Trump picks senior VA advisor to serve as top department watchdog

Mason was one of four inspector general nominations submitted by the White House this week. All of those posts — and about a dozen more — have been vacant since late January, when Trump dismissed the independent investigators from their roles without explanation.

Mike Missal, who had served in the VA Inspector General role since April 2016, has joined seven other former officials in a lawsuit challenging those firings. That case is still unresolved.

Mason was part of the Board of Veterans Appeals from 2017 to 2022, becoming the first woman ever to serve as chair of the judicial panel. The board provides a second chance for veterans seeking disability benefits to challenge Department of Veterans Affairs decisions.

She is the wife and daughter of military veterans and has been a public advocate for military spouse employment opportunities in the past.

Earlier this year, Trump appointed Mason as a senior advisor to the VA secretary. Her shift from administration insider to department watchdog elicited concerns about her ability to serve as an independent voice on department operations and decisions.

“A Trump political acolyte like Cheryl Mason is exactly the wrong choice to be the VA Inspector General, a role requiring nonpartisan, independent oversight,” Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee ranking member Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said in a statement responding to Tuesday’s nomination.

“Veterans deserve an inspector general who will conduct investigations free of interference and collusion from [VA Secretary Doug] Collins and the Trump administration. Otherwise, we will be putting veterans at even greater risk of corruption and abuse of power.”

Critics noted that Mason has been involved in department efforts to trim the size of the VA workforce, which has prompted objections from Democratic lawmakers and veterans advocates.

Hours before the nomination, in testimony before the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee on Tuesday, Collins hinted that Trump would be moving soon to fill the vacant watchdog post.

“From our perspective, we welcome the oversight to make sure that we’re meeting the metrics that we need to do to take care of veterans,” he said.

Committee Chairman Jerry Moran, R-Kan., said filling the post is “a high priority” for the panel. No timeline has been announced for a confirmation hearing for Mason.