A contractor hired by the Department of Veterans Affairs to establish a backup suicide-prevention hotline received $11.2 million without answering any calls. This contractor was supposed to handle calls if the main Veterans Crisis Line was unavailable due to emergencies. However, the hired staff lacked the necessary security clearance to perform their duties, including recording sensitive veteran information. Obtaining this clearance from the General Services Administration typically takes a significant amount of time. Consequently, the contractors were unable to answer any veteran calls from July 2022 until their contract concluded in June 2023. A bureaucratic oversight allowed the contractor to continue receiving payments despite this inactivity. Some VA employees were reportedly unaware that the contractor was not working, while others awaited official directives to stop payments. Furthermore, the contractor failed to meet staffing requirements, having fewer than 50 employees assigned when 92 were mandated. The VA had already begun developing its own in-house backup call center before this contractor was engaged, raising questions about the necessity of the contract. The VA inspector general's report highlights this situation amid concerning statistics about veteran suicides. This incident underscores a misuse of taxpayer funds that should instead support veterans in need.