The Department of Veterans Affairs has dismissed its directors for the Center for Women Veterans and the Center for Minority Veterans, both political appointees from the Biden administration who had three years left on their six-year terms.
Air Force veteran Lourdes Tiglao, who led the Women's Center, and Navy veteran James Albino, the director of the Center for Minority Veterans, were let go Wednesday, the VA confirmed Thursday.
President Joe Biden appointed both in 2021 to serve as senior advisers to the VA secretary on women and minority issues. A VA spokesperson said Thursday that, in doing so, Biden cut short the terms of those previously appointed to the positions by President Donald Trump in his first term.
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Political appointees serve at the will of the president, and in dismissing the two, "the VA is continuing to follow that precedent," a spokesman said in a statement to Military.com.
According to Military Times, which first reported the firings, Tiglao said in a farewell message to staff that she was grateful for the opportunity and praised them for their "unwavering commitment to support and meet the needs of our nation's women veterans."
The Center for Women Veterans was established by law in 1994 to advocate for women in the VA health care and benefits system. Women make up 11% of the U.S. veteran population, and that figure is expected to grow to 18% by 2048, according to the Pew Research Center.
The Center for Minority Veterans was created by the same 1994 law, given a mission to ensure that veterans receive equal services at the department regardless of race, origin, religion or gender. According to the VA, more than one-quarter of today's veterans belong to a racial or ethnic minority, with that expected to rise to nearly one-third by 2045.
The VA official said the leadership changes were not related to the department's dismantling last week of offices responsible for overseeing and promoting diversity initiatives. That effort, conducted to comply with a presidential order banning diversity and equality programs, led to the dismissal of 60 employees.
On Inauguration Day, Trump signed an executive order to end all federal equality and diversity efforts, saying that federal employment practices must "reward individual initiative, skills, performance, and hard work" and may not "under any circumstances consider [diversity initiatives] … factors, goals, policies, mandates or requirements."
The work of the Centers for Women Veterans and Minority Veterans will continue, however, according to the VA.
Lynda Davis will act as director for the Center for Women Veterans until a permanent director is named. Davis, a former Army signals officer, was appointed as the VA's chief veterans experience officer last week. She has worked in the Pentagon's offices of military community and family policy; served as an executive vice president for the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, a nonprofit that supports families of the fallen; and has been on the Defense Advisory Committee for the Women in the Services.
Army veteran and Center for Minority Veterans Deputy Director Debra Walker has been named acting director of the center. Walker has been employed at the VA for more than 20 years, working in various jobs that include human resources and as director of its Office of Survivors Assistance.
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