in the billions, with dod's health system and clear and efficiency, that you think dod is doing enoughright now to make improvement. >> i think they could ignore as we pointed out in her report. and we encourage them to do so. we'll continue to do studies, basically outlining some of the options would be for a single military command is an option. there are other options that could be pursued, but this is a case where there is a cultural stove piping that the services and their new to be some broader leadership brought to bear. i think it is warranted given the fast rising health care costs. >> thank you for that response. mr. davis, going back to the inefficient energy policy and one argument we hear is that eliminating subsidies will cost jobs. i note that from 05209, top five oil companies have reduced the u.s. workforce by more than 10,000. would have been if we shifted these subsidies to win or other to mr., would not spur job creation in this country? >> i'm just not an expert on these areas. we let the marketplace instead of the centers. we start to incentivize when none of thes

and we found less than 10% compliance at dod. so we're cutting 1485 contracts, and this is -- we put it back in '09 to give it some distance. by now those should have had at least one evaluation cycle, and we found fewer than 10% of those contracts had a report in the past performance database. so i would make the statement here that with these kind of results, everyone's convinced it's important. everyone says it's important, we have to do better, we have to do -- and,, mr. amey, e i get it about the work force. they're some of the most overworked people out there. i get it. they need to be a larger, more deployable work force. but until we start having meaningful outcomes, there's no point in doing it. we can have meetings, we can set up committees, we can set up task forces, but until we start moving the meter on having useful reports -- and i'm not even talking about quality reports here or using the reports, i'm just talking about step number one which is put reports in the database, okay? can you react to this chart, admira

in the billions, with dod's health system and clear and efficiency, that you think dod is doing enoughright now to make improvement. >> i think they could ignore as we pointed out in her report. and we encourage them to do so. we'll continue to do studies, basically outlining some of the options would be for a single military command is an option. there are other options that could be pursued, but this is a case where there is a cultural stove piping that the services and their new to be some broader leadership brought to bear. i think it is warranted given the fast rising health care costs. >> thank you for that response. mr. davis, going back to the inefficient energy policy and one argument we hear is that eliminating subsidies will cost jobs. i note that from 05209, top five oil companies have reduced the u.s. workforce by more than 10,000. would have been if we shifted these subsidies to win or other to mr., would not spur job creation in this country? >> i'm just not an expert on these areas. we let the marketplace instead of the centers. we start to incentivize when none of thes

the billions, with dod's health system and clear and efficiency, that you think dod is doing enoughright now to make improvement. >> i think they could ignore as we pointed out in her report. and we encourage them to do so. we'll continue to do studies, basically outlining some of the options would be for a single military command is an option. there are other options that could be pursued, but ts is a case where there is a cultural stove piping that the services and their new to be some broader leadership brought to bear. i think it is warranted given the fast rising health care costs. >> thank you for that response. mr. davis, going back to the inefficient energy policy and one argument we hear is that eliminating subsidies will cost jobs. i note that from 05209, top five oil companies have reduced the u.s. workforce by more than 10,000. would have been if we shifted these subsidies to win or other to mr., would not spur job creation in this country? >> i'm just not an expert on these areas. we let the marketplace instead of the centers. we start to incentivize when none of these

>> you have to put this in the context of the overall peacetime dod budget. so not including the cost of the wars in iraq and afghanistan, the dod budget is still over $500 million a year. so they can pov some money around between accounts and actually fund something at this level. but the question is if this goes on instead of weeks, if it takes months and drags on throughout the year, then it does become more of a drain on the dod budget and they would possibly have to ask for appropriation to pay for this operation. >> tom: and it sets aside any economic assistance that may come after the military action that we see in libia. but all of this happening, todd,as you know with the ongoing debate in congress about spending how long do you think this shapes that debate as we're still awaiting a budget for this fiscal year? >> well, it certainly has been a hot political item. people talking about the extra cost of the conflict given that we already have such a large deficit in the budget right now. but to put things into perspective, our budget deficit right now

that's dod money; right? >> 852 is dod money. >> okay.any updates on numbers and compliance for me? >> what we have 24 entered in 2009, '6 and 2010. >> 24 -- you're talking past performance? 24%? >> 24 entries. >> in 2009? >> correct. >> how many contract actions? >> i don't have that information. we can get that. >> 24 entries in 2009 in all of the performance reporting database? >> correct. >> not just iraq and afghanistan; right? that's total? >> that's correct. >> okay. >> 24 entries in '09 and 6 in 2010, right? that's the data you have now? >> correct. >> and you're a $17.6 billion operation? roughly how many contract actions did you do in 2009, just roughly? >> i don't have that figure off the top of my head. it would be thousands. >> thousands of them. okay. what about the suspension debarrment side. you said you had one referral? in '09 and you took two actions. what were they? >> in 2009, we had a debarrment of a contractor in venezuela. >> and -- you said there were two actions. >> there's two actions, two parties involved in th

that's dod money; right? >> 852 is dod money. >> okay. any updates on numbers and compliance for me? >> what we have 24 entered in 2009, '6 and 2010. >> 24 -- you're talking past performance? 24%? >> 24 entries. >> in 2009? >> correct. >> how many contract actions? >> i don't have that information. we can get that. >> 24 entries in 2009 in all of the performance reporting database? >> correct. >> not just iraq and afghanistan; right? that's total? >> that's correct. >> okay. >> 24 entries in '09 and 6 in 2010, right? that's the data you have now? >> correct. >> and you're a $17.6 billion operation? roughly how many contract actions did you do in 2009, just roughly? >> i don't have that figure off the top of my head. it would be thousands. >> thousands of them. okay. what about the suspension debarrment side. you said you had one referral? in '09 and you took two actions. what were they? >> in 2009, we had a debarrment of a contractor in venezuela. >> and -- you said there were two actions. >> there's two actions, two parties involved in t

the dod biometrics program the maritime aircraft and other programs.with the two joint analysis team to review portfolios of programs which cut across her face. these are difficult decisions any need to achieve consensus with multiple stakeholders. the department often use blue-ribbon panels are independent teams to assess problems. i thought to make this a regular passes to defend support teams which the two harness outside experts to review program development plans and review program progress before we have problems. est and support teams can offset the department's inability to higher government personnel to manage programs. further the congress of institute of technology which are of great value, but is no value to spend tax dollars and determine the technologies in the chair. assessments are necessary to drive investment in the maturation of those technologies. these are just a few tools such a believer fundamental to the management of complex programs. the tools must be employed by people with adequate authority. there are programs for successfu

probably the dod folks. [inaudible] >> turn your microphone on. >> thank you. even today -- let me put it this way, the super gnat is command and control, just like the internet. it has for the purposes of an allied, can you can splake -- explained. >> the super gnat is the command and control network that maintains the department of defense classified secret level information that covers a whole portfolio of issues, not just intelligence affirmation, operations today, financial premeditate it, personal data, covering -- >> everything. >> everything. all that information is not available to everyone who is on. a lot of that information is passed for protected. but there are sites that are just like going on the internet. if you click on there or put in the search for that information and it is not pass for protected, it is available to whomever is on. >> all right. let me just take what you are saying. that was not the case with this and shoulder. we are talking about what you can get on line and take. we are talking about this and person had the ability to not

>> i assume that -- well, this bill doesn't deal with dod. that, as you recollect -- in hr-1, there are four titles and dod was one separate title, and we merely plucked from last year's omnibus appropriations bill the defense fortion of it. that bill never passed, but we took all the provisions from that bill and dropped them into hr-1 and that deals entirely with dod. >> are you are you saying that l doesn't have any appropriations for defense? >> i'm sorry. >> did you say this bill does not have any appropriations for defense? >> it's a continuing resolution so it continues at the ten levels. >> hr-1 is what we're talking about. this extends the conversation about hr-1 for three weeks. hr-1 contained dod funding. >> i'm talking about what this bill does, not what hr-1. maybe mr. dix can clarify. mr. dix? >> all i'm saying is this is a continuing resolution so this deals with the entire government. beit's at the '10 numbers. and we did a separate defense bill which is put into hr-1, which the defense department and myself and mr. young all

i can tell you that a lot of interaction with the folks at dod, it is important. it's certainly very high on my list. i really think the committee for focusing on this, and it does allow us to get some direct answers to an issue that i think we need to get better on. i'll tell you right now, four months ago i couldn't give you a statistic on where my folks in afghanistan and iraq are with respect to how many contracts are requested to have data put in. today, we are. we are measuring that. i can tell you in iraq and afghanistan this month, 100%, we will be properly annotated into the right system. so, we are effectively managing from the senior leadership at dcma, and i think things will improve. i will say i do think we have a ways to go to institutionalize it, and i would also like to say that i was very impressed at the logcap data data which allows report of major general fontaine, the asc commander, and mr. tommy marx, the new logcap program manager, we had to very for it and quite honestly good discussion as to how we can all work together to improve this pr

can you tell me how the dod will implement the mbp and what proactive actions the dod will take to prevent new invasive species from being introduced? >> we have a fairly elaborate plan of how it would work and i'd be glad to get that more information on that to your office. i think that would be more productive than trying to walk through the various species of it here. >> very good because we do have enough brown tree snakes. general alles, at least -- the least is up next year. can you describe the ship repair provides paycom? >> ma'am, i'll have to take that for the record. i'm not in a position to address that one. but i can definitely get you the answer. >> very good. mr. chairman, that concludes. i just wanted the answers to these questions for the record. >> thank you and feel free to supplement anticipate of those answers that you have for the record. just a couple more questions. general, admiral willard, when he was here last year gave some testimony about the number of ships in the chinese navy. do you have any idea how many ships the chinese have in their navy today? >> i can

the best example of that is the record between the va and the dod. there's no reason you have to do the different sets of health records. i will give you one other if i can just take a second. right now for the state governments spending a lot of money on just being able to authenticate the communications with the federal and from it. security standards exist to authenticate users to access data and federally funded systems posted by the state. each federal agency interprets the standards differently so the states have to meet each federal agency standards replicating a different process to various programs that cost a lot of money. social security uses technology for verification, department of justice will use a certain procedure and protocol on that. have you do different things you ought to have one standard and cost for these things. >> that's terrific, mr. dodaro. >> mr. davis talked within each agency, and i do agree with his suggestions in terms of forcing people to come up with recommendations. but many things we point out in our report or m

dodaro mentioned courtenay and from the dod and electronic of record systems for the purchasing.they also have enormous possible savings but from disposing of billions of dollars worth of unnecessary federal property, but perfect vehicle management and better cost analysis of purchasing and leasing decisions. in addition to opportunities to reduce spending the gao report highlighted ways to enhance revenue, another critical element of reducing the deficit. give away the state oil and gas industry to the royalty management and collection systems have been highlighted by the report, gao numerous times and added to the high risk list this year. chairman as you know all too well from your work on these problems, the result of the royalty relief in the mid-1990s to oil and gas companies operating in the gulf of mexico problems stemming from the relief act including a portfolio of these holders to pay no royalties for oil and gas from the federal waters will cost taxpayers three and a 50 billion in the next five years. the gao report notes almost 1 trillion federal revenues forgone in

the report found from 2007-2009, dod awarded almost $270 billion in contracts to 91 contractors that were found liable in fraud cases, $682 million to 30 contractors convicted of criminal fraud. it also then companies prohibited from federal contracts continue to receive millions in taxpayer dollars. that said, i think that the system is likely to improve in the near future. laster the government unveiled a federal a warty performance and integrity information system -- it is modeled after pogo database. it compiles annual set of information that helps government officials determine if contractors or grantees are responsible or risky. up until that point, that information wasn't readily in the hands of contracting officers pre-award. today you might hear about, i would counter with names like gtsi, actually, blackwater, are also known, formally known as blackwater. dyncorp, halliburton and kbr dignity of those companies are familiar contractors to the commission, and three of them hold all or a piece of logcap iii and logcap iv. the government inability to hold contractors accountabl

the dod, the va and communities. we sort of move people from one door to another. we have to figure out a way to work together. my attack to those that are leaving, they go home and they want education, employment and health. they focus on those kinds of things. i've tried to inject a national voice with respect to this and families, not just the vets, but their families. i think the initiative that president obama and the first lady initiated nationally about a month or two ago is that every single cabinet secretary signature unless given a government white focus. we've got to connect to local communities to the needs of these young men and women who are the most extraordinary group of ever seen. >> they are being delivered. >> they have huge potential for the future of america. if we can bridge them in this transition, though make a difference for the next 50 or 60 years. >> time has expired. mr. crenshaw is recognized. >> since this is my first meaning is a member of this prestigious subcommittee, i want to maybe just say to secretary gates that i look forward t

can you tell me how the dod will

the dod, the va and communities. we sort of move people from one door to another. we have to figure out a way to work together. my attack to those that are leaving, they go home and they want education, employment and health. they focus on those kinds of things. i've tried to inject a national voice with respect to this and families, not just the vets, but their families. i think the initiative that president obama and the first lady initiated nationally about a month or two ago is that every single cabinet secretary signature unless given a government white focus. we've got to connect to local communities to the needs of these young men and women who are the most extraordinary group of ever seen. >> they are being delivered. >> they have huge potential for the future of america. if we can bridge them in this transition, though make a difference for the next 50 or 60 years. >> time has expired. mr. crenshaw is recognized. >> since this is my first meaning is a member of this prestigious subcommittee, i want to maybe just say to secretary gates that i look forward t

we will leverage dod resources. one is the civil augmentation. he will also be using it for food and fuel. i take the irresponsibility seriously. -- i take the responsibility seriously. we will engage heavily. our contracting team draws on headquarters expertise. there are multiple levels of technical oversight. since 2008, when it hired 102 additional staff. we will have over 200 direct state department professionals. we are not using contractors by default. they are addressing a transitory need. let me be clear. we will transition. already nine -- 92% of our force ising ph. we have grow best ones under way. >> thank you pays --. . >> thank you for the opportunity. we are discussing the challenges associated with the department of state in iraq. ask you to conclude my statement. we are engaged in operation in new done. -- donna -- operation new dawn. we are committed to executing our role. we have undertaken an approach to support it. the role it will play is not unusual. the scale and complexity present a huge undertaking. we are responsible fo

>> i assume that -- well, this bill doesn't deal with dod. that, as you recollect -- in hr-1, there are four titles and dod was one separate title, and we merely plucked from last year's omnibus appropriations bill the defense fortion of it. that bill never passed, but we took all the provisions from that bill and dropped them into hr-1 and that deals entirely with dod. >> are you are you saying that l doesn't have any appropriations for defense? >> i'm sorry. >> did you say this bill does not have any appropriations for defense? >> it's a continuing resolution so it continues at the ten levels. >> hr-1 is what we're talking about. this extends the conversation about hr-1 for three weeks. hr-1 contained dod funding. >> i'm talking about what this bill does, not what hr-1. maybe mr. dix can clarify. mr. dix? >> all i'm saying is this is a continuing resolution so this deals with the entire government. beit's at the '10 numbers. and we did a separate defense bill which is put into hr-1, which the defense department and myself and mr. young all

you know we kind of ride on the back of dod when they come in for these big supplementals. so what we have said and maybe it was a political mistake, but it was an honest effort to say let's be transparent, let's put everything into the budget. let us tell you what our core operations are, 47 billion let us tell you but our frontline state overseas contingency operations are comet 8.7 billion. .. case for your consideration. >> i have a very little time that so far the administration has announced easing of sanctions on cuba twice. between those senators and increased repression and oppression you are aware of the case of others in the american hostage you met. the question is what is the regime have to do to make any consequences from this administration as the administration willing to look at the tightening of the regulations, harder push for democracy assistance at the very least the state department travel warning again? will would be the consequences as well by the way? if one actually has now this american citizen has been now became a real court so again there have

you know we kind of ride on the back of dod when they come in for these big supplementals. so what we have said and maybe it was a political mistake, but it was an honest effort to say let's be transparent, let's put everything into the budget. let us tell you what our core operations are, 47 billion let us tell you but our frontline state overseas contingency operations are comet 8.7 billion. .. you've got to cooperate the same way we are cooperating. i'm in touch with secretary gates and admiral mike mahlon and the general austin in iraq and general petraeus in afghanistan and general mabus and centcom because we are literally joined at the hip now with the concourse is still pretty stovepiped. you look at the 150 account, the defense committee looks at the pentagon account and the usual treatment is the pentagon doesn't get whacked very hard and then everybody comes over and decides to make it up on the 150 account. in my opinion, congressman composting is are over and so i would make that strong case for your consideration. >> thank you peery i have very m little time b

the report found from 2007-2009, dod awarded almost $270 billion in contracts to 91 contractors thatwere found liable in fraud cases, $682 million to 30 contractors convicted of criminal fraud. it also then companies prohibited from federal contracts continue to receive millions in taxpayer dollars. that said, i think that the system is likely to improve in the near future. laster the government unveiled a federal a warty performance and integrity information system -- it is modeled after pogo database. it compiles annual set of information that helps government officials determine if contractors or grantees are responsible or risky. up until that point, that information wasn't readily in the hands of contracting officers pre-award. today you might hear about, i would counter with names like gtsi, actually, blackwater, are also known, formally known as blackwater. dyncorp, halliburton and kbr dignity of those companies are familiar contractors to the commission, and three of them hold all or a piece of logcap iii and logcap iv. the government inability to hold contractors accountable

it turns out the supreme food-service got its sole source extension and even though the dod ig has come up with a report that as much as $600 million of their costs on the question 100 million each for transport and boxes, over 400 million for fruit and vegetables and as to whether it is fair and reasonable prices, what concerns me, and what i'm going to bring this to is the comment on this excellent report by the dodig for the deputy assistant secretary logistics is the sums of money would be treated as, quote, nearly the potential, and of quote, as not, quote, validated, and of quote, overcharges. and i wonder what that meant. and i found out what that meant. excuse me for the rather crude translation of it, but it's just potential not validated they are saying well, my guess is a will get shoved under the rug until it is old and then forgotten. that is potential overcharges. so, here are my two questions, and i know -- >> [inaudible] >> we will go to mr. kenke. >> thank you for being with us this morning. i would like to pick up on the threat from your statement from your written sta

what do they need is a realistic timeline that dod would perform the audit if they were truly and entirely committed to do that. >> i think they have no intention of meeting it. >> they don't want to do it. period. you got to give him an incentive to do it. the only incentive is to start taking away the money. >> senator coburn came up with the suggestion. >> yeah, freeze the budget unless you can pass. period, that's an incentive. that's a serious incentive. >> let me ask you the question. if you freeze the pentagon budget until you have an audit, will you get something meaningful, or are you going to get paper work that, you know? >> yeah, that's the problem. having somebody that will recognize the good audience from the outside. >> we might have to ask questions like that. >> sorry. that's how i am. >> the waste and abuse part is worrisome. what really worries me about the way the whole defense operation is working now is it seems to have totally lost contact with the idea that you define a threat, you project the threat out, and you design your weapon systems to meet those threats. the

you know, president obama made some consultation with congress, but congress hasn't passed the dod appropriationsact nor played any active role. at some point, probably he'll be forced to send a report to congress and asserting i might add that the war power act is unconstitutional. but congress is not playing a role in this and it obviously does not, libya does not represent a direct national security threat. >> the president has said two times at least that there will be no u.s. ground troops. does it make sense to telegraph that to gadhafi or better to leave all the cards there? >> i think it's always unfortunate when we publicly ar tick to you late at the beginning of a military operation what we aren't going to do. i also think it's unfortunate if you gradually ratchet up u.s. military pressure. the idea it seems to me is get in, paralyze them with fear on what we're doing and might do and hope you can get a diplomatic resolution. >> general barry mccaffrey, good to have you on. thanks very much. >>> once again, here's jenna. >> thank you. david gregory is moderator of "meet the press" and j

i'd like to get a sense of the witnesses on what they believe is a realistic timeline that dod could perform the audit by if they were truly and entirely committed to doing that. >> they have no intention of meeting that ever. >> they have promised how many are? >> we have no idea because they are not making the right ever. they don't want to do it pay. you've got to give them an incentive to do it. and probably the only incentive is start taking away the money. >> that's senator coburn. >> right. >> period, end of story. >> that's a serious incentive and. >> let me ask follow on question to the. if you freeze the pentagon budget and to have an audit, will you get something meaningful out of it or we just get some paperwork that, you know speedy's having somebody that will recognize a good odd it from the outside even. >> whitey had to ask questions like that? >> sorry, that's how i am. [laughter] >> what really worries me about the way the whole defense operation is working now is it seems to have totally lost contact with the idea that you define a threat, you project the threat ou

you know we kind of ride on the back of dod when they come in for these big supplementals. so what we have said and maybe it was a political mistake, but it was an honest effort to say let's be transparent, let's put everything into the budget. let us tell you what our core operations are, 47 billion let us tell you but our frontline state overseas contingency operations are comet 8.7 billion. .. case for your consideration. >> i have a very little time that so far the administration has announced easing of sanctions on cuba twice. between those senators and increased repression and oppression you are aware of the case of others in the american hostage you met. the question is what is the regime have to do to make any consequences from this administration as the administration willing to look at the tightening of the regulations, harder push for democracy assistance at the very least the state department travel warning again? will would be the consequences as well by the way? if one actually has now this american citizen has been now became a real court so again there have

you know, we kind of ride on the back of dod when they come in for these big supplementals. what we've said, and maybe it was a political mistake, but it was an honest effort to be transparent, put everything into the budget, let us tell you what the core operations are, $47 billion, and let us tell you what the front line states overseas contingency operations are, $8.7 billion. we're trying to make the case as this committee which has such an important speedometer works with the -- responsibility works with the defense committee, you have to cooperate the same way we are. i'm in touch with secretary gates, admiral mullen, general petraeus in afghanistan because we are literally joinedded at the hip now, but the congress is still pretty stove piped. you look at the 150 account, the subcommittee looks at the pentagon amount, and the usual treatment is the pentagon doesn't get whacked very hard, and then everybody comes over and decides to make it up in the 150 account. those days in my opinion, congressman, are over. i would make that strong case for your consideration. >> t

we are doing this with dod, hud, this is not just vets up here. let's talk about running access to meaningful quarters. we used to meet with employers one at a time. you can imagine how long that can take to set up a meeting. now we have started the partnership with the u.s. chamber, phase one in july of and 14 states.ik directors have been invited to address rooms full of employers, 300 employers at a time and in 45 days we have reached 1500 employers last year. how long would that normally have taken to do that same thing? your spirit -- yars. now we are going to face -- right to be working with the top 100 chambers of congress --, worked -- commerce in the nation. the legion will be there. we have over 100 employers confirmed to come and hire veterans. there is a waiting list for them to get in the door. we have over 500 veterans confirmed. [applause] we are telling employers you come to higher on the spot. this is a hiring fair, and we expect to do this with the other 99 top chambers in the nation. we're just getting stoddard. we're right to a

in being looking at the dod and state department pieces of that as an integrated whole in terms of theootprint of the presence, what the activities are, continued security cooperation for the iraqis and continued training for the police and continued engagement on the intelligence side and so forth. the challenges keeping the coherence of that plan as it comes up to be considered by multiple different committees who will take a look at the different funding streams that are still piped by agency. so we would appeal to you all to help us as you look at that plan to look across agencies to look at how do we maintain an integrated coherent plan to support really finishing out the job in iraq and ensuring that we protect our interests there. >> i would say count me as someone concerned about the viability of the plan if it's funded. secondly, we do have a funding problem. you're exactly right. how we move funds. the state department has the sufficient numbers. on the budget committee, that's where i was earlier this morn g morning. the education department is calling for 11%. the president

you've got hhs, us, the dod, some smaller agencies, all of which have a piece of this.arily with hhs on trying to create or construct a pathway forward at the interagency level where bio is concerned. what i would like to do is have some of the people directly involved with that brief you in a classified setting. >> that would be great. a great opportunity to begin try to work on something, whether we like it or n, that's out there now in public and we're going to be asked about. thank you. >> the gentleman from texas. >> thank you very much. i'd like to personally thank you for being in brownsville attending memorial mass for agent zapat. my agency has continued to be in contact with the family and let them know you would be here today and ask if they had any questions for you. they sent a list of 17. that definitely points out the fact it's a family dedicated to law enforcement. mr. mccall has asked a couple of them and a couple are in details that aren'appropriate for the scope of this meeting, but the one i don't think was asked and i think is important we address,

we recognize you've realigned 100 billion within the department to exercise better stewardship over dod resources. of course the committee has a keen interest in the details of these initiatives and we look forward to working closely with the department to achieve the most effective use of defense resources. you appear before the committee at a time of significant foreign-policy challenges as well. we are proud of your congressman summer service personnel in afghanistan and iraq. we are committed to ensuring that our deployed forces have the support they require. as the u.s. continues operations in afghanistan and transitions this year to a diplomatic presence in iraq, we are also interested in the strategic view of these operations. what is achievable to continuing operations in afghanistan and how long should we say? what should be the level of u.s. commitment to funding the development of iraqi and afghan security forces? to what extent should the u.s. defense department be involved in economic development in afghanistan? there are emerging security challenges as well. over the past

the point of fact is that between dhs and dod, we possess 95% of the cyber responsibilities in the united states government. we need to protect the civilian side of the federal networks from attack. we need to accelerate the deployment of ieinstein 3 which is the program we're using to do that. there are a whole other host of activities we need to undertake including increasing our cyber workforce. this is a key need of the department and the federal government at large as to have more cyber competent individuals working for us. opm, office of personnel management has given us direct hire authority. we're actively going out, going to your state to try to recruit individuals to come into the public service and to help us out. with respect to the border. i think you're referring to a gao report on operational control. i think what your question presumes is that a, that report is correct, and b, that the president's budget is not the most aggressive in history with respect to the border. as i've explained before, operational control is used and referred to in that gao report as a very narrow

comprises 41% women veterans, the marines 6%, maybe 21%, air force 23%, reserve forces 7%, and none dod nondefense roles were 1% of the women veterans population. so the analysis of the survey responses showed that with the exception of the national guard and reserve units the proportions of the survey and those who responded to the survey closely approximates the va's latest official estimate of veterans population. figures from the national guard, however, shows once deployed a typical veterans man or woman does not consider themselves a guardsman but the associate more closely with the branch of the military that there deployed. so in closing we would like to thank the men and women of our military who sacrifice, dedication and courage we owe a debt of gratitude for the freedom that we hold so dear. we would like to thank again the american legion, and ms. verna jones for leadership. would like to close instinct when it comes to our veterans, health care is absolutely a right, not a privilege. we owe it debt of gratitude and addictive quality of service to health care to our veterans

and when you see these discussions in congress and within the dod and these discussions within the policy community and within the think tank community, there's not a lot of concern about afghanistan itself. there's a lot of concern about the united states in afghanistan, but not as much about the country. and one of the challenges that i was never really able to resolve over the course of this career that i had was resolving my genuine affection -- and i would call it a genuine love -- of afghanistan with the need to promote american interests there which did not always have afghanistan's best interests at heart. and this is one of, i think, the fundamental contradictions that lies at the heart of pretty much any country's foreign policy. when you're meddling in someone else's affairs, ultimately, their well being is not going to take precedence. your well being is going to. so as this book proceeds, you can see this morphing from kind of a generic, hey, look, things are really messed up here, we need to try to get this right, getting progress i havely angrier and angrier. we're clearly

something that nasa and dod developed and now we utilize to try to reach kids and help them understandoo can participate in space exploration from their classroom. so these are all good things. >> great. thank you very much, mr. chairman. i yield back. i have no more time. so thank you. >> right on the dot. at this time recognize very, very, very patient mr. mccaul, gentleman from texas. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i've been sitting here patiently. i assure you next time i will arrive before the gavel comes down. >> when i was first up here 30 years ago. i was second one here always. i didn't want to wait until the end to talk. >> i guess i will close out the proceedings, possibly. -- plan to attend the april shuttle launch. i think that will be a historic mission. i know gabby's husband, mark will be leading that effort. you mentioned her in your testimony very affect natalie. -- a fake shun natalie. i think look to the day she comes back on this committee. there is no better champion for the human spaceflight program than gabby. i remember working with her on reauthorization. she was

you've got hhs, us, the dod, some smaller agencies, all of which have a piece of this. have been working primarily with hhs on trying to create or construct a pathway forward at the interagency level where bio is concerned. what i would like to do is have some of the people directly involved with that brief you in a classified setting. >> that would be great. a great opportunity to begin try to work on something, whether we like it or not, that's out there now in public and we're going to be asked about. thank you. >> the gentleman from texas. >> thank you very much. i'd like to personally thank you for being in brownsville attending memorial mass for agent zapat. my agency has continued to be in contact with the family and let them know you would be here today and ask if they had any questions for you. they sent a list of 17. that definitely points out the fact it's a family dedicated to law enforcement. mr. mccall has asked a couple of them and a couple are in details that aren't appropriate for the scope of this meeting, but the one i don't think was asked and i thin

mission at nato, he is responsible for the formulation, coordination and presentation of the dod policies to the u.s. ambassador to nato. please and gentlemen, please extend a warm welcome to mr. robert bell. [applause] >> thank you very much. it's a great honor to follow ellen tauscher and to proceed jim miller in your proceedings today. at the outset let me come to the deepest apologies from the ambassador for not being able to make this a video conference today. .. >> and it's these two groups that are really pivotal in the terms of the success that we were able to achieve at lisbon. and they are making nato missile defense a reality today. of course, i would also like to acknowledge lieutenant general riley, the aiaa, and all of those in the audience who helped make the event possible today, including, of course, the sponsors. as you know from nancy's introduction, i'm no looking working with industry, but as the defense advisor of nato. i come to missile defense as a slightly different perspective than those of you working inside the beltway, at least most of you. that's specifically

dod budget documents have forecasted a drop of u.s. drops in afghanistan from 102,000 to 98,250, that's only 3.5% reduction which can hardly be described as an accelerated transition n. the president's final orders for escalation, he defined the mission as setting conditions for accelerated transition to afghan authorities beginning in this july. however, i believe there's a lack of transparency and accountability, and this has raised some serious concerns, and it's also made it more challenging to fully understand some of the conditions on the ground. in recent months i believe there's been a significant reduction in information about the war in afghanistan coming from the pentagon. for example, you have made it clear that a key ingredient to a successful counterinsurgency strategy is for the population in afghanistan to support and have confidence in they are government. as you once put it, and i know you have again, you cannot kill or capture your way to victory in afghanistan. this makes it hard to understand why data collected qua

written testimony questions the state department's capacity to execute program elements in the post dod setting. and simply to function in the unpredictable security situation that will exist after withdrawal. these are echoed by ambassador patrick kennedy. in 2007 he stressed that the state to power would have to duplicate the capabilities of the u.s. military to fulfill the security mission. without the transfer of military hardware including helicopters and mraps armored vehicles -- the defense department [unintelligible] cooperation has been generally praise. the senior leadership of the departments in washington may be playing off on a different sheet of music. the state department may be less than transparent. personnel have begun restricting the oversight committees access to critical information and personnel. if this is the practice, it must end. this administration must be transparent and forthcoming with the inspectors general said they may fulfil their obligations to oversee the transition. the central issue is whether state department is ready to assume the mission. from al

dod witnesses have testified at 16 different hearings of the commission, 33 different officials have 49 appearances before this commission. i have read all of the 32 recommendations in your second interim report. i see and share the intent of every single one. none -- nine of them fall outside of my purview. of the 23 remaining, we agree with 19, and are, in fact, implementing them. we disagree in part with the, not the intent, but the method of implementation of four of them. let me now make a few remarks about the larger context in which the management is taking on in the department and contracting. this context has two parts, improving war support in general, and improving value to the taxpayer in contracting in regime. let me start with support for ongoing operations. when secretary gates and i talked about this job, he said to me something that made a big impression on me. he said that the troops are at war, ash, and the pentagon is not, especially your part. i took that to heart and have been trying to make that not so over the last two years. the focus by now overwhelmingly is

you've got hhs, us, the dod, some smaller agencies, all of which have a piece of this. we have been working primarily with hhs on trying to create or construct a pathway forward at the interagency level where bio is concerned. what i would like to do is have some of the people directly involved with that brief you in a classified setting. >> that would be great. a great opportunity to begin try to work on something, whether we like it or not, that's out there now in public and we're going to be asked about. thank you. >> the gentleman from texas. >> thank you very much. i'd like to personally thank you for being in brownsville attending memorial mass for agent zapat. my agency has continued to be in contact with the family and let them know you would be here today and ask if they had any questions for you. they sent a list of 17. that definitely points out the fact it's a family dedicated to law enforcement. mr. mccall has asked a couple of them and a couple are in details that aren't appropriate for the scope of this meeting, but the one i don't think was asked and i t

. >> my question was actually more, since the pentagon, the dod, is authorizing departures for all family members on the entire main island of japan. so my question is, actually, is the state department considering expanding -- ? >> no, at this time. as we explained yesterday, and the secretary did a much better job, we made a decision on the basis of the , information provided to us by other u.s. government experts . at the moment, we see no reason to extend the area on the basis of the information we have today. >> do you have any information about americans and that may be remaining within the 50 mile radius evacuation zone? >> custis explain in my role. -- just to explain my role. the undersecretary kennedy has been shouldering a lot of the burden in terms of the logistical operations. my task force is a consular task force. we have been engaged in receiving inquiries on missing u.s. citizens, tabulating those, sending that information out to our consular field team. we do have at present, we have field teams at both airports in the tokyo area, as well as in the north in the affected

the dod is investing a significant portion of its budget in missile defense and the paa is providingthe necessary framework to ensure it is invested effectively and wisely. the paa is shaping the integration networking of the systems across the services, the combatant command and allies and partners from now into the next decade which will keep us on a path to successful and effective missile defense. thank you for your attention and i look forward to any questions you may have. [applause] >> in your position how much change is required to shift the approach to the paa and what are the most significant changes? >> that's about another hour give or take. it was a very significant change. the previous approach was highly focused on the defense of the homeland from a very structured and focused architecture which is one of the challenges we face in the course of the review is that those are detectors did not address the regional threats toward becoming ever more apparent. and so, it was a -- i don't want to call with wrenching but it was a significant change in the direction we've put o

the dod school has been opened and we did. we are on about the 12th day with no violence. so it's not right now something that concerns me speak of giving the long-term needs of iraq, how were the deficiencies of the iraqi security forces such as maintenance, readiness, intelligence fusion, and particularly the building of an air force going to be addressed after u.s. troops? >> you hit a three pointer that we're concerned with. under logistics, its maintenance as well, how they keep their gear going. the intelligence fusion and the sovereignty are critical. i think right now there are going to be loose ends. and less the iraqis ask us to stay and work on these issues. and those loose ends would be difficult for them to overcome on their own, sir. >> as you know, hezbollah is not a comment actor and the government of lebanon. do you think the united states should continue providing military assistance to the lebanese air force, armed forces? or is it something we should wait and see? or is it -- in other words, what's your view of that situation? >> well, we saw hezbollah

actions the dod will take to prevent the new entries of species from being introduced? >> we have a fairly elaborate plan of how we would work. and i would be glad to get that more information on that your office. i think that would be more productive than trying to walk through here. ..