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Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Senate Resolution 164, a resolution expressing the appreciation of the U.S. Senate to William H. Webster for his exceptionally distinguished service to the Federal judiciary, the FBI, the CIA, the national intelligence community, and to the people of the United States, which was submitted earlier today by Senators Boren, Murkowski, and others.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
A resolution (S. Res. 164) to commend William H. Webster for exceptionally distinguished service to the United States of America.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection to the immediate consideration of the resolution?
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the resolution.
Mr. BOREN. Mr. President, as my colleagues are aware, Judge William H. Webster had decided to retire after 4 years as Director of Central Intelligence where, as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I have had no occasion to get to know and appreciate his very substantial abilities. The vice chairman and I are here today to offer a resolution cosponsored by several of our committee members to commend the judge for his extraordinary dedication to our Nation for more than 25 years.
Judge Webster has spent the majority of his adult life serving the public and he exemplifies the high standards that often do not receive proper recognition and appreciation. To quote our colleague, Mr. Danforth, when he introduced the judge to the Select Committee on Intelligence in 1987: `* * * He is a person of enormous ability, of very great character, [and] of fine judgment.'
This gentleman's career began as a young Navy lieutenant in World War II. Graduating from law school in 1949, Judge Webster returned to the Navy to serve 2 additional years during the Korean conflict. He then entered private law practice in St. Louis, where he remained until he was appointed to the Federal bench in 1971. Serving first as U.S. district judge, he later became a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, where he distinguished himself as a jurist.
Giving up a safe and promising judicial career, however, he agreed in 1978 to become the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, at a time when that agency was sorely in need of leader of stature and integrity. Coming in the wake of the investigations of the FBI in the mid-1970's, Judge Webster's appointment brought order and calm to a troubled agency, restoring its place and its reputation among the American people during his 10-year tenure as Director.
As if this were not enough, President Reagan called upon him in 1987 as the Iran-Contra investigations were ongoing, and the CIA was facing new and intense pressures, to bring the same brand of honesty and integrity to that agency.
This was not an easy assignment for Judge Webster. His entire professional career had been spent in jurisprudence and law enforcement, removed from foreign policy concerns and international relations. But he was willing to serve as CIA Director if the President wanted him to do so. The last 4 years have been particularly difficult ones for the intelligence community, with enormous changes taking place in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, and with the United States becoming involved in conflicts in Panama and the Persian Gulf. History will demonstrate that he was the right man at the right time for CIA. He will be remembered as a leader whose integrity is unquestioned, whose judgment sound, who approached the Congress with seriousness and candor.
I take great pleasure today in asking my colleagues to recognize this dedicated public servant, William Hedgcock Webster, after a long and distinguished career of service to the United States.
Mr. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, it gives me a great deal of pleasure to commend William H. Webster for his exceptionally distinguished service to the United States in his 25 years of government service. During his service to his country, he displayed honor, dedication and devotion to duty. It is extraordinary when one considers that Judge Webster began his public service as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy in World War II, and completed his public service as the Nation's highest intelligence official. Judge Webster brought integrity to all positions he held, and his achievements as the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation are unparalleled. In this Senator's judgment, Judge Webster sustained and enhanced the image of the intelligence community, and he did so with fidelity to the Constitution. As Sir William Stephenson said in the foreward to the book `A Man Called Intrepid,' `In the integrity of that guardianship lies the hope of free people to endure and prevail.' Judge William Webster's honorable stewardship of the CIA was recently recognized by President Bush who bestowed on Bill Webster the highest civilian honor of our Nation: The Medal of Freedom. A grateful Nation has given thanks for all that Judge William Webster has done.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the resolution.
The resolution (S. Res. 164) was agreed to.
The preamble was agreed to.
The resolution and its preamble are as follows:
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Whereas William H. Webster has served his Nation with exceptional dedication, honor and distinction for over 25 years and has been appointed to important federal positions by five different Presidents;
Whereas William H. Webster began his extraordinary public service as lieutenant in the United States Navy in World War II and the Korean War before becoming the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri in 1960;
Whereas William H. Webster continued his selfless devotion to public service as a Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri and, subsequently, as a Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit;
Whereas William H. Webster served with unparalleled probity and effectiveness as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for nine years;
Whereas William H. Webster's commitment to competent and professional administration and his profound sense of moral and legal propriety were crucial in enabling the Federal Bureau of Investigation to make major achievements in the areas of counterintelligence and counterterrorism, and in combatting government corruption and organized crime;
Whereas William H. Webster brought an extraordinary integrity and dedication to principle and the rule of law to the Central Intelligence Agency during a troubled period and restored public and congressional confidence in that critical institution;
Whereas William H. Webster provided the Central Intelligence Agency with outstanding direction in a period of unprecedented world change and left the Agency well-positioned to confront the challenges of the 1990's and beyond;
Whereas William H. Webster provided excellent leadership to the national intelligence community's critical contribution to the historic victory in Operation Desert Storm; and
Whereas William H. Webster has earned the deep respect, admiration, and trust of the highest officials in the executive and legislative branches of our Government, and particularly of the present and former members of the Intelligence Committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives for his unstinting honesty and integrity in the service of his country: Now therefore, be it,
Resolved, That on the occasion of his retirement from federal service, the United States express and record its deep appreciation to William H. Webster for his exceptionally distinguished service to the federal judiciary, to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to the Central Intelligence Agency, to the national intelligence community, and to the people of the United States.
Mr. WARNER. I move to reconsider the vote.
Mr. LEVIN. I move to lay that motion on the table.
The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
Mr. LEVIN. I ask unanimous consent that the earlier unanimous-consent agreement on certain amendments to the defense authorization bill be modified to prohibit amendments to possible language that may be stricken as well as second-degree amendments.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
END