Public Accounts committee  I would also add that in any theatre, Mr. Chairman, when you introduce a piece of equipment, the manufacturer may not have had that vehicle to the exact specifications of that theatre. The kind of fine powder that General Benjamin mentioned earlier gets everywhere. It gets into air filters, and therefore your consumption rate of parts like that is totally unlike what you'd face anywhere else.

Public Accounts committee  I will ask Major General Benjamin to talk about the details, but I would first like to repeat that the situation is complex because of the pace of operations and all the displacements. Daniel will give you the details by sector.

Public Accounts committee  I would first like to say that our inventory is under the responsibility of the entire command chain, i.e., from the master corporal all the way up to myself, the vice-chief of defence staff. We say that amateurs talk about tactics, but professionals talk about logistics. The situation in Afghanistan is far more complex than the operations we conducted in Bosnia, Kosovo and East Timor.

Public Accounts committee  The number of vehicles in that yard that have been damaged in theatre is constantly changing because we are actually bringing vehicles home when we have the ways and means. When aircraft are coming back or when lowbeds are going out of theatre and out to ships, we bring these vehicles home, because many of them actually can be repaired, so the number of vehicles in that compound changes on a regular basis.

Public Accounts committee  Sir, I don't have the detailed information with regard to revamping the process to meet your requirement of 10 to 20 days. I do want to say, though, that in terms of the major equipment that our soldiers and sailors and airmen and women use on operations, and now specifically in Afghanistan, we've had a pretty good track record over the past few years.

Public Accounts committee  Thanks very much, sir. We appreciate it.

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chairman, perhaps I can add a bit more with regard to our internal regulation and looking at the seriousness of this issue. Going back to 2005, the initial indications from the people in North Bay that there were difficulties on that base, reported through their chain of command to 1 Canadian Air Division, which asked for the services of the Canadian Forces national counter-intelligence unit to launch an investigation as to what occurred in this regard, they are looking at, again, the kinds of security issues and risks that the departmental security officer mentioned, looking at that whole thing, because again, leadership takes this very seriously.

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chairman, we have been very transparent with our American allies in this regard. In developing the mitigation measures, we've shared those measures with them. As was indicated in the deputy minister's letter back, they have indicated their confidence in how we're moving forward with regard to the mitigation measures on information security.

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chair, I believe we absolutely should have taken the time to have this done a lot earlier, shortly after the event.

Public Accounts committee  Keep in mind that the project began in December 1995. A project manager would be responsible for this project.

Public Accounts committee  I do not have his name. This site began, in terms of developing the statement of requirement, in December of 1995.

Public Accounts committee  We'd be happy to get back to you with that detailed information.

Public Accounts committee  I believe the Auditor General's report is very accurate on the lack of judgment by people in handling this case. Again, it speaks to the culture, where people did not understood the importance of security, especially in a facility of this importance to the security of Canada and our relationship with our American partners.

Public Accounts committee  I was not in the department as part of this project. But we have to keep in mind the very different culture in the 1990s, the changes that occurred with 9/11, and then the significant changes in the culture of understanding the importance of security thereafter.

Public Accounts committee  The security of the project when it began came under the auspices of the Chief of the Air Staff in the First Canadian Air Division. The commander of the First Canadian Air Division appointed a project manager on his staff to oversee this project with the commander in 22 Wing, which is North Bay, supported by the offices of the assistant deputy minister of infrastructure and environment.