[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 66 (Monday, April 24, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S5568]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                       THE DEATH OF JOHN F. BLAKE

  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, the CIA, the Senate Intelligence 
Committee and our country lost a loyal servant on March 27 when Jack 
Blake passed away after a long illness. Jack was an OSS veteran who 
became one of the CIA's premier managers, serving as its director of 
logistics, Deputy Director for Administration and acting Deputy 
Director of Central Intelligence. He also served as president of the 
Association of Former Intelligence Officers.
  In 1981, when Senator Barry Goldwater became the first Republican to 
chair the Select Committee on Intelligence, he chose Jack Blake to be 
staff director of the committee. Together, Senator Goldwater and Jack 
Blake established the principle that the transfer from a Democratic to 
a Republican majority would not mean an end to the Senate's bipartisan 
oversight of sensitive national security matters. They also made the 
point that the intelligence community's best friends were capable of 
examining its activities with a critical eye, for the sake of improving 
this vital function and safeguarding the liberties of our citizens.
  Jack Blake went on to become a professor at the Defense Intelligence 
College and frequently brought his classes back to the Hill to meet 
with congressional overseers and see for themselves that we were not 
monsters, but people of good will. His tremendous good humor and 
perseverance served him and his country well. We will miss Jack Blake, 
but we will also continue to profit from his life of good works. The 
Senate was fortunate to have known him.

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