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2 When Senator McCarran first called upon me in 19i|6 to join with him in preserving the valuable productive capacity of this great industrial plant I was inspired by his vision. I have at all times gone along enthusiastically since that time, doing everything within my power to preserve and expand this magnificent installation in order that it might benefit this community, the State of Nevada and, most important of all, the National Security of the United States. This is my official responsibility as I interpret it. It is a responsi­bility I can wholeheartedly carry out. I have written this statement with the record of all these negotiations before me. I prefer informal rather than written state­ments. It is easier for me to sit down across the table and talk man to man with people. However, in light of the erroneous statements that have come to my personal attention in your press and more partic­ularly the so-called "Statement of the Water District Situation" which I have previously referred to and which is before me now, I must, in order that I be not misquoted, confine myself to these deliberate words. That "Statement" calls upon me to answer certain questions which I will undertake to do at this time. First, I am asked} 1. ,fWho is currently in charge of the General Services Administration? Now that Colonel Jess Larson, former Administrator of GSA, has been appointed to a new governmental position, to whom must the CRC and the District look for its answers, upon which the future development and fate of the Las Vegas Valley depends?" ANSWER— I am the Administrator of the General Serv­ices Administration and will continue to act in that capacity at the pleasure of the President and