The following are my own opinions and thoughts, and do not reflect those of Veterans Affairs or the US Government.

Dear Elon,

You don’t know me, but I’ve admired your accomplishments for many years. Along with millions of others, I’ve been awed and inspired by seeing rockets land on their tails in scenes straight from science fiction novels. More than purely a technical accomplishment, this relentless iteration and improvement has preserved American leadership in space. I’ve also watched as Tesla has paved the way for electric vehicles to move from a curiosity to a tenth of the US market.

We have more in common than you might think - I’ve been a (not nearly so successful) entrepreneur and came to government in 2020 looking to make a difference. I too agree that deep reform is necessary, from hiring, to burdensome regulation, to contracting practices. I also agree that fraud is a real problem and accountability to taxpayers is of huge importance.

To that end, the office I work in has been working to enhance the security of Veterans’ accounts on VA.gov to cut down on benefits fraud. We are doing this by requiring identity verification, which requires a significantly more complex signup process. This turns out to move some of the burden of fraud prevention from the government onto individual Veterans. Some of them struggle with the process, whether due to poor records, traumatic brain injuries incurred during their service to our country, or discomfort with the technology many of us take for granted. If I was making the decision whether to do this, I might choose differently - after all, just as the optimal number of RUDs is non-zero, the optimal amount of fraud is non-zero.

So, I and (mostly) many other VA employees have been volunteering at sign-up days all across the country, working with Veterans to help them navigate the process so that they can retain access. Getting signed up with an identity verified credential preserves their access to message their health providers, refill medications, and many other services they depend on.

This leads me to a request - please consider spending a morning or two with us at a sign-up day. You’ll meet amazing folks and hear some great stories. I think you’ll also start to get a sense of how working to provide services to a huge spectrum of individuals differs from building products for the privileged in our society.

Come join us in the work.