President Obama Wants Americans to Hire Veterans, But Does He?
Only three cabinet-level officials are military veterans, and it's unclear how many veterans work at the White House
While the White House discloses salaries of its employees, which helped reveal a possible gender pay gap at the White House last year, it doesn't provide a lot of additional demographic information about the men and women who work at the White House. So it's hard to tell how many veterans work at the White House. At tonight's State of the Union, President Obama urged Americans to "hire a veteran." Does he? Out of the 23 cabinet officers and cabinet-level officials in the Obama administration just three are veterans—Secretary of State John Kerry, outgoing Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, and Secretary of Veteran Affairs Robert McDonald.
In tonight's State of the Union address, President Obama urged American CEOs that if they "want somebody who's going to get this job done, hire a veteran." As "America's CEO," he should lead by example, disclosing how many veterans are employed at the White House and considering more for his cabinet, not by empty rhetoric and the bully pulpit.
