VA’s top lawyer resigns

Veterans Affairs Department General Counsel Tim McClain announced his resignation Wednesday, continuing the exodus of senior agency officials in the wake of the department's early May data breach and subsequent investigation.

In an internal announcement, McClain wrote that he is resigning with "mixed feelings" and that he is proud of what the general counsel's office, consisting of 400 attorneys nationwide, has accomplished since he joined the department in 2001. He indicated he is returning to the private sector.

"It has been challenging but incredibly rewarding, both personally and professionally," McClain wrote. "I will miss my VA 'family.' "

The resignation is effective Sept. 1.

"Tim McClain has been an integral part of VA's senior leadership team as our chief legal adviser, and I commend his dedicated service to our nation's veterans," VA Secretary James Nicholson said in a statement. "He is a consummate professional, and I wish him continued success in his future endeavors."

Lawmakers and former agency officials have been critical of legal decisions on which McClain signed off that blocked repeated attempts by the agency's chief information security officer to centralize authority for IT security.

In a hearing last month, McClain defended the memorandums, stating that he based the opinions on laws governing federal information security.

Nicholson has since criticized the VA's decentralized IT security management structure and pledged to change it in a reorganization that includes moving more than 5,000 IT employees to serve under the direction of the department's chief information officer.

A June 28 directive from Nicholson gives more powers to the VA's CIO, in addition to the authority granted in the IT reorganization. It delegates "complete responsibility and complete authority," including that for establishing system access standards, ordering departmentwide compliance and reporting any failures to comply.

McClain is scheduled to testify with Nicholson at a Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee hearing Thursday on the VA inspector general's recent report on the data breach. A committee spokesman told the Associated Press that he is "certain some members will want to know if McClain's departure is part of the shake-up at VA."

Several other agency officials have left in the aftermath of the May 3 theft of a laptop computer and external hard drive from the home of a GS-14 data analyst. The equipment has since been recovered.

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy Michael McLendon, the analyst's direct supervisor within the VA's Office of Policy, Planning and Preparedness, resigned June 2, and McLendon's supervisor, Dennis Duffy, acting assistant secretary for policy, planning and preparedness, retired June 30.

The agency's chief information security officer, Pedro Cadenas, resigned late last month, stating that he had been prevented from fixing the department's information security weaknesses.