Jackie Speier

It is offensive to the families who lose their children because of either dereliction of duty or gross negligence.

The Feres Doctrine is not law. It is a Supreme Court decision on which we have relied on.

I agree with you, we can no longer use the term 'mishap.'

Based on what has been said by Ms. Maurer from GAO, we either have to decide to build fewer planes or purchase fewer planes or reduce the number of flight hours or reduce the number of requirements.

I think the American taxpayers are asking a very simple question. We spend more money on defense than our peers and near-peers combined.

And do we have any intention to maintain defense contractors in Afghanistan after we depart?

But we don't have any subsequent agreement, then, it appears.

I am very concerned that the May deadline is upon us, and I don't know that we have any assurances that the Taliban will not start attacking U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

For a quarter of a century, Chairwoman DeLauro has been trying to get this bill passed. She is sick and tired, I am sick and tired, and American women are sick and tired of being treated like second-class citizens. Imagine if the women…

I include in the Record a letter titled ``Support the Paycheck Fairness Act'' written by The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, April 14, 2021. Support the Paycheck…

How many personnel do you have, and what is the breakdown between enlisted personnel, officers, and DOD civilian employees and contractors?

To call the component IGs in particular IGs is a misnomer...

So you have fired, what was the number again?

How many contacts do you receive per year?

Since 2012, of more than 8,000 reprisal complaints made to the DOD or Service IGs, only 273 were substantiated. Why are so few reprisal allegations substantiated?

What this suggests to me is that the DOD IG is woefully understaffed, and, in fact, when you have the Air Force and the Navy with more staff than the DOD Inspector General, I would suggest we have a problem.

How is training for IG staff conducted? What training is offered on investigations, in particular, and what is the duration of the training?

I think that was investigative malpractice, and for that individual to still be in that position--I am not suggesting he be fired.

I don't quite understand how someone gets elevated to the position of an inspector general after being in charge of that particular disaster.

As Congresswoman Speier mentioned, in most cases, DOD IG hands retaliation allegations over to local or command IGs who have the least amount of independence and experience in handling what are often highly complex investigations.

We are talking about IGs.

I think it sends the signal that retaliation is tolerated and is an inconvenience at most.

I would like for you to give us some written response.

For administrative investigations, what steps do you take to ensure independence throughout the process?

How do you implement lessons learned with other oversight roles?