The firewall between the White House and the Department of Justice.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Chairman Volcker, for not only your testimony, but for your service on this G-30 Commission as well as so many other commissions.

I believe such outsourcing of defense contracts runs against both U.S. national security and economic interests, eroding our defense industrial base, costing jobs and stunting economic growth.

If you have ways to suggest that we could change that to make those reviews more effective, I know I would be open to hear those thoughts.

If something is going to change, we in Congress have to change it. We need to do it now and we need to do it in a way that sticks.

The success of that Chronic Care Model is completely dependent upon payment reform.

One of the things that I come across pretty frequently...is that when people have chronic or multiple illnesses...their appetite for electronic health records is very high.

Take diabetes alone. I think that is probably a chronic illness for which having good tools for patients would clearly benefit patients and reduce costs and improve quality of life.

Secretary Gates, do you plan on focusing more effort on energy research and on investing in manufacturing of advanced energy technologies?

What are the major challenges you see facing DOD laboratories and technical centers as they seek to stay technically competitive with their Federal, industry, academic, and global peers?

This is a singular act of patriotism.

This is an interagency effort, that military action will buy time, but without effective economic development, political institution capacity-building, it will be a very difficult challenge ahead.

What steps will you take to improve the quality of the laboratories' technical workforce and research infrastructure?

I believe the DOD can play a dual role of investing in advanced research and manufacturing of new energy technologies.

if we do not get this solved through technology, through systems reform, through better quality care, through a more rational payment system, then we will get to the edge of that cliff.

Now the model is Thelma and Louise, and we are all in the car, and the cliff is right in front of us.

Would an issue of this magnitude or this repetition or this seriousness be brought to the attention of individual Commissioners or the Commission?

Thirty-plus trillion dollars is an astonishing liability to have to face, and I believe that there are only two ways to face it.