kissell, for five minute. mr. kissell? >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you to our witnesses for being here. mr. chairman, i couldn't help but being a past world history teacher i couldn't help enjoy your story about pearl harbor. when i was teaching i would start out every semester by reading a reamble to a book and i believe it was "fly boys" but don't quote me on that and it talked about the japanese surprised the fleet, caught them in the harbor in december and the end result of the battle was they sunk all the fleet and i would tell my students if you can tell me, you know, where that happened, i'll give you an a for the semester and you don't have to come to class. you can do whatever you want. and all of them would raise their hand and, of course, they thought it was pearl harbor. i said well, the next line in the book says president roosevelt wrote a letter to the japanese and congratulated them on their great victory and that stumped them a little bit. it was 1905. it was the russians. we have a great capacity to think we have all the answe

kissel has a follow-up. >> a quick question here. we talk about the fuel capacities, you know, on guam and other such places. specific location. one of our colleagues in the last congress said what about getting the tools to the ships themselves because you wouldn't want the ships to have to come back to a set location. what about the refueling capacity in the midst of the battle, we have the ships that can do that? >> i'm not aware -- i'm not aware of any shortages that we have in a refueling the fleet. that one is best i can address so we need to address the need. >> last question, a very quickly. if we had a protracted battle with high-intensity operations, do we have the industrial base here to sustain that? and if so, for what purpose of time to think? >> candidly i don't think i'm qualified to answer that. >> mr. shifrin, any idea? >> i would have to also plead when it comes to speaking of the industrial base of the united states i'm not qualified to answer that we would be happy -- >> if you could get that information and now

kissell. and now someone the subject is near and dear to her heart the gentlelady from hawaii. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i don't believe we can discuss readiness out of the context of what has happened and what the implications of what happened, the devastation and the catastrophe in japan. having said that, i would like to know -- japan is considered like our anchor partner in terms of our security defenses in the pacific. what impact is the tsunami and the earthquake having on whatever strategic locations we have in japan? mr. secretary, you could answer that. >> certainly. i mean, to begin with, i would say that it would be speculative at best at this point to comment on any of the longer term implications of the earthquake and the tsunami. but i would note that certainly, i think, the assistance that we've been able to offer on the engagement of the u.s. military and the u.s. government across-the-board in response to this crisis has helped to strengthen the bonds that we have between ou

kissell said well, they require more training and the gao is clever. what does he think the terrorists are? terrorists have gone from a very sophisticated shoe device and i was awakened in texas in the liquid bombers and we put in measures to try to deal with that. the diaper i had in january tested the system for the pat-down which is supposed to catch what this equipment doesn't catch or be another device. i can tell you i can thwart the system not only visually, and not that clever, but most folks know they are not going to touch your junk and more than enough dangerous material can't get through because that system is flawed, too. i'm very concerned about the testing of this equipment before it was deployed and looks like we have a bigger's one our hands. and if it wasn't half a billion it's going to be another half a billion because they couldn't possibly use the existing personnel or transfer some of the positions of the 3,770 bureaucratic positions in washington to get their butts out working on line. of course making $105,000 on average a year

a new team down to the rest of the federal work force, pays kissel and benefits? >> the only. the post service has in excess of the federal government is in terms of the health-care contributions. a very small portion of what we pay our people. we are in negotiations working to come to the same level. that is minimal. the big opportunities -- >> do you think the unions agreed to come to the rest of the federal work force? >> the unions are already coming to that level. we have seen progress in the last contract. we move 1% in the last contract with is being discussed right now that will get us to the next level in the next four years. >> so the rest of the workforce. [talking over each other] >> that is a small portion, compensation we give our people in terms of health benefit contribution. our people pay right now 81% -- we pay 81% for their health benefits. >> i have 25 seconds. let me ask one more question. do you believe the united states postal service is too big to fail? >> we are in important part of the economy and important part of american society. we will deliver 1

kissell said well, they require more training and the gao is clever. what does he think the terrorists are? terrorists have gone from a very sophisticated shoe device and i was awakened in texas in the liquid bombers and we put in measures to try to deal with that. the diaper i had in january tested the system for the pat-down which is supposed to catch what this equipment doesn't catch or be another device. i can tell you i can thwart the system not only visually, and not that clever, but most folks know they are not going to touch your junk and more than enough dangerous material can't get through because that system is flawed, too. i'm very concerned about the testing of this equipment before it was deployed and looks like we have a bigger's one our hands. and if it wasn't half a billion it's going to be another half a billion because they couldn't possibly use the existing personnel or transfer some of the positions of the 3,770 bureaucratic positions in washington to get their butts out working on line. of course making $105,000 on average a year

kissell said well, they require more training and the gao is clever. what does he think the terrorists are? terrorists have gone from a very sophisticated shoe device and i was awakened in texas in the liquid bombers and we put in measures to try to deal with that. the diaper i had in january tested the system for the pat-down which is supposed to catch what this equipment doesn't catch or be another device. i can tell you i can thwart the system not only visually, and not that clever, but most folks know they are not going to touch your junk and more than enough dangerous material can't get through because that system is flawed, too. i'm very concerned about the testing of this equipment before it was deployed and looks like we have a bigger's one our hands. and if it wasn't half a billion it's going to be another half a billion because they couldn't possibly use the existing personnel or transfer some of the positions of the 3,770 bureaucratic positions in washington to get their butts out working on line. of course making $105,000 on average a year