VA Secretary Robert Wilkie has fired VA Deputy Secretary James Byrne less than five months after being accepted into the position. Wilkie has cited that Byrne lost his confidence in the ability to perform his job but has given no other reasoning to the abrupt firing. This follows a string of recent departures in leadership from the department such as Byrne’s predecessor, Thomas Bowman, being pressured out after the firing of former VA Secretary David Shulkin. The department has seen four secretaries and four acting secretaries in the past five years.
Source: https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2020/02/03/va-deputy-secretary-fired