[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 76 (Tuesday, May 25, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5948-S5949]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         HONORING ROBERT SUTTER

  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I want to take this opportunity today to 
salute a distinguished servant of the legislative branch of the U.S. 
Congress in the field of foreign affairs. In June 1999, Dr. Robert 
Sutter will leave the Congressional Research Service after 22 highly 
productive years as a source of expertise on China and the Asia-Pacific 
region. Dr. Sutter is resigning from his current position as a Senior 
Specialist in Asia and International Politics in the Foreign Affairs, 
Defense, and Trade Division of CRS to become the National Intelligence 
Officer for East Asia, a critical intelligence community assignment.
  Since 1977, when he first came to work at CRS as a China specialist, 
Dr. Sutter has provided Members of Congress and their staffs with 
authoritative, in-depth analysis and policy options covering a broad 
range of foreign policy issues involving China, East Asia, and the 
Pacific. It should be a matter of pride to this body to know that Dr. 
Sutter is well known both here and in the Asia-Pacific region as one of 
the most authoritative and productive American Asia hands.
  In his government career to date of over 30 years, Dr. Sutter has 
held a variety of analytical and supervisory positions including 
service with the Foreign Broadcast Information Service and temporary 
details with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Central 
Intelligence Agency, and the Department of State. It is in service to 
Congress, however, specifically with the Congressional Research 
Service, that Dr. Sutter has spent most of his distinguished career. I 
want to make a few comments that illustrate the strengths and great 
contributions of both the institution and the man himself.
  The first point to make concerns one of the great institutional 
strengths that CRS offers to the congressional clients it serves, and 
which Dr. Sutter's tenure and contributions here epitomize perfectly: 
institutional memory. Dr. Sutter's first published report at CRS was 
entitled U.S.-PRC Normalization Arguments and Alternatives. Published 
first as a CRS Report for general congressional use, on August 3, 1977, 
it soon became a Committee Print of the House International Relations 
Committee's Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Affairs. The report and 
subsequent Committee Print addressed a number of highly controversial 
issues arising out of President Carter's decision to normalize 
relations with China. Congressional concern about the consequences of 
derecognition of the Republic of China, and dissatisfaction with the 
terms of the agreement negotiated with the People's Republic of China, 
directly led to the landmark Taiwan Relations Act, which still governs 
our policy decisions today, and which continues in 1999 to be a factor 
in debates in this very chamber.
  Besides Bob Sutter, only 48 Members of Congress serving today, in the 
106th Congress, were here in 1977 and 1978 to witness these initial 
steps of U.S.-China relations. In the more than 20 years since then, 
both U.S.-China relations and the U.S. Congress itself have undergone 
tremendous change, both for the better and for worse. Bob Sutter has 
been an active participant in congressional deliberations on China 
policy, and in the U.S. national debate over these issues, from 
normalization of relations, to the Tiananmen Square crackdown, to the 
recent tragic bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade. Dr. Sutter's 
two decades of service spanned the tenures for four U.S. presidents and 
some ten Congresses. Despite several shifts of party control in the 
Senate, and one  in the House, Dr. Sutter continued to deliver timely, 
accurate, objective, and non-partisan analysis. The institutional 
memory represented by CRS analysts, which Dr. Sutter so perfectly 
exemplifies, is of incalculable value to the work of the Congress.

  The second point I want to make concerns Dr. Sutter himself. He has, 
for one thing, consistently demonstrated an astonishing capacity for 
work. In 1974 Dr. Sutter received his Ph.D. in History and East Asian 
Languages from Harvard University, writing his Ph.D. thesis while 
maintaining a full-time job. Routinely, he has been one of--perhaps the 
most in terms of sheer output of written work--productive analysts in 
CRS. In the last 5 years alone, Dr. Sutter has been called on for 
advice from Members of Congress and their staffs nearly 6,000 times--an 
average of 1,140 times each year. He has regularly maintained six or 
more ongoing, continually updated products, and his output of CRS 
written reports for Congress totals at least 90 since late 1987 alone. 
As is evident in these products, he excels at providing accurate, 
succinct, and well-organized analysis of congressional policy choices 
and their likely consequences. His work always reflects up to date 
knowledge of issues, usually based on personal research in East Asia 
and/or close contact with the U.S. private and official community of 
Asian analysts and scholars.
  Even more to the point, Dr. Sutter has always understood the powers 
and special needs of Congress, including its legislative and oversight 
responsibilities, and our obligation to represent

[[Page S5949]]

the interests of our constituents. In his research and writing, Dr. 
Sutter never forgets the unique role of Congress and the importance of 
reflecting the full range of competing viewpoints.
  Reflecting his commitment to service and cheerful willingness to 
assume responsibility, Dr. Sutter has fulfilled a number of roles in 
the CRS. He has served as Chief of the Foreign Affairs Division in CRS, 
as well as Chief of the Government Division in CRS, in both cases 
maintaining a full research work load for Congress in the midst of 
significant management duties. He has frequently conceived, 
coordinated, and moderated Asia policy seminars and workshops for 
Members of Congress and their staffs. He routinely serves on special 
advisory groups in CRS and the Library of Congress. As a well-known and 
respected analyst, he has been a sought-after speaker at dozens of 
foreign policy seminars, panels, and conferences in Washington and 
around the world.
  In recent years, he has maintained this outstanding record of 
productivity for the Congress while managing in his spare time to teach 
several college courses per year at Washington area universities. He 
has also found time to write more than a dozen books on foreign policy 
issues during his tenure at CRS.
  Finally, Dr. Sutter's simple decency, modesty, engaging manner, and 
professionalism set a high standard for others and make it a great 
pleasure to work with him. He cheerfully volunteers for onerous tasks. 
He is pleasant and good-humored. Moreover, in the midst of the 
pressured environment of Washington and Capitol Hill, he has always 
found time to serve as a mentor, counselor, and friend to others, 
whether they be his own students, younger colleagues, or new 
congressional staff. And, a fact known only to close friends, he has a 
record of community service, including Church work and teaching of 
English to native Spanish speakers, that is nearly as impressive as his 
professional contribution.
  Dr. Sutter will be greatly missed, but the loss of his service to the 
Congress will be partly compensated for by bringing to the Executive 
branch his knowledge of the Congress and its special role in the making 
and oversight of U.S. foreign policy. When he comes back to Capitol 
Hill for one-on-one meetings, briefings, and testimony, he will bring 
with him a high degree of credibility and a special awareness of 
congressional needs for information and analysis.

                          ____________________