Last year the Subcommittee on Military Personnel held a hearing that highlighted the dysfunction and the challenges that plagued the POW/MIA accounting community within the Department of Defense. As a result, Secretary Hagel asked Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict Lumpkin to lead the effort to resolve the many issues that confront this community. The Secretary proposed to establish a single defense agency to consolidate and coordinate the vast activities that fall under the purview of the POW/MIA accounting community. While the consolidation and the establishment of a defense agency is a positive first step, it is important for us to understand what the final agency will be comprised of; how will the transformation and the consolidation of activities, personnel, and resources be accomplished, and what the timeline for these actions will be; and what is really a fair timetable for the Department to accomplish the proposal, and for the Congress and the American people to be able to hold the agency accountable for the increased transparency with respect to the reporting and identification of POW and the MIA.