VA Secretary Wants To Improve Digital Services For Vets

Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald said he plans to launch a new digital services team in the agency to help winnow down its numerous websites as part of a plan to improve the services VA delivers to veterans.  During a press conference Monday, McDonald decried the large number of often confusing websites the agency currently operates and said the website winnowing would take place between now and November.

“Right now, if you go to any Veterans Affairs website, you'll find that there are 14 different websites that require a different username and a different password for veterans to access the VA,” McDonald said. “That's just flat wrong.  We've got to make it easier for the veteran to access the VA through one website, one username, one password.”

During the press conference, McDonald said the department also needs a centralized information technology system. “I think we all agree it's better to have one IT system across the department than to have Balkanized IT systems.”  On the plan to create a team of digital experts in the agency, VA later said it will recruit and hire “the nation's top technologists to partner with us in building and delivering world-class, cost-effective digital services to our veterans,” but did not provide any further details...