CREW's determination to acquire the documents related to the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) policy of under-diagnosing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are winning praise in the blogosphere. In the wake of the legal brief that we filed Monday, this blogger at Daily Kos writes:

"... I really enjoy the work that CREW is doing, has been doing and hopefully will continue to do in the future."

We appreciate the kudos. Now let me recap some of the key developments in this story.

The legal brief we filed on Monday followed the VA's admission that it had destroyed documents responsive to CREW’s May 2008 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

Since this issue first came to light, the VA has resisted providing documents to CREW. Most recently, the VA wrongly claimed it had produced every document it had despite the fact that it had not turned over an email by VA employee Norma Perez in which she discussed the issue. The agency informed us that it couldn't produce the Perez email because it had been destroyed in 2008 -- after we submitted our FOIA request.

Equally troubling is the news we received that all of the VA’s backup tapes were destroyed, including the one containing the Perez email. The VA told us it cannot produce any emails predating December 9, 2008.

Based on the destruction of these records, CREW has asked a court to allow us to depose VA employees who may have known exactly what the VA was doing about PTSD and the extent to which the agency refused to provide proper medical care for veterans with PTSD.

Anne Weismann, CREW’s chief counsel, made this observation:

"It is incredible that with all of the public outrage and concern over this issue, the VA took no steps to preserve important records. This smacks of a cover-up to avoid liability for a disgraceful policy that deprived our nation’s veterans of appropriate health care.

"The VA is not above the law; like all other agencies, it cannot simply destroy documents that have been requested under the FOIA just because those documents may cast the agency in a bad light."

Click here to read CREW's legal brief and related documents.