Solutions were difficulto make up pushed off by several administratis. Now theris natural progression of these problems developing. Clearly, you cant go back and change things. If you could, what wou you change . Not putting a hard decision when there are problems developing, organizaons outside of government are taking solutions and mornizing, government cant keep its head in the sand and fall behind. These are Management Issues th i think have been important to us, and w we will tackle them head on. Do you conser yourself first and foremost a doctor . Absolutely. I still see paents, but that is who i am. I approachhe job primarily as a physician, secony as a manager. Wyatt dr. . Is about helping people why a doctor . Its a way of helping people. You can help many re people in a much broader way, so i consider my management career though, as an extension ofhat i have been doing is a physician. First nonmilitary person to hold this potion. What do you bring to the job . I bring my experience in the private sector, and my passion help contribute and do public seice. While i am not a veteran, i long come from a long history of Public Service comtment in my family. This is my chance later in life to give back and do Public Service. Since im not a veteran, it gives me ext rson to make sure im coected with those who are veterans, to work with her Veterans Services organizations, and to be out there interacting to make sure i undetand how to lead this organization in the right direction. Your dad was in the army . What do you do what did he do . What did he tell you about his experiences in the military . Will go beyond my dad first. My grandfather, his father, was the chief pharmacist at madison, wisconsin pa. I grew up v. A. I grew up listening to him talking about veterans, and how much it meant for him, working at the v. A. As a medical student i worked in the v. A. Of course. As a resident, i workein two other v. s, so thats really where i learned and trained. Of course, father, being a psychiatrist in the military, not only talked about his army experience, but also growing up, talked about how he would deal with people that were suicidal, or really struggling with other Mental Health ises th is one of the big issues we are dealing with todayn the v. A. , 20 veterans of the day taking their life through suicide, active care, and Mental Health priorities and treatment. All of these issues are things who that have always been on my mind. I want to come back to disk will lk about scide. En talked to family members about people who have taken their lives, whado they tell you . A system that has the them and their family down. It has let them down. Some parents, after they lost theison and they shed with me and this has now been published publicly it is pretty clear that the whole family waslected down by a system. Not intentionally, but it had too many gaps in it. From that experience, it talked me rig up front talked me it taught me that thiis totally unacceptable. Its my total priority to address this issue. Based on your dad experience as a psychiatrist, what motivates somebody to take their life . Think its the see that there arent any other options. Its staying in isolation. Sometimes its being in pain, sometimes its just the illness itself. Whher its depression in th sense of hopelessness,hat lets people think that there is no better option and thats part of do, make sure people arent alone, thats they have the that theyeed around them and that they are connected with the right resources. We know veterans get care in the v. A. , that when at happens, they do better, they are less lily to look at suicide as an option. We can help connect them with the right help. Promising care for veterans to expt lincoln, correct . Before that. The v. A. Gives president clinton that cdit, because right before that right before his seco iugural, he said its the countrresponsibility to care for those wounded in batt. Thats what we put throughout this building. I usually start mo every public talk with president lincolns coitment to that. This goes all the way back to the tale when there were soldiers, there were commanders that had a commitment to care for those whtook their lives, and to proct what they believed in. This is right back in the very beginning of this country. There was commitment and needed, responsibility and need, responsibility, to take care of those. And outings what today for veterans that means what today for veterans . We have a problem today. Ss than 1 of citizensow serve in the military. When people raise their hand and phone tear to go off and put eir life at risk, they have to understand, when the come back, the countrys ing to be there for them. They need to know that. Not just for 30 days, but their lifeti. When something happens, as a result of conflict or service, they have to understand that we are there for them, no matte how long it takes. That responsibility is connect to our National Security commitnt they will not volunteer f they dont have support. When it comes to national disasters, whats the role of the v. A. . The v. A. Has four missions. The healthcare one is one that people uerstand. We also have the educational mission, were retrained 70 of u. S. Trained doctors a this country. We are the largeestt organization with doing research, and our research division. The Fourth Division is are Fourth Mission is preparedne. Disaster preparedness. s the v. A. That is apparent for militarynd natural sasters. We have to fight to get the most nurs, health care professionals, doctors in the country. Our First Mission was to make sure that Veterans Health care and benefits continue. No Medical Center in houston stayed open. Friday evening for now, making sure that therar400 inpatients able to get the care that they needed. Our operating ro stayed open. We have mobile units throughout houston. Down there with vice presint, but i also returne with mrs. Trump. Having my personal commient, to be able to make sure that veterans in the area in texas, 530,000 of them, knew th we were there for them and we would be there no matter what, was important for me. Goes back to your management style. Hodo you mobilize and manage and get all of this done, and insurance done properly and efficiently . The jubilee people look at their leaders and make sure theyre walking i do believe people look at their leaders and make sure theyre walng the walk. This is one of the reasons i still practice medine in the v. A. There is no better way to connect with your staff and customer basis you serve them to let them know th you are personally committed to this, and you understand the situation they are going thrgh. Where did you grow up . I w born on an army place for my dad was serving in chago. Soon after, he married my mother, who is from philadelphia, and we ended up the. Siblings . Older ster who is a psychologi. What does sheell you about her pression, and how do you ply th to your drug . Our family was very cap how do you apply that to your jo well, our family managed well through difficult times. They were able to ick at this issue particularly as it relates to meeting mental heth needs, how important that is. People are pushing in the right direction to make sure we have Mental Health professionals, and thats integrated into thphysical aspects of care. Which traded veteran as a whol treat veterans as a whole person. How did you meet your wife . In medical school. She was a friend of mine. Weve gone thugh our trainings in the v. A. Together. Shes now a dermatologist. We get to still connect a lot about what it means to be a doctor. Love at first sight could love at first site . Took longer for me. Why . She wanted to make sure chu is looking at all of her options. I knew she was the right person. Children . What do they do . Yes, my sonraduated from nyu, worksn the new york area in the manage cap helping to improve properties in the manage care industry. My daughter is in her final year of law school. On a talk about your career at the Medical Center. You were the ceo. You also wanted to make sure that things were done properly. How did that train you for this job . What did you learn in that position . Running inew york City Hospitals very cpl task. If anything unusual or crazy happens, it can happen in new york city. So yes, you have to be prepared for everything. Very complex work relationships as well, with a very strong unions and other gup that worked in managing, and working in hospitals. It was a good way prepare for him complexity, trouble that organizations can have. Working through that gave me confidence in understanding that many of the problems tt we see with the v. A. Across the country, the scale is much bigger, but ally, its a similar approach to what it did in the private sector. Do you have a unique understanding of t complexities and health care, and what we know about the fordable care act,nd what will try to deal with today . Yes, i understand the broader issues in health care that has to do with making sure that we have a way to provide access to health care. I think if youre run a hospital organization, you understand when people need health care, they will come tyou regardless of whether they have insurance or not. Understanding how to do it in a way that is affordable is also important. I think thats what people are seeing athe naonal level with health care reform, is a balance beeen affordability and thcomplexity on whats in the middle, and how to administer a program le that. You are at the university of pennsylvania . What was that job . Tt was an ability to, after it finishemy critical training, to get expertise in finance and management skills. I wasupported in that program by foundation which allowed me to be able to delop some of the skills i think dr. May not necessarily have when they leave medical school, to the but to become a leader, you need to round up those skills. I was fortunate to do th at the university of pennsylvania. Another issue you are dealing with, transgender terans whats your approach . Once somebody becom a veteran, we will treat them with gnity and respect, no matter what their issues are. Theres a change in policy at the departnt of defense, theyre going to need to decide who is veteran. Once the come out in the department of defense, my mission d responsibility is clear. Anybody who becomes a veteran of somebody we argoing to take care o as long as they want us to take care of it. Courts have you have any interesting or memorable conversations with veterans, whether it be world war ii, etnam, or other conflicts . And thinking about yesterday, were headed military vitiation day. Spent some time with world war ii veteran these are such amazing people. They have stories of such sacrifice and coage that impact me. I love spending time with them. I came to my Management Meeting this morning with leaders re d said spirits yesterday, whave to do something more about capturing the stors of individuals. Young people today dot really understand whathat generatio nt through and whathey did to be able to allow us to be here today. Generally speaking, this generation, generation didnt want to talk autt. They moved on with their lives. Think that was very much part of at it meant to be a soldier at that time. I think what weve learned is, wh we dont have the ability to sre and speak, by internalizing that you can sometimes make issues more difficult. Now what we y to do is allow people to understand that aring and talking with people about wh theyve experienced is an imrtt rt of coming back and bng successful, when you transitioned back into civilian life. Its also important tshare with t 99 to havent expericed what people have served can undeta how they can support andervice veterans. Another iuewhistleblowers in the v. A. How you figure that people can point a finger witho repercussions . With him a lot in that regard. We have whistle brawler whistllower protection that reports directly to me. People have place to safely talk abouthings that would concern to them. One of the things we have recently done is brought some whistleblowers to work directly the oicso they could be part of xing the problems part of the solution think weve done a lot there. We alshave a new law that allows us to expand additional protections for whistleblowers. Invert for barack obama and now donald trump. First of all, anybody who had a privilege of working for any commanrinchief gross a deeper respect and affection for their commanderinchief. I had a greadeal of respect and affection for president ama, and convincing mr. And couldnt say nir things about rking with him. But president trump, very different styles, hes ear about what he wants done, president trump, and he puts that out there and sets high expectations. Then he wants you to do that job. My experience withresident trump is an ideal boss for me. I know whai need to. And wh the expectations are and i know i have his support. Need his help, his nice to me. Inow you have a problem solve. I know its en a mure privilege to work or for both of these esidents. This president now that im secretary is allowing me to accomplish things that we are getting done here. A strong different ively . Is a guy who really less deeply about, veteran care, support of our active servic members. He something when he speaks he states right for his heart on the issue. He candid conversations abouthis. He is very easy to dl with and acceptable i dont know if everybody sees that side of him. Its safe to say you are the on cabinet member to be confirmed by the u. S. Senate by vote of 100 to nhing. How did that come about . Is a reflection on how the country feels about their commitment to veterans, that this is noa partisanssue. If theres anything americans agree upon, its that we need to do better. The congress reflects that. It didnt rprise me that this was an area where we would have unanimous support. If you taka look at the bills weve gotten through congss so far, is largely been done s almost unanimousupport, strong bipartisan support in all cases. How did you come apart this job with president obama . Is reading about crisis in the newspaper. I thought wow, i wish that i could do something about it. To my phone rang then my phone ng, and the thing most people wouldve reacted same way. I didnt plan on coming and saying long time. I planned on this as being my chance to get backn blic service. About that i couldet something ne. Where we came up to where trump was coming into office to be inaugurated, and i was aed to ke on the rolef secrary, i realed at that point that i havent gotten everything done that i want. Think we make some goo progress, but i hant made the difference ihoped to make. I thought it was an extraordinary opportunity for me to take thknowledge that i gainedn the last administration, and now with a renewed effo. As long as we are making a difference, its mething that i would feel good about. I can feel good about the direction that this is headed in. Any sense, in terms of w long you want to stay coandor, if theres another position you would want . Very happy and honored to be able to serve in this capacity in the administration. Will continue to serve in this administration as long as the president wants me in the role, and as long as im ab to be able to get work done and make improvements in the organization. What he liked to do on a day off . It will be hypothetical as i dont. One of the issues about being cabinet secretary, it really is, the pace is pretty incredibl theres no difference between workdays, weekends, and mornings and nights. These are pretty demanding jobs, where it is work most of the time. I am very gratef for those who supported in this role in the administration. Mostly, my family s really happy for me being the to do the things that i could do even as undersecretary, to be there r home duties, to be able to spend timeith them. Theres lots of time on the road, a lot of time in the late night and weekend meetings and obligation to those who have felt at the ca hasnt been there for them, what wouldou tell him . I think one of the things i want to do is to acknowledge that experience. I know there are too many veterans today we still arent meeting the needs in the way that we want. We understand that, and some of these problems have been longstanding. But, we are tackli them. We are making progress every day. Bucommittees are going to take some of these problems are going to take years to fix. So will take legislative changes. Some will take different approaches of the government to address these issues. But, we are not, we are not backing away from tough problems. We are tackling those heads on. I ask people to continue to rk withs until we get this rit because that is our commitment, to get this so that we are serving the veteransnyway ey want us to be seed. Despite the hours and long days, are you still enjong it . Theres been no greater professional satfaction than this. Ive had a great career doing a lot of fun things, but theres no doubt, this is the most importanthing of ever worked on my career, and i consider it a tremendous voyage to come to work every day. I will continue to give it my all and make sure we will do a right things for veterans. Think you for your time. [captions coright National Cable satellite corp. 2016] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, whicis responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] monday march the 16 anniversary of september 11. A ceremony at the National September 11 memorial. Live coveragespan for the septemr 11 ceremony. At 9 45 a. M. Eastern, live from shanksville pennsylvania, the 9 11 commemoration at the flight 93 national memorial. Online at cspan. Org and lten with the free cspan radio app. Vice president ence was at fema headquarters in washington dc a short time ago. Remarks on the federal response to hurricane irmand its impact on florida. This is about 15 minutes