At Hearing, Warren Secures Commitment from Pentagon Testing Office Nominee for Transparency, Integrity, and Independence

Hearing

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"Thank you Mr. Chairman, and congratulations to all of the nominees and welcome to your families.

Dr. Schmidt, you have been selected to head up the testing office that was created to provide Congress and the public with the unvarnished truth about whether the planes, tanks, and ships that service members operate are safe and effective.

There is no greater responsibility. In November, a V-22 Osprey crashed during a training accident in Japan, killing eight, including one of my constituents, Staff Sergeant Jake Galliher. An investigation is underway, but we already know that the Osprey has had a troubled history of safety problems. The job of the testing office is to bring those concerns to light to help prevent future accidents and save lives.

One of the ways the office is supposed to do that is through its annual report. While we need to keep our most sensitive secrets classified, this committee often sees DoD using designations like "controlled unclassified information" to keep the public in the dark--meaning that the information is not classified, but the military wants to keep the information from the public anyway.

Dr. Schmidt, if confirmed, do you commit to ensuring that the testing office's report informs the public as much as possible about the problems that we need to fix in order to make sure our weapons are safe?

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Good, that's what I want to hear.

You know, defense contractors and even our military services sometimes have other priorities, like making the testing process faster or glossing over problems to keep these weapons programs on schedule.

But the testing office is supposed to be an independent referee. If the testing office determines that a weapon is unsafe, you have an obligation to say that you can't recommend buying more of it -- even if we've already spent billions of dollars on it, and even if the contractors are pounding at your door pressuring you to give your stamp of approval.

Dr. Schmidt, do you promise that you will come to this committee, and tell the public, if you conclude a system is not safe for our service members to operate?

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And you will come to this committee if you feel like there is inappropriate pressure on your office?

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Alright, because ensuring the safety of our service members means standing up for transparency and against any pressure that would compromise the integrity of the testing process.

It is essential that your conduct be beyond reproach. Even the appearance of bias in your assessments of the safety of our weapons programs would be a mortal wound to your office and to your ability to advocate for our service members.

I do not want us ever again to have to tell another military family that we asked their son or their daughter to buckle into a piece of equipment we knew was unsafe.

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