[lefler]

I'm sorry about this miscommunication and it wasn't intentional--we absolutely consider the Digital Service team at the VA to be part of the USDS; we helped build it. Ellen Ratajak (new eng director at VA) is one of the examples listed on whitehouse.gov/us-digital-service

Hiring bright people isn't enough, we have to empower them by building critical mass on impactful projects with executive support. We were focused on creating a team at the VA when you applied (still are, if you finished stapling yourself), but there are other options now that didn't exist then.