National Defence committee  Yes. JSS is still an ongoing priority for us. In fact, this past July we had what we called a shipbuilding summit with Industry and discussed the requirements. JSS is moving in parallel with the results of that summit. In fact, Industry just returned to the four departments that were leading that summit with their returns in mid-September.

National Defence committee  The NIS is a completely independent arm of the armed forces. In fact, they're part of the military police, but the training they get for the type of work they do is completely unique to their function. They have absolutely no linkages whatsoever to the Canadian Forces chain of command, even though the provost marshal, who is the head of the military police, works for the Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff from an administrative perspective.

Public Accounts committee  Yes. Basically, in any fiscal year, in order to give us the flexibility that we want to have during the year, and knowing that some projects or acquisitions or operations will not advance as fast as we expect them to go throughout the year, we actually over-program to an amount that goes between $400 million and $500 million.

Public Accounts committee  The answer is no.

Public Accounts committee  The answer to that is no as well. Some projects could have been advanced if we had had time to actually execute the programming, but no.

Public Accounts committee  It is entirely the Chief of the Defence Staff's accountability and responsibility to assess risks for any forces that are put in harm's way, and whether they have the right equipment and what needs to be done, and whether he wants to make that call and send them in.

Public Accounts committee  On the executive committee?

Public Accounts committee  On the executive committee, we have the deputy minister—

Public Accounts committee  In fact, we call it the capability development life cycle. We start by first of all defining what we call the FSE, the future security environment, as to what the world will look like between now and the next 20 years. That gives us the environment within which we're going to be asked to operate.

Public Accounts committee  Firstly, as we said, we do not draft separate plans for each service. When developing the department's acquisition or evaluation plans, we begin by determining what needs to be done to ensure compliance with government standards. Once that is established, we draft potential scenarios where the Canadian Forces could be required.

Public Accounts committee  No, that would not be the case. To illustrate that our system works, let us take the example of frigates. We know that our frigates will have to be replaced in a few years' time. That is why we currently have the frigate modernization program, a transition measure, in place. We do not focus simply on the navy, the air force or the army.

Public Accounts committee  That's my next point. From an operations perspective, there is no loss there. If you then look at the three ADM levels that actually have to come up with a budget, all of the short-fuse items are already funded; they've already been accounted for. The only items we have left, the ones that we're too late in our fiscal year to address, take longer to get moving and therefore to incur the expenses.

Public Accounts committee  First of all, all the items, everything we need from an operations perspective, as I said before, comes right off the top. So we fund operations. At the end of the day, there are no soldiers, sailors, airmen, or airwomen who did not get what they needed to do their jobs. That's right off the bat.

Public Accounts committee  In the past, as the deputy minister mentioned, all the cuts that were imposed on the department played a role in this. That recognition has been there all along. The fact that up to three years ago, when we started with the CFDS, the Canada first defence strategy...indicates a need to have a long-term horizon.

Public Accounts committee  As the DM said, we don't plan from a regional perspective. As you can imagine, right now our top priorities are to make sure we're successful in Afghanistan and successful in the support and preparation for a podium for the Olympics, and therefore all three services have a role to play in this.