we had a rare interview with frank kendall, the man at the pentagon who writes the checks.sle very concerned with what happens happening thousands of miles above them. >> space is becoming a much more contested environment. >> reporter: frank kendall first worked for the "star wars" program, the strategic defense initiative. >> it will take years. >> 5, 4, 3, 2 -- >> reporter: in 25 years such a system may be necessary not just to protect everything we have on the ground, but in space. >> zero, we have liftoff of the united launch alliance. >> there is from the intelligence i've seen, an attempt by some countries to build systems that would allow them to dominate in space, to take out our assets, which are very vulnerable. our assets are in predictable orb bits, what would we do about that? one is to go what we call disaggregated architectures where we take these satellites and break up their function into a number. it makes it harder to attack all of them. another idea that's been talked about is having reserve capabilities that can be launched very quickly in case there's

it's one of the many trends which frank kendall must fund now.is the man at the pentagon with the checkbook. sdroo i'm worried about our pipeline of new products. >> reporter: he says due to budget cuts, much of what we will see in 25 years is upgraded versions of what we have now. there will be some new programs for cyber defense, and he hopes to find money to protect our satellites. >> there is an attempt at least by some countries to build systs that would allow them to dominate space, to take out our assets. >> reporter: solutions include bricking up large into smaller more expendable ones or having backup systems ready to launch. >> that's expensive. >> it's all expensive. >> reporter: the biggest check, however, will be written for the s-35 by lockheed martin, the most expensive program in pentagon history. if the super celtic jet delivers as promised -- >> in 25 years in airplane will be all over the world. >> reporter: it will be a plane made so ease where i to fly that future pilots will need different skills. >> so instead of being more

i think frank kendall would say that we need to develop better to tryg for acquisitions to improve the training. >> i think this is a contract that we also need to keep an eye on. it is $11 billion. i'm glad that the secretary is giving us feedback on this because there are too many projects that we have not gotten results will stop $11 million is a significant project. >> why not convert the v.a. system to the military? >> we always have a reason why, just like on our afp programs. rather than having the military modify the proven system. >> great idea. to ask franku need kendall that question. if we do go with a separate -- em to be operable >> for the record, the federal money on i.t.nds every year and much of it is wasted. >> i wanted to ask about improper payments. you testified again today about the dod that .7%ormance rating was only and compared to governmentwide, it is 3.5%. i know that some of the data used in that report was going backwards. gaoll give it that, but basically found that the dod improper payment estimates were norher reliable, statistically valid, because of l

frank ocean's table. they started dancing. they were excited. taylor swift and lena dunham were dancing and taking pictures together. so everyone -- kendallwas a fascinating outfit. what did you think? >> she was heavenly looking. i mean, lupita for president. she was just -- she walked in, i just gasped. i thought it was so gorgeous. >> there was a host of the tonys, who usually is i would say not short on words, but a little bit speechless. tell me about that. >> neil patrick harris was not allowed to be speaking very much last night because he's on broadway. so he was at my table and he was sort of doing his best to mime and whisper throughout dinner. i really felt for him. his ingenuity was impressive. >> this is a night where fashion speaks louder than words. thank you for giving us the inside scoop. we appreciate it. >> thanks so much, savannah. >> who had the most interesting look of the night? tamron's keeping track of all that in the orange room. and the results of our survey. >> hey there, savannah. this was the lineup. you saw the beautiful ladies there. what did your "today" viewers say? they say sarah jessica parker stole the