VA Facilities Fail Security Tests by Government Accountability Office
The Department of Veterans Affairs fails to secure its healthcare facilities from basic physical dangers, according to security tests and a 2026 report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
As part of a security review of VA facilities, federal investigators gained access to multiple medical campuses without detection, including undercover inspectors carrying weapons and contraband, which openly violated VA safety rules.
VA Facilities Fail Security Tests by Government Accountability Office
The Government Accountability Office revealed these systemic weaknesses during formal testimony before the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs on May 13, 2026. The GAO investigation exposes a multiyear failure by the department to adopt required federal security standards across multiple administrations.
According to AmericanLegion.org, in 2025, after his confirmation as Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Doug Collins went on the record saying, “the veteran is back to being the only constituent of the VA. The VA itself only exists for the veteran.”
But apparently Doug Collins’ promise does not extend to the safety and security of VA patients and caregivers. Undercover special investigators conducted physical security tests at VA facilities throughout 2025, revealing widespread security failures across multiple facilities.
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Security Failures at Multiple VA Facilities
The Department of Veterans Affairs failed as many as 30 separate security testing operations featuring undercover agents entering the VA with hidden weapons. These violations happened even at locations with entry checkpoint technology.
Of the 30 locations audited during the covert operation, 28 lacked metal detectors, and visitors entered these public spaces without electronic screening. According to the GAO report, VA personnel consistently failed to neutralize vulnerabilities that their own local risk assessments had documented.
The GAO report notes additional problems beyond basic security. Undercover agents walked through high-traffic public zones inside VA medical centers while drinking from open bottles. The bottles bore clear labels identifying the contents as vodka. Employees failed to challenge this behavior in 25 out of 26 separate trials.
Why Can’t the VA Keep Its Facilities Secure?
Conclusion? In certain cases, the VA seems incapable of enforcing its own operational guidelines. These security gaps affect a massive healthcare infrastructure. The Department of Veterans Affairs operates one of the largest medical networks in the nation, managing more than 1,300 facilities and providing medical care to nine million enrolled veterans.
The VA security issue is not new. Investigators identified limitations in the department’s risk evaluation methods in a January 2018 report titled VA Facility Security: Policy Review and Improved Oversight Strategy Needed, which stated that the guidelines required a total rewrite to align with interagency baselines.
Auditors also ordered an oversight strategy to evaluate local risk management programs, but according to some sources, more than eight years later, those safety adjustments remain incomplete.
The GAO has five new recommendations across two reports to compel compliance with recent mandates in a 2026 report titled “Facility Security: VA Should Fully Implement Federal Security Requirements and Improve Performance Reporting.” That report requires a formal plan, deadlines, and specific goals for VA security reform. This is a developing story.
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About the author
Editor-in-Chief Joe Wallace is a 13-year veteran of the United States Air Force and a former reporter/editor for Air Force Television News and the Pentagon Channel. His freelance work includes contract work for Motorola, VALoans.com, and Credit Karma. He is co-founder of Dim Art House in Springfield, Illinois, and spends his non-writing time as an abstract painter, independent publisher, and occasional filmmaker.
