[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 67 (Thursday, May 25, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S4505]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                           EXECUTIVE CALENDAR

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations 
reported by the Armed Services Committee: Calendar Nos. 526 and 527.
  I further ask unanimous consent that the nominations be confirmed, 
the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, any statements 
relating to the nominations be printed in the Record, the President be 
immediately notified of the Senate's action, and the Senate then return 
to legislative session.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The nominations considered and confirmed are as follows:


                                  army

       The following named officer for appointment in the United 
     States Army as Dean of the Academic Board, United States 
     Military Academy, and for appointment to the grade indicated 
     under title 10, U.S.C., section 4335:

                        To be brigadier general

     Col. Daniel J. Kaufman, 0000.


                                  navy

       The following named officer for appointment in the United 
     States Navy to the grade indicated while assigned to a 
     position of importance and responsibility under title 10, 
     U.S.C., section 601:

                             To be admiral

     Vice Adm. Robert J. Natter, 0000.

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, Senator Reed, who is in the Chamber, has 
personal knowledge of one of these nominees. He wants to make a 
statement at this time.
  Mr. REED. I thank the majority leader for his kindness.
  Mr. President, I am fortunate enough to know both of these gentlemen: 
Adm. Bob Natter, an extraordinary naval officer who has been confirmed 
as a four-star admiral; and, most particularly, I am pleased that my 
colleagues have confirmed the nomination of Col. Daniel Kaufman to be a 
brigadier general in the U.S. Army and dean of the Academic Board at 
West Point.
  I have known Dan Kaufman for over 30 years. I was a plebe at West 
Point in Company C-2 when he was a first classman in the summer 1967. 
He is an extraordinary individual, a great soldier, a distinguished 
scholar.
  I also recognize the gentleman whom he is succeeding, Gen. Fletcher 
Lamkin, who is the current dean. General Lamkin has done an outstanding 
job at West Point. I thank him for his service.
  But I am delighted to be able to stand here in the well of the Senate 
to commend Dan Kaufman. He is a soldier first, a soldier of war above 
everything else.
  After graduating from West Point in 1968, he volunteered for training 
as an Army ranger. He sought an assignment as an armor officer. He was 
a platoon leader with the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment in Vietnam.
  He received a Bronze Star for valor in action and received two Purple 
Hearts leading his platoon in Vietnam.
  He returned to the Army in the United States and pursued his graduate 
education at the Kennedy School at Harvard, and once again Dan Kaufman 
and I were together. After he received his master's degree at Harvard, 
and subsequent service with the 82nd Airborne Division, he received a 
Ph.D. in political science at the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology.
  He combines these two virtues and values: A soldier's soldier and a 
scholar's scholar.
  He is the ideal choice for the deanship at West Point today, for a 
school in transformation, for an Army in transformation. As a soldier, 
he has seen war. He understands that one of the greatest privileges an 
American can ever have is the privilege of leading American soldiers. 
Also, one of the greatest honors an American can have is to lead those 
soldiers well. He has won such an honor.
  He is also someone who is in touch with the greater Army. He is 
someone that has been actively involved in numerous issues that deal 
with the Army, not just academically but very much in its day-to-day 
activities.
  He is not an ivory tower scholar. He is an actively engaged soldier. 
He will instill in the cadets vital skills: the ability to analyze a 
changing world; and a zest to learn throughout their careers, and to 
help the Army and move it forward.
  He is also a family man. His wife Kathryn, his son David, his 
daughter Emily--they all serve too, and serve the Army extraordinarily 
well.
  The mission at West Point is to train young men and women of 
character for a career of selfless service to the Army and the Nation.
  Dan Kaufman will expand that mission and move it forward for a 
generation of West Point cadets who will enter our Army and will do so 
better prepared, as soldiers who are able to lead as thoughtful members 
of our military forces.
  And something else. Because of his example, because of the choices he 
will make, their hearts and their lives will march to a very simple but 
profound cadence: Duty, honor, country.
  I thank the majority leader and yield back my time.

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