(2012-0868-F) Appointment to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)

60 folders, approximately 1,619 pages

This collection consists of records regarding Cabinet appointments and reappointments of the Secretary and Under Secretary for Health in the Department of Veterans Affairs. Jesse Brown served as the Secretary of Veterans Affairs from 1993 to 1997. Brown resigned in 1997. Upon his resignation, Hershel Gober served as acting Secretary of Veterans Affairs until 1998. After serving several months as Acting Secretary, Togo West, Jr. was nominated and confirmed as Secretary of Veterans Affairs in 1998. West served in this position until 2000. In 2000, Gober again served as acting Secretary of Veterans Affairs. This collection includes memoranda, press releases, binders, biographies, briefing books, email, letters, memoranda, press, resumes, and schedule proposals. Memoranda concern the nomination of individuals and the appointment of nominees to these positions. Press releases and speech remarks document the nomination and resignation of individuals holding these positions in Veterans Affairs. The binders contain statements regarding position responsibilities in addition to resumes.

The materials in 2012-0868-F are a selective body of documents responsive to the topic of the FOIA. Researchers should consult the archivist about related materials. This FOIA consists of records related to cabinet appointments to the Secretary and Under Secretary for Health of the Department of Veterans Affairs during the Clinton Administration. Jesse Brown served as the Secretary of Veterans Affairs from 1993 to 1997. Brown resigned in 1997. After Brown’s resignation, Hershel Gober served as acting Secretary of Veterans Affairs until 1998. After serving several months as Acting Secretary, Togo West, Jr. was nominated and confirmed as Secretary of Veterans Affairs in 1998. West served in this position until 2000. In 2000, Gober again served as acting Secretary of Veterans Affairs. James Holsinger was appointed as Chief Medical Director of Veterans Affairs in 1990. This title of this position was changed to Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Health in 1992. Holsinger resigned as Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs in 1993. Kenneth Kizer was nominated and confirmed as the Veteran Affairs’ Under Secretary for Health in 1994. Kizer served in this position until 1999. White House Office of Records Management (WHORM) Subject Files contain letters, memoranda, press releases, and speech remarks. These letters concern recommendations for nominations, resignations, vacancies, and the employment records for Secretary and Under Secretary for Health for the Department of Veterans Affairs. Many letters are authored by veterans’ advocates, which include veterans’ organizations and members of Congress. Memoranda concern the nomination of individuals and the appointment of nominees to these positions. Press releases and speech remarks document the nomination and resignation of individuals holding these positions in Veterans Affairs. White House Staff and Office Files contain a wider variety of documents concerning the appointment of individuals to the positions of Secretary and Under Secretary for Health for the Department of Veterans Affairs. This material includes binders, biographies, briefing books, email, letters, memoranda, press, resumes, and schedule proposals. The binders contain statements regarding position responsibilities in addition to resumes. Briefing books contain statements on position responsibilities, employment histories, and memoranda concerning nominations. Letters, memoranda, and press relate to nominations and vacancies for the Secretary and Under Secretary for Health. Responsive email consists of White House correspondence concerning the appointment of Veterans Affairs employees and other personnel appointments. Responsive records from the Clinton Presidential Appointments database (CPA) include printed records. Researchers may also find FOIA 2009-0628-F as responsive to this collection. FOIA 2009-0628-F contains materials related to the communications between the White House and the Department of Veterans Affairs regarding the Reinventing Government Initiative and the delivery of health services to veterans. In addition, researchers can consult the Department of Veterans Affairs portion of the Clinton Administration History Project. This portion is available online at http://www.clintonlibrary.gov/ustrva.html#Veterans%20Affairs.

Textual

Records that are responsive to this FOIA request were found in these collection areas— Clinton Presidential Records: White Office of Records Management (WHORM) Subject Files, Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files, Clinton Presidential Records: CPA, and Clinton Presidential Records: ARMS Email. The White House Office of Records Management (WHORM) contains a variety of series created to organize and track documents and correspondence. The WHORM Subject file was compiled by the White House Office of Records Management and is a series of categories designated by a letter/number combination. Staff and Office files were maintained at the folder level by staff members within their individual offices and document all levels of administration activity. WHORM files are processed at the document level; whereas, Staff and Office files are processed at the folder level, that is, individual documents are not selected and removed from a folder for processing. While this method maintains folder integrity, it frequently results in the incidental processing of documents that are not wholly responsive to the subject area. The Automated Records Management System (ARMS) is a database that contains email records of the Executive Office of the President. This system maintained unclassified Presidential email. The ARMS database is comprised of six sub-series of email records called "buckets." The buckets generally represent a specific White House office. The buckets are titled: NPR for National Performance Review, OPD for Office of Policy Development, POTUS for President of the United States, WHO for White House Office, CEA for Council of Economic Advisers, and Default for emails not associated with an office. The WHO bucket contains email created or received by individual with an Executive Office of the President White House user account not identified as CEA, NPR, or OPD. ARMS email are arranged by topic, there-under by bucket, and there-under chronologically by creation date. Clinton Presidential Appointments (CPA) is a database of individuals who were appointed to various positions. The database is searchable by the name of the appointed individual, the date of appointment, or the department or agency to which they were appointed. The database is divided into two data subsets: S and C; and WHY. Responsive results from the CPA are printed and arranged by data subset, and further arranged chronologically by appointment date. FOIA 2012-0868-F includes WHORM records from these subject codes: FG001-06 Appointments – Interviews, Meeting with, Presidential FG027 Department of Veterans Affairs FG058 United States Tax Court PE002 Employment – Appointments PE002-01 Schedule C Appointments.

Collection is open to all researchers. Access to Clinton Presidential Records is governed by the Presidential Records Act (PRA) (44 U.S.C. Chapter 22, as amended) and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (5 U.S.C. 552, as amended) and therefore records may be restricted in whole or in part in accordance with legal exemptions.

Official records of William Jefferson Clinton’s presidency are housed at the Clinton Presidential Library and administered by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) under the provisions of the Presidential Records Act (PRA).

Staff Archivist, 2013. Previously restricted materials are added as they are released.

The following is a list of documents and folders processed in response to FOIA 2012-0868-F:
Box 1
Clinton Presidential Records: WHORM: Subject File
Category Case Number
FG001-06 241846
FG027 030133
FG027 034488
FG027 097093SS
FG027 195762
FG027 219340SS
FG027 223230
FG027 223238
FG027 223241
FG027 223522
FG027 223526
FG027 223784
FG027 224681
FG027 224846
FG027 224936
FG027 224944
FG027 225505
FG027 241361
FG027 242759
FG027 242762
FG027 244040
FG027 245622SS
FG027 246691
FG027 246693
FG027 276103
FG027 276499
FG027 292001SS
FG027 309817
[FG027] 407529
FG027 407958
[FG027] 408848
FG027 409246
FG027 416110
FG027 417851
[FG027] 417992
FG027 429618
FG027 429861
FG058 268565SS
PE002 001860
PE002-01 013914SS
PE002-01 179403SS
PE002-01 301949SS
Box 2
Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files
Cabinet Affairs
 Marshall Jr, Thurgood
 Veterans Affairs [OA/ID 19078]
 Marshall Jr, Thurgood; Steele, Elisabeth
 Veterans Affairs [1] [OA/ID 13496]
 Veterans Affairs [2] [OA/ID 13496]
 Veterans Affairs [3] [OA/ID 13496]
Communications
 Gearan, Mark
 Binder – U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs – Transition Briefing Book, Jan. 1993 [1]
 [OA/ID 6086]
 Binder – U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs – Transition Briefing Book, Jan. 1993 [2]
 [OA/ID 6086]
Counsel’s Office
 Schaffner, Jane
 1993 Transition – Department of Veterans Affairs Tier 1 Candidates, Volume I [1]
 [OA/ID 18876]
Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files (continued)
1993 Transition – Department of Veterans Affairs Tier 1 Candidates, Volume I [2]
 [OA/ID 18876]
 1993 Transition – Department of Veterans Affairs Tier 1 Candidates, Volume I [3]
 [OA/ID 18876]
Box 3
Counsel’s Office
 Schaffner, Jane
 1993 Transition – Department of Veterans Affairs Tier 1 Candidates, Volume II [1]
 [OA/ID 18876]
1993 Transition – Department of Veterans Affairs Tier 1 Candidates, Volume II [2]
 [OA/ID 18876]
Legislative Affairs
 Hoffman, Marty; Rustique, Virginia; Kuryk, Hildy
 Togo West – Veterans Affairs [OA/ID 17931]
Presidential Personnel
 Veterans Affairs, US Department of [OA/ID 24010]
 Williams, Sam
 Department of Veterans Affairs – Presidential Personnel Briefing Book [binder]
[OA/ID 18542]
Public Liaison
 Wyckoff, Dana
 Department of Veterans Affairs [OA/ID 2166]
Clinton Presidential Records: Automated Records Management System [Email]
WHO [OA/ID 500000]
 [Veterans Affairs, Appointments]
 [06/10/1993 – 08/02/2000]
Clinton Presidential Records: Clinton Presidential Appointments
S and C
 [Veterans]
 [02/01/1993 – 12/12/2000] [OA/ID 170000]
WHY
 [Veterans]
 [06/08/1993 – 05/16/2000] [OA/ID 170000]