An undercover investigator from the Government Accountability Office drinks from a bottle of liquor during this 2025 covert test at an unidentified VA medical facility. (Government Accountability Office)
The Department of Veterans Affairs has not yet fully implemented important security recommendations at its nationwide network of medical facilities despite years of warnings and a string of violent episodes, a government watchdog said this week.
The Government Accountability Office is set to tell lawmakers Wednesday that most of its recommendations to improve security at VA facilities remain unimplemented, including some first made in 2018.
The security concerns stem from previous violence at VA facilities. In February 2025, a man who entered a VA emergency room in Nevada and charged at law enforcement agents with a weapon was shot dead. In November, an employee was punched by a knife-wielding man outside a VA hospital in California.
Of the roughly 74,700 crimes reported by VA police in fiscal 2024 and 2025, about 1,100 were violent crimes, including 888 violent sex crimes, 233 aggravated assaults and three murders, the GAO said.
In a statement ahead of the testimony, the agency highlighted findings from reports released in 2018 and two months ago that found weaknesses in the VA’s risk assessment procedures, performance metrics and overall security planning.
“While VA staff, veteran patients and medical facilities have been the target of violence, threats and other security-related incidents in recent years, VA has not fully addressed longstanding and known risks,” said Triana McNeil, the GAO’s director of homeland security and justice.
During 30 covert tests at selected VA facilities, security personnel failed every time to detect a prohibited multitool with a knife blade longer than 2.5 inches, including at two facilities equipped with metal detectors, the GAO said. It is prohibited by law to bring knives with a blade length of 2.5 inches or more into federal buildings, which includes VA facilities.
And in 25 of 26 tests, VA staffers did not confront undercover investigators who were openly drinking from a bottle labeled “vodka.” The consumption of alcohol is “generally” prohibited at VA facilities, the statement said.
As a result, the GAO recommended that the agency review and revise its risk management policies and bring them in line with federal standards.
It also said the VA should develop an oversight strategy. The VA has not yet fully implemented these recommendations, the report said.
Earlier this month, the VA provided a concrete plan to implement federal risk management standards, including the ability to measure security performance by end of June 2027, an update on the GAO website said.
The VA agreed with all of the GAO’s recommendations but said the lack of an agencywide policy on how best to implement federal risk management standards had stalled efforts, McNeil’s statement said. The agency has also faced law enforcement staffing shortages.
However, the VA has implemented only one of the five security recommendations made since 2018, according to the GAO.
