[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 138 (Monday, September 30, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S12022]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         EDWARD McGAFFIGAN, JR.

 Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, when the Senate convenes in 
January, lots of familiar faces will be gone for one reason or another, 
and those of us returning will take up our work without the company and 
help of so many who are important to us and to this institution.
  Because the Senate acted so quickly and responsibly on one matter 
before the August recess, one of my staff members is already gone, off 
to what is sure to be another outstanding period in an already 
distinguished career. Late in August, Ed McGaffigan was sworn in as a 
Commissioner on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Many of my 
colleagues and their staffs are well acquainted with Ed, and hold him 
in high regard, as do all of us in my office who have valued his 
company and counsel over the years.
  Ed was among the first people I hired when I came to the Senate in 
1983. Recommended to me by Joe Nye, Ed was then the assistant director 
of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Prior to 
his work in the White House, he had been in the Foreign Service for 7 
years, 2 of which were spent as science attache at the American Embassy 
in Moscow.
  From February 1983 until August 1996, Ed handled defense, national 
security, technology, and foreign policy issues in my office, as well 
as nonproliferation and export control policy, and personnel and 
acquisition reform. Early on, he was recognized by staff and 
constituents alike as a high-minded individual of bedrock honesty and 
great intelligence. I once heard our former colleague, Lloyd Bentsen, 
say that there is a special bond forged between a new Senator and the 
people who help him or her get started. Setting up an office, sorting 
out the priorities, and learning to say ``yes'' or ``no'' at the proper 
time on this floor take a certain devotion and effort of will on the 
part of all concerned. Ed McGaffigan was one of those who helped me get 
started here, and I could not have guessed that how valuable this 
intense, brilliant man would become to me, the people of New Mexico, 
and, indeed, the people of this country because of his service to the 
Senate. I could not have known how much we would all come to depend on 
his intellect, his great curiosity, and his unswerving commitment to 
truth.
  Emerson, who was a student at the Boston Latin School more than 100 
years ahead of Ed, anticipated him and knew his value in his essay on 
``Power,'' when he wrote: ``Concentration is the secret strength in 
politics, in war, in trade in short in all management of human affairs 
* * *. A man who has that presence of mind which can bring to him on 
the instant all he knows, is worth for action a dozen men who know as 
much but can only bring it to light slowly.''
  Mr. President, Ed McGaffigan has concentrated his career on public 
service. We are fortunate that this is so, and fortunate, too, that we 
have in him not just a superb public official, but a true 
friend.

                          ____________________