speech by the us attorney general - 070917

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Transcript of Farewell Ceremony ForAttorney General Alberto R. Gonzales

September 17, 2007 - 3:00 P.M.

MR. MORFORD: My name is Craig Morford. I'm the acting Deputy AttorneyGeneral, and it's my privilege to welcome all of you to what is going to be acelebration today, a farewell celebration for Alberto Gonzales, our eightieth

Attorney General of the United States of America.

Before we begin today we are going to ask you all to stand for the presentation ofcolors.

(Presentation of the Colors.)

(The National Anthem.)

MR. MORFORD: Please join me in thanking the Joint Armed Forces Color Guardfor the Military District of Washington and Civil Rights Division soloist Dorothy

Williams.

(Applause.)

MR. MORFORD: For those of you who are guests here at the Department of Justicetoday, as you can see we have a lot of talent in the Department of Justice and I learnmore about the talent every day. At this time I'm going to turn the podium over toReverend Kathleene Card who is a close personal friend of Attorney GeneralGonzales and Rebecca Gonzales. She has served as a teacher and governmentofficial. She now serves as the associate pastor of Trinity Unity Methodist Church

in McLean, and she will present the invocation at today's event. MS. CARD: It's anhonor to participate in this recognition of the accomplishments of Attorney GeneralAlberto Gonzales on the occasion of his transition from public life into private life.

As a pastor and as a friend I know the depths of your commitment to serving yourcountry, a depth which you and your family have shared, and I feel certain thatwherever the Lord leads you next you will be protecting and defending those whoneed it most.

Would you go to the Lord in prayer with me?

Eternal God, we come to you from many faith traditions. We gather in the


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Department of Justice thankful for your vision and your care of our daily lives. Weseek a blessing on these proceedings and all who are gathered here. Weacknowledge our thankfulness for people willing to serve in our government and weare especially thankful for your humble servant Alberto Gonzales and his tirelesseffort to fight against those crimes that target children and people most at risk.

May the Department of Justice continue this important and critical work and findallies in government all over the world, bless and protect the President, the

administration, the Congress, the Senate, the judiciary, those serving in lawenforcement and our military, all who have sworn to accept the responsibility ofserving. And Lord, we ask you to keep their hearts soft so that they remember whothey serve and that they all serve one country.

In this time of transition, guide, protect and empower not only Alberto but also his

family as well, specifically his wife Rebecca and their sons Jared, Graham andGabriel. And Lord, please move within the hearts of all who are leaders so that theymay seek to guide us according to your will and for your glory.

And I ask the congregation to say amen.

(Chorus of Amens.)

MR. MORFORD: There are many special guests with us here today, but none are

more important than the family of the Attorney General, so please join me in givinga very warm welcome to Rebecca Gonzales, the wife of Attorney General Gonzales,

and their children, Gabriel, Graham and Jared.

(Applause.) MR. MORFORD: You know, a lot will probably be said today aboutsacrifice and so many times we think about the sacrifices of the people who actuallyhold the positions and we overlook the tremendous sacrifices of the families ofpeople who hold those positions. And I know the sacrifices that this family hasmade because many of us have families who have made similar sacrifices, and weall thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the sacrifices that you've made sothat our Attorney General could do the things that he did for our country at this

time. And I just thank you so much.

(Applause.)

MR. MORFORD: At this time I would like to ask our Solicitor General PaulClement to come and speak, to share some words.

MR. CLEMENT: Thank you very much, Craig.

First and foremost, I want to thank the judge for his tremendous service to thedepartment and the nation. I also want to thank him for giving me the opportunity toserve.


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I remember when I first met the judge, over in the transition offices on G Street,even before the inauguration. The judge was instrumental in getting me into theadministration and he played an even greater role in encouraging the President tonominate me as the Solicitor General. The two officials who have the most criticalinput into the President with respect to that decision were the White House Counseland the Attorney General. Through a happy coincidence of timing, the judgeessentially performed both roles and was very instrumental in going to bat for me in

both posts.

Not only did the judge allow me to serve but he has also kept me and the otherlawyers in the Solicitor General's office quite busy. I remember worrying whenAttorney General Ashcroft departed that we might not have enough to do in theSG's office. After all, Attorney General Ashcroft was the main defendant in anumber of our law suits.

I should not have worried. Looking back at the docket over the last two years I seethat the judge has brought us Gonzales against Rache, Gonzales against Oregon,Gonzales against O Centro Espirito Beneficiente Uniao Do Vegetal, Lopez againstGonzales, Fernandez Vargas against Gonzales. Who can forget Gonzales against

Duenas Alvarez and of course Gonzales against Carhart and Gonzales againstPlanned Parenthood of America.

Indeed, I managed to personally argue about half of those cases, so the judge hasreally kept us very busy indeed.

On a more serious note, let me stress the great admiration that Judge Gonzales hasalways showed for two institutions near and dear to my heart. First, I can attest thatthe judge has a great appreciation for the work of the Solicitor General's office andthe views of the career professionals in that office. He followed our work withinterest and respected our judgments. And of course, the judge followed the work ofthe office in no small part because of his keen interest in the Supreme Court of the

United States.

The judge has a deep and profound respect for the court as an institution. As aresult, it seems fitting that the judge's tenure as Attorney General allowed him to

make two very significant appearances before the bar of the court. Neitherappearance was an argument, but both will be preserved for posterity in the UnitedStates Reports.

The first appearance took place on October 3, 2005 when the Attorney Generalformally presented the commission of Chief Justice John Roberts to the SupremeCourt of the United States. Those proceedings are memorialized in Volume 545 ofthe United States Reports.

The second appearance was on February 16, 2006 when the Attorney General

presented the commission of Associate Justice Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court.


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Those proceedings are in Volume 546.

I am happy to report that in both instances the court unanimously granted theJudge's motion, so his record stands at 2-0. (Laughter.) And it really, though, I

think, is hard to think of two motions that could represent a more concrete legacyfor an Attorney General or for a President. So in sum, let me thank the judge forserving. Let me thank him for allowing me to serve and for keeping us busy, but letme most of all congratulate him on the completion of a tenure that has been

consequential in the life of the department, of the court and the nation. Thank you.

(Applause.)

MR. MORFORD: Next we're going to hear from John Clark, the director of UnitedStates Marshal Service.

MR. CLARK: Thank you, Deputy Attorney General Morford, Attorney GeneralGonzales, special guests of honor, distinguished colleagues, ladies and gentlemen.

On behalf of the nearly 5,000 men and women of the United States Marshal Service,it's a high honor and privilege for me to say a few words about a great publicservant, our Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales.

It was about a year-and-a-half ago that the Attorney General swore me in asdirector of the United States Marshal Service, and in a scene I will always

remember I stood before this Attorney General while my mom held the Bible and I

took the oath of office to reflect what is required of us as public servants.

And as you might imagine, I was quite nervous that day, and I was really quitefearful that my mom might share some story about my childhood that would bebetter left unsaid. Well, my coaching paid off and mom behaved herself, but thegeneral spirit of this man that day will always be with me. I was struck by the factthat only in America two men of humble beginnings come face to face in aconference room in the office of the Attorney General to swear to uphold anddefend the values of this great nation.

But when it was time to get to work I realized I was working for a results-drivenman. I knew the Attorney General had already begun an aggressive strategy underProject Safe Neighborhood to reduce violent crime in America and that the men andwomen of the U.S. Marshal Service were expected to contribute to that goal.

He enthusiastically approved a plan to combine the collective efforts of federal,state and local police officers to conduct fugitive roundups all across America, thefirst program of its kind, Operation Falcon that resulted in thousands of violentcriminals being brought to justice.

He also gave me the go-ahead to try the innovative Fugitive State Surrender

Program where community leaders, law enforcement officers, judges and the faith


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based community all came together to encourage people to surrender to their localchurch, a place of safe haven. Because of his support, today over 4,000 fugitiveswith a strong desire to turn their lives around safely surrendered themselves to facejustice where they were treated with dignity and respect.

And then the President signed into law the Adam Walsh Child Protection and SafetyAct, and Attorney General Gonzales designated the United States Marshal Serviceto tackle the problem of apprehending unregistered sex offenders. And because of

his support and commitment to protecting the most innocent among us, our children,this Attorney General made it clear that enforcing the Adam Walsh Act would be atop priority of his Project Safe Childhood strategy.

And working closely with the Department of Justice and the National Center forMissing and Exploited Children, those who fail to register as sex offenders are

getting an early morning wake up call, complements of Deputy U.S. Marshals andthe Attorney General who saw the need to make this a national priority.

These are but a few of the ways that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales hasstrengthened our nation and made it possible for the American Dream to prosper.

Mr. Attorney General, it's been a great honor and privilege to serve on your watch.

It's my hope that the three H's of life, health, happiness and home, will flourish foryou and your family. May God bless you and this great land, the United States ofAmerica. And may justice always prevail.

Thank you so much.

(Applause.)

MR. MORFORD: Our next speaker is Michael Sullivan. He is the director of ATF,the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

MR. SULLIVAN: Thank you, Craig. Let me begin by apologizing, Judge. I actuallymisread the email and I thought it said I had 35 minutes to speak, and to the DeputyAttorney General just told me it was three to five minutes. I don't know how I'm

going to get three to five minutes out of this speech.

Let me start by saying to the Attorney General, it has been an absolute honor toserve with you in the Department of Justice. You have been an outstanding advocateon behalf of ATF, United States Attorneys offices across the country and theDepartment of Justice as a whole, and a friend to each one of us.

Throughout my tenure at the department, I've come to know Attorney GeneralGonzales as an intelligent, thoughtful, well spoken individual who lives the law andis deeply patriotic in his convictions. He has shown an extraordinary commitment topublic service throughout his entire life and career and throughout his time here in

Washington, D.C. he has been deeply committed to serving and protecting the


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people of the United States.

When I think of the Attorney General three words come to mind, discipline, beauty,and honor. Self control is a quality often lacking in the world of today's politics.

Emotions heat up quickly here in our nation's capital but the Attorney General couldalways be counted on to quiet rumblings of dissension with his reasoned rationaldemeanor and a sort of calm eye in the center of a raging storm.

He was a steady hand at the helm of the department, and his disciplined and fiscal

approach to leadership will be profoundly missed, not only by me personally but byATF, the other law enforcement components and the entire department.

Duty is oftentimes defined as an assigned service with a force of moral obligation. Ihave met few people in my life with as strong a sense of duty as Attorney General

Gonzales.

Last, honor is described in the dictionary as a keen sense of ethical conduct, ofstriving to do the right thing all the times. At the end of the day when we finally restour heads on our pillows and close our eyes to the night, one final thought shouldrun through our mind, did I do my best to do the right thing today? I haveoftentimes asked myself that question, and I suspect Attorney General Gonzales

does as well.

As I come to know him, I know in my heart that at the end of each day he canhonestly answer, yes, I did my best today; I did everything in my power to do the

right thing. That is all anybody can ask of us. That is all we can ask of ourselves.

Without hesitation I can describe our departing Attorney General as a dedicated andloyal public servant, as an intelligent, articulate man with a strong sense of duty andas a patriot in a manor for which the word was intended.

I consistently use all these attributes to characterize the Attorney General, I prefer todescribe him simply as a good man, a good husband to Rebecca, a good father toJared, Graham and Gabriel and as a good friend to many of us.

So Judge Gonzales, I wish you nothing but my best in this next stage in yourprofessional and personal journey. On behalf of myself and the people of theBureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives, I'd like to thank you for yourfriendship to ATF and the outstanding leadership for this department.

Though this may be a farewell from the Department of Justice I know it will not bea goodbye for the many people whose lives you have touched. Thank you for yourfaithful service to the people of the United States.

People throughout this great country truly appreciate your dedication and yourtireless commitment to those ideals that make us a shining light and an inspiration

to the rest of the world. Judge Gonzales, on behalf of the Bureau of Alcohol


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Tobacco Firearms and Explosives, I brought you a small token of our appreciation.It's a collection of photos of your visits with the men and women of ATF.

And I'm sorry to say I'm going to have to take this -- because we thought we had

until January 2009 to complete it, and there's a few photos I'd like to add to thiscollection. Thank you very much, Judge. All the best to you and your family.

(Applause.)

MR. MORFORD: Just as a point of clarity, the limit on time was because we didn't

have an interpreter who spoke Boston, so that was the issue.

(Laughter.)

At this time we're going to hear from Robert Mueller, the director of the FederalBureau of Investigation.

MR. MUELLER: Good afternoon, everyone. I'm pleased to be here today to help tosay a fond farewell to a great friend of the FBI and a friend of mine.

For the past two-and-a-half years Judge Gonzales has been a supporter of thebureau at a time of tremendous change for us. And since September 11, the men andwomen of the FBI as well as this department have been called upon to focus on theprevention of terrorist attacks on our country and on our people.

Much has been asked of the people of this department. Much has been expected ofthose who work on the department's and the FBI's number one priority, which is theprevention of another such attack. And at this time of great change, this AttorneyGeneral has been squarely behind that change and has supported all of our efforts,and for that we owe him a great debt of gratitude.

(Applause.)

As another anniversary of the attacks on September 11 fades from view, thisAttorney General knows better than anyone else that our work is not done. Eachmorning he and others receive the daily press briefing. Each morning he has seenthat there are those still out there who wish to do this country harm. And eachmorning he has wrestled with the hard calls to take and keep this nation safe.

He knows better than any of us the importance of remaining vigilant and he has

been steadfast in supporting those who work day-in and day-out to prevent anotherSeptember 11. But beyond his focus on the counterterrorism mission, JudgeGonzales has never forgotten that crime and violence make their most immediateimpact when they hurt those whom we love, our families.

This Attorney General has been tireless in his commitment to reduce the crimes that

immediately affect the families across the country, gang violence, online predators.


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Communities across the country have benefitted from his leadership with ProjectSafe Neighborhood.

And I also know that as a father he has been struck by the horror of online

predators. I know that he has been deeply affected by the pictures that all too oftencan invade the online space that children inhabit, and those pictures have spurred hisdedication to, as he has put it, making America into a place where children's safetyis a guarantee.

His personal dedication as a father and as Attorney General to Project SafeChildhood has been a critical factor in that initiative's success. Anyone who offersthemselves to public service, whether in a time of calm or a time of crisis,recognizes that the greatest sacrifices come from our families. And echoing whatCraig has said, we all know that Judge Gonzales has been supported throughout his

career by Rebecca and three fine sons. His dedication to public service in myriadroles, both in Texas and here in Washington, has been second only to his dedicationto his family, the true mark of a man.

Attorney General Gonzales has been more than a valued colleague to us. He hasbeen a friend to the FBI and he has been a friend to me personally.

I want to thank you, Judge, for your support, effective support for you and us andyour family's support. I give you my thanks and that of the FBI and wish you all thebest.

(Applause.)

MR. MORFORD: Our next speaker is Karen Tandy, the administrator of DrugEnforcement Administration.

MS. TANDY: Good afternoon. At the end of the day of any public servant the mostthat we could ever hope for is that we made a difference in the service to ourcountry.

Judge Gonzales, you have made a tremendous difference in your service to this

country. I could talk about Katrina, the lives that you committed to restoring, therule of law that you committed to returning. I could talk about the very memorabledinner right here in the Great Hall with Rebecca and Judge Gonzales, Mueller andhis wife Ann, where we hosted wounded soldiers who had returned from Iraq andgave them and their families a dinner that they would long remember.

But what I want to talk about in addition to those many snapshots of how you'vemade a difference in this country, what I want to talk about is with your kids --because your dad has made a difference in so many lives among kids in this countryhe will never know about.

If you filled the stadium at FedEx Field, which happens to be the largest football


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stadium in the NFL, if you filled that with all of the teenagers who are no longerusing drugs, you'd have to fill that stadium nine times, empty it and refill it. That issuch an extraordinary accomplishment that is so, so much about this man becauseJudge Gonzales was very committed and it was a privilege to serve with him in hiscommitment to the children of this country, to protecting the children in this countryso that they would have the chance to live the American Dream that Judge Gonzaleswas able to live.

And along the way, Judge, I don't know what -- history will capture all of theextraordinary records that you set in the area of drugs, but to catalogue just a coupleof them because they are so meaningful to the men and women of the DrugEnforcement Administration, and with me personally, it is because of therelationship that you built with Mexico and with your counterparts in thishemisphere that we had the world's first extradition from Mexico of any drug cartel

leaders. And you personally were on the phone with the Attorney General ofMexico to make that happen.

At the same time, through your relationships there was the seizure of the world'slargest amount of money that was connected to drugs, in this instance to chemicals

for the production of meth amphetamine. Again, something that this AttorneyGeneral has devoted himself to in his career and certainly on behalf of the DEA.

There are so many other records that I could go into, but on the drug front JudgeGonzales, you have made a historic, unprecedented difference in the lives of themen and women and the children in this country and our country is safer and moresecure against illegal drugs than we have ever been.

Thank you for your service and I wish you Godspeed and we are grateful to havehad your leadership and for me, to have had the opportunity to walk next to you.Thank you Rebecca and thank you kids.

(Applause.)

MR. MORFORD: Our next speaker is Johnny Sutton. Johnny Sutton is the United

States Attorney in San Antonio, Texas. He also has served as the chairman of the

AGAC, which is the Attorney General's Advisory Committee.

And we will not need a Texas translator, but if we did there's probably hundreds ofthem here in this town right now.

MR. SUTTON: Thank you so much, Craig.

It is truly an honor to have a minute or two to speak on behalf of the United StatesAttorneys about Judge Gonzales. I didn't bring the gift that we gave to JudgeGonzales last night, but the United States Attorneys had dinner with him last nightand we did give him a gift. It wasn't a book. It was a statue of four Texas Rangers


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riding their horses at full speed with their guns in the air, shooting them off, whichwe felt was very fitting for us, a real Texan like Al Gonzales.

In classic U.S. Attorney fashion I would say neither Texas Rangers -- and a couple

of them started looking closely and said, "why are they shooting their guns straightup; are they just coming home from a saloon, going back to the range?" But we hada great time with him and we are very, very sad to see him go.

I've known Al Gonzales for going on 12 years now. I started with him in the

Governor's office way back when President Bush was Governor Bush, and I had thehonor of working with him pretty closely, I was three doors down from him forseveral years and I got to see him up close. And many of you all who know himknow he's a man of very few words. He's a man who doesn't crave the spotlight. Infact, 10 feet between him and a camera are not the 10 most dangerous feet in

America like they are to some other people we know in this town.

(Laughter.)

But I saw that he was a smart, tough, aggressive lawyer who gave up a verylucrative private practice at a prestigious law firm in Houston to join a governorwho had never been elected to office before, gave all that up to serve the people of

Texas as his general counsel, then as his Secretary of State and as a Supreme CourtJustice, and being brought up to Washington, D.C. to work in the White House andthen become Attorney General of the United States.

He sacrificed many, many years of his life on behalf of the people of Texas and theUnited States of America. He understands very clearly that the obligation ofgovernment is to protect the innocent, and when he arrived at the Department ofJustice the priorities of this administration were very clearly set in stone and carriedout in a very aggressive fashion to protect us from terrorist attack, to protect theinnocent from violent crime, to attack the scourge of drugs as well as protecting ourborders.

But he essentially recognized the need to protect children. When he would visit our

offices he would speak not for very long but with a great deal of passion about those

priorities, but when he got to the part about protecting children his eyes would lightup and he would really, really -- you could see that this is something that hit close tohim, and probably the reason is because he's got kids of his own sitting right therein front.

He saw there was an urgent need in this country to go after predators who prey onour children. He recognized that the Internet is an incredible tool to spread freedomand knowledge around the world, but it is also a very dangerous tool that can bringliterally a child predator into your home. He recognized that and he began aprogram called Project Safe Childhood, which is now spread across this nation, and

I predict to you that years from now this program will be remembered as one of the


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most important things that we did in this administration.

Now we have a coordinated effort to go after these predators who do the most evilthings to our kids and the coming disaster that is the proliferation of child

pornography and child predators that come into our houses through the internet -- isbeing attacked on a national basis and a national awareness all because of this manright here.

I can't sit down before I say a word about Becky, Al's wife, because for those of you

who know her, for all the quietness and calm ice water in his veins, the passion issitting right there in the front row, and her passion was brought to Washington,D.C., and it wasn't -- it was on display both as a volunteer -- she got out front andvolunteered in this effort to protect children and I want to thank you for that, for allyou've done, but I especially want to thank you for your many, many years of

sacrifice.

I know how difficult this has been to have a guy who arrives at work at 6:00 a.m.and doesn't come home often until after 9:00 or 10:00 and sometimes is out for daysat a time, and that takes a toll. And we thank you for your sacrifice to America. Wethank all the wives and the husbands who make that sacrifice but especially you and

your boys today. Very soon you're going to get Al back.

On behalf of the United States Attorneys we want to thank you, Judge Gonzales, forall you've done for your leadership. We will miss you and on behalf of those fromTexas, get home as fast as you can, if you can.

Thank you so much.

(Applause.)

MR. MORFORD: Our next speaker is Steven Bradbury. He is the Deputy AssistantAttorney General in charge of our Office of Legal Counsel, OLC.

MR. BRADBURY: I am probably not going to stick to the time limit.

Mr. Attorney General, Mrs. Gonzales, members of the Gonzales family, MadamSecretary, Secretary Chertoff, and I see former Attorney General Barr, this is surely

a momentous day. Since the beginning of the President's first term, Judge Gonzaleshas been near the center of many of the most important decisions affecting thesecurity of the nation and our legal landscape during this historic time of challenge,from the government's fundamental approach to the War on Terror to the President'sjudicial selections. Many will express their differing individual perspectives, but Ibelieve that history's judgment will be that Judge Gonzales has played a decisivepart in making the country safer and stronger while protecting the constitutionalrights of Americans.

I have been privileged to work closely with him on the fifth floor of main Justice


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since the day he entered into office as Attorney General. He is a good, kind,steadfast, courageous, and humble man who reveres the mission of this Departmentand the people who faithfully carry out its mission. He is a friend to me and onewhose friendship I will always cherish.

Judge Gonzales came to the Department to build on the successes of GeneralAshcroft. His objective as Attorney General was to strengthen the Department andto expand and improve its effectiveness. His leadership has been like a gentle but

firm hand on the tiller. He defined clear priorities for the Department. Heendeavored to ensure that each component had what it needed to pursue thosepriorities, including by pushing hard for full and balanced funding throughout thebudget and appropriations process. And he urged us always to do the best we couldconsistent with our obligation to the constitution and the rule of law.

In my case, when I became the acting head of OLC, his guidance to me was simpleand clear: Hire the best and brightest people. Carefully consider all sides of theissues. And call them as you see them, giving your best judgment as to what the lawrequires. He never told me how to come down on any legal issues that weaddressed.

That quiet approach to leadership gave us in OLC a strong sense of support whichenabled us to do our work forthrightly and with confidence. Knowing we had theAttorney General's complete support has been a rocklike foundation for those of uswho have been honored to serve under his tenure. His support for our efforts hasbeen solid and steady, just as his mild demeanor has been utterly unflappable undersometimes unbelievable and very public pressure and criticism.

The Attorney General has given the same brand of steady support to all componentsof the Department. He has been fully supportive, for example, of vigorousprosecutions to protect public integrity, which often exposed high-level publiccorruption even in the halls of Congress without regard for any impact on partisan

political fortunes. There again, his guidance was simple: Do the right thing. Followthe evidence where it leads. Let the chips fall where they may. That may sound trite,but it inspires the dedicated folks on the front lines to move forward withconfidence and resolve.

Another cardinal quality of Judge Gonzales' leadership has been his unassuminghumility, so out of place in Washington. He is the absolute opposite of the roosterthat claimed credit for the sunrise. Of course, that means that many of his successesas our nation's 80th Attorney General have gone largely unsung, or at least not sungloudly. The Judge is not the world's best or loudest singer.

Let me highlight just a few of those successes, particularly in the area of nationalsecurity. He saw to the creation of the National Security Division. It was the

brainchild of Judge Silberman, but it was embraced and sponsored by JudgeGonzales. Along with reauthorization of the Patriot Act, the creation of the NSD


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will be a lasting legacy of the Attorney General, and it will help to protect us fromanother 9/11.

Another legacy will be the achievement of permanent FISA improvements, which I

am confident will be enacted. In particular, as Attorney General he personallyencouraged and pushed forward the efforts that culminated in our obtaining inJanuary of this year orders from the FISA Court which, as the Attorney Generalannounced, enabled the President to decide not to renew his special authorization of

the NSA surveillance. That was a decisive development that helped spur passagejust last month of the Protect America Act, which will, I believe, ultimately result ina permanent and positive legislative overhaul of our foreign intelligence authoritiesand capabilities, again, helping to protect us from another 9/11.

A similar story can be sold regarding our response to the Supreme Court's ruling in

Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, where DOJ led the way under the Attorney General's firmguidance to work with Congress in achieving historic and unprecedented legislationauthorizing military commission proceedings and clarifying our nation'simplementation of the laws of war.

In priority areas other than national security, some of the more significant and

lasting accomplishments of the Department under this Attorney General have beennoted by Director Mueller, Director Tandy, Johnny Sutton, and I won't repeat themhere. But I will mention two of particular importance in my view.

In the area of civil rights enforcement, the Attorney General was personallycommitted to the Department's stepped-up efforts to combat the scourge of humantrafficking. As a result of the Department's efforts under this Attorney General,hundreds of innocent human beings have been freed from an unimaginable hell onearth.

And in the area of fraud prosecutions, the Attorney General established theHurricane Katrina Fraud Task Force, ably led by Alice Fisher, which has so farbrought charges against more than 700 defendants in 41 federal districts.

Mr. Attorney General, for these and other accomplishments, and for your goodness,

your kindness, your calm leadership, your humility, your courage, your steadfastsupport for our work, your faith in the constitution, and your faith in us, I thankyou, the Department thanks you, and the nation thanks you. You will be dearlymissed.

(Applause.)

MR. MORFORD: One of the many accomplishments that Steve mentioned was thecreation of the National Security Division, which was an incredibly importantchange in this Department of Justice. And our next speaker is the leader of thatsection, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Ken Wainstein.


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MR. WAINSTEIN: Thanks, Craig. And good afternoon, everybody. It is a truehonor and a pleasure to be here to help celebrate the tenure of our leader and ourfriend, Judge Gonzales.

As Craig said, I am in the National Security Division, and I came on board whenthe division got stood up just about a year ago, last fall. And in this past year, JudgeGonzales and I have worked closely on a variety of different issues, and I have had

the chance to see the Judge from a number of different perspectives. I would like todiscuss two of those perspectives here today.

First, I have gotten to see exactly where it is that Judge Gonzales stands on mattersinvolving our national security. And where he stands is right next to the men andwomen who are on the front lines in our battle against international terrorism. Atevery step of the way, Attorney General Gonzales has pushed to make sure that our

personnel, our officers, our agents, our prosecutors, our analysts, that we all havethe resources we need and what we need to protect our country.

Whether it has been his efforts to stand up the National Security Division you haveheard about, the first new division in the Department of Justice in 40 years, I think,or his efforts to make sure that Congress reauthorized the vital tools and authorities

that we received back in the Patriot Act, or the countless times that he personallystepped up to help us on matters small or large when he heard about some sort ofbureaucratic obstacle that was making it hard for us to do our jobs, the Judge hasalways been a steady force in support of our national security operations.

At the same time, he has been a steady force for making sure not only that weconduct our operations effectively, but that we do so responsibly. He understandsthat our authority to enforce the law and defend the nation depends on the public'sconfidence that we would use that authority appropriately and judiciously.

And that is why earlier this year he directed the National Security Division toestablish a new structure and a new component devoted to compliance oversight.

And that is why he gave us the authority to conduct comprehensive oversight on allaspects of national security investigations.

The decision to give us that authority was historic, as it is the first time that MainJustice has been given such a broad oversight mandate. It is a decision that willwell-serve the Department, the FBI, and the nation for generations to come.

Besides having the chance to see Judge Gonzales as a national security leader overthis past year, I have also been able to take a measure of the Judge just as a person.And over this past year, people have often asked me, what is the Attorney Generallike? What is he really like? What kind of guy is he?

And I have realized over time that I have come to use one particular answer to that

question, which is that the Attorney General is a good man. Simply that: He's a


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good man. And I think those are the words that Mike Sullivan used a few momentsago.

And it is kind of difficult to come up with a specific definition of what a good man

or a good woman is, but I think we all understand it. It means someone who has abig heart and has all the qualities that you would look for in a friend. And AttorneyGeneral Gonzales is a person who has those qualities. He has them in full measure.And in particular, Judge Gonzales has a kind and a compassionate way about him

that is evident and has been evident in everything he has done as Attorney General.

It was evident in the way that he made a habit of making the rounds and dropping inon DOJ employees of every rank and every station just to say hello and to say thankyou for your service. It is evident in the way that he has always cared so much forthe victims of crime and of terrorism, a concern that was evidenced one particular

night when I remember he stayed up well into the night to personally talk to thefamily of a terrorist's victim because he wanted to make sure they knew that certaindisclosures were going to be made the next day.

It was evident the time that a number of us traveled to Europe, and Judge Gonzalesinsisted on changing plans so that he could visit a concentration camp and pay his

respects to the victims of the Holocaust. And it was evident the day that I lost aloved one and he was the very first person to give me a note of sympathy, a smallgesture but one that my family and I will always appreciate.

Those are the types of moments in which you truly get the measure of a person, andthose are the things that I am thinking of when I tell people that Judge Gonzales is agood man. And they are also some of the reasons why I am proud to speak at hisfarewell ceremony here today, and to say on behalf of all my colleagues, my friendsat the National Security Division, thank you, Judge. Thank you for your support.Thank you for your service. And thank you for your friendship.

(Applause.)

MR. MORFORD: Our next speaker is Lee Lofthus. Lee is the Assistant Attorney

General in charge of Justice Administration. And he is not only going to speak, he

is going to make a special presentation to the Attorney General on behalf of all theemployees of the Department of Justice.

MR. LOFTHUS: Thank you. The speakers who have preceded me to the podiumthis afternoon have made wonderful remarks about the Attorney General'scommitment to the Department and to the country, and his many accomplishmentsin so many important areas. What I would like to do is comment just for a momenton something that may not have been so visible to as many people, but that issomething that has been tremendously important to the Department, to itsemployees, and ultimately to the American people.


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In my role as the Department's financial officer, most of the occasions on which Isaw the Attorney General were, as you might suspect, budget-related. As you'veheard today, counterterrorism, national security, drug and anti-gang efforts, childprotection programs, and other efforts to combat violent crime were our toppriorities, and they have been the primary focus of our recent budgets, and rightlyso.

But while we were focused on ensuring the dollars were there for national security

and counterterrorism efforts, you should know that the Attorney General remainedcommitted to ensuring the rest of the Department's programs were funded. He didthis quietly, but he did this repeatedly.

The Attorney General's push to get more agents on the front end of law enforcementmeant we needed to have prosecutors, litigators, marshals, correctional officers,

prison and detention space on the back end. I can tell you on many occasions thatthe Attorney General would say at a budget session, make sure you get enoughmoney for the Bureau of Prisons this year. Make sure they get the funding theyneed. And with his support, the Department was able to work with OMB andCongress to get that funding for both prison operations and for prison construction.

The Attorney General testified before Congress to emphasize the need to put more

prosecutors in the courtrooms for the United States Attorneys. He ensured we hadsufficient funding for our legal divisions. The Attorney General supported what usbudget people called base adjustments to our budget. But that was tremendouslyimportant so we could adequately support the 100,000-plus people who work at theDepartment of Justice every day. And those are our career employees who'veworked here, and they tremendously needed that support. And the Attorney Generalwas there to give it.

These are not headline-makers by any means, but they meant a tremendous amountto our components and to our employees. And again, those were not highly visiblethings, but they were being done in the background and they meant a tremendous

amount to the Department of Justice and to its employees.

General, it was an honor to serve with you. And at this point, if you would like to

come up and join me for a moment. This cabinet contains all the badges of theentities in the Department of Justice and our law enforcement components. And it istraditional to give this to an Attorney General on behalf of the Department'semployees.

So what I would like to do on behalf of those 100,000-plus employees, I would liketo thank you for your leadership and for all the support you gave us. It has been anhonor to serve with you. General.

(Applause.)


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MR. MORFORD: Our next speaker is the most important speaker who will speaktoday. And I learned a long time ago, when he came to visit our office in Nashville,that there is only one way to introduce him if you want to stay in his good graces:The Attorney General of the United States of America, and say nothing more.

(Applause.)

ATTORNEY GENERAL GONZALES: Thank you. Thank you very much. Thankyou. Thank you so much for that. That meant a lot.

I stand before you today sincerely grateful for the many wonderful memories that I

have as the Attorney General. In representing this Department and you during thepast two and a half years, I have met with the families of police officers killed in theline of duty, and spoken to children rescued from sexual predators. I have listened

to young Hispanic men talk about their lives as gang members. I have worked withlocal officials in New Orleans to bring criminals to justice. And I have embracedour young men and women fighting in Iraq.

These experiences, and many more, have changed me, and they have reminded meof the many challenges that exist even for the greatest country in the world. Butthey have also confirmed for me the power of the people in this Department to giveof themselves selflessly and to provide hope to others.

This Department is unique in its mission, in its talent, and in its work. I have beenprivileged to see firsthand the dedication of the career attorneys, the staff,

employees of the Department every day of my tenure. This is a place of inspiration.That is true across all of its components and its divisions. It is a place where peoplein Washington and throughout the country come to work every day to try to do whatis right. It is a place where we make a difference in the lives of people who protectour nation. And we bring justice to victims.

We work every day with living legends in the law, people like Jack Keeney. Nextweek Jack will celebrate his 60th year of federal service. Sixty years.

(Applause.)

ATTORNEY GENERAL GONZALES: Jack served as an aviator in World War II,and he was a POW in Europe. He spearheaded the fight against organized crimeunder Attorney General Kennedy, and has supervised the Department's effortsagainst public corruption for decades. His service to our country and this institutionis an inspiration to all of us.

And then there is David Margolis. Now, one thing every attorney general learnsquickly in this job is to rely on David's experience, wisdom, advice, and counsel.Notwithstanding his brief daily naps and his eclectic office attire, he remains aninspiration also to all of us.


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watch over you. May He guide your decisions, and may He bless the greatestcountry on the face of the earth, the United States. Thank you so much.

(Applause.)

MR. MORFORD: If you noticed that, I didn't cut that off. I got pushed back uphere. So if you don't believe people when they talk about humility, you just saw it.

Being the master of ceremonies, you have the ability to go last, which in aceremony like this is not a good thing because, one, everything has been said; buttwo, you still have to say something. And I thought about what I could say, and I

thought about the fact that we could talk about some of the accomplishments.

But every one that I could think of has already been spoken of except perhaps one,

which nobody mentioned, which was the liberation of two very importantindividuals, the two statutes that stand on our left and right.

(Laughter.)

MR. MORFORD: Now, Will told me I should not say that. So thank you forclapping. It makes me feel a lot better. I told you, Will.

You know, some of this has been said but I want to say it my own way because tome it is the most important thing that can be said. And that is: Of all theachievements that we can talk about, the greatest achievement when you talk about

the Attorney General is always going to center around and be about those fatefulevents of September 11th.

You cannot think about and you cannot discuss this man's service in thisgovernment during the last six years without discussing 9/11. If you think about it,he has been here in Washington for six and a half years serving this government,and six of those years, 90 percent of his service, came in the aftermath of 9/11.

I want you to think about that and think about what that means. You know, to put itin perspective, during the 200-plus years of our nation's existence, there have beenvery, very few attacks on this nation's soil. You can count them on one hand.

For the past sixty years, since Pearl Harbor, the leaders of our nation have not hadto address a major successful attack on U.S. soil. For sixty years, people didn't have

to think about these things. Yet for the past six years, we have had to address thatreality above and beyond everything else we do in this building, in this town, in thisnation, in fact throughout the whole world.

The attacks of 9/11 and the threat of more attacks like them have forced our leadersto make tough decision after tough decision, decisions where there was often littleprecedent and always no easy solution. But as a result of tough decisions that they

were willing to make in uncharted waters, we are safer today than we were on


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September 11, 2001.

We are safer today than we were in 2000 when the U.S. embassy in Manila wasbombed, and the USS Cole was bombed. We are safer today than we were in 1998

when the U.S. embassies were bombed in Kenya and Tanzania. We are safer todaythan we were in 1996 when the Khobar Towers were bombed. We are safer todaythan we were in 1993 when the towers were attacked the first time.

You know, based on the recent arrests involving plots at JFK Airport, the plot at

Fort Dix, and most recently, in the last week, the arrests in Germany and Denmark,it is clear to everyone that indeed we have a greater capacity today to detect anddisrupt acts of terrorism than we did on all those other occasions.

And that increased capacity has resulted from the incredibly hard work and

leadership of Attorney General Gonzales, the people that you see seated on thisstage, people that are sitting in this room today not just from the Department ofJustice but from the Department of State, from the Department of HomelandSecurity, from the White House the people in this building, the career men andwomen of the Department of Justice who make up the heart and soul of this greatinstitution, who are here year in and year out.

And many of them will be here ten and twenty and thirty years from now, the JackKeeneys and the Dave Margolises, the President of the United States, theCongressmen and the Senators who have given us important, essential new toolsthrough things like the Patriot Act and the just recently passed Protect America Act.This has truly been a historic time for those of us who have served our nation. Andfolks I just mentioned have accomplished historic achievements.

Attorney General Gonzales was front and center in all of those efforts. And I thinkthat is going to be the legacy of him, of this Department, and of every person whohas served in government these last six years.

But there is a second thing and equally important thing in which each and every one

of us who served him will remember him and you heard a lot of people talk about it,and it is a common theme; and I am going to say it one more time, and then I am

going to sit down and shut up and that is his humility in office and his grace underpressure.

My first real meeting of consequence with Attorney General Gonzales is one I amsure he will never forget. It took place in Chicago, and it was known as theinfamous Chicago meeting. The AG had asked a handful of us U.S. Attorneys tomeet with him in Chicago about three or four months ago to offer him our frank andcandid advice. And as requested, we showed up, and we were very frank and wewere very candid. And in some ways, we worried later that maybe we were too

frank and too candid.


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I remember his chief of staff, Kevin O'Connor, came up afterwards and said, well,that was frank and that was candid. And you know what? That meeting could havebeen very difficult. It could have been very unpleasant. And it could have been avery difficult thing for all of us who were involved, but for one thing, and that wasthe humility and grace of the man who had called the meeting.

He sat at that table and he listened politely to everything we had to say. And then hecame back here to Washington and he made changes as a result of what we told

him. And most refreshing of all, he never once held our frankness or our candoragainst us. In fact, he did just the opposite. And if he hadn't, I wouldn't be standinghere today.

When I came here. I didn't know this man. And I was a little concerned about whatit would be like to work for him. I came here, and I will tell you what I observed. I

observed a good and decent man who has incredibly strong values, who deeplyloves this country and his family, and works really hard to find the balance to giveboth of them the attention that they deserve. A very humble man who was neveronce taken by the trappings of his title. A man who consistently exhibited graceunder pressure and always kept his sense of purpose and his sense of humor no

matter what was happening around him.

It has been said that class is one of those valuable intangible personal traits that is inthe highest of demand because it is so rare to find. Class is being a good person. It ishaving humility, poise, and displaying the self-confidence to conduct yourself withconfidence without being arrogant.

For those of us who got to work with this man, we will never forget what it was liketo serve in the immediate aftermath of September 11th. And on behalf of the menand women of the Department of Justice, Attorney General, I want to thank you foryour steady leadership in a time of unique crisis in our nation's history like we havenot seen before.

I want to thank you also for the example that you have shown each of us. You have

truly been the man in the arena, and have shown uncommon grace, humility, anddedication to service that we can all emulate during times of future challenges.

Thank you very much.

(Applause.)

MR. MORFORD: We have one final presentation that we want to make here today,and it is a very great tradition. And this is the chair. And it has been purchased bythe senior leaders of the Department of Justice, the cabinet chair presented toAttorney General Gonzales.

(Applause.)


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MR. MORFORD: I'd like to ask that you all remain standing. And at this time I amgoing to ask Elizabeth Law to come up and present the benediction. Elizabeth hasbeen a close personal friend to Attorney General and Rebecca Gonzales for manyyears. She has a career in the nonprofit sector. She considers her greatest job to beraising her family's two children and supporting her husband, former DeputySecretary Steven Law. And she will give us the benediction at this time. Thank you.

MRS. LAW: I have been asked to give the last word. And a benediction means a

prayer blessing. So would you please join me as we pray for blessing for theGonzales family.

Dear Lord God, You are the God of new beginnings. The first words in the Bibleare, "In the beginning." And in the last book of the Bible, You state that You makeeverything new. It gives us hope, and it is a promise from You, Lord God.

We are now at this time and place of new dreams, hopes, and opportunities forAttorney General Alberto Gonzales and his family. We pray that You will blessthem in every area of their lives. We ask that You would remember the years ofservice and sacrifice that he and his family have given to this country and itspeople, both in the state of Texas and for the country as a whole. Please bless the

acts of service he has rendered.

And now, according to the most ancient of blessings that You, O Lord, spoke toYour servant, Moses, we repeat these words: The Lord bless you and keep you. TheLord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up Hiscountenance upon you and give you peace.

In Your name I pray, amen.

MR. MORFORD: I want to thank all of you for joining us today. Thank you somuch, Mrs. Law, for your inspirational words. And thank you, Attorney General, foryour inspirational service.

And the Attorney General will receive invited guests up in Suite 551-11 for areception. Thank you for joining us on this special day.

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