Washington, DC - With Army Secretary Francis Harvey abruptly stepping down today in the wake of a scandal over treatment of recovering soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), a member of the Armed Services Committee, today toured the facility to assess the situation. On the tour Reed visited with soldiers, examined out-patient housing, and spoke with top military officials. After the tour, Reed issued the following statement: "The departures of the commander at Walter Reed and the Secretary of the Army are significant. It is important to establish individual accountability. That has been lacking at the Department of Defense for a long time now. For instance, many of the hard working staff at Walter Reed were simply overwhelmed by the enormous caseload which is a result of this Administration's poor planning and a lack of resource allocation at the beginning of this war. "The real challenge is to fix the problem, not simply dismiss one or two individuals or have them resign. The problems have systemic roots as well as individual responsibilities. There has to be more personnel there, a better system for accounting for the personnel at Walter Reed and moving them through the process. "We have to improve the quality of the facilities at Walter Reed. Then we have to redesign a system so that soldiers don't feel caught up in this adversarial process where they are trying to make their way through mazes of rules regulations and procedures. It has to be much more user-friendly for them. "We are assessing responsibility now, but we've got to fix the problem and provide the resources needed so our soldiers have the first-class care they deserve." "And then there is a much bigger challenge that we have to face and the Administration has to face promptly: what about the VA system? I have visited Walter Reed and talked to many young soldiers and Marines who have been injured -- many with serious brain injuries. These young men and women are going to be in the VA system for probably 50 or 60 years. We've got to start planning now for the resources and support they need. Otherwise, we're not going to honor our promise to their service."