Thank you, Chair, and thank you for being here today, Mr. Parent.
The position you've stated publicly and the one of the DND ombudsman are very close together: that this has been overstudied. I think you've said that or have implied it today in your words.
You've also underscored the focus on bureaucracy. If you were redesigning or re-engineering the way things are set up today, what would be your one or two key recommendations? Along with that, I'm going to be very up front about the fact that when I've spoken with veterans around the country they are so frustrated with the process and with the fact that it doesn't change even after all of these studies, after all your recommendations, and after Mr. Walbourne's recommendations over and over again.
If this is indicative of how government is run, which is that there are top people in management positions who refuse to make the changes that you continue to recommend to them, I want your views on this subject. This drives down to what I hear over and over again out of veterans' mouths and the mouths of other people who have studied the subject matter repeatedly, which is that there's a top management structure, sometimes referred to as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Have you ever heard that term used to describe some of the people at Veterans Affairs?