Interesting in that he claims it is a conservative clique he has backing  to purge:

The embattled Cabinet head said he's investigating what he called 'subversion'

By Arthur Allen @ Politico.com, Feb. 20

The White House has given Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin the green light to quash an internal rebellion among conservative foes of his leadership, he told POLITICO late Tuesday.

The embattled Cabinet head said he’d begun investigating what he called “subversion” at the agency, and those who have defied his authority “won’t be working in my operation.”

Shulkin’s new chief of staff, Peter O’Rourke, is meeting with each staffer suspected of defying Shulkin “individually and as a group to determine, now that there is a clear direction where we are going, where people are going to stand," he said. "Those who crossed the line in the past are going to have to be accountable for those decisions." [....]