gene dodaro and the gao for the work they do. candidly, while one is not always happy we can be doing things better, the truth is we all full well known we can be doing things better. my job description is to find those things. to be perfectly honest, having assistance in identifying opportunities bothers me not at all, so we look forward to our continued work with the government accountability office. as assistant deputy office manager i provide advice to business opportunities and practices in the office with particular emphasis on finding efficiencies and overhead. so, clearly, our intent of my office and mr. dodaro align very well. last year the deputy secretary asked the dcom office to put together a series of efficiency initiatives that would help free up needed funds to meeting emerging needs within the top line of the department. initiatives we're leading include headquarters reduction, service contract requirement reviews, information technology on optimization and business optimization to include changes in commissary.

according to gao the executive branch has completed 81% of gao's recommendations. 81%. that's an impressive success rate in light of the budget ts agencies have endured in recent years. congress, on the other hand, has implemented only about 46% of gao's recommendations. even with that 46% it's generous because gao gives congress credit for taking partial action by just moving a bill through committee even if it has gotten past the house or senate. mr. chairman, during last year's hearing you thanked the gao for provides congress and the executive branch for a road map to achieve needed savings. according to gao the administration has done a much better job of following the road map than we here in congress. specifically gao made 459 recommendations for the executive branch and 372 have now been fully or partially completed. in contrast gao has made 85 recommendations. only 37 of those have been fully or partially completed. the new report highlights areas where congress could legislate right now to eliminate waste and duplication. for example, gao recommended congress p

according to to gao the executive branch is completed 81% of gao's recommendations. 81%. that's an impressive success rate in light of the budget cuts agencies have endured in recent years. congress on the other hand, has implemented only about 46% of gao's recommendations. even with that 46% it's generous because gao gives congress credit for taking partial action by just moving a bill through committee even if it has gotten past the house or senate. chairman, during last year's hearing you thanked the gao for a road map to achieve needed savings. according to gao the administration has done a much better job of following the road map than we here in congress. specifically gao made 459 recommendations for the executive branch and 372 have now been fully or partially completed. in contrast gao has made 85 recommendations. only 37 of those have been fully or partially completed. the new report highlights areas where congress could legislate right now to eliminate waste and duplication. for example, gao oh recommended congress pass ledgele insulation to protect private citiz

we have begun acting on the gao recommend. we literally have a team of folks from across our various organizations looking at the referral program. we intend within the 60 days from the date of the report to actually put together a timeline. we are, our intentions at this point in time are to limit the number of organizations that have referrals. in other words we intend to bring the referral process down to, you know, one centralized activity. and our intention is to, at some point in time, in the very near future, have an online opportunity for taxpayers to make referrals. so we're looking at all of the recommendations that have been made by gao and the treasury inspector general for tax administration. and i believe we're going to be quite responsive to, to the issues that have been raised. >> you know there is old adage trust is series of promises kept. irs is behind the eight ball on that one. can you explain why the irs failed to better coordinate and share information between programs? >> well a lot of these programs gre

we don't have any enforcement authority at the gao. we can't compel people to implement our recommendations, but congress can. that's our enforcement approach. >> my time is up. once again, i'd like to commend you on the great job that your organization does. and i yield back the time i don't have, mr. chairman. >> i thank the gentleman. the chair recognizes the gentleman from president 11th district of virginia, my good friend, mr. connolly. >> thank you, mr. chairman and just picking up on your last point. my colleague from iowa, gene, i don't want to you miss the opportunity, yes, of course we ought to implement your recommendations, but every dollar we invest in gao has what return on it? >> $134 back for every dollar invested. >> so to your point, i know it's not always a great idea, the conservative side of the aisle, but this one has a return and so investing in gao is very smart investment. >> and i join the gentleman in supporting his notion there that we need to invest more in gao. >> i thank the chair. hear that, gene? run wi

but into the gao the executive branch is fully completed 81% of gao's recommendations. 81%. that is an impressive success rate strictly in light of the budget and what it has endured in recent years. congress on the other hand has implemented only about 46% of g owes recommendations. even that 46% it's kinda generous because gao is giving credit for taking partial action by just moving a bill through committee even if it has not been passed, at the house or the senate. during during lester's hearing you thanked gao for" providing congress and the executive branch with a roadmap to achieve needed savings. according to gao the administration has done a much better job of following that roadmap then we here in congress. specifically gao 459 recommendations for the executive branch and 372 have now been fully or partially completed. in contrast, gao has made 85 recommendations to congress but only 37 of those have been fully or partially completed. gao's new's new report highlights where congress could legislate right now to eliminate waste and duplication. for example gao recomm

we're looking forward to the comments by the gao and the ig. i have to tell you, we are not afraid of criticism. we welcome it. we want this type of transparency. in conclusion, i want to tell you, the v.a. is making sweeping changes. we are making progress. but there is significant work that lies ahead. that is what i'm here to do. but recall, as the ranking member said, the v.a. provides excellent care every day. in fact, this year alone four peer reviewed studies showing we are equal or superior to what is happening in the private sector. we appreciate the support of you on this committee and look forward to answering any questions. thank you, mr. chairman. >> and doctor you are now recognized for five minutes. >> mr. chairman and members of the subcommittee, thank you for this opportunity to discuss the recent reports that we have issued that have addressed various obstacles to veterans receiving timely access to health care. as you mentioned, i am accompanied by mr. gary abe, the deputy assistant auditor for inspector and evaluations. two

the gao is highly independent. the head of the gao is the comptroller general.s a 15 year term. he is appointed by a very careful process that involves key members of congress from both parties and the gao has an impeccable reputation for its analysis part of my proposal will be to bring it to bear and looking at all aspects of the federal reserve, including management of operations, policies and procedures. you think the fed would be different in the financial crisis if it implements of these proposals you are outlining now? can greatestion -- question. acknowledging the banking supervision and regulations department at the federal reserve was not adequate, not well-managed and not achieving its goals and objectives. well known that was at the time. wasuld hope if the gao generateiews, naked that operational management issue and try to do something about it. would have prevented the crisis but it might have mitigated the risk. alix: are there any central bank that does it right? >> ok, great question. i would not say any central bank is perfect. all of these th

so we're not in disagreement with the direction gao is suggesting. i would also suggest that over the last three years the deputy secretary of defense has conducted portfolio reviews across weapons system with the outcome in mind that the gao is suggesting of how to make a more rational investment decision. i think the key here has been that the department recognizes that the military departments tend to bring forward individual piece parts and as a result we needed to integrate this at a department wide level. that's been taking place consistently now for the last -- we've executed it the last two years. there's a third round in progress, that's something the deputy secretary brought on board when he took the job. so we are moving in the direction the gao suggests. >> the gao said, and i quote "d.o.d. was not plan to require annual enterprise level portfolio reviews that integrate key portfolio review elements from the requirements, acquisition and budget processes as we recommended." why not? >> i think the disagreement is more over the specifics of

even with the gao. we use shared service providers. i don't -- i think there's a lot of potential there. we've looked at it principally in the area of financial management services because that's common in terms of payroll processing and other things. so that's an area i'd like quite frankly for additional resources to do more in, but we haven't done a whole lot beyond the financial management area. >> if you would see if there's a couple areas we could address more, i'm making that official request today. perhaps look into i.t. area. there's some i.t. services that might be able to be shared. i see some of our experts are from that particular field. but if you look at and get that back. >> sure. >> to the committee. yes? [inaudible] >> mr. chaffetz come the irs sent a letter back to mr. chaffetz in november of last year, and at the bottom of page two, top o of page to at the end of the witnesses until july 2015 iran's had oneself side stimulate the one stingray which was acquired in 2011. in july 2015 he began the process temperature a

we work with the gao on a regular basis. the gao was right in this regard. we have policies and procedures that were conflicting. and we're working to fix that because you can't have that. and thebubest practices across system is what health systems should be doing. we're focused on learning from the best and putting it throughout the system. this will make va a better system. and i thank gao for that. i'm anxious to get off this list fast. i don't agree with ms. draper's assessment we're not making progress. i know we're making progress. it may not be as fast as she raup wants us to but we're heading in the right direction and addressing the right issue. >> the stand downs. >> the stand downs are a part of it. the stand downs aren't a way you sustain improvements. they are declarations of emergencies. when you have urgent patients that aren't being seen they are emergencies. we have to act like that. they've led to sustainable improvement. nine core principles of how we'll redesign access in the system. a year from now we won't be talking about this in the

a less last >> i'm trying to get the process because that's one of the things the gao talks about. what is the process? >> it's kind of a two-tiered process. the first is through its formal reports but secondly the joint commission members engage with the iaea. that's the reason we do the meetings in vienna and meet with iaea. >> you said that there were interpretation, correct me if i'm wrong, interpretation questions. so have there been instances of questionable compliance thus far that will resolve outside of the dispute resolution mechanism. >> these were issues that raise the issue of a dispute. these are issues in which we noticed certain activities that we felt were not in compliance. we engage with iranians and they were fixed. >> so there is, so those, because if there was a dispute on something you would be more formal and have been would know about it. the way which you describe those issues come is rather informal and no one knows exactly what they are, right? >> i have to go back and check on a couple of the specific ones, whether or not they were formalized or written

has sebed the country for more than 40 years at the gao. he served most recently as the chief operating officer and has also headed gao's accounting and information management division where he directed the first ever audit of the comprehensive financial statements covering all federal departments and agency. has also worked closely with congress and several administrations on major management and reform initiatives, including the 1994 government management reform act, the revised 1995 paperwork reduction act and the cleaner cohen act of 1996. he received a bachelors degree in accounting. he is joined by information security issues director gregory wilshouson. want to think all of you for coming. i know this is an expansive topic. the more insight and perspective we can get, the better we will be. we'll hear the witness testimonies in the order i just introduced them. mr. george, we'll turn to you at this time -- excuse me, no, it's -- who's next on there? mr. george is next, yes, okay. >> thank you, chairman hatch. members of the committee.

this is the gao report so i suggest that you look at that and see if we have reached that conclusion so far. >> senator manchin. >> thank you mr. chairman thank you admiral for being here the work you do. we face a wide range of cyber threats and criminal hackers and spies and nearly every briefing about her national security i have asked about the issues of cybersecurity. and protecting our power grid. it's a very important issue to me and the power that the state produces for this country. in the short term which cyber thread is the most dangerous to the united states? power grid, our food supply or our water supply? which is the most vulnerable that we should be working on? >> power and basic infrastructure is something that ice concerns me because of the potential impact of the nation is very significant. we have significant issues there i also argue one sector that i worry worry about a little bit is you look at the amount of personally identifiable information out there in various health care is a good example with the amount of data that we have all provided in the medical worl

the same concerns gao has with the modernization program they had with the p-22. it was warned the procurement and operational testing programs face cost overruns and delays. the department moved ahead with plans and muddled through the suspected delays. in 2012, mandated gao review discovered the costs had more than doubled and delivery time line had been delayed five years. these over runs cost taxpayers $6 billion. it indicted they would split the two efforts. congress finally had enough and required that the air force separate the programs, in follow up reports, the gao has found the f-32's modernization program is on solid ground. as written this amendment mirrors that fy 13 legislative language that split the f 22's modernization program from the base line program. in nearly identical situation today with the modernization program except this time we're in a position to get it right from the beginning and waste billion dollars before we come back to do this. given the troubled history and numerous delays of the f 35 program to insist the department adhere to

however, dod has not concurred with the gao's recommendations and plans to include the f-35's block 4 fall under existing cuts plus contracts. so if dod did not adopt gao's recommendation, would that help eliminate cost plus for the block 4 phase of the program? why would they not? and i don't know why any of us don't pay attention to gao, but why the department of defense doesn't makes no sense at all. >> sir, at a strategy level, i'm going to defer to mr. kendall -- >> secretary, i'm sorry. >> senator, i think we're talking about a distinction here that may not have a difference. the label, mdap brings with it a lot of statutory oversight. >> sure. >> what we plan to do with block 4 is insure that it is accounted for separately, that we have an independent cost estimate, that we manage it very intensively, there's full transparency and visibility into what we're doing. >> i'm saying -- >> it's, all the things that i think we're being asked for will be supplied. but if we add to that the label of a major defense acquisition program, that's going to bring a lot of additional bureaucra

you're familiar with the gao report? > i haven't read the most recent report but i'm familiar with the tax gap. >> would you say that the accurate figure they put on a? >> i think that data comes from the irs. >> you think it's right. >> it's correct, it's a known tax gap. there's also a an unknown tax gap. but yes this is a general consensus about the figure. >> obviously all the americans who pay their taxes would expect that all the revenue should be jennifer generated and they should be able to get the service they expect from their government and that's not happening. >> we have looked at the tax gap as a surtax as taxpayers who are. the tax. >> that's exactly right. and they had 11212 recommendations to the irs that would help deal with this significant tax gap. our understanding is that the irs is only limited 53 of those 112 recommendations. is that in your understanding? >> that is what the report said. >> that too seems to be non-reflective of what's best for taxpayers. the chairman was just talking about this a

>> the department disagrees with the gao -- gao to do a better job so we're not in disagreement i would also states over the last three years to have a portfolio reviews with these very alcon in mind with the rational decision. the key has been the department recognizes those individual piece parts to integrate this at that department why raid level. we are moving in the direction. >> they also say'' akio d does not plan to require annual enterprise level with those budget process. why not? >> i fink the disagreement is over the specifics over how to do a rather than in the intent it needs to be scrubbed at the portfolio of them -- level we don't want to make that the centerpiece of what resources we applied with a process that comes back into being. the differences are in the implementation. >> the chair recognizes the gentleman from ohio. >> how long had you been at the irs? >> i have had a stint there. >> they include all of the enforcement activities of criminal investigation including telephone services the tax-exempt division. >> did you have any overlapping? >> i did about three

in the last several years, we have had over 2000 gao recommendations, and we have already implemented over 80%. in internal security -- these are important issues -- one of the things we are moving toward in terms of access is that passwords themselves turn out to be somewhat questionable, and we are moving forward to where you can only access servers. right now you can only access e-mail with a personal identity card you can put into the computer. we are moving forward with that being the standard for access on all servers and mainframes, so it does not matter if you are giving away your password or or somebody seeks it, they will not be able to have access without the card. but i agree we have a wide range of recommendations from the gao. we do not disagree with those, we are working to implement them. we worry a lot about external threats. we also need to worry about internal threats, and that is a high priority. sen. grassley: than i would expect these should be in the 2017 report. comm. koskinen: i can almost guarantee you working with gao they won't be. the gao has given us our

for example, the gao over the last -- for 2015, we have 47 recommendations from the gao. 43 times we have concurred with those recommendations. four times we didn't concur. so sometimes -- many types tim are in agreement. there are occasions that we see comments that we don't think we agree with. >> is that one -- is this one of those? >> this is one of those times. >> do you think this is an appropriate rule? >> yes. this is a highly successful program. it is benefitting many, many americans and the taxpayer. >> do you think when it phases out that the bottom will fall out of the insurance industry? >> i don't think so. >> why not? >> because i think the market now has a better feel for the people that are being insured. and i think that wasn't the case three years ago. a little more so last year and a little more this year. but i think by the time we get to the third year, people have a good understanding of the -- >> they will smooth out the discrepancies. >> i believe so. >> thank you. i yield back. >> i now rise mr. mckinley for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i would

for example according to the gao the cost to demonstrate as well as fix the currently deployed ce to's is increased from initial $236 million, the cost of the first flight test to currently over $1.9 billion. the need for failure reviews additional flight test mitigation development efforts and they retrofit program has increased ce2's demonstration $1.7 billion. mr. chairman this problem continues to plague our national security. clearly there is a need for the policy provided by this amendment. i know that many members of the subcommittee know that i'm a strong supporter of this. i just want to make sure that we are doing this the right way and we are guiding taxpayer dollars and getting capability before and it actually works before we buy it so with that mr. chairman i ask my colleagues to support the amendment and i will yield time to mr. cooper. >> thank you mr. langevin. this is an excellent amendment. i would urge my colleagues to realize that he said he is not not -- missile defense. he wants us to work. this is not a proposal to test this thing to death. this is a proposal to

and she expressed it. >> reporter: mundy is on paid administrative leave and about to be fired from the gao. she told me she wants to appeal this case. >>> nearly one year of the d.c. mansion murders, there's new reaction from the family's trusted housekeeper nelly gutierrez. says she tries to stay focused on her work and taking care of her daughter, but is reminded of the tragedy every single day. gutierrez spent 20 years working for the last may, savvas, amy, phillip savopoulos and the housekeeper vera were killed. >> sometimes i'm so distraught. sometimes i can't. it's too hard for me. i was supposed to be there that day, but thank god -- he knows what happened, why i'm still here. a couple more years and i'm going to be okay, but they're still in my heart. >> darren wint is due back in court. >>> officers arrested andre alvarado and angela sourmeny on wednesday. they are accused of producing child porn when the 16-year-old was at their home for a party. the sheriff's department provided us a picture of today, we were notified they sent the wrong picture. today, we have the correct mug s

the 2017 report. comm. koskinen: i can almost guarantee you working with gao they won't be. us our has given priorities on what they think are the highest priority for us because the ability to identify which of the recommendations have the highest priority is very helpful to us, and gao has been helpful about giving us that guidance. sen. grassley: thank you, senator. senator harper? sen. carper: i want to associate myself with the comments of senator wyden earlier. the streamlined critical pay program. mr. chairman, you mentioned in by personnts that legislation was introduced. do you think it is critical that we follow through on that? mr. koskinenar, and others come to us to say, please do this. often times, we point the finger at them and say, you know, you screwed up here and there. but we have a responsibility to do, and one of the things we can do to help out is provide for the reestablishment of the streamlined critical pay program. you will hear a lot from me in the months to come. we need to do our job. about that lately. we need to do our job. this is another wher

i would note that we value highly both the reports and recommendations from gao and from the i.g. particularly in cybersecurity areas. we've had in the last several years, we counted up over 2,000 gao recommendations, of which we've already implemented about 80%. in the internal security and these are important internal security issues, not external, but could become external, obviously. one of the things we're moving towards in terms of access is passwords themselves turn out to be somewhat questionable and we're moving towards pivot cards, right now you can only access email with a personal identity card. you put into the computer. we're moving towards having that be the system to all access all mainframes and security online. it doesn't matter if you've given away your password or somebody seeks it, they won't be able to have access without the card. i agree to the extent we can, we have a wide range and a large number of recommendations from the i.g. and the gao, we do not disagree with those. we are working as quickly as we can to implement them. these are particular ones int

however, dod has not concurred with the gao's recommendations. and plans to include the f-35's block four following modernization efforts under the existing costs plus contract. if dod did not adopt gao's recommendation, would that help eliminate cost plus for the block four phase of the program? why would that not? i don't know why any of us don't pay attention to gao? why the department of defense does it makes no sense. >> strategy level i'm going to defer to mr. kindall. >> i think we're talking about a distinction here that may not have a difference. the label m dap brings with it a lot of statutory oversight. we plan to do with block four is insure it's accounted for spr separately. there's a full transparency and visibility into what we're doing. it's a -- all the things that i think are being asked for will be supplied. but if we add to that the label of a major defense acquisition problem that will bring additional costs i was hoping to avoid that. >> i agree. i would ask mr. sullivan why would they make that report if you thought it was

you're familiar with the gao's report? >> i haven't read their most recent but i'm familiar with the tax gap. >> would you agree that is pretty accurate figure they put on it? the gentleman here from the irs frankly agreed with gao's finding. >> i think that data comes from the irs. >> you think it's right? >> it is as correct -- it is known tax gap. there is an unknown tax gap, criminal activity, things like that. yes, i think people, there is general consensus that's the figure. >> obviously all the americans pay their taxes, expected all revenue would be again rated and they get type of service they expect from their government and that is not having because of failure to collect all revenue due? >> we look attacks gap as tax on taxpayers paying their taxes. >> exactly right. gao recommended, gao had 1 is 2 recommendations to the irs would help deal with this significant tax gap -- 112. our understanding the irs implementerred 53 of those 112 recommendations s that your understanding? >> that is what the report said, yes

waste in fema has been described in dial by senator coburn, the gao, the inspector general. one of our witnesses today, inspector general roth found in a report issued today that maryland bought $70,000 worth of computer equipment that it did nothing with for nearly a year and a half. in 2012, senator coburn reviewed one fema grant program and conclude the program is struggling to demonstrate now it is making u.s. cities less vulnerable to attack and more prepared if one were to occur despite receiving over $7 million in federal fund. after ten years, a clear danger for the urban area security initiative grant program is that it would be transform from a risk based program identifying security gaps into a entitlement program for states and cities. i think that risk still exists and many states are is up planting some typical expenditures they would typically pay for themselves with this money. i don't think to this date we have adequately corrected the deficiencies that dr. coburn unto. just last month inspector general roth released a report that had 333 recommendations for

research, four years of research and writing, once i got deep into the research, there was a quote from the gaobout the profiteering, i cannot remove or the exact quote, but never before have there been so much money made by so few men at the taxpayer expense, and i thought this was more about profiteering than it is about anyone company. brian lamb: have they ever done anything illegal? sally denton: i don't think so. that is one of the other stunning things, that all of this is legal. [laughter] sally denton: this is what i write, that this is not a biography of this family as a as another thing i found going on, the family was really not interesting. they were interesting for what they represented, not for themselves as characters. aey were representative of larger thrust and philosophy of american business and american politics and american foreign policy. brian lamb: where did stephen bechtel senior fit in all of the bechtels? sally denton: the company starts with warren bechtel who was an old-fashioned american western. the hoover dam was really his project, his protege. it was called six

the gao supported that, too, through federal loans. and there are institutions, for-profit institutions as well as many other institutions, who have particularly used the loan programs, the more they could get to blow the caps off, the more they could charge. there's an institution in this town that used to brag about that, gw, i won't mention them, but used to brag about charging the most amount and leading the country in what you charge and we'll get more applications. they're one of the leaders in trying to blow the loan caps off so they could get their students more loan money. there is a relationship, a correlation. but in the public sector it's not, unless we have our own tuition and fee autonomy. we don't. most of us, it's either controlled -- the government says freeze it for two years. well, we didn't play a role in it. we have a state legislature that needs a two-thirds vote to raise a tuition there are or a fee dollar. the public sector, we have these controls on us that don't allow us to roll into that hypothesis, but there

i think i have a great deal of admiration for the insperktors general and the gao to look at the waste, but i find that it continues and i don't see a lot of connection to actual reform, that we actually fix things. for years now, watchdogs have said there's as much as $10 billion of duplicate spending in government and yet it continues. is there really a mechanism in which we can enforce reform and actually make it work? do you have suggestions on how we would fix government from the standpoint of getting those who are watching over government to actually get policy implemented? why don't we start with you, mr. roth. >> thank you for that. one of the things that we have found in the course of doing a number of these audits with fema, is that we'll make a finding of question costs, for example, against a sub grantee. the fema administrator has the ability to waive our finding, not go against the state or the locality to re-collect the money that was misspent. we think that authority is being used in a fashion that really is counterproductive in that the states and the localities really

farrell is presenting the findings of two gao reports, for november 2015 report on sexual assault in the military, and they very recently released 2016 report on hazing incidents involving servicemembers. >> thank you, ellen. thanks for that elevation. thanks to salon strategy a overrepresented here today. we appreciate the opportunity to discuss our recent report on dod's updated prevention strategy. sexual assault is a heinous crime that devastates victims and has a far-reaching negative effect for dod, because it undermines the department's core values, degrade mission readiness, subverts strategic goodwill and raises financial cost. importantly, data suggest report of sexual assault represents a fraction of the sexual assault incidents that are actually occurring in dod. dod data show that report incidents involving servicemembers more than doubled from about 2800 in fiscal year 27 -- 2007, to about 5100 fiscal year 2014. however, based on a 2014 survey done by my colleagues at rand, the estimated that 20,300 active duty service members are actually assaulted in the prior year. si

olson: we've seen it as a surtax on the taxpayers who are paying their taxes. gao had 112 recommendations for the irs that would help deal with the significant tax gap. are understanding is that the to 53 ofstly limited those 112 recommendations. that seems to be not reflective of what is best for taxpayers. the chairman was just talking about this appointment issue. which is crazy. insane. did any of the 112 recommendations deal with that issue? so there should be 113 recommendations. the one thing i'm concerned about is an irs that won't recommendations that make sense. that will help taxpayers and treat them with the respect that they deserve. this is something that could harm taxpayers. this whole stingray operation. are you familiar with what stingray technology does? olson: i understand what you're talking about. >> the witness who was here earlier this week said he 37 times this technology which without a probable cause warrants was used on american taxpayers. by the irs. good point, there are other agencies using it to. irs is currently in the process of pu

senator blumenthal: i -- i know you indicated earlier you haven't read the gao report. admiral rogers: right, right. senator blumenthal: but i wonder, focusing on the local capability, and particularly on the private sector, the infrastructure segment that you mentioned earlier in some of your conversations with my colleague, transportation, financial, electric. how well are they doing in protecting themselves? admiral rogers: i would -- if you look across the 16 segments and the private sector that have been designated as critical infrastructure in terms of impact on the nation's security, i would argue some are a little , some are ahead of others. i'd probably put -- financial, for example, not surprising in the sense that it has access to more resources than some, has come to the conclusion that cyber potentially calls into question their very business model since it is built on the idea of trust and the ability to move funds globally, simultaneously through these transactions if you will, that we all believe in and trust. and, on the other hand, there are some indust

however, today we found out that the gao report notes that the helmet weight was not the root cause of neck injuries during ejection. what's the status of the efforts to protect our pilots, one, and with certainty can you say that we've identified all the problems related to this issue? >> yes, congressman. one point of clarification. there are two technical issues as to why a pilot less than 136 pounds has an added risk of injury during ejection. one of them is indeed because the helmet is too heavy but the other is a technical issue with having to do with the way the seat fires up and the center of gravity of a light pilot but both of those problems contribute. we have three fixes in place to remedy this. the first is an ejection seat switch. that will be set by the pilot based on his or her weight. we've tested that. we're in the design phase of it and that fix will be cut into production on our lot ten and we will start retrofitting airplanes with that fix in november of this year. we also have a head support panel, which is a pad that will be sewn into the risers of the parachute.

the gao last year did thisyo incredible report that looks at the challenges facing companies to deploy a new reactor concepts. in this report the gao noted the first of its kind technologies and the desire of costs for these folks can be exceptionally higher than for subsequentthe 1d projects. do you believe that this is a real problem as is noted in this report and you think the d.o.e. matching grant probe him in the bill can help solve the problem? >> thank you senator. i reacting that's a critical problem for innovators.an there's really a need not only to make sure the costs are under control but also to make a more predictable so investors and innovators can plan accordingly. i think the d.o.e. matching program could certainly assists in that immensely. >> that's great and these are invaders that are really critical for dancing in terms of the safety involved in terms of being able to better deal with the challenges we have like current light water reactors as well as deal with the problems we have including proliferation of this material. is that correct? >> that's correct and i

the gao looked at the department of homeland security.this out. 116 employees between 2011 and 2015 took down $19.8 million in salary for which they did not work. >> anybody doing anything about this? >> as a matter of fact, congress is talking about maybe passing a law. the office of personnel management has said, stop doing that, stop. but has anything happened? no it has not. >> so washington post, and we'll watch it. >> absolutely. >> just in, a serious thing going on. police say a lot of students are hurt after a school bus has crashed. oh, my goodness. look at that. this is the first time i've seen it. this is video just in, brand-new video. apparently the bus has overturned in parkton, maryland, about 30 miles north of baltimore. the crash reportedly happened just before 3:00 eastern time. so about 45, 50 minutes ago. it's not clear to us exactly how many students were hurt, or how badly, but here are the reports we've got. we've gotten reports of something like 35, 38 -- totally, there were 39 people on the bus. five of them have

and so you, actually the gao last year did this incredible report that looked at the challenges facinges attempting to deploy new reactor concepts. in this report the gao noted a first of its kind technologies of the design review costs for these folks can be exceptionally higher than subsequent projects. do you believe this is a real problem as is noted in this report? and do you think the doe matching grant report program can solve the problem? >> i think that's a critical problem for innovators. there's a need not only to make sure the costs are under control but to make them more predictable so investors and innovators can plan accordingly. i think the matching program could certainly assist them in that immensely. >> that's great. these innovators that are really critical in terms of the safety, in terms of being able to better deal with challenges like waste from current light water reactors as well as deal with problems that we have including proliferation of the material. is that correct? >> that's correct. and i think this is very exciting. in the past nuclear was developed re

i'm going to give you results of the gao study. e been looking into this, the department of homeland security is the worst culprit in this period between the years of 2011 and 2015, 116 employees were on paid administrative leave. they were being investigated for criminal and administrative misconduct. the cost, 19.8 million of your taxpayer dollars. let me give you an actual example of a case where this happened. one federal law enforcement officer was put on leave so that they could investigate charges of criminal and administrative misconduct. this one on work three years and in those three years they say that employee was paid $455,000 in salary and benefits. it's a huge problem, it appears to be growing. sometimes these folks on leave and then can't find any reason to terminate them and they come back to work. an example, someone who's had $344,000 over three years came back to work after a three-year vacation, all paid for. the house has introduced legislation that would reduce this , limited to two weeks, 14 days so it would

and so you, actually the gao last year did this incredible report that looked at the challenges facing companies attempting to deploy new reactor concepts. in this report the gao noted a first of its kind technologies of the design review costs for these folks can be exceptionally higher than subsequent projects. do you believe this is a real problem as is noted in this report? and do you think the doe matching report program can solve the problem? >> i think that's a critical problem for innovators. there's a need not only to make sure the costs are under control but to make them more control so investors and innovators can plan accordingly. i think the matching program could certainly assist them in that immensely. >> that's great. these are really critical in terms of the safety, in terms of being able to better deal with challenges like waste from current light water reactors as well as deal with problems that we have including proliferation of the material. is that correct? >> that's correct. in the past nuclear was developed really initially for the navy, for submarines be a th a

the opportunity to be here. today, i'd like to talk about gao's work on biodefense. defending the u.s. from naturally occurring and man made defense is a critical effort. a large and fragmented effort not only at the federal level but across levels of government and the private sector. the number of federal departments at this table debate alone demonstrates this point. in a hearing last fall, your committee heard the findings of recommendations of the blue ribbon study panel on biodefense. our work through the years has come to many similar conclusions and recommendations. today, i'd like to talk about this work, ranging from coordinating the entire biodefense enter pricing, down to improving very specific programs. at the highest level, the blue ribbon panel concluded that there is no central leader, no comprehensive national strategic plan and no all-inclusive dedicated budget for biodefense. our work is also found that there's no national strategy or single focal point for biodefense. as an illustration, there are over two dozen presidentially appointed officials with biodefense ro

last month the gao reported cost saving opportunities in the k-9 program, three days ago we read about tsa spending over $300,000 on a ran for rise ipad to tell passengers which lane to stand in, left or right. how is tsa reforming to be good stewards and gain the taxpayer's trust? >> those are good questions, and the exact questions i've been asking since i came on board. with respect to that randomized app, it was, that was that was part of a larger contract, so not all of that was spent on a randomizer. so a couple things we've done, one of the first things i did, was look at our acquisition program. i brought in an outside agency just to look top to bottom and tell me if they saw any gaps, so forth. my concern is best capability at lowest price and best value to the taxpayer. so that's one of the things we're doing. and we're working very hard on improving our oversight, our controls and the like. i'm looking across every contract we have to ensure the contract is appropriate, that the money is going to what we think it is, it's actually providing the capability we're asking for. i