overdose as nonveterans. last year alone, nearly 70 thousands of them sought treatment for opioid at va hospitals. it s addiction far worse than anything experts in american history. we contacted at the va for a statement they acknowledge that opiate abuse is a serious public health issue of course and they said they launched an initiative to reduce opioid use amongst veterans. they also said more work needs to be done. a veteran that took a job after the va, he became a whistleblower because the terrible practices he observed there, he joins us now. thanks for coming on. thanks for having me on. tucker: the first number jumped out is 60% of returning vets from the middle east, afghanistan and iraq were prescribed opioids for chronic pain and nearly half of them developed addiction to it of some kind. that number seems crazy, how could 60% 60% of all
involved, one of the great men of business, and we are going to straighten out the va for our veterans, i have been promising that for a long time, and something i feel very, very strongly about. so you will get the information on david, and i think you ll be very impressive with the job he does. we looked long and hard, we interviewed at least 100 people, some good, some not so good, but we had a lot of talent, and we think this selection will be something that will, with time, with time, straighten it out and straighten it out for good. because our veterans have been treated very unfairly. okay, questions, yes? [inaudible question] [inaudible question]
involved. one of the great men of business. and we re going to straighten out the va for our veterans. i ve been promising that for a long time. and something i feel very, very strongly. so you ll get the information on david and i think you ll be very impressed with the job he does. we looked long and hard. we interviewed at least 100 people. some good, some not so good. but we had a lot of talent. we think this selection will be something that will, with time, with time, straighten it out and straighten it out for good. because our veterans have been treated very unfairly. okay. a question. yes, john. the intelligence briefing that you received on friday that we re looking for further clarification on. did the head of the intelligence agencies provide you with the two-page summary of the ub substantiated allegation and
tomorrow. senator, thank you for joining us today about this very important topic. who do you want to take the lead on the action on paying for this? well, richard, as a member of the senate foreign relations committee, i think our committee should be taking up and debating the authorization for the use of military force or the aumf that president obama sent up to us early this year, last february. and then the senate finance committee should be coming up with a way to specifically pay for this conflict. as i said in my editorial, we shouldn t be declaring war today and declaring bankruptcy tomorrow. if we look back at the iraq and afghanistan war, the office of management and budget projected that iraq war would cost $60 billion. and all told, including all the military costs and the human costs for the va for our veterans, there s an estimate out there that it s $6 trillion for the wars in iraq and afghanistan, 100 time what was
to get sessions reimbursed for the va for his use. what s next for the technology? we re actually next branching into the industrial sector because we re a little different. we see this as a broad industry that goes into military and also going to go in industrial we ll do a little hop. our next step in industrial carrying heavy tools. we re going to walk. prevent injuries but to justin justinjust increase product tirveivety. here we go. one two, three, walk. billy, thank you so much for letting us be a part of this journey. i think we should all walk to lunch. that does it. have a wonderful weekend and we hope this amazing man and this technology leaves you inspired. thank you. andrea mitchell reports is next. you re amazing, sir.