care appointments through an
app on their phones, tablets, or computers.
Veteran
homelessness has been reduced 17% in the past
year and 47% since 2010. In Los Angeles,
Veterans homelessness was reduced by over 30%
last year, in a year that overall homelessness
increased. Of course we still have much work to
do here.
Processing
of disability claims is faster and more accurate.
The average wait time to complete a claim has
dropped by 65%, to 123 days. We completed nearly
1.3 million claims in FY 2016, and reduced
pending claims by almost 90.
We are
improving the employee experience, although
we still have a long way to go! We improved on
66 of 71 dimensions in this year’s Federal
Employee Viewpoint Survey. However these scores
are still way too low. A great employee
experience is key to providing a first-class
Veteran experience. One of the main pain point
has been speed to hire qualified candidates; we
prioritized Medical Center Directors and have
cut the speed to hire time from 252 to 133 days
(47% reduction).
We are
innovating and sharing best practices across the
enterprise. Our scale and scope are
incredible advantages. The VA Innovator’s
Network and the Diffusion of Excellence
initiatives are going strong and being expanded
in 2017.
While we are very
excited about the progress, there is still much left
to be done. Transformations of this magnitude take
time (several years) and require everyone rowing in
the same direction. Veteran Service Organizations
and VA will be working with our Congressional
partners on both sides of the aisle to pass key
legislation over the coming weeks (hopefully!). And
we look forward to working with the incoming
administration (beginning this coming week) to
ensure there is no momentum loss from one
administration to another (as it says on the back
cover of the MyVA Transformation Update:
“Administrations change. Our collective commitment
to Veterans shouldn’t.”).