But instead, Biden nominated Denis McDonough, a 51-year-old alumnus of the Obama White House who never served in the military and lacks any background in health care administration (a relevant qualification, because the VA operates the largest public hospital system in the country). After working as a Capitol Hill staffer and Center for American Progress senior fellow, McDonough first joined the Obama administration as a national-security adviser and then became the president’s second-term chief of staff. In the latter role, McDonough is credited with being “deeply involved” in the White House decision to sack Eric Shinseki and replace him with McDonald in 2014. This shake-up occurred after a few VA hospital managers in Phoenix falsified data about how long veterans were waiting for appointments, triggering a major political uproar. According to a White House colleague at the time, McDonough became “obsessed” with health care wait times, and helped solve the problem by using his Capitol Hill contacts to expand outsourcing of veterans’ care via the Veterans Choice program, recently hailed as one of Obama’s “most substantial second-term legislative achievements.”