[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 120 (Monday, September 10, 2012)] [Senate] [Pages S6050-S6051] TRIBUTE TO RICHARD F. GRIMMETT Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, today I wish to recognize the extraordinary career achievements of Richard F. Grimmett, specialist in international security with the Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division of the Congressional Research Service, who is retiring on September 30, after 38 years of distinguished government service. A native of Akron, OH, Richard graduated with honors from Kent State University, where he also received a Ph.D. in American history with a focus on recent U.S. national security policy. Since 1974, when he joined CRS, Richard has been involved in a wide range of major international security policy issues that have confronted the Congress, from questions involving intelligence community oversight, war powers, and the basing and use of U.S. military forces overseas, to the international arms trade and arms export controls. Through his nearly four decades as a staff adviser to the Congress and several of its major committees, his various appearances as a con1mittee witness, and through his authoring of numerous in-depth CRS reports, Richard has become recognized as a national expert in these critical defense and foreign policy issues. The broad sweep of his intellect is reflected in the substantive reports and memoranda he has written for the Congress. Yet an especially significant part of his contributions to congressional policy debates has been through the numerous consultations and briefings he has provided to major committees of the Senate and House on key issues before them. At the beginning of his career at CRS, Richard provided direct support to major congressional investigations of events of great consequence for U.S. national security interests. Among these were his analytical support for the Senate and House Select Intelligence Committees--the panels chaired by Senator Frank Church and Representative Otis Pike--charged with investigating the activities of the U.S. intelligence community during 1975 to 1976, investigations that ultimately led to the creation of permanent select committees in the House and Senate that oversee the budget and activities of the U.S. intelligence community today. Later, in 1985 to 1987, Richard was a senior coordinator of the support provided by CRS to the House and Senate joint committee investigating the Iran-Contra affair, personally providing advice and suggestions that focused attention on key deficiencies in U.S. law, several of which were later corrected by legislative enactment. Immediately after the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, he directly assisted the Senate and the House in clarifying its understanding of the legislative options available to the Congress to respond, through use of force, against those responsible for the attacks on this country. His comprehensive understanding of the War Powers Resolution and its provisions have proven invaluable to the Congress when it has needed to consider what actions it might take when the President has engaged the U.S. military in hostile operations overseas. In 2005 Richard provided the Congress with an analytical roadmap that highlighted the common policy suggestions for legislation that the 9/11 Commission and previous similar inquiries had 1nade to bolster U.S. internal security against the threat of terrorism. Subsequently, several of these proposals were enacted into law. Throughout his career Richard has been the leading specialist at CRS on issues relating to U.S. arms sales to foreign nations, U.S. arms export control law, and the international arms trade in general. From the mid-1970s to the present, he has advised the Congress and its policy committees on [[Page S6051]] issues associated with every controversial foreign arms sale proposal that has come before them. Since 1982 he has produced a comprehensive annual report for the Congress detailing the agreements and deliveries concluded by the world's conventional weapons suppliers, a work that has set the gold standard on this subject. Richard was also the editor and coauthor of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee print ``Treaties and Other International Agreements: The Role of the United States Senate'' the definitive reference document on this subject. In the area of arms export control and oversight legislation, Richard has provided continuing expert support and advice to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee, from the original drafting of the Arms Export Control Act in 1976 through its various periods of amendment to the present day. More recently, he directly supported the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's exhaustive review of the Defense Trade Cooperation Treaty between the United States and the United Kingdom. In this endeavor, Richard provided his specialized expertise to the committee on the complex issues posed by this treaty, from its proposal by the President in 2007 through the Committee's consideration and the Senate's advice and consent to it in September 2010. In all of the examples I have noted, Richard Grimmett's institutional memory and command of the substance of the issues for which he has been responsible has made him an invaluable resource for the U.S. Congress at large and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in particular. I am confident that the Members of the Senate and the House join me in expressing our deepest appreciation to Richard for the extraordinary service he has provided to us over his long and distinguished career. ____________________