Will be shot, but understand you may very well be back again and again as the documents that were requested finally come in. For that, i am truly sorry that you may have to come back here again and again, but if we do not receive documents that were requested in plenty of time, then many of your testimony today will be a first round and not in fact a definitive oversight that we expected to have. With that, i recognize the Ranking Member for his opening statement. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. Thank you for holding this very important hearing, and i thank you all of our witnesses for being with us today. The horrific bombings of our embassies in kenya and tanzania in 1998 were a watershed moment for our nation. Following those attacks, the state department reported that 80 of its overseas facilitiy i did not i repeat, did not meet Security Standards. Congress authorized billions of dollars to expedite Embassy Construction around the world. As part of this effort, the state Departm
Were doing. Could you comment, please, sir . Yes, sir. The observations that we made, and this is in the report and certainly not allconclusive. These werent six guys in the mess hall who dreamed these things up. These were based on comments we got from Security Experts who were with obo on a daily basis. I would tell you for one, if you can build a beautiful embassy under Design Excellence and you can do it as fast, and it doesnt cost any more, im all for it. I dont care. I dont care what we build. But what i am concerned with, its just not logical to the people we talk to and, frankly, to me that you can build under Design Excellence as quickly and as costeffectively as we did under standard Embassy Design. You pull a design off the shelf and build it and adopt the facade in a way that is fitting with the local the country as opposed to going through a design bid build with architects and builders, it just doesnt make sense. Now, if you can show me with facts and figures that it does
When we interviewed people who were concerned with security, not just be s but be pulled from other parts of the government also, they were not happy, people we talk to were not happy with their role in the selection process. So the pendulum had shifted from security to design. I mentioned there are several examples of our observations as i said before, didnt come from the six of us, they were based on the interviews we did with a hundred people, not all of them obviously opined on oboe and security but many did. So those observations that are in there, it is not my opinion. It is what we got from people who work on a daily basis, will hopefully work on a daily basis with bobo. I am out of time, mr. Chairman. Of the gentlewoman could yield 4 response to this. I will yield. As mr. Green put together this report which is an offshoot and started because of the accountability review, lydia muniz, has the state department accepted this . Has it been approved . Anything in your mind that has
Believes hes a human being marrying another human being. Finally, you have the idea which is that in oshd torder to fit jurist, you have to understand, sympathize and use the norms of your community because thats part of the complicated relationship there dworkins thought, a fit between what you want to say and the justification of those norms. Here again, i had some thoughts. I dont think the point that is made in this paper, i think its a bit too strong. First of all, once again, many people come to Yale Law School from many countries around the world. They are not americans. They have been exposed to American Culture through tuition, perhaps. And theyre ab mere fact that y not share a communitys norms does not qualify you making good, legal arguments. Secondly, its a very strange argument to come from two canadians. After all, canada is part of the British Commonwealth. One thing we know about the British Commonwealth is that British Commonwealth exported colonial law. It was the la
Later, remarks by attorney general eric holder on addressing security threats in syria. Next, a hearing on the cost and security implications of the state departments new construction model for u. S. Embassies abroad. This hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is 3 hours and 10 minutes. The committee will come to order. Todays hearing examining new Embassy Construction questioning our new Administration Policies putting americans overseas in danger. The committee on oversight and government reform exists to protect two main principles. That the money washington takes from the taxpayers is well spent. And effective government that works for them. Our duty on the oversight and Government Reform Committee is to protect these rights. Our solemn responsibility is to hold government accountable to taxpayers, because taxpayers have a right to know what they get from their government. Its our job that were tirelessly in partnership with citizen watchdogs to protect the