Tom Harkin: “Let me just finish this. The GAO found there is no justification for how many times a day airports are connected. There…”

“Let me just finish this. The GAO found there is no justification for how many times a day airports are connected. There is no criterion for why some airports are key airports and others are not. There is no consideration of how large different planes need to be. Nobody could even tell the GAO whether the requirement for 85 aircraft in the continental United States had been considered in the 1998 review or who was supposed to look at it in the current review. So how do they come up with their assumptions? Here is what GAO said. I will repeat it: One military officer said using an assumption of four flights a day yielded a requirement deemed to be too high, using an assumption of two yielded a requirement deemed to be too low by the commanders in chief. What does that mean? They cooked the books. That is all they are doing, they are cooking the books. They are saying I would like to have this Gulfstream V, so write it up so that I need it. That is all that is happening.”