VA Bypassed Congress to Strip Veterans of Their Rights
Their own documents proved it. A congressman made them part of the permanent record.
THE GIST
VA built a secret guardianship program — Project Safe Harbor — to strip veterans of their civil rights over housing, finances, and medical care
VA’s own lawyers admitted the agency has no legal authority to do this
Congress was asked for that authority. Congress said no.
VA went around Congress anyway — signing a secret MOU with the DOJ on March 11, 2026
Seven days later, under oath before Congress, VA’s executive sponsor called his own agency’s internal documents “erroneous”
Rep. Mark Takano entered those documents into the permanent congressional record without objection
The documents show VA was targeting homeless veterans outside the VA system — not the 700 inpatients O’Toole described under oath
FOIA requests are warranted. Congressional investigation is overdue.
Source Documents All primary source documents are available for review. A free Google account is required to access NotebookLM. Safe Harbor — VA Bypasses Congress
Under oath. Before Congress. In a hearing that 99% of the country missed.
That’s where Dr. Thomas O’Toole confirmed he is the executive sponsor of Project Safe Harbor — VA’s pilot program to pursue legal guardianship over veterans. Guardianship means a court strips a person of the right to make their own decisions. Housing. Finances. Medical care. All of it transferred to someone else.
VA wants to do this to veterans.
There’s one problem. VA doesn’t have the legal authority to petition state courts for guardianship. O’Toole admitted that too, under oath, at the same hearing.
So VA went around Congress to get it anyway.
The Setup
Ranking Member Mark Takano (D-CA) came to the March 18 hearing with receipts.
He asked O’Toole directly: isn’t it true that Project Safe Harbor was developed to align with the president’s executive order on “ending crime and disorder on America’s streets” — the one that essentially criminalizes homelessness?
O’Toole said no. That is not correct.
Takano held up an internal VA document. The Safe Harbor Guardianship Pilot Program Placement document. It says — in writing — that Project Safe Harbor is “a high priority pilot program aligned with the executive order ending crime and disorder on America’s streets.” It also says the program is “targeting veterans at risk or experiencing homelessness.”
That’s not Takano’s characterization. That’s VA’s own language.
The Admission
O’Toole then confirmed two facts that should end this program.
One. VA told congressional staff it lacks the legislative authority to petition state courts for guardianship of veterans.
Two. VA submitted a proposal to Congress to get that authority.
Then VA stopped waiting for Congress to act.
Instead of pursuing the authority through the proper channel — the one the Constitution created — VA went to Attorney General Pam Bondi. The plan: have Bondi sign off on deputizing VA’s own attorneys to walk into state courts and seek guardianship of veterans on VA’s behalf.
The VA-DOJ memorandum of understanding was signed March 11, 2026. It authorizes VA attorneys to serve as Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys with the power to initiate state court guardianship proceedings against veterans.
When Takano asked O’Toole directly whether VA had abandoned the effort to seek congressional authorization and instead gone around Congress to DOJ, O’Toole said he’d have to defer to OGC colleagues and take it for the record.
That’s a yes that won’t go on tape.
The Contradictions at a Glance
The Contradiction That’s Already on the Record
DOJ’s own Elder Justice Initiative states plainly on its website that guardianship “results in the removal of an individual’s legal rights” and should be treated as a last resort. That’s not an advocate’s characterization. That’s DOJ’s own language — sitting on a government webpage — while DOJ attorneys are now authorized to strip those exact rights from veterans in state courts.
The same department. Two positions. One serves the institution. One serves the veteran.
Who Are They Actually Targeting?
O’Toole’s answer, when pressed on the target population, was carefully constructed.
The program, he said, targets approximately 700 veterans currently boarding in acute care beds at VA facilities — veterans who lack the mental capacity for decision-making, many with advanced Alzheimer’s disease, no next of kin, forced to remain in inpatient beds because there’s nowhere safe for them to go.
That is a real problem. Nobody disputes that. Those veterans need help.
But that’s not what the documents say.
The internal documents — the ones Rep. Takano then entered into the congressional record without objection — state that Safe Harbor was targeting “homeless veterans and veterans not actually within VA’s healthcare system.”
Not inpatients. Not Alzheimer’s patients with no next of kin.
Homeless veterans. Veterans outside the VA system entirely.
O’Toole’s response: those documents are “erroneous.”
An internal VA document, produced by VA, describing VA’s own program, is erroneous. The VA would like you to take their word for it.
What the Internal Documents Actually Show
The VA’s own Integrated Project Team organizational chart — marked “Draft — Pre-Decisional Deliberative Document, Internal VA Use Only” — tells a different story than what O’Toole presented to Congress.
The chart names five pilot sites:
Pilot Site 1: VA Boston HCS / VISN 1
Pilot Site 2: VA Tampa HCS / VISN 8 (James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital)
Pilot Site 3: Hines VAMC / VISN 12 (Chicago area)
Pilot Site 4: VA South Texas HCS / VISN 17 (San Antonio)
Pilot Site 5: VA GLA HCS / VISN 22 (Los Angeles)
It names the legal framework workstream lead: Bryan Thompson, JD, Office of General Counsel — the same OGC that told congressional staff VA lacked the authority to do this in the first place.
It confirms Thomas O’Toole as Executive Sponsor in his role as Acting Deputy Under Secretary of Health.
And it shows the program was operating across five VA medical centers with named clinical staff conducting guardianship screenings before VA had obtained any legal authority to pursue the proceedings those screenings were designed to initiate.
Full Investigation Timeline
What Rep. Takano Put on the Record
At 2:01:55 in the hearing, Rep. Takano formally entered the internal VA documents into the congressional record. Consent was granted without objection.
Those documents are now permanent.
He also made two formal requests in writing: VA must clarify in writing the actual intent and scope of Project Safe Harbor, and VA should abandon the program entirely.
His closing statement cut through the evasion: “Forcing homeless veterans into guardianship and civil commitment won’t solve their homelessness. Homeless veterans need housing and robust services.”
The disability rights community agrees. The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, Paralyzed Veterans of America, and the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans have all raised formal objections to the MOU. DREDF called it a pathway to “sweeping losses of civil rights that are notoriously difficult to reverse.”
What Needs to Happen
Congress needs the full Safe Harbor program timeline. The full text of the OGC authorization request sent to DOJ. The full text of the VA-DOJ MOU. The clinical screening criteria being used at all five sites.
FOIA requests for all of the above are warranted and overdue.
And Dr. O’Toole — who sat before Congress and called his own agency’s internal documents “erroneous” — owes veterans a straight answer about who Safe Harbor is actually coming for.
The documents are in the record now.
He can’t walk them back.
⚡ TAKE ACTION
📞 House Veterans’ Affairs Committee: (202) 225-9756 “I’m calling to demand a full investigation into Project Safe Harbor. VA’s own internal documents contradict sworn testimony given to this committee on March 18, 2026. I want the full program timeline, the OGC authorization request to DOJ, and the full text of the VA-DOJ MOU made public.”
📞 VA’s Office of General Counsel: (202) 461-7690 “Project Safe Harbor is operating without congressional authorization. Bryan Thompson in OGC is the legal framework lead for a program VA admitted to Congress it has no statutory authority to run. The VA-DOJ MOU must be released publicly.”
📞 Rep. Takano’s office: (202) 225-2305 “Thank you for entering the Safe Harbor documents into the record on March 18. I’m asking your office to file a formal FOIA request for the full program timeline, hub site clinical screening data, and the OGC authorization request to DOJ.”
Sources
House Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing transcript, March 18, 2026 — timestamps 1:55:43–2:02:24
VA Internal IPT Organizational Chart — HHRG-119-VR00-20260318-SD010 (entered into congressional record March 18, 2026)
VA press release: “VA, DOJ sign agreement to improve care for nation’s most vulnerable Veterans,” March 11, 2026 — news.va.gov Stars and Stripes, Linda F. Hersey, March 11, 2026 — stripes.com
DOJ Elder Justice Initiative — justice.gov/elderjustice Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law statement, March 11, 2026 — bazelon.org
DREDF statement, March 12, 2026 — dredf.org Paralyzed Veterans of America statement, March 13, 2026 — pva.org
NCHV statement, March 11, 2026 — nchv.org
I use AI as a research and editing assistant — the same way I’d use a good reference book or a sharp editor. Every word published here is reviewed, verified, and approved by me. The perspective, accuracy, and editorial decisions are mine.
About Tbird’s Quiet Fight Tbird’s Quiet Fight is independent investigative journalism covering VA policy, veteran benefits, and federal accountability. Founded by Tbird, U.S. Navy veteran and founder of HadIt.com (est. 1997), Advisory Board Member, Veterans Healthcare Policy Institut *VHPI). Not affiliated with any political party, VSO, or commercial interest. For press and advocates: founder@hadit.com