A Tip for VBA: Don’t Try to Spy on Congressional Staff

Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs

Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs J. Scott Applewhite/AP File Photo

This would be comical if it was not tragic.

Staffers from the House veterans affairs' committee showed up at the Veterans Benefits Administration regional office in Philadelphia on July 2 in response to complaints from frontline employees.

The staffers met with Philadelphia managers in a fourth-floor conference room and then were told another room had been prepared for them on the third floor, complete with computers. 

Committee Chairman Jeff Miller, R-Fla., told a hearing held last night the third floor room also was wired for sound and video to surreptitiously record the staffers – who quickly figured it out and moved to a room used by the inspector general staff free from observation.

This sounds like a cheap spy thriller and would be comical if it was not tragic.