mr. peter levine, mrs. alyssa starsak, and mr. secretary, you're recognized for five minutes. >> mr. chairman, ranking member davis thank you for holding this hearing and i really appreciate the discussion that i heard with the first panel, showing serious engagement on what is really an important issue. also i would like to join your colleagues, mr. chairman, in thanking you for your service. you have been very good to the department of defense, your focus on the personnel and readiness issues is very important to us and helpful to us so thank you. i would also -- if i may, thank chairman thornberry for being here and for continuing to listen on occasion to my good friend, mr. stimmons, who i see also in the back there. you have my written statement. there are a few points to focus on, i think it deserves some attention. recruitment is an ordinary fact of life in the military. our pay systems are not as perfect as we would like them to be. we would run into any number of issues from the person we heard about earlier who may be divorced and still getting a bhas as though they were ma

mr. peter levine from the department of defense, ms. alyssa starzik and theresa mckay. director of defense finance service. mr. secretary, you're recognized for five minutes. >> mr. chairman, ranking member davis, thank you for holding this hearing and appreciate the discussion that i heard with the first panel. it shows serious engagement on what is really an important issue. i would also like to join your colleagues, mr. chairman, in thanking you for your service. you've been very good to the department of defense. your focus on these personnel and readiness issues has been important to us and helpful to us so thank you. i can't -- i'd also like to, if i may, thank chairman thornberry for being here and continuing to listen on occasion to my good friend mr. similar monos who i see also in the back row. you have my written statement and i won't read any of it. there are a few points i would like to focus on, some of which have been discussed but some i think deserves attention. recoupment is an ordinary fact of life in the military. our pay systems aren't as perfect as

mr. peter levine from the department of defense, ms. alyssa starzik and theresa mckay. mr. secretary, you're recognized for five minutes. >> mr. chairman, ranking member davis, thank you for holding this hearing and appreciate the discussion that i heard with the first panel. it shows serious engagement on what is really an important issue. i would also like to join your colleagues, mr. chairman, in thanking you for your service. you've been very gooded to the department of defense. your focus on these personnel and readiness issues has been important to us and helpful to us so thank you. i can't -- i'd also like to, if i may, thank chairman thornberry for being here and continuing to listen on occasion to my good friend mr. similar monos who i see also in the back row. you have my written statement and i won't read any of it. there are a few points i would like to focus on, some of which have been discussed but some i think deserves attention. recoupment is an ordinary fact of life in the military. our pay systems aren't as perfect as we would like them to be and we run in

mr. peter levine performing duties as the under secretary of defense for personnel ready sentence chairg a cross-functional team with the national guard bureau, united states army, office of secretary of defense general counsel and the defense finance and accounting service. this team is leading the effort to exped,ly resolve the cases involving the affected california army national guard members. i understand you'll hear from secretary levine a little later this afternoon. secretary of defense carter's guidance is to adjudicate all cases by july 1st, 2017. the national guard continues to support the cross-functional teams process to ensure each soldier's case is fairly and equitably reviewed with due process afforded to each and every soldier. in closing, i assure you the national guard has worked hard to implement appropriate, effective internal controls across the 50 states, the three territories and district of columbia and to prevent similar systemic fraud from occurring in the future. thank you, and i look forward to your questions. >> thank you. general baldwin, you're recognized