[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 22 (Friday, February 23, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E203]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  HONORING THE RETIREMENT OF DEPUTY INSPECTOR GENERAL, DEPARTMENT OF 
                    DEFENSE, DEREK J. VANDER SCHAAF

                                 ______


                          HON. THOMAS M. DAVIS

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, February 23, 1996

  Mr. DAVIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Deputy 
Inspector General Derek J. Vander Schaaf who is retiring on March 1, 
1996, from the Department of Defense after more than 32 years of 
Government service. Mr. Vander Schaaf has been involved in Department 
of Defense management and operational matters for his entire career. He 
has an indepth knowledge of Department of Defense organizations and 
programs based on his three decades of Department of Defense-related 
work in the office of the inspector general, the Office of the 
Secretary of Defense, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on 
Appropriations, and active duty in the U.S. Army.
  Mr. Vander Schaaf attended the University of South Dakota, and in 
1961, received a bachelor of arts degree in political science and 
business administration. He received a master of arts degree in public 
administration in 1963 from the University of Massachusetts. In 1993, 
Mr. Vander Schaaf received an honorary doctor of laws from the 
University of South Dakota. After graduation from the University of 
South Dakota he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1961 and 
served on active duty with the Army's 24th Infantry Division in Germany 
from September 1963 to May 1965.
  After leaving military service, Mr. Vander Schaaf joined the Office 
of the Secretary of Defense in 1965 and was employed by the Office of 
the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense as a program analyst.
  In May 1968, Mr. Vander Schaaf joined the Office of the Assistant 
Secretary of Defense, comptroller, where he was principally responsible 
for budgetary review of the military departments research, development, 
test and evaluation programs. After developing a reputation for 
budgetary and management expertise Mr. Vander Schaaf went to work with 
the House Committee on Appropriations as a senior staff adviser to the 
Subcommittee on Defense. During his tenure from 1972 to 1981, Mr. 
Vander Schaaf was principally involved in readiness issues, force 
deployments, logistics, medical, command and control, Reserve Force 
programs, and the Defense Department budget in general. During that 
time he authorized many reports for the committee dealing with overseas 
deployments, readiness, and the efficiency and effectiveness of 
Department of Defense operations.
  In 1981, Mr. Vander Schaaf began his tenure as the deputy within the 
office of the inspector general and its predecessor, the Office of the 
Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Review and Oversight. He 
played a vital role in the establishment and early development of the 
office and has been a key leader in all of the inspector general's 
major functions and activities, which include policy and oversight 
responsibilities for the Department of Defense's 18,000 auditors, 
investigators, inspectors. In the absence of an appointed inspector 
general, he has served as the acting inspector general for 5 of the 
last 9 years. He has earned wide respect from the private sector, his 
peers at the Department of Defense, and from Members of Congress for 
the professional and proactive role he has played in curbing fraud and 
abuse.

  During Mr. Vander Schaaf's long distinguished career he has been the 
recipient of numerous awards and special recognitions including the 
Distinguished Federal Executive Award and the Meritorious Federal 
Executive Award. He is also a two-time recipient of the Defense 
Distinguished Civilian Service Award, the Department's highest civilian 
service award. Mr. Vander Schaaf has even found time during his busy 
professional career to serve his community as president of the 
Ravenwood Civic Association, where I first met him when I served as a 
member of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. He has been a model 
neighbor, civic leader, and friend.
  Mr. Speaker, many of my colleagues have had the pleasure of working 
with Derek Vander Schaaf over the years and I know they join me in 
honoring him for his 32 years of public service congratulating him on a 
job well done and wish him and his wife, Karen, and their two children, 
Jill and Derek, Jr., continued success in the years ahead.

                          ____________________