the transitions between dod and va, another one.and within the civilian sector of people moving from medicaid onto the exchange is as they change their incomes or the job security. so i think the general point is we've have to figure out how to have a common set of identifie identifiers. if you move from one system to another, your record was with you and they know who you are and what's happened to you at all that. is clearly an imperative. and if we can think about these things as a national health system, as henry said, we may be able to make some progress, and maybe with a system that really most people in and out of their different statuses. >> henry? >> it was expressed about the fact that higher cost-sharing and restricting the medical benefit would fall disproportionately on the relatively lowly paid members of the military. at least that's what i interpreted it. the health system is a big part of the compensation of a sergeant but it's not so big a part of the compensation of a colonel. so if you are raising the cost of hea

dod has implemented the defense health agency as john said. congress mandate ad five-year test program making mandatory use of mail-order pharmacy which again cut costs significantly and some benefit reductions or increases in fees i should say in tricare by 15% increase in indexing at least partially of those fees and significant changes in copays for pharmaceuticals. bottom line, 3 to $4 billion of savings a year which will go on into perpetuity unless they need to be reversed and actually reversed the growth in health care costs. they have declined over last three or four years in dod which helped the department absorb some tough budget times. but budget restraints will continue. more needs to be done. i will finish up this answer with two things, two areas where i think the department needs to head in terms of further changes in military health care. one, john alluded to already, which is some changes in the fees and copays in the tricare program. this needs to be looked at in the context of overall military compensation because it is a im

the transition between dod and va is another one. we have to keep your out how to have a common set of identifiers. if you move from one system to another your records move with you and they know who you are and what happened to you and all of that is clearly an imperative and if we think about all these things as a national health system as henry said we may be able to make some progress and maybe with a system that really moves people in and out. >> concern was expressed about the fact that higher cost sharing and restricting the medical benefits would fall disproportionately on the relatively lowly paid members of the military. at least that is how i interpret it but it is a big part of the compensation of a sergeant but not so big a part of the compensation of the colonel. so if you are raising the cost of health care, argued disadvantage in -- i don't think that has to be the case at all. there are lots of ways to go about doing this. you could have an income related premium, the essence of the way health reform works. you can h

dod is implemented the defense health agency as john said.ongress mandated a fighter to his program of making mandatory use of mail order pharmacy which has again cut costs inevitably. some benefit reductions or increases in these, i should say, and tricare, about 50% increase the and indexing at least partially of those fees, and significant changes in co-pays for pharmaceuticals. bottom line, $3 to $4 billion of savings a year which will go on perpetuity unless they need to be reversed. and has reversed the growth in health care costs, they've declined over the last three to four years in dod which has helped the department sort through some tough budget times. the budget restraint will continue. more needs to be done, and so i will finish up this answer, two things, to areas where think the department needs to head in terms of for the changes in military health care. one, as john alluded to already, which is some changes to the fees and co-pays in the try to -- in the tri-care program. it needs to look at in the context of overall military

but dod holds its people to a hu higher standard. if you want to wear the uniform, understanding core values is not enough. on duty or off we must enforce our values every day. dod will continue its strong and committed efforts to pursue comprehensive and dynamic approaches to fighting sexual assault in the military. president obama and all of dod's leaders both military and civilian are committed to doing whatever it takes to stamp our this scourge. in may i told you about my visit to the dod safe help line for survivors of sexual assault. i told you about the wall i saw that was covered in anonymous post-it notes, notes that contained inspiring words of thanks spoken by individuals who called into the hotline. i thought about those notes as i know all our leaders have over the months. we ultimately want a military with no more victims, no more calls, no more post-it notes, no more needed help and no more efforts to stop it, because it will be stopped. we're not there yet. but we will get there. until then, we will continue working

dod has implemented the defense health agency.congress mandated a five-year test program of making mandatory use of mail-order pharmacy which has cut costs significantly and benefit reductions are increased fees by 15 percent, indexing partially and significant changes in co-pays for pharmaceuticals. $3-$4 billion of savings per year which we will go on in perpetuity unless they need to be reversed and has actually reversed the growth of health care cost over the last three or four years which has helped the department of zork budget times. the budget restraints will continue. continue. more needs to be done. i will finish up the sensor. in terms of further changes in military health care, one as john alluded to already which is some changes in the fees and co-pays and the tri-care tri- care program. this is to be looked at in the context of overall military compensation and two years ago the joint chiefs participating lead in overall look at compensation the suggested changes like holding down pay raises some of which we will be

but dod holds its people to a higher standard. if you want to wear the uniform, understanding our core values is not enough. mustty were off duty, we live these ideals and enforce our values every day. dod will continue its strong and committed efforts to pursue comprehensive and dynamic approaches to fighting sexual assault in the military. president obama and all the dod leaders, military and civilian, are committed to doing whatever it takes to stamp out this scourge. in may, i told you about my visit to the dod safe helpline for survivors of sexual assault. i told you about the wall i saw covered in anonymous post it notes, notes that contained inspiring words of thanks spoken by individuals who called into the hotline. i thought about those notes, as i know all our leaders have over the months. we ultimately want a military with no more victims, no more calls, no more post-it notes. no more needed help. stopo more efforts to because it will be stopped. we are not there, but we will get there. until then, we will continue work

one thing i was struck at is i think there are 140,000 dod full-time employees in the dod health care system. 80,000-plus who are civilian and 60,000 who are military. it's a big organization and by some tricks it doesn't look expensive. i was just wondering if he -- if you wanted to add a word on that. >> by nature, the government is never going to be efficient. it isn't designed to be that way because there are things it has to do that no other health system has to do. it has to take care of the active-duty military. one of the problems we always have when we want to change any big organization is that the organizations tied the way that they've done things in the past and it becomes very difficult to be able to do change in but always drives people to be able to come up with that change is when they need to have the money to do other things. i think bob alluded to that when he said there is only so much money that the dod is allowed to spend it now under law, and so if they are going to spend more money modernizing we have to find other ways to be able to. that the military goes to

the dod holds its people to a higher standard. if you want to wear a uniform, understanding our core values is not enough. mustty or off duty, we live these ideals and enforce our values every day. dod will continue its efforts to at combatingches sexual assault in the military. president obama and all of the dod leaders are committed to doing whatever it takes to stamp out the scourge. in may i told you about my visit to the help line for survivors of sexual assault. i told you about the wall i saw. notes,covered in post-it notes that contain inspiring words of thanks spoken by individuals who called into the hotline. i thought about those notes. we'll timidly want a military with no more victims, no more calls, no more post-it notes -- we ultimately want a military with no more victims, no more calls, no more post-it notes, because it will be stop. we are not there yet, but we will get there. we will continue working relentlessly to prevent sexual assault, and we will give survivors the help and support they need. i want to than

what is the ramification of moving them back to the dod? is what is the expense with that and what is the time constraint to that as well? >> i'm going to say one more clarifying thing again. that kind of idea is one we're framing at a more theoretical level. i don't think it's an active proposal at the moment just to be clear. bob, do you want to say more about that in. >> well, on the use of rates, as i said in my opening remarks, there has been progress on that score. five years ago dod was not using medicare rates in small hospital, and for ute patient they were allowed -- outpatient they were allowed to do that by the congress, and i think that has yielded some savings. similarly, the use of the v.a. drug pricing schedules which the drug company sued and lost was helpful to the department. so there may be more there. but i think it's important we acknowledge there has been progress. and i think i'll defer to alice or henry on the exchanges. >> okay. jack, i wondered if i could draw you out, if you like, on this issue of how efficient w

highlighted by dod getting rid of race on many of its bases.he said they foot the bill, anyone settled. the company received a billion for his logistical report. they received all is that money if they didn't perform on the contracts. they didn't bring in the incinerato incinerators. they are not the military or public servants. they are for profit enterprise. >> kbr declined to comment. after years of lobbying, in june they started on online residency for veterans who feel they are sick from burn pits. so far 25,000 signed up. >> we met other people that have been affected. and a lot of people say things like this is our generations agent orange. >> reporter: thornton's wife jamie says that her husband feels betrayed after serving his country for 10 years. >> these people go and risk and forego so much for our country, and then our country doesn't stand, you know:. >> with more and more veterans and contractors coming forward claiming that burp pits made -- burn pits made them sick, pressure on the military and veterans' affairs is mounting >>

the task force is set up by hhs to look at the award data and dod to look at contract data and come upwith common data elements. so they are laying the initial framework. they have a long way to go before they are going to have the standards in place. we will be evaluating. we are tracking it very closely. but i'm encouraged that they are getting organized across the government and they used things that are already in plis. which will help implement. >> cop gresman that's our goal. when we looked at some of the aggressive dates, we put in place not just the governance and planning process but we put together the working team between hhs and and dod to start working on what we believe is critical -- >> so what are major threats to not achieving that goal. is it hardware/software, training, what's the major threat to not achieving that goal. >> for this particular goal we have the right resources and it's you know, just keeping the focus and you know folks that we have identified from both of those departments are advocates of what we are trying to accomplish. >> so help me understand he

they've got a task force set up by hhs to look at the award data and dod to look at the contract data and come up with some, -- comment data others. they're laying the initial framework. they have a long way to go though before they're going to have the standards in place. we will be evaluating their progress and commenting on those standards that they will be issued in a. so we're tracking them very closely, but i'm encouraged at least they're getting organized across the government to address these issues, and d to use something that already in place which will help expedite implementation. >> is permitted, is that an achievable goal to get there by may of next your? >> that is our goal. as mr. dodaro mentioned, we, look at some these aggressive dates we put in place not just the government and the plan process but we have put together the working team between hhs and dod to actually start working on what we believe is critical. >> what are the major threats to not achieving that goal? is it a hardware software issue? is it communication, training? what's a major threat to not achie

not only congress but the dod didn't want it to happen this way.the bottom line is, why did you pay money to contractors who didn't do the work? that is what he's trying to find out. >> "america tonight's" sheila macvicar, thanks. >>> when we return, the search for children and the answers. >> the state commits a crime and then you demand the state to bring you truth and put all the experts and that hasn't worked in our history. so we need to think of new ways to approach this problem. >> mexico's missing have long seemed removed from the capital. >> adam rainey, on the case that's forcing mothers to do >> you know how they say that everybody has a purpose in life? well, at one time i felt that selling cocaine was my purpose. >> we were starving just looking for a way to succeed. >> the first time that i seen rock cocaine was 1980. >> the murder rate was sky-high. >> south of the ten freeway was kind of a no-man's land. >> he said, "ya know, we're selling it to the blacks, you go into these neighborhoods, there's no cops, you can sell to who every

not only congress but the dod didn't want it to happen this way.the bottom line is, why did you pay money to contractors who didn't do the work? that is what he's trying to find out. >> "america tonight's" sheila macvicar, thanks. >>> when we return, the search for children and the answers. >> the state commits a crime and then you demand the state to bring you truth and put all the experts and that hasn't worked in our history. so we need to think of new ways to approach this problem. >> mexico's missing have long seemed removed from the capital. >> adam rainey, on the case that's forcing mothers to do their own investigative work. brong. >> the wave of mast protest that has gripped mexico, wanting an end to military assistance to mexico in the war on drugs which they say is fueling violence there. the protest is following a campaign against government corruption that started after 43 students went missing in september. the prosecution says the government handed them over to drug gangs to be killed. but even before that tens of thousands have disa

>> no, because we know the white house has been dictating the dod's policy and strategy and ideologym 1600 pennsylvania avenue. we had general jack keane right here on this couch, and he said as much. he mentioned valerie jarrett and others that are setting the tone and the policy. and, sandra, when you look at panetta, a clinton guy, when you look at now carter, a clinton guy, and you look at hagel who's a republican but not a very hawkish republican, these are not terribly, i would say, you know, the most red meat of folks. and even they got to the dod and realized that certain policies, hagel in particular, on the transfer of these gitmo detainees out of gitmo, he couldn't get behind it. i mean, there are certain things that these e defense secretaries look at and say this is not in the best interest of the military, it's strained our relationship, i think it's put us in a very dangerous place to have the white house and the dod at odds. but i think now carter is simply going to implement whatever president obama wants. there will be no direction coming out of carter directly that

i defer to my dod. >> because you don't know.i yield back. >> lament from fairfax. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. ambassador, certainly i think most of us were success in your endeavor. but i have to confess to you, listening to you make me feel that one is in a scene in the "wizard of oz" where we are being counseled to pay no attention to that man behind the curtain, meaning the previous iraqi government, which we supported way too long in terms of maliki and the damage he did and absolutely severing relationships between the shia and sunni, which contributed mightily to the rise of isis and the loss of moderates not only in iraq, but the spillover in syria. i mean, you said to us, pay attention to the fact we have a new government. it is relatively new.

it was an amendment to the dod appropriations bill. it was stripped from the omnibus part and parcel. there was nothing left of it. that was very frustrating to see. of course, the omnibus passed without that legislation on it but i will get into that in a little bit. let me describe my colleagues and myself as well. i include myself in this. when i came to congress, i'm an engineer and i thought if you had all the facts on your side, you could win the day. and your case would be closed. what i discovered is that we are not voting algorithms, we are soft mammals that go there and press buttons. we possess fully all of the faults that the general population possesses. no additional intelligence to speak of and a greater degree of hubris by virtue of winning the election. some people think they have a chip that instructs them how to know everything better than their congressman. when i first got to congress, one congressman told me that he was advised by an elder congressman when he got there that i always felt the way my constituents wo

when he presented his findings to dod they stopped sending him patients. >> we know people are sick.e are really trying our best to try to determine whether the burn pits are responsible. >> reporter: department of defense top public health official looked at numerous studies and found no proven link to burn pits for long-term health effects. >> we looked at several thousand individual service members who were assigned to locations with burn pits versus locations without burn pits. we looked at that data and we were unable to identify a definitive health risk associated with those burn pits. >> reporter: but dr. miller says the military needs to recognize that small airways disease could be linked to environmental exposure in iraq and afghanistan. and should be treated like other battlefield injuries. >> i think that we compensate people for loss of limb. we compensate people for ptsd. we should compensate people who have lost 70% of their airways and can no longer climb a flight of stairs without distress. >> reporter: and it's not just veterans who are being diagnosed with this rar

dod's said the evidence linking soldiers to damage from byrne there. >> it's highly plausible, probable that some individuals have health conditions acquired as a result of exposures in theatre. being able to identify which exporms and individuals is difficult because we don't have the individual exposure information helping us to establish that link. >> miese left the military. his doctors told him he was not fit to work as a file clerk. with his fiancee he moved to the mississippi coast. the humid air helps with the future. as for the future... future. >> jamie and antony were married shortly after he came back from iraq. they have a 3-year-old daughter. >> i mean this, is not what i thought our life would be. you know, at 33, 34, 35. it affected us tremendously. a lot of people say this is our generations. thorntons say they want the military to acknowledge harm done to soldiers. >> my plan was to keep working, and get a good job working. she doesn't have to do anything and be a good man. but i've erased that now. >> you're still a good man. >> it's hard to accept that. >> reporter:

anand d cacallll y youour r dod.amimiflflu u isis fa approved to treat the flflu u inin p peoeoplple e 2 2r whwhosose e flflu u sysympmptotd wiwiththinin t thehe l lasast t. bebefoforere t takakining u tell your doctor if yoyou'u'rere p preregngnanant,e serious health conditions, oror t takake e ototheher r. ifif y youou d devevelelopop a c reaction, a severe rash, oror s sigignsns o of f ununus, ststopop t takakining g tataml your doctor immediately. chchilildrdrenen a andnd a s in particular mamay y es, coconfnfususioion n oror a abnb. ththe e momostst c comommomons arare e mimildld t to o me nausea and vomiting. ask your doctor ababouout tamiu anand d atattatackck t thehu virus at its source. >>> no animals were harmed in the making of these videos, but a christmas tree might have a few scratches. this cat likes having ornaments thrown at it. the tree proved too irresistible. >> a christmas tree is a large stand of cat toys. >> it waits. i can't stand it. the cat looks. examines. it's really getting up in there. >

the dod did -- dod requests will be immediately put to good use because we have programs ready to gojust waiting for that authorization. >> can we defeat isil and iraq and not defeat them at the same time in syria to mac. >> we made a determination that to degrade the war fighting capacity we have to target them in syria as well >> is it possible without a political solution that cannot and does not include a sod? >> you have to have a counterweight to extremist groups like isil. that that is what we are doing with the train and equip efforts. with that i yield my time. >> the chair will recognize the gentleman from illinois. >> thank you for being here. a lot of disagreements. i have i appreciate your service. you mentioned 252 the iraqi government. that is one per 26 miles along a 650-mile border. it is really a joke on a sleep. i that it is not your decision, but i was in iraq recently. when i went back to see what had transpired, personally it was devastating and is hard for me to even talk about, but when i talk to our folks, they say we have to teach them how to concentrate for

when he presented his findings, he says he was shut out by the dod. >> shortly after that conference. the department of defense decided not to send any more patients. >> the department told dr. miller they'd deal with the issue internally. >> we sent the soldiers to the middle east, physically fit, they had toxic inhalation, they came back with problems that made them nondeployable and were not willing to compensate them for the injury they had. >> but dod's craig postlewait says damage due too burn injuries just aren't there. >> it is highly possible, probable that some of those individuals do have health conditions that were acquired due to exposures in theater. being able to identify which exposures and which individuals is very, very difficult because we don't have the individual exposure information that would help us to establish that link. meese has left the military. last july his doctors have told him he wasn't even fit to work as a file clerk. with his fiancee, he has just moved to the mississippi coast. the humidity helped him with his con. jamie and thornton got married. t

>> that the title 10 dod program. mike dod colleagues can give your briefing on that.ave been an and i tto those countries. we hope to get badly by march. >> is it demonstrations view that assad must go -- does that removed needs to be from power -- or that he does not have a future in syria? >> we're focused on a political transition progress. two political tracks right now. up approach -- freezing the situation in aleppo. support the initiative. also, secretary kerry has been in talks with key stakeholders in the region. one believes that aside can govern that state. the rebels will remove him from power? who is going to remove assad from power? my dod collies -- colleagues can discuss that. regarding the syria training equipment program, it is that the beauty was unable to provide a witness today. a request today. >> thank you mr. chairman for the support hearing. as i'm sitting, listening to your testimony, listing to i estions being asked, understand that this is a complicated situation. it has been since we have been here. it is not easy, people have those areas

their position on two key items of controversy in the report were predetermined by their dod employmentse key items were the permissive definition of torture in u.s. law versus the definition and international law. in the second, participation in military psychologists and interrogation settings versus nonparticipation. [indiscernible] >> that was a psychologist jean maria arrigo. s tasks part of the pen force. the original whistleblower on this report that is on this committee that is now being cited with james risen reporting on the e-mails that came out around this. steven reisner, if you could talk more about her role in what has now been revealed about this critical pens meeting. speaking of secrecy, arrigo talked about her natural tendency was to begin taking notes. she was invited to be on this panel. another member of the panel turned to her and said, you will put your notes down now. >> is probably the only task force in apa history where the members were forbidden from taking notes. maria was a part of this task force because she is a oral historian in the military and nationa

anand d cacallll y youour r dod.sis fa approved to treat the flflu u inin p peoeoplple e 2 2r whwhosose e flflu u sysympmptotd wiwiththinin t thehe l lasast t. bebefoforere t takakining u tell your doctor if yoyou'u'rere p preregngnanant,e serious health conditions, oror t takake e ototheher r. ifif y youou d devevelelopop a c reaction, a severe rash, oror s sigignsns o of f ununus, ststopop t takakining g tataml your doctor immediately. chchilildrdrenen a andnd a s in particular mamay y bebe a at t anan id risk of seizures, coconfnfususioion n oror a abnb. ththe e momostst c comommomons arare e mimildld t to o me nausea and vomiting. ask your doctor ababouout tamiu anand d atattatackck t thehu virus at its source. >>> closed cappinging provided by -- >>> going to the movie theater is a pretty awesome experience, right? you get popcorn, tons of candy. what could possibly make the movie theater experience much better? >> marijuana? >> i believe mainstream america is ready to embrace it and what better place than at th

anand d cacallll y youour r dod. tatamimiflflu u isis fa approved to treat the flflu u inin p peoeoplple e 2 2r whwhosose e flflu u sysympmptotd wiwiththinin t thehe l lasast t. bebefoforere t takakining u tell your doctor if yoyou'u'rere p preregngnanant,e serious health conditions, oror t takake e ototheher r. ifif y youou d devevelelopop a c reaction, a severe rash, oror s sigignsns o of f ununus, ststopop t takakining g tataml your doctor immediately. chchilildrdrenen a andnd a s in particular mamay y bebe a at t anan id risk of seizures, coconfnfususioion n oror a abnb. ththe e momostst c comommomons arare e mimildld t to o me nausea and vomiting. ask your doctor ababouout tamiu anand d atattatackck t thehu virus at its source. lifeand thankfully, of shaving stuff. being able to find backups. >> dog saves her friend from a bad dream. ♪ ♪ you'll always be my best friend♪ >> at weddings there are groomsmen dances and then there's this groomsman dance. ♪ the song "love never felt so good" guys hit the dance floor l

the doj come in the date, the dod across the board. and so i will end with that for our sense of engaging in this conversation about the new brave world that we are living in and how it turns on this and how we will be able to resolve responsibly that data with the government and also for the rest of us. >> we are going to go write your russians. please identify yourselves and who you would like to ask the question. >> there's a microphone right over here to the left and over to your right. >> we have won over to the right. one thing that you mention was it's interesting to me how snowden, when you have 450,000 documents, what the role of the traditional press is. i would suspect that maybe no one in this room red 100,000 of those documents or maybe two of them. so what we are speculating, we are speculating that there is so much data the what the press does is the data is searchable and when there is an event coming up they just type in this. and then when when they type in it in, they say okay, there are 45 documents, which is an int

anand d cacallll y youour r dod.atamimiflflu u isis fa approved to treat the flflu u inin p peoeoplple e 2 2r whwhosose e flflu u sysympmptotd wiwiththinin t thehe l lasast t. bebefoforere t takakining u tell your doctor if yoyou'u'rere p preregngnanant,e serious health conditions, oror t takake e ototheher r. ifif y youou d devevelelopop a c reaction, a severe rash, oror s sigignsns o of f ununus, ststopop t takakining g tataml your doctor immediately. chchilildrdrenen a andnd a s in particular mamay y bebe a at t anan id risk of seizures, coconfnfususioion n oror a abnb. ththe e momostst c comommomons arare e mimildld t to o me nausea and vomiting. ask your doctor ababouout tamiu anand d attatackck t thehe u virus at its source. >> sometimes i think, especially this time of year, airlines got a bad rap. they go out of their way to make things happen. >> i'd like to take this opportunity to welcome a special get on the flight. >> flying to australia. you see a guy over the loud mike but he doesn't realize he's a pas

anand d cacallll y youour r dod.atamimiflflu u isis fa approved to treat the flflu u inin p peoeoplple e 2 2r whwhosose e flflu u sysympmptotd wiwiththinin t thehe l lasast t. bebefoforere t takakining u tell your doctor if yoyou'u'rere p preregngnanant,e serious health conditions, oror t takake e ototheher r. ifif y youou d devevelelopop a c reaction, a severe rash, oror s sigignsns o of f ununus, ststopop t takakining g tataml your doctor immediately. chchilildrdrenen a andnd a s in particular mamay y bebe a at t anan id risk of seizures, coconfnfususioion n oror a abnb. ththe e momostst c comommomons arare e mimildld t to o me nausea and vomiting. ask your doctor ababouout tamiu anand d atattatackck t thehu virus at its source. [chris]still smoking up a storm? [tom]yeah.pathetic,isn't it? [chris] ever try to... [tom] quit?of course! my best time was six days. the worst was ...uh...23.4 seconds. [chris] so can i ask you... [chris & tom] why are you still sming? [tom] [sarcastic] "it's so much fun." [chris]why not c