[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 138 (Monday, September 30, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1824]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             TRIBUTE TO VICE ADM. EDWARD M. STRAW, SC, USN

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. GEORGE W. GEKAS

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                      Saturday, September 28, 1996

  Mr. GEKAS. Mr. Speaker, on October 25, 1996, Vice Adm. Edward M. 
Straw, Supply Corps, United States Navy, Director of the Defense 
Logistics Agency [DLA], will retire after a distinguished military 
career of over 35 years. His accomplishments during that period are 
many and significant, and the legacy he leaves to the business of the 
Defense Department is beyond comparison.
  Vice Admiral Straw, a native of Marysville, PA, in my congressional 
district, joined the Navy Supply Corps upon commissioning from the 
United States Naval Academy in 1961. As he rose through the ranks, he 
served in numerous challenging operational postings in the United 
States and overseas, including three sea duty assignments. In those 
progressively more responsible positions, he honed his business and 
logistics management skills and led his supply forces in supporting 
improved readiness at reduced cost at critical Navy commands, such as 
on the U.S.S. Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) during its unprecedented 10 
month deployment in the Persian Gulf.
  Moving on to senior headquarters-level policy and execution 
responsibilities with great impact Navywide, then-Captain Straw rose 
from chief financial officer of Navy Supply Systems Command [NAVSUP], 
to director of supply policy and programs for the Chief of Naval 
Operations [CNO], and finally to Vice Commander of NAVSUP, attaining 
the rank of two-star Rear Admiral. He pioneered the use of commercial 
unit-costing techniques and other innovative approaches which drove 
infrastructure savings exceeding $500 million per year. He developed 
numerous supply support initiatives which contributed immensely to 
revitalized Navy combat preparedness, including record high levels of 
sustained operational readiness support during Operations Desert Shield 
and Desert Storm.
  With this record of innovative performance and savings, he was 
selected in July 1992 to become Director of DLA, DOD's largest combat 
support agency. Now a Vice Admiral, he became responsible for providing 
worldwide logistics support to American warfighters, numerous federal 
agencies, and U.S. allies directing over 50,000 civilian and military 
personnel at over 300 locations and managing a budget of $14 billion 
per year. DLA acquires, distributes, and arranges reutilization of the 
vast majority of DOD's supply system assets, and also administers 
377,000 contracts valued at over $900 billion and involving over 24,000 
contractors.
  Vice Admiral Straw's 4 years at DLA represent a watershed, not only 
for the agency, but for public sector management. He thoroughly 
reengineered the agency's structure, processes, and leadership 
approach. He focused on the customers' needs, changing DLA's strategy 
from one of buying, storing, and delivering large inventories of items 
just in case they are needed, to arranging cost-effective material 
sources that could deliver to the warfighters when items are needed. He 
accomplished this by taking advantage of cost saving market leverage 
and the benefits of emerging technology. In both materiel management 
and contract administration, selected functions have been privatized, 
modern business techniques brought to bear, and high quality 
partnerships with the country's vast supplier base fostered. Through 
these and other efforts, the Agency has achieved savings or cost 
avoidances exceeding $10 billion to date, with firm commitments to its 
warfighting customers and the taxpayers for $20 billion more over the 
next 7 years. In addition, DLA now provides more responsive materiel 
deliveries and direct on-scene logistics support to contingency and 
humanitarian support forces wherever they go, including Haiti and 
Bosnia.

  Under Vice Admiral Straw's leadership, DLA has received a variety of 
prestigious awards, including the Joint Meritorious Unit Medial from 
Secretary of Defense William Perry. A key DLA field activity became one 
of the first two federal activities to win the Ford Foundation/Harvard 
University ``Innovations in American Government'' award in 1995. As a 
result of his exceptional performance at DLA, Vice Admiral Straw was 
selected for additional duty as Director of DOD's Defense Performance 
Review from June 1994 to August 1995 in support of the National 
Performance Review. He subsequently received the Defense Distinguished 
Service Medal from Secretary Perry in recognition of his performance at 
DLA and the DPR, and won the 1996 Founders Award from the Society of 
Logistics Engineers.
  Throughout his long and extraordinary career, Vice Admiral Straw has 
continually introduced new ideas wherever he was assigned, achieved 
unprecedented performance breakthroughs, challenged his people to 
fulfill their potential, and always left his organization better 
prepared for the future. He has done so again at DLA, and will be 
leaving behind an Agency on the forefront of best business practices 
and frontline combat support. Upon his impending retirement from active 
duty, the citizens of Pennsylvania and the rest of this great Nation 
are forever in his debt and wish him, his wife Chris, and daughters 
Sylvana, Katie, and Megan, good health, happiness, and much success in 
the future.

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