Homeland security departments Inspector General and the head of the Census Bureau. This is just under two hours. This hearing will come to order. Good afternoon. I welcome all witnesses. I appreciate your thoughtful testimony and willingness to spend some time with us today. I asked consent that my written Opening Statement be entered in the record. Without objection. This hearing really is what this committee is all about particularly on the Government Affairs portion. We have a Mission Statement that we developed last congress with my former Ranking Member, senator carper and my new ra Ranking Member had a very good addition to it. The original one was to enhance the economic and National Security of america. Senator mccaskill suggested we add and promote efficient and more efficient, effective and accountable government. Thats exactly what the gao does and Inspector Generals do. We certainly appreciate your work. I dont know how many times i have said and others have said, youre our
Homeland security departments Inspector General and the head of the Census Bureau. This is just under two hours. This hearing will come to order. Good afternoon. I welcome all witnesses. I appreciate your thoughtful testimony and willingness to spend some time with us today. I asked consent that my written Opening Statement be entered in the record. Without objection. This hearing really is what this committee is all about particularly on the Government Affairs portion. We have a Mission Statement that we developed last congress with my former Ranking Member, senator carper and my new ra Ranking Member had a very good addition to it. The original one was to enhance the economic and National Security of america. Senator mccaskill suggested we add and promote efficient and more efficient, effective and accountable government. Thats exactly what the gao does and Inspector Generals do. We certainly appreciate your work. I dont know how many times i have said and others have said, youre our
Without objection. This hearing really is what this committee is all about particularly on the Government Affairs portion. We have a Mission Statement that we developed last congress with my former Ranking Member, senator carper and my new ra Ranking Member had a very good addition to it. The original one was to enhance the economic and National Security of america. Senator mccaskill suggested we add and promote efficient and more efficient, effective and accountable government. Thats exactly what the gao does and Inspector Generals do. We certainly appreciate your work. I dont know how many times i have said and others have said, youre our favorite folks in government. You give us the information to make government more efficient and effective and accountable. Todays hearing is really on the gaos high risk series, their list, something prepared by gao since the early 90s. The facts speak for themselves. In the last ten years, they report about 2 240 million over that 10 year period by
Particularly on the Government Affairs portion. We have a Mission Statement that we developed last congress with my former Ranking Member senator carper and then my new Ranking Member had a very good addition to it. The original one was to enhance the economic and National Security of america and the senator suggested we add for efficient and effective Accountable Government and thats what the gao and Inspector Generals do. We certainly appreciate your work. I dont know how many times ive said it, youre our favorite folks in government. You give us the information that really can make government more efficient and effective and accountable. Todays hearing is really on the gaos high risk series. Their list. This is something thats been prepared by gao since the early 90s. The facts speak for themselves. Just the last ten years, a gao report that 240 million over a tenyear period by enacting their recommendations to make government more efficient and effective. Thats 24 billion per year.
Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, just a few words of welcome today. Im tom blanton. Im director of the National Security archive at George Washington university and honored to be one of the organizers of today. This is the day, 25 years ago, that president george h. W. Bush signed the nunnlugar legislation into law. Now, being document fetishists, we scanned the bush library for the photographs of that extraordinary moment, and none exist. There was not even a signing ceremony, which gives you a sense of the kind of mixed opinion inside the Bush Administration about this Congressional Initiative in Foreign Policy. But the judgment of history is in. The wall street journal called the nunnlugar legislation one of the most prescient pieces of legislation ever enacted. And today on the National Security archive website you can see the declassified documents showing the real danger of that time, the first ever declassified list of the 3,429 soviet Strategic Nuclear warheads that