the first year of the obama administration, you would have been joining an administration that had a completely different culture than the clinton administration. a different culture than the bush administration. this is an administration that believe when's government spending is occurring, when taxpayers' dollars are spent that jobs are being created. that was the crux of the stimul stimulus, i voted and many voted against. because the american people actually believe that when taxpayers' dollars are being spent that debt is being created. now, i have some examples of that spending that gsa was doing. mr. foley, you said you weren't aware that the tuxes were paid for by the taxpayers. this is one of those examples of gsa spending miss johnson under your leadership. includes the conference logo and everyone was given one of these. this is apparently i'm told a black jack dealer's vest so that everybody could feel fast they are in character when they get to the conference. in addition this were given a directory with everybody's picture and they are assigned characters and roles on t

>> no. >> any other administrative -- anybody else within the administration over the last 45 days? >> we briefed people in the white house, yes. >> at what point? >> i can dig out my calendar to help me remember. it was in the week of, i believe, and i don't have access to my schedule anymore, so this is as well as i can recollect, the week of march 18th and the week of march 25th. they were information meetings. e we needed them to know what we were doing. >> and who did you meet with? >> i met with people in the general counsel, people in the office of management and budget, i met with people in the communications staff. these were people in the meetings i held in the general counsel's office. i also met in the chiefs of staff office. oh and presidential personnel since we were taking action on a political appointees. >> who within general counsel did you meet with? >> i met with -- hang on a second. to the best of my memory, we met with -- we met with the general counsel. the white house counsel kathy rem ler. there might have been one or two more staff there, but i don't rememb

so our chief administrative officer office, which had been set up under the former administrator, we have given extra powers to oversee these conferences, to oversee the training, so oversee the travel. and, in fact, i issued on april 15th guidelines on conferences and travel that ask those questions first. can they -- does this have to happen by actually having people come together? can we use federal facilities instead of renting a conference facility to do this kind of training? and what is the value we're going to get out of these activities? >> thank you, very much, mr. chairman. >> mr. chairman, could i correct a couple of dates here? i just want to be really clear about the record. we put mr. neely on administrative leave on march 19th. i removed steve leeds and bob peck and resigned on the -- on april 2nd. i just wanted to be sure that's in the record correctly. >> thank you. >>> on june of last year -- michael robertson is your chief of staff, correct? >> he was my chief of staff, correct. >> he wasly an son to the white house before that. >> he was in the policy shop before

for gsa's administration. continued streamlining shortening training sfochlt conferences. ms. britta reviewed expenditures until she was satisfied the controls were in place. upon receiving the ig's draft report in february 2012, we began disciplinary action, revised internal controls, and adjusted budgets to penalize regions for the wasted money. the egregious and coarse nature of the evidence and the waste of resources assured a loss of confidence in gsa leadership, therefore, i terminated two appointees in the chain of command and submitted my own resignation. i personally apologize to the american people. as the agency head, i am responsible. i will mourn for the rest of my life the loss of my appointment. >> mr. foley. >> thank you. chairman den ham and ranking member norton, members of the subcommittee, thank you for inviting me here to testify today. my name is david foley and i'm the deputy commissioner for the public buildings service. i sincerely apologize for my remarks at the award ceremony. at the

but administrator johnson appointed someone to take charge as regional administrator. i personally briefed regional administrator in august of 2011 and suggested that she get a handle, get control of the regional commissioner's travel and that perhaps she could employ the -- her financial officer to help do some historical work as well, to let her know what the true story was. and so that's the timeline. we came out with a final report, and i delivered it to administrator johnson on february 17. the way our system works, we'll do essentially what's a final report. we give it to the agency to make comments. so, they tell us whether we got the facts wrong or there's something wrong or they say, no, it's exactly right. either way, we publish their response and the whole thing is published. so, i give her what's technically called the draft final report february 17. and i gave her 30 days to prepare a response that we would publish with the report. she asked for an additional 30 days, but it was clear all along that we would publish whenever we received her response. ultim

building service and the administrator's top adviser were fired. further, there are ten career employees have been placed on administrative leave. these dismissals highlight the seriousness of the findings of the ig report. i want to thank our counterparts in the house for their own responsible oversight and again, thank the chair for getting our own oversight. and by the way, on the oversight, a lot of people -- somebody was asking this morning on a thing that some radio show or something, why are you doing this? it's our constitutional duty. we have oversight responsibility and there's a reason that both the house and the senate do because the house and the senate are often coming from different poles, and it's something that we have to do. there's just not a choice. i say beginning because i believe that this goes beyond our one-time event. i'm concerned that this type of waste has become an embedded part of the culture of the gsa. the conference occurred during a recession and after the president's executive order for an, quote, efficient, effe

gsa administrator resigned and she should have. two of her aides were fired and they should have been. others are on administrative leave waiting further action. the acting administrator and the ig at gsa we are very pleased to have before us today are working closely together to ensure that anyone with more information comes forward, they have set up a hot line for that and they have sent out the word. checks and balances on the regional offices have got to be put in place and many have already. many conferences my understanding have been stopped or reduce fundamental scope, and gsa estimates that nearly a million dollars has been saved by the actions so far. regional financial officers must now report to the chief financial officer. awards programs have been shut down and reimbursements are being demanded from specific employees. the outrageous behavior of a few irresponsible unethical and perhaps law-breaking individuals are overshadowing gsa's achievements following president obama's cost saving directives focused on energy eff

to this administration, the last administration or the next administration. wasteful spending is a problem that transcends multiple administrations. but it is incumbent on the president of the administration to change the culture as best they can on their watch and leave to the next administration a better one than they inherited. with that i recognize the distinguished raning member mr. cummings for his opening statement. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. i want to begin by thanking mr. miller the inspector general and gsa for bringing to light this gross abuse of taxpayer funds and for his work over the past year investigating conference 2010. two weeks ago i along with the rest of the nation was appalled to learn the results of this investigation that gsa employees betrayed the trust we put in them. for example, the inspector general's report described the actions of jeff neely, a career gsa employee for many years and a senior level executive in the pacific rim region based in san francisco. he is certainly not the only official implicated in this inv

the last administration or the next administration. wasteful spending is a problem that transcends multiple administrations but is incumbent on the present administration to change the culture as best they can on their watch and lead to the next administration -- and leaves the next administration a better one. i recognize mr. cummings for his opening statements. >> thank you very much. i want to begin by thanking mr. miller, the inspector general at gsa, for bringing to light this gross misuse of taxpayer funds. i was appalled to learn the results of this investigation, that gsa employees could be made this way. the inspector general's report describes the actions of jeff a career gsa employee for many years and senior level executive of the pacific rim region based in san francisco. he is certainly not the only official implicated in this investigation and several others appear to have maximized their own benefits in an environment in which they know they could get away with it. nevertheless, mr. neely's role has raised significant q

last administration, or the next administration. wasteful spending is a problem that transcends multiple administrations, it is incumbent upon the present administration to change the culture as best they can on their watch and lead to the next administration a better one than they inherited. with that, i recognize mr. cummings for his opening statement. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. i want to begin by thanking mr. miller, the inspector general at gsa, for bringing to light this gross abuse of taxpayer funds and for his work over the past year investigating the conference in 2010. two weeks ago, i, along with the rest of the nation, was appalled to learn the results of this investigation. gsa employees betrayed the trust we placed in them. for example, the inspector general's report described the actions describedjeff neely, a career employee who for many years at the senior level and an executive in the pacific rim region in san francisco, is not the only official implicated in the investigation, and several others have max

but administrator johnson appointed someone to take charge as regional administrator. i personally briefed regional administrator in august of 2011 and suggested that she get a handle, get control of the regional commissioner's travel and that perhaps she could employ the -- her financial officer to help do some historical work as well, to let her know what the true story was. and so that's the timeline. we came out with a final report, and i delivered it to administrator johnson on february 17. the way our system works, we'll do essentially what's a final report. we give it to the agency to make comments. so, they tell us whether we got the facts wrong or there's something wrong or they say, no, it's exactly right. either way, we publish their response and the whole thing is published. so, i give her what's technically called the draft final report february 17. and i gave her 30 days to prepare a response that we would publish with the report. she asked for an additional 30 days, but it was clear all along that we would publish whenever we received her response. ultim

our second panel is the acting director -- acting administrator of the general service administration, mr. daniel m. tangherlini. mr. tangherlini was kind enough to call me almost immediately after his appointment, and we look forward to your opening statement and in light of the first panel, and your listening to that, your comments on changes you anticipate. with that, the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. >> good afternoon, chairman issa. >> i apologize. got to stick with the script. pursuant to the rules, all members will be sworn. would you please rise? do you solemnly swear or affirm the testimony you're about to give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? >> i do. >> let the record reflect, the witness answered in the affirmative. the gentleman is recognized. >> thank you. and good afternoon, chairman issa, ranking member cummings and members of the committee. my name is dan tangherlini, and i'm the acting administrator of the u.s. general services administration. i appreciate the opportunity to come before the committee today. first and foremost,

i'm certainly tired of bringing it up year after year, administration after administration. i believe you're the seventh secretary of energy i have questioned on the topic. i continue to be appalled at the cost overruns and schedule slips of the department of energy's major construction projects. in 2009, this subcommittee had a hearing on the department's continued appearance on gao's high risk list, a position it held since 1990. given the challenges in the last year on major construction projects, i fear that not much has changed. i do hope you can provide assurances to day that you are taking significant, strong actions to get the department off the list. president chairman has noticed some areas of concern, particularly the department's decision and actions on yucca mountain. i speak for myself when i indicate that i shared his concerns in that regard. i would also add my very serious reservations about the inclusion of $150 million request for usec within the nonproliferation budget request i hope to hear from you and others in the department why when couples with a tr

bush administration and has come to pass as well with the obama administration.ree market ended with of the disclosure of pyongyang highly enriched uranium program. president bush's attempt including the removal of north korea from the list of state sponsors of trigger for some, which i adamantly oppose was met with the construction of a secret nuclear reactor in syria which israel thankfully destroyed, then yet another the trail. the obama administration is confronted with the abject failure of its deal on february 29th with north korea and has refused to send witnesses who were privy to the beijing negotiations to testify today at the hearing. kim young will have of course responded to president obama's inaugural overture with an outstretched hand by kidnapping u.s. journalists, firing a missile, setting off a nuclear weapon, sinking a sultry and naval vessels and shelling a self caribbean island. his son seems fully intent on fulfilling the old adage that the apple doesn't fall far from the trees. he's already tried a field missile launch and may be plotting y

on april 2, 2012 i resigned as administrator of the general services administration and left my career as a public servant. i stepped aside to allow a new team to rebuild gsa from the major missteps of the western region's conference in october 2010. i previously served gsa in the clinton administration leaving in 2001. at that time the leadership team was strong, the schedules design excellence and other programs producing much value for customers. when i returned to gsa in 2010, the agency was not the same. a quarter of the executive positions were empty, customers viewed our partnership askance, labor relations were acramonious, the leasing portfolio ballooned and more. nearly two years without a confirmed administrator. my confirmation was delayed nine months. by the time i was sworn in a sequence of four acting administrator had overseen the agency. i did not know there was yet another problem. the western region conference evolved into a raucous, extrav dwant self congratulatory event that ultimately belittled federal workers. the expensive planning for the conference was well un

what do you think the administration got right and what do you think the administration could have gotten better on these issues of democracy, reform shg, human ri, religious freedom in the broader middle east? >> self-criticism is very chinese. you get up -- this is a hard chair. >> the panel here from the -- >> yeah. >> 1962. >> and head out to the countryside. dig ditches. >> i don't think so. >> they may look like undergrads out there, but they're peasants. >> i see. well, i think that after 9/11, president bush began an effort to understand what happened. why did it happen? why this hatred, and hatred of what? and why from saudi arabia? in particular. so many of the -- of the bombers. and i think he came to review, which you describe, that is that it was -- and it was a view that was beginning to be more broadly expressed in the region. the famous 2002 arab human development report from undp that there was a freedom deficit in the region. that is, that what the -- what the, bin laden, for example, was most against the whole world was against the saudi regime, and that you could -- yo

>> administrator johnson. >> who did the administrator give it to?>> miss brita as well and i'm not sure who she gave it to. i don't buy the exact nature of the list, but i believe she gave it to mr. peck. >> did you receive a copy of this? >> i'm sorry, say again what it is. >> did you receive a copy of the westerns region conference oig and i'm a report on investigation into potential fraud waste and abuse? >> i did, sir. >> did you receive it in a timely fashion's somewhere around may of last year? >> yes, sir. >> biscuits to a bigger question of the culture and gsa. if somebody steps forward, a whistleblower stepped forward and alerted the ig to an issue in the ig came back and issued a report on investigation into potential fraud waste and abuse, why then would you have reduced you with miss brita and martha johnson and recommends somebody to get a bonus at the end of the year? >> mr. chairman, as i described from the bonus system is based on a number of performance metrics and i was looking at the performance of the region with respect to its m

the new administrator. but as it appears from his organization of the committee -- of the gsa the regional administrator had direct control over the two commissioners. the pbs commissioner. z and you have the reporting straight up that we have talked about today. it looks as though this person you appointed was something like a figure head just the way the cfo also called a gsa was a figure head and yet you kept this structure. this structure put in place by an acting gsa administrator when you could have looked at it and seen it seems to me that your own -- seems to me your own commissioner. he makes sure these reports around the regional administrator and straight up to the commissioners, the respective commissioners. that means if i'm coming in, i'm looking at less authority for me because my own person there no longer has the authority that he did before. why did you accept this organization -- this former organization was not put in by presidential appointee, but someone who acted when there was no pre

administration, or the next administration. the spending is a problem that transcends multiple administrations, but it is incumbent on the administration to change the culture as best as they can on their watch and leave to the next administration a better one than they inherited. with that, i acknowledge the distinguished ranking member mr. cummings for his statement. >> thank you. and i would like to begin by thanking mr. miller, the inspector general at gsa, for bringing to light this gross abuse of taxpayer funds. there was work over the past year investigating. two weeks ago, i, along with others, were appalled to learn of this investigation. gsa employees afraid to trust. the inspector general's report described the actions of jeff and exhibited for many years and in the rim. he is certainly not the only official implicated in this investigation, and several others appear to have maximize their own benefit in an environment in which they knew, they narrow they could get away with it. nevertheless, mr. wall as the host for

is this happening elsewhere in the administration?axpayer dollars and it shows disregard for value and importance. the need for stewardship of the taxpayer dollars. it's a crime. it is a shame. >> greta: stunning. lurita, thank you. >> thank you. >> greta: straight ahead, congressman allen west is here and not happy with president obama tonight. he will tell you himself why. that is coming up. also, why isn't president obama waiting for the supreme court? the white house already filing $500 million to the i.r.s. to implement the new healthcare law. yet, no one knows if it will thrown out at the end of june or not. michele bachmann is not going away. four years later, reverend jeremiah wright is back in a similar spot. what did he say now? you hear from reverend wright coming up. there he is, gordon jones, poised at this moment to discover new plum amazins from sunsweet, the amazing alternative to raisins and cranberries with 50% more fiber, about half the sugar, and a way better glycemic index. yes, that's the stuff. he's clearly enjo

i have known you in this administration and a prior administrati administration. and so it's unusual for people to publicly speak well of someone who has had -- has encountered what you have, been discharged by the president. do you understand why the president took out the top of the agency, and do you believe that that was the right thing to do and the fair thing to do? >> i understand why he did it. and as i said in my testimony, it was on my watch. i was brought up in a military family. i was an army officer. and i subscribe to the axiom that someone in charge is responsible for everything their organization does or fails to do. >> yeah, i just want that on the record. the way in which -- normally in this country it doesn't operate the way it does in parliamentary democracies, where the top resigns somehow in our country often only people who have hands-on but not direct authority are the ones held culpable. so i can understand the feelings for you. but in line -- in light of how structures should be structured in this country, i understand your response. ther

the deputy administrator was briefing me. she was -- she was briefing me fairly regularly, jeverbally. we sit right next to each other. so she was informing me of their thinking, and where the -- they were wrestling with a recommendation and where they were pretty straight forward. there was a lot of dialogue. you still agree he should have received this $9,000 bonus? >> well, as the other congressman was asking, what would i do in hindsight? i still am not sure how to think about the two different expectations on me around assessing performance and conduct and how much a -- how much i would have interfered with a conduct review that i considered very serious if i had moved in a different direction with a performance process and made that less independent. >> thank you. i yield back. >> i thank the gentleman. we now go to the gentleman from south carolina. mr. gowdy. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. miller, have you made a referral to the united states attorneys office? >> to the department of justice, yes. >> i hope it's a di

why does the administration -- well let me back up. the administration's proposal only allows a federal cyber security center to share the information it receives from private company with law enforcement authorities if the information constitutes actual evidence of a crime. in comparison, one of the senate bills allows the disclosure of information received by the federal government to law enforcement if it, quote, appears to relate to a crime. why does the administration have a heightened standard for disclosures to law enforcement? was this done to protect the civil liberties? >> right. senator, i don't know the reason for the difference in the language between those two things. i think what both are getting at is use of information for a nonlaw enforcement purpose would not be immunized or would not be permitted, but i'd have to follow up with you on, well why the difference between the two phrases? >> okay. thank you. let's do that. i want to thank you, madame secretary, before i finish i do want to say that i agree with my collea

he's on administrative leave. >> on administrative leave. my understanding is the person is -- >> any idea what these folks make? maybe mr. robertson, you're chief of staff, you surely would know what these people make. >> i'm happy to provide the exact numbers, but i believe they're all at the top of the ses scale. . so what is the top of the scale? >> i believe it's close in somewhere -- 170-range. >> 170 range. you know, mr. chaffetz made some good points. i've got to tell you. thank god this time would happen in vegas didn't stay in vegas. the disappointment of these hard-working american taxpayers to know that the gas, the watchdog, the people who are going to make sure -- listen, they have an obsession with no waste. to see this go on, day after day, in our government. asking people to give more of what they have, dipping into what they have, to support a government that wastes more and more of their money. i don't think anybody minds paying taxes if the money is well-spent. but they sure as heck resent the fact that a government that

>> i appointed a regional administrator. i set up a centralized office to oversee gsa travel, conferences, procurement. and we continued what had been a very strenuous effort around disciplining and streamlining conferences, which i can go into detail about. >> i want to make sure we draw a line between what might have been mixed in the chairman's questions. on one hand, he talks about people fired and administrative leave. on the other hand, he raises a serious question about expenditures and what could have been done. now, the reason i raise that is because of a e-mail i have from mr. miller's deputy which -- this is on may 3rd, 2011. i'm sorry. on july 25th, 2011, indicating that the may 3rd report was an interim report. and i'm quoting the e-mail. our purpose in issuing the interim report was to alert gsa to potential waste and abuse so gsa could take steps to avoid future issues. so that speaks to the first part of the chairman's question about reining in spending. the second part warns, please be advised that the inves

my name is tangherlini, the acting administrator of the u.s. general services administration. i appreciate the opportunity to come before the committee today. first and foremost, i want to state that the waste and abuse outlined in the inspector general's report is an outrage and completely antithetical to the goals of the administration. the report details violations of travel rules, acquisition rules, and good conduct. just as importantly, those responsible violated rules of common sense, the spirit of public service, and the trust america's taxpayers have placed in us. i speak for the overwhelming majority of gsa saf when i say that we are shocked, appalled and deeply disappointed by these indefensible actions as you are. we've taken strong action against those officials who are responsible and will continue to do so where appropriate. i intend to uphold the highest ethical standards at this agency including referring any criminal activity to the appropriate law enforcement officials and taking any action that is necessary and appropriate if we find irregularities. i also i

that period of the reagan administration and the ford administration and the nixon administration, we had this pressure for talk with the soviet union, and it was a theory that there were ways to find accommodations with the soviet union and richard nixon and actually lindon johnson began and richard nixon and gerald ford continued with secretary of state kissinger as the leader of that movement. the theory was not unrealistic. it was that you ought to be able to find some areas of accommodation and if you are steely eyed and careful, you ought not to compromise so something you shouldn't compromise on but by the same token, you might try to reach out and see if you can achieve a relaxation of tension which the word dataut suggests. the problem with it was that the soviet union at the time was increasing its capabilities and was on an up trend. the united states was decreasing its capabilities on a relative basis and we were moving into a roughly a band of rough equivalents where they were superior in some areas, we were superior in some areas. i don't know any american military perso

it's the judgment of this administration and the previous view administrations that an iranian nuclear weapon is a significant threat to u.s. vital national interests in a volatile region. israel matters i think in shaping certain decisions but not in the ultimate court. i also think there's actually been some evidence in the last couple months that this administration isn't prisoner to israeli desires on this. how do you know that? because if this administration had been prisoner tho those desires, obama would have laid out much clearer headlines at the apec conference, we would have just green lit an iranian attack instead of just telling them not to do it or we would have committed to doing it ourselves now. this is a viable ogs. how do i know? half the republican candidates running for president have suggested green lighting an israeli attack or doing it jointly or doing it ourselves claiming the red line is now. there is a way in which you could be more behold ento the israeli view. we see that on c-span just about every day on the other side of the political aisle. at the end of

not just about the obama administration, but the bush administration as well. five years of a budget. how much money has been spent in what areas, in what regions. transparency for the american public. this is not a republican or a democrat issue. this is about an american issue of knowing what their government is doing. you've certainly went through my time here. but we have plenty of time today. i hope you had a good breakfast. because we're going to have a long time to go through this. you can take as length as uh you want on these questions but we're going to continue to go through them. >> ms. norton? >> mr. miller, i think it would be important for the committee to know as far as you know or prps ms. brita or anyone at the table may know whether or not what with efind in region nine has metastasized to other parts of the agency. i think it's fair to say there was building up over time something of an abusive culture, a region apart. but we need to know whether this culture has spread to other parts of the gsa or whether you believe that it is essentially

they don't comport with the administration policy, on energy, our policy at epa. >> some think the administrator was telling the truth about epa approach to regulation. a critic has a suggestion for the president. >> follow the advice of administrator. walk in and fires the first five people he sees and it would become an agency easier to manage. >> they argue that the crucify comments ring true of allegation of water contamination from fracking. miss jackson acknowledged to fox there are no proven cases of that. >> in no case have we made a definitive determination that the fracking process has caused chemicals to enter ground water. >> nevertheless, critics say epa goes to communities alleges contamination and frightens the local populatio population. >> like range resources in texas, they didn't do anything wrong. they didn't contaminate water. for a year, barrage of insults saying that are out there contaminating water and all that. >> after a year, he told greta van susteren the epa dropped allegation, part of what he sees as a clear strategy. >> this is a war on foss sul fuel. -- fous sill

on an administrative basis, this drops down to 3%. the maximum of noncallable for purely administrative spences is 3%. taking a step back, the improved budget last year, which is our current fiscal year, we have approximately $126 billion as part of our approved budget. we had a number of fixed costs, things that are knowable and we would expect to remain the same going forward. these are statutory pssthroughs. the city and county of san francisco is the largest recipient of those. then it goes to the school district and city college. we made them last year and we make them this year. the redevelopment agency, making those payments. the comptroller's office is now mandated to make those payments. it gives you a snapshot of approximately $40 million. >> what your saying is 5% of the stocks >> and $40 million is just the pssthrough payments that come off the top before the taxes are distributed for these obligations. once the controller's office makes the payment, then the city and county gets its share. >> the 5% cap is fine. it actual

why does the administration -- let me back up. the administration's proposal only allows the federal cybersecurity center to share the information it receives from private companies with law enforcement authorities if the information constitutes actual evidence of a crime. in comparison, one of the senate bills allows disclosure of information received by the federal government to law enforcement if it quote appears to relate to the crime. why does the administration have a heightened standard in disclosure to law enforcement? was this done to protect civil liberties? >> senator, i don't know the reason for the difference in the language between those two things. i think what those are getting at is use of information for a non-law-enforcement purpose would not be immunized or would not be permitted. but i would have to follow up with you on why the difference between the two phrases. >> okay, thank you. i want to thank you madam secretary. before i finish, i do want to say that i agree with my colleagues who say that we need to d

this is the administration strategy: blame everyone but the administration.st they decide to pass the buck to someone else, spin the numbers to sport that claim and say we did all we can do and hope that folks cannot connect the dots. when they actually have a successful moment, they do three things: they take credit, take credit and make sure every left leaning journalists writes about it. >>neil: these are federal workers i would is embraced it and owned it. government workers under this administration have a lot of sparkle to them. but, it is too late for that. where do you think this is all going. >>guest: this is all about winning re-election. honestly, to be -- the g.o.p. is to blame here because they are losing the message war. they are losing the message war because they are not untangling the numbers and they are not connecting the dots for the average voter. the average voter's life is busy and they don't have time to dig through this and if the g.o.p. wants to make waves in 2012 they have to deep up their opposition messaging. >>neil: we have alway

administration. i had the honor of being appointed by president obama to be the administrator at the general services administration. during 18 years that this committee, there were many issues this addressed, but none of like the level of wasteful spending and lack of management associate with the western region conference. as a taxpayer, i share your anger and disappointment of misconduct. when i first became aware of the excessive spending, i requested that the gsa's office conduct a review of these allegations. i am grateful to mr. miller and his office for covering and reporting these abuses. i believe the inspector general should report an immediate reaction to gsa. i advocate such action. i'm committed to working to restore faith in the agency. not only to members of this committee, but also colleagues and other government agencies. more importantly, the government taxpayer. i look for to answer any questions you may have. >> good morning, chairman denham and members of the subcommittee. in th

we had a period under the obama administration which we had no administrator for almost a year. it's difficult enough with an agency like tsa or any other federal agency to operate with an administrator in washington, let alone not having an administrator for that period of time. i have other concerns, having monitored this as closely as any one in congress. we are still at risk, the nation is still at risk. unfortunately, even the layered system and tsa, we'll talk to you about a layered system, almost every layer is just flawed, the behavior detection which i worked with previous administrators to put in when we had equipment that didn't work, tsa again bought equipment that didn't work. just following that equipment. the puffers, and i had my investigative staff follow that. they have sat and they sat and we were paying rent on them -- sorry, in a warehouse, they spent $600 i think per piece of equipment they told us that d.o.d. had them destroy but only after we prompted the action, sent investigators down to look at another, jointly, we sent them to look at another warehous

after the obama administration released those sham memos from the bush administration, philip zelikowhe had written this dissent. he said he had written this dissent at the time, but he said that i cannot disclose it to you, because the bush administration tried to cover it up and pretend like it never existed. >> i heard the memo was not considered appropriate for further discussion and that copies of my memo should be collected and destroys. >> philip zelikow said that the white house attempted to collect and destroy all the existing copies of this memo in which he called bullpucky on how the bush administration was trying to say torture was legal. i got a chance to ask him about that on this show. why do you think they tried to destroy every copy of the memo that they knew existed? and how did you find out that they did try to destroy copies of the memo? >> well, i found out because i was told, i mean, we're trying to collect these and destroy them, and you have a copy, don't you? but i -- the -- i know that copies were obtained in my building. i think copies still exist. why would

i briefed the administrator in may of 2011 about the abuse. we had a problem with the employee rewards store, the hats off store, we gave her a draft of that, too. we gave the managers information so that they could stop this. i don't know what actions were taken. i'll let the administrator talk about that. we were trying to get people to stop this. in august, there was a new regional administrator sworn in, in region nine. i personally met with her, went through the interim report with her and asked her to get a handle on the regional commissioner's travel. i even suggested perhaps she could have her cfo take a look at past trips and then we're faced with a three-week trip of the regional commissioner t saipan. we were like, what's going on? do you know he's about to take another trip? she contacted the regional administrator and the result was he went on the trip. >> so, that is kind of cultural? >> i'll let you draw the generalization. >> exactly. the gsa, obviously, is a very troubled agency. >> can you -- are there -- what is the -- do yo

it is a judgment by this administration and the previous few administrations that an iranian nuclear weapon is a significant threat to u.s. rvitl national interests in a vital region. israel factors in making certain decisions but not in the ultimate course. i also think there's been some in evidence the last couple months that this administration isn't prisoner to israeli desires on this. how do i know that? because if this administration had been prisoner to those desires, obama would have laid out much clearer red lines than he did at the apac conference. we would have green lit an israeli attack on iran already instead of basically telling them not to do it and we think it's a bad idea. and we would have -- or we would have committed to doing it ourselves. now, i mean, this is a viable option. how do i know? because half the republican candidates running for president have suggested exactly, you know, green lighting an israeli attack or doing it jointly or doing it ourselves, claiming the red line is now or, you know, that -- and so there is a way in which you could be more behol

administrative leave, or resigned together. at this time i'd like to request mrs. johnson, mr. peck, mr. foley, and miss daniels to please rise. stand and raise your right hand to be sworn in under oath. do you swear that the testimony you're about to provide to the committee is the truth, the who'll truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you god? we will have two panels today. the first panel includes -- i invite you back to the table. the honorable brian miller, gsa inspector general -- >> mr. denham, chairman denham, i'd just like to insert at this point in the record this comment and note for the record that mr. neeley has -- is not with us today. we had requested that he be with us. and he has taken i guess the fifth in another committee and is not appearing today against one of the requests that at least i made for him to be with us. i guess the only way we'll sigh him is on a video for the hot tub. but i want to make certain that it's noted in the record that he did not appear. >> mr. miller, deputy administrator, mis

that right was found in section 41.1 at six of the administrative code. no appeal was filed this board in 2002. the time to file an appeal of this particular certificate is long past. he could have appealed that determination, tenderloin housing clinic could have appealed that determination. the certificate and per cent that was issued in 2002 is now final be determined that was issued in to dozens to is now final. this board needs to offer a rehearing. i think the board's inability to muster a decision shows how difficult this case was for the boards, how complicated this question was for the board. we think is fairly straightforward. if you recall what occurred, it was a motion made by commissioner to uphold the determination. that motion failed 1-4. when a substantive motion was made, one of the persons who voted against it to uphold voted against the determination to overrule. we had a person who voted no on the same issue in the same case. not sure why that happened. we regret that it happens. that sense some signal to you that this is a troubling ca

in obama administration, $840,000.tration official tells us at least we have taken bold, forceful action to hold those responsible accountable and put in place protections. if bush administration had acted under their watch, it could have been avoided. >> a former gsa official in the bush administration suggested to fox news, the obama administration is manipulating those numbers. >> when you are talking about that, it went up to 2 $250,000. i mean a lot but when you start small, you can say it increase add lot. >> two house committees have scheduled hearings to further examine gsa spending. they want to know more about the conference and the problem that hits taxpayers much harder at $1.7 billion in cost, gsa incurs every year from sitting on thousands of empty or under used federal buildings literally across the country zbleetsz thank you very much. >> gregg: some bold new claims from iran about its nuclear program. one official saying the country already has the technology to build a nuclear bomb. any truth to that?