Press Releases

Today, Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO), Chairwoman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, made the following remarks on the hearing titled “Evaluating DOD Investments: Case Studies in Afghanistan Initiatives and U.S. Weapons Sustain.” For testimony and other hearing materials click here.

"Overseeing the investment of taxpayer dollars is extremely important. It is one of the core responsibilities we assume as representatives of the people. I know Ranking Member Speier, and others of this committee, all find this obligation equally significant.

But before I continue, I would also like to note that the gentleman from North Carolina, Mr. Jones, is attending the hearing with us today. Therefore, I ask unanimous consent that Mr. Jones and any other committee members not assigned to this subcommittee be permitted to participate in this hearing with the understanding that all subcommittee members will be recognized for questions prior to those not sitting on the subcommittee.

In the years since September 11, 2001, the Department of Defense has been in the fight against emboldened terrorists. Congress met the increased national security demands by significantly enhancing the Department’s base budget and the Overseas Contingency Operations fund to address new threats and meet new requirements.

Since 2010 Congress has slashed defense spending by $1.3 trillion, and today we are realizing significant negative impacts within the Department of Defense based on those decisions. Readiness of all our armed forces is at an all-time low, our Air Force is smaller and older than when it was conceived in 1947, our Navy has fewer ships to meet an ever-increasing operations tempo, our ground and amphibious forces of the Army and Marine Corps still have yet to recapitalize and reset from past years of combat operations, and most unfortunate is that our standing among our partners and allies leaves many questioning U.S. commitment and resolve to navigate through the multitude of emergent security challenges we face as a nation and leader of the free world.

China is rising, Russia is resurgent and emboldened by our lack of checking its power, Iran is beginning to flourish militarily from the “good deal” they got from our nuclear negotiations, North Korea consistently acts out with some form of provocation against its neighbors as it tries to achieve nuclear capability, and extremist ideologies are spreading through the Middle East and other parts of the world at alarming rates.

In addition to my service on this committee, I am also privileged to serve on the House Budget Committee, and I am the only member of my party to sit on both. Many other members of the Budget Committee and I are concerned about the combination of these emerging threats and the desperately low levels of funding we are devoting to defense against these current and developing national security threats. The picture is clear: these threats cannot go unaddressed, and our national defense is in need of more resources to ensure our national security and the common defense is secure.

At the same time, it would be very difficult for anyone in this room to dismiss our country’s current $19 trillion in debt, and as representatives of those who are ultimately on the hook for that debt, the taxpayers, we would be neglectful not to investigate and scrutinize how their tax dollars are being spent. We need to be able to look our colleagues and our constituents in the eye to sincerely assure them we are doing everything we can to oversee wise investments.

That brings us to the heart of our hearing. We are here today to examine a number of cases coming from the later stages of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan to investigate how taxpayer dollars were spent and determine what, if any, changes need to be made going forward to assure the people their tax dollars are being spent responsibly.

“Nation building” is not a core responsibility of the Department of defense, yet as major combat operations of Iraq and Afghanistan began to subside in 2010, the Department shouldered much of the post-hostility responsibility--primarily because it is large enough and has the ability to provide immediate resources and capabilities. Consequently, the Department of Defense established the Task Force for Business Stability Operations first in Iraq, and then again in Afghanistan in 2010, with similar and parallel goals to support the transition away from war: what is known as “phase 4 and phase 5 efforts.”

The Task Force case studies we plan to discuss today include: the Afghan Compressed Natural Gas infrastructure project; the Italian cashmere goat import project; and the housing and security accommodations that Task Force personnel utilized while deployed in Afghanistan.

But not all imprudent spending decisions occur during contingency operations. For example, as the Department of Defense Inspector General previously reported, there have been some problems with the aviation spare parts supply chain of the Defense Logistics Agency.

While it is extremely important that we scrutinize the Department’s purchases to ensure they are smart and reasonable; it is just as important that we use all means necessary to get our taxpayers’ money back or exchange parts from vendors that may have supplied parts that did not meet contractual requirements or technical specifications. In other words, if our Airmen receive the wrong or defective parts, we must make it right by the taxpayer.

Again, I reiterate the importance of hearings such as this one. We live in a world of vast and expanding threats that require a robust and full response. If we are going to use hard earned tax dollars to fulfill our obligation to provide for the common defense, we owe it to those taxpayers to rigorously scrutinize how those dollars are spent and the qualifications of those making spending decisions.

I look forward to exploring and learning more about these certain high-profile case studies, which, as Department of Defense investigators have recently reported, may have benefited from more exacting standards for how those investments were made.

I am pleased to recognize our witnesses today and I want to thank them for taking the time to be with us. We have:

Mr. John Sopko, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction;

Ms. Jacqueline Wicecarver, the Acting Deputy Inspector General for Auditing from the Department of Defense; and,

Mr. Charlie Lilli, the Deputy Director of Aviation and Head of Aviation Contracting Activity from the Defense Logistics Agency."