VA Directors Need Help To Make Needed Sweeping Changes

From Ed Derwinski in 1898 to the current VA Director Denis McDonough, there have been many changes and nothing has changed at all. The VA is still overmatched internally and externally despite who’s at the top. With Veteran suicide reaching 17/day, the VA is doing what they can, but they need help. Despite the Republican’s recent slowdown of getting the PACT Act passed, Veteran help is usually bipartisan. Still there’s trouble so Congress can’t do it all. It’s time for a new way to make sweeping changes to the largest health car provider in the US. It’s time to appoint a VA Czar.

When 9/11 happened, former PA Governor Tom Ridge was appoint Homeland Security Czar. He is perhaps the most “famous” of czars. Appointing a czar is also a very common thing for a President to do. Here is a list of recently appointed czars below and click this link for all the sources in a PDF:

Czars Under the George W. Bush Administration

The following is FactCheck.org’s count of Bush administration positions whose holders were
dubbed “czars” in one or more news articles. We include only one name per position, though
many positions were held by multiple people during the administration. In some cases, the same
“czar” nickname (e.g. “cybersecurity czar”) was applied to more than one job title. In these
cases we have counted the two separate positions as two “czars.” Senate-confirmed positions
are marked with a star. Non-president-appointed positions are marked with a dagger.
1. *Abstinence Czar (Administrator, U.S. Agency for International Development) – Randall
Tobias
2. AIDS Czar (Director, Office of National AIDS Policy) – Scott Evertz et al.
3. *AIDS Czar/Global AIDS Czar (Coordinator of U.S. government activities to combat
HIV/AIDS globally) – Randall Tobias et al.
4. *Bailout Czar/TARP Czar (Assistant secretary for financial stability, United States
Treasury) – Neel Kashkari
5. Bioethics Czar (Chairman, President’s Council on Bioethics) – Leon Kass
6. Bird Flu Czar (Assistant secretary for public health emergency preparedness, Department
of Health and Human Services) – Stewart Simonson
7. Birth Control Czar (Deputy assistant secretary of population affairs, Department of
Health and Human Services) – Eric Keroack
8. *Budget Czar (Director, Office of Management and Budget) – Mitchell Daniels et al.
9. *Cleanup Czar (Assistant secretary for environmental management, Department of
Energy) – Jessie Roberson et al.
10. Communications Czar (Counselor to the president) – Dan Bartlett et al.
11. Counterterrorism Czar (National director for combating terrorism) – Gen. Wayne
Downing
12. Counterterrorism Czar (White House counterterrorism coordinator) – Richard Clarke
13. Cybersecurity Czar (Special advisor to the president on cybersecurity, Office of
Management and Budget) – Richard Clarke
14. Cybersecurity Czar (Director, National Cyber Security Center) – Rod Beckström
15. Democracy Czar (Deputy national security advisor for global democracy strategy) –
Elliott Abrams
16. Domestic Policy Czar, also called Abstinence Czar (Assistant to the president for
domestic policy) – Claude Allen
17. Domestic Policy Czar (Chief domestic policy coordinator) – Karl Rove
18. *Drug Czar (Director, Office of National Drug Control Policy) – John Walters
19. Faith Czar (Director, White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives) –
John DiIulio et al.
20. Food Safety Czar (Assistant commissioner for food protection, Food and Drug
Administration) – David Acheson
21. Gulf Coast Reconstruction Czar (Federal coordinator of Hurricane Katrina recovery
efforts) – Donald Powell
22. †Health IT Czar (National coordinator for health information technology, Department of
Health and Human Services) – David Brailer
23. *Homeland Security Czar (Assistant to the president for homeland security and
counterterrorism) – Tom Ridge
24. *Homeland Security Czar (Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security) – Michael
Chertoff
25. Homelessness Czar (Executive director, United States Interagency Council on
Homelessness) – Philip Mangano
26. *Intelligence Czar (Director of National Intelligence) – John Negroponte et al.
27. *Manufacturing Czar (Assistant secretary for manufacturing and services, Commerce
Department) – Albert Frink et al.
28. Mine Safety Czar (Assistant Secretary for Mine Safety and Health Administration,
Department of Labor) – Richard Stickler
29. Policy Czar (Assistant to the president for policy and strategic planning) – Michael
Gerson
30. *Public Diplomacy Czar (Undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs,
Department of State) – Karen Hughes et al.
31. Reading Czar (Advisor to the president on child development and education research and
policies) – G. Reid Lyon
32. *Regulatory Czar (Director, White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs)
– John Graham et al.
33. *Science Czar (Director, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy) – John
Marburger
34. *War Czar (Deputy national security adviser for Iraq and Afghanistan policy and
implementation) – Gen. Douglas Lute
35. World Trade Center Health Czar (WTC programs coordinator, Department of Health and
Human Services) – John Howard

Czars Under the Obama Administration

The following is FactCheck.org’s count of Obama administration positions whose holders were
dubbed “czars” in one or more news articles. In some cases, the same “czar” nickname (e.g.
“cybersecurity czar”) was applied to more than one job title. In these cases we have counted the
two separate positions as two “czars.” In some cases, we could find no use of the term “czar”
for the position except in news articles about the preponderance of czars in the Obama
administration. We did not count these cases. Senate-confirmed positions are marked with a star.
Non-president-appointed positions are marked with a dagger.
1. Afghanistan-Pakistan Czar (Special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan) –
Richard Holbrooke
2. AIDS Czar (Director, Office of National AIDS Policy) – Jeffrey Crowley
3. Auto Recovery Czar (Director of recovery for auto communities and workers) – Ed
Montgomery
4. †Border Czar (Special representative for border affairs, Department of Homeland
Security) – Alan Bersin
5. *California Water Czar (Deputy interior secretary) – David Hayes
6. Car Czar (Advisor for the U.S. auto sector, United States Treasury) – Steven Rattner
7. †Climate Czar (Special envoy for climate change, Department of State) – Todd Stern
8. Counterterrorism Czar/Homeland Security Czar (Assistant to the president for homeland
security and counterterrorism) – John Brennan
9. Diversity Czar (Chief Diversity Officer, Federal Communications Commission) – Mark
Lloyd
10. †Domestic Violence Czar (Advisor to the president and the vice president on domestic
violence and sexual assault issues) – Lynn Rosenthal
11. *Drug Czar (Director, Office of National Drug Control Policy) – R. Gil Kerlikowske
12. Economics Czar (Director, National Economic Council) – Lawrence Summers
13. Energy Czar (Director, White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy) –
Carol Browner
14. *Government Performance Czar (Chief performance officer) – Jeffrey Zients
15. †Great Lakes Czar (Special advisor overseeing the Great Lakes project, Environmental
Protection Agency) – Cameron Davis
16. Green Jobs Czar (Special adviser for green jobs, enterprise and innovation, White House
Council on Environmental Quality) – Van Jones
17. †Guantanamo Closure Czar (Special envoy to oversee the closure of Guantanamo Bay
detention center, Department of State) – Daniel Fried
18. Health Czar (Director, White House Office of Health Reform) – Nancy-Ann DeParle
19. *Intelligence Czar (Director of national intelligence) – Dennis Blair
20. Iran Czar (Special advisor for the Persian Gulf and Southwest Asia) – Dennis Ross
21. Manufacturing Czar (Senior Counselor for Manufacturing Policy) – Ron Bloom
22. Mideast Czar (Special envoy for Middle East peace) – George Mitchell
23. Pay Czar (Special master for TARP executive compensation) – Kenneth Feinberg
24. *Regulatory Czar (Administrator, White House Office of Information and Regulatory
Affairs) – Cass Sunstein
25. *Science Czar (Director, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy) – John
Holdren
26. Stimulus Accountability Czar (Chairman, Recovery Act Transparency and
Accountability Board) – Earl Devaney
27. *TARP Czar (Assistant secretary for financial stability, Treasury Department) – Herb
Allison
28. *Technology Czar/Infotech Czar (Chief information officer) – Vivek Kundra
29. Technology Czar (Chief technology officer) – Aneesh Chopra
30. Urban Affairs Czar (Director of Urban Affairs) – Adolfo Carrion
31. *Weapons Czar (Undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics, Department of
Defense) – Ashton Carter
32. Weapons of Mass Destruction Czar (White House coordinator fo

About Once A Soldier: Starting in 2017, our mission is to limit the scars of Veteran suicide. We offer prevention services and postvention services. We reach a national audience and our goal is to become the preferred channel for those who want to help Veteran families who need our services. With 17 Veteran suicides a day in 2021, we believe our two niche services will make a difference to each family and to our nation.