The US military will take charge of security, searching for weapons of mass destruction, and humanitarian aid in the initial period after an attack to remove Saddam Hussein's regime, White House officials told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on 11 February. It was the Bush administration's first public detailing of its postwar plans. Officials admitted that the reconstruction would be expensive, with costs running into billions of dollars, and could entail a prolonged presence in Iraq. 'We cannot now even venture a sensible guess as to the amount of time,' said Undersecretary for Defence Douglas Feith. Seeking out hidden weapons alone would be a 'huge undertaking,' he said. Various recent reports have indicated the scale of the humanitarian crisis that could be the result of a US military strike. A UN report in December forecast widespread hunger, disease and displacement and neighbouring countries, in partnership with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, have begun preparing for an influx of fleeing Iraqis (MEED 7:1:03). Undersecretary of State Marc Grossman said that the Americans and their allies would assume the mantle of liberators and would only leave after creating stable and democratic government. He put the time frame before Iraqis regained complete control of their country at two years, but appeared to play down the role that Iraqi opposition groups would play in the postwar rebuilding: 'While we are listening to what the Iraqis are telling us, the US government will make its decisions based on what is in the interests of the US.' Feith said that until US forces relinquished control, military and civilian administrators would report to the head of the US' Central Command, General Tommy Franks. He expressed the belief that the removal of Saddam Hussein would benefit the Middle East peace process: 'The Saddam Hussein regime provides support to Palestinian terrorist groups who are blocking any hope for progress towards Arab-Israeli peace.'