The problem we are facing here with cleaning up the nuclear waste from our weapons programs is literally a once in the span of human history problem.

I appreciate your holding this hearing. This was very informational, and I think important.

It is Hanford where we are actually getting leakage right now, too, isn't it?

all options ought to be on the table.

That is definitely heightening the concern in trying to speed this process up to address that fact.

From the first panel, it seemed like the direction we were moving was trying to bring these contracts into smaller bite-sized pieces.

It would be my concern if you have a Safety Board--again, I think we are all concerned about safety--but if they are operating outside any kind of cost-benefit analysis.

Who primarily drives those changes? Is that from the Safety Board? Is that the government?

Well, unfortunately, in the scheme of things, that is not that big a number in terms of what we are spending.

To me, that makes sense.

That kind of speaks to really defining the scope of the project.

So, from what you have seen as an Inspector General in the Federal Government, do you think the Federal Government--what is the likelihood that we would be able to hire those 20,000 very specialized employees and be able to pull this thing…

I think it is easy in a situation like this to come into a hearing with a bias one way or the other.

But, if we were to totally Federalize it, we would have to hire tens of thousands of employees. Is that correct?

We are trying to really take care of prior mismanagement back when the environment was not even considered.

first of all, I appreciate the Senator from Alabama yielding the floor. I came down first of all to express my gratitude to Senator Grassley for fighting for amendments, and I wish to comment on and really affirm what Senator Vitter was…

Security clearances, we have clearances for individuals, but we also have them for contractors and for facilities, correct?

How many man-hours does the first certification process take? How many man-hours are involved in a surveillance audit?

There is literally no standard, no guidance for what circumstances require a clearance. None.

If we could apply these standardized type of processes across the government, I think we would be in a far better place.

Because I want to find out how often--if the certification is granted, are there surveillance audits on a regular basis?

How do you develop a process that actually works?

We want to make sure that these people are treated with human dignity and respect.

The more authoritarian and anti-United States Russia becomes, the more difficult it is to do business with the Kremlin.

Without naming the people, I would like to know who... should be on the list.