'Do Not Stiff Arm Us': John Garamendi Accuses Pentagon Officials Of Ignoring Information Requests

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During a House Armed Services Committee hearing earlier this month, Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA) accuses Pentagon officials of ignoring requests for information from Democratic members of the committee.

Transcript

00:00Thank the gentleman, Chair, and I recognize the gentleman from California, Mr. Garamendi.

00:06Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for your work on the Speed Act together with

00:10Ranking Member Smith. I want to follow up on what Ranking Member Smith said.

00:18If this is going to work, we have to have all the information that we need and request from

00:25the Department. I would hope never to have Mr. Smith or any one of us repeat what he

00:32said earlier about the Defense Department and maybe one or two of you that are on the

00:37panel simply not responding to the request. I would recommend you never, ever fail to

00:46respond to requests to this committee, particularly from the Ranking Member and the Chair. There's

00:51a heavy price to pay and you will eventually pay it. So I want to start with that. The

00:57Weapons Acquisition Program that the GAO has assessed is $2.4 trillion over the years ahead.

01:07Seven major, 79, 106 programs, 79 major defense acquisition programs, 20 million, 20 middle

01:16tier seven future major weapons programs. It goes on and on and on. Clearly the oversight

01:23of this committee not only demands information, but requires information. There's an ongoing dispute

01:33over who controls the GAO. Let me be clear. The GAO is not your department. The GAO works for us.

01:46If you want to have a fight, we'll fight about that. Internal to the Department of Defense

01:53are multiple review organizations, many of which are being gutted, presumably in the area of faster,

02:03better. Maybe yes, maybe no, but I would be recommending caution on the gutting and the elimination

02:11of many of those internal organizations. The IG, the Comptroller General, Acquisition Sustainment,

02:18and so on and so forth. Do they really slow down or are they really necessary to make sure the program

02:24actually works and that the costs associated with it are appropriate? So I would urge caution as you move

02:33forward with what is a wholesale gutting of some of these organizations that are necessary to review

02:40the ongoing. We're all for speed. In your testimony, Mr. Duffy, you spoke about the consolidation.

02:49Yes, it is clearly a problem and needs to be addressed. The lack of competition at that level

02:56is, doesn't exist. And that's where most of the money is. Mr. Potter, you raised the issue of the DIU.

03:06It seems to work. Particularly, we'll probably hear of space, major issue in space, major opportunity

03:16for space. You just heard from my colleague about some of the inability of those who might find their

03:23way through the DIU process, some of the barriers that are there, secrecy, etc. Efforts to eliminate that

03:32or to work that out. Very, very important. I'm hopeful that the DIU program can be expanded,

03:39that there would be new organizations, new innovation, whether it's from Silicon Valley or

03:47any other part of America, that it could work its way through the DIU. So keep it going for all of you.

03:54Some of you have experience in this. Some of you need it. Let us know.

03:58We're from the government and we're here to help. Okay? So let's work together on that.

04:07I have a whole series of questions, but I would really urge your attention to be very, very careful

04:13about eliminating those oversight programs. Even the programs that are there to see if what you're

04:21buying actually works. So please be careful about that. I'm going to yield back my remaining time,

04:27just to let you know. Don't stiff-arm us. Do not stiff-arm us when we ask for information.

04:36It's not a good path for you to go down. I yield back.

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