mr. stephen lord is director for homeland security at the u.s. government accountability office, our wing, if you will. and rear admiral zukunft. an assistant commandant for marine safety and stewardship and i might mention without a doubt the best jewel ever give on the homeland security in my opinion and in the ranking member's opinion. pursuant to the rules of this committee, would you all please rise to take the oath? raise your right hands. do you solemnly swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? let the record indicate -- please have a seat -- all witnesses answered in the affirmative. now, my predecessor, whose face and portrait is up there, mr. towns, began a tradition of explaining the obvious. but he did it every time, and i appreciated it. your entire opening statements will be placed in the record. in front of you, you have a countdown clock. and like so many things that you look at, you say, does it really matter? the answer is please summarize if you run ou