National Defence committee  Sir, thank you for the question. History has taught us that the most likely point of intervention is not always the point that demands the intervention. But let me talk a little bit about the potential for deployment to that region of the world. We've been tracking it very closely for some time.

National Defence committee  Thank you.

National Defence committee  Yes, sir. I confirm that uninhabited aerial vehicles are becoming more and more an important part of situational awareness on the battlefield at the level of individual units, at the level of formations, and in fact at the level of nations. But let me step back before I talk about that and say that modern warfare requires accurate weapons, it requires a speedy response in defence and in attack, and it requires agility.

National Defence committee  Thank you, sir. I'll pass that on.

National Defence committee  Thank you for your question, sir. We have eight hours, do we? Let me offer a couple of thoughts on that, sir. First of all, in terms of future security environment, we do work across the department and the Canadian Forces to make judgments about security trends, not just in defence, but in other aspects of social and economic development that may affect the future security environment, so we can shape our forces to be ready for it.

National Defence committee  No, sir. But what I can say is that as we look forward to the future, the question really is, ready for what? These are policy decisions made by government. As we shape the future force and as we orient the future force, these are some decisions that will have to be taken so that in a resource-constrained environment, as we are all in, we can actually shape the force to be ready for what Canadians and the government wish us to respond to.

National Defence committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good morning, committee members. I'd like to start by thanking you for the invitation to discuss Canadian Forces readiness from my perspective as Vice Chief of the Defence Staff, and to thank you for taking this on as an area of study and for spending so much time with so many of my colleagues.

Public Accounts committee  And I agree, sir.

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chair, I understand, and I respect and I'm thankful for your concern in this regard.

Public Accounts committee  Well, sir, there were personnel assigned. I think that--

Public Accounts committee  No. There were two personnel assigned, and what we learned from this was that in hindsight we agree with the Auditor General: a single person being assigned and a full implementation plan would have significantly prepared us for some of the challenges we encountered. But at the time, sir, what I can say is that we did the best we could under the circumstances and moved out on this new initiative in a way that is respectful of reserves, sir.

Public Accounts committee  Well, sir, as we hire people to fix this problem, we actually increase the administrative costs of the pensions, and reservists expect us to manage the pension plan responsibly as well. So it is not a question.... Frankly, sir, I ask myself the same question. My preference as vice-chief would be to throw 400 people at this problem and clear that backlog in six months.

Public Accounts committee  --because we respect reservists that we undertook this in the first place.

Public Accounts committee  I believe that we have addressed, in almost every respect, the observations of the Auditor General. But clearly, there are continuing areas, as the plan and the implementation evolve, that we are tracking as well. Communication is clearly one of those. Whereas, I think in large respect, we have addressed the concerns expressed in the audit, we are tracking those areas to address issues as they emerge as we move forward.

Public Accounts committee  If I may add something, Mr. Chairman, the employees are actually paid for by the pension plan itself. When we talk about the administrative costs of the plan, we're mindful of having a responsible level—