Advocates praised defense leaders for excluding shipyard workers and other key readiness jobs from a department-wide hiring freeze.
VA Secretary Doug Collins will lead the Office of Government Ethics and the Office of Special Counsel until new directors are named.
About two-thirds of Veterans Affairs jobs will be excluded from a White House order blocking new hiring.
VA hires about 40,000 new workers every year to maintain operations at VA medical sites. It's unclear if that can continue under Trump's hiring halt.
