00:00Ian, thank you very much. The gentleman yields back his time. I'm going to first go to our young
00:05chairman of the full committee, the gentleman from Kentucky. Mr. Comer, sir, you're recognized.
00:12Thank you, Chairman Sessions, and I want to thank you and Ranking Member Infume for
00:17the work you do on this subcommittee. You all do it right. I appreciate that. My first question
00:23for both witnesses, I assume you all will both agree that fraud is a problem at the Department
00:29of Defense, DOD, correct? Yes. So do you, sir, Mr. Magnolian, do you have an estimate of how much
00:40fraud there is at the Department of Defense? I do not, Mr. Chairman. The numbers we have
00:46are based on what Mr. Sessions mentioned in his opening remarks, essentially confirmed fraud,
00:54which is tip- Massive, massive. And it's been mentioned several times, the DOD, the Pentagon,
01:01continues to fail audits, which is unacceptable, but they continue to do that. Yeah. If I may add
01:07that what is confirmed is what's been detected, investigated, and adjudicated. So we don't know
01:13what's been missed. Right. Well, let me ask both of you, does the Department of Defense agree? I know
01:20that, I think I know where Secretary Hedgepeth is, but do the rank and file employees, bureaucrats,
01:28whatever you want to call them at the Department of Defense, do they agree that there's massive
01:32fraud in the Department of Defense, Mr. Mayo? I can speak to that broadly, sir. I think many of the
01:40people in the Pentagon do understand this. I have not discussed this with them, but I think that people
01:46in the DOD, many of them have the same, same, same framework. Yes, I would agree with Mr. Mayo. I can't
01:53speak to the rank and file in broad terms, but the people we are working with to implement our
01:59recommendations seem to have their, their hearts and minds in the right place. They do believe it is
02:05a problem that needs to be addressed. But in terms of personally verifying and vouching for that,
02:11I can't do that. So what advice do you all have for Congress for this specific subcommittee that's
02:18sincere? This subcommittee is quality. Everyone's sincere about wanting to eliminate waste fraud,
02:26abuse, and mismanagement in the federal government. I think everyone knows the Department of Defense is
02:31the poster child for waste fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in the federal government. We talk
02:37about it, but, but nothing gets done. What advice would you all have real quick for this subcommittee
02:43and this Congress to actually get something done to rein in the excessive spending, the, the, just the
02:52exuberant waste at the Pentagon? Mr. Mayo. Yes, sir. I think that we're doing it right now
02:57with, with, with your help, with your substance of help. I think we can make some, we can make some,
03:04not, not, not DCIS, but the government writ large. Sir? Yeah, I would agree with that. Sustained regular
03:12oversight is very important. Well, let me, let me ask you this. Is it Congress's fault? And we hear about
03:18Congress, you know, that the Pentagon will, will make a suggestion on a certain type of aircraft that
03:24maybe they don't need as many, or they don't need them at all. And, and the, a member of Congress that
03:29has a facility in their district will, will change that and say, no, we're going to order three times
03:34as many as we need. Is it Congress's fault? Who, who do you lay the blame? Is it Congress or the
03:40bureaucrats at the Department of Defense, Mr. Mayo? Who, who, who, someone has to be, we have to blame
03:47someone. Someone's at fault for the way the Department of Defense continues to fail
03:54audits. It continues to be, you know, efficient with taxpayer dollars. Is that our fault? Is that
04:02when I say our, I'm talking about Congress is from way, way back, you know, not, not Mr. Burchard or
04:07myself or Mr. Biggs. We're, we're relatively new here, but. You want to blame me? Yeah, well, no, no,
04:13no. You're, you're one of the good guys, Richard Session. But what, what, who's, who do you blame for this?
04:19I wouldn't know, sir. It's, I think it's a, it's a, a pervasive thing across the DOD and people. I think
04:26they're working hard, but, and to get things done. And a lot of these things are slipping through the
04:32cracks. I don't know how it's, I don't think it's, I don't think it's, it's not your fault. I don't think
04:36so at all. We, uh, this is something I've been here eight years and Mr. Biggs and I got here at the
04:44same time. It just, it's not getting any better. I mean, it gets worse. And, and I, you know, I think
04:51that the good thing we have now with, with President Trump, with, with, uh, you know, the,
04:56the overall objective of, of the DOGE movement is we can't continue to spend $2 trillion a year more
05:04than we take in. We've got to tighten our belts. Uh, Jamie Dimon talks about it. The bond market's
05:10concerned and we can't continue the success of spending and we want a strong military. We want
05:15to support our troops, but we cannot continue to waste money. And I appreciate the witnesses here
05:20today. I appreciate the hearing, Mr. Chairman and a ranking member. Hopefully we can come together
05:25in a bipartisan way to, to solve, uh, this problem of excessiveness at the, at the department of defense.
05:32I yield back.
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