[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 24 (Tuesday, February 27, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1369-S1370]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

                                 ______


ON THE RETIREMENT OF DEREK VANDER SCHAAF AS DEPUTY INSPECTOR GENERAL OF 
                       THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

 Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, the taxpayers will lose one of their 
best friends in the Department of Defense next month, when Derek J. 
Vander Schaaf retires as deputy inspector general.
  Mr. Vander Schaaf has served as one of the Pentagon's top watchdogs 
for almost 15 years, since December 1981. During that tenure, Mr. 
Vander Schaaf has managed an aggressive program of audit, inspection, 
and investigation which has ferreted out waste, fraud, and abuse in DOD 
activities, resulting in more than $20 billion of documented savings to 
the taxpayer.
  Mr. Vander Schaaf has also provided invaluable assistance to the 
Congress with his honest and forthright comments on DOD's policies and 
programs. Over the years, Mr. Vander Schaaf has testified before the 
Senate Governmental Affairs Committee and the Senate Armed Services 
Committee, on which I serve, on numerous occasions. He has met 
personally with me and my staff on many more occasions to brief us on 
DOD programs and proposals. Mr. Vander Schaaf's testimony has always 
been informative, and it has often been crucial to the success of our 
oversight and investigative efforts.
  Mr. Vander Schaaf is a forceful advocate of increased competition in 
DOD procurement, independent testing and evaluation of new weapons 
systems, improvements in DOD financial systems, and increased use of 
commercially available products and services. We have relied upon his 
support in our efforts to eliminate wasteful and unlawful practices 
such as excessive inventory spending, abusive off-loading of contracts 
from DOD to other agencies, and the improper disclosure of confidential 
procurement information. The savings from these efforts have been 
substantial.
  Mr. Vander Schaaf has not always been the most popular figure at the 
Pentagon. Nobody who takes on as 

[[Page S1370]]
many issues and makes as many tough calls as he has could be. But this 
is a price willingly paid by one who, like Mr. Vander Schaaf, believes 
that service to the public and to the taxpayer is the highest 
obligation.
  And so we thank Mr. Vander Schaaf for his service. We will miss him, 
and the taxpayers will miss him.

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