[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 68 (Thursday, May 17, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Page S5116]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO DR. JAY C. DAVIS

 Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I wish to take this opportunity 
to recognize the accomplishments of Dr. Jay C. Davis, the first 
Director of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, more commonly known as 
``DTRA.'' Jay completes his tenure as the Director on June 21, 2001 and 
will be returning to Lawrence Livemore National Laboratory.
  In October 1998, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency was established 
by the Department of Defense to respond to the growing threat posed by 
the proliferation of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, so 
called ``weapons of mass destruction'' or WMD. DTRA was charged to 
integrate and focus the capabilities of the Department on the present 
and future WMD threat.
  The new Agency needed a Director and the Department picked Jay to 
establish the Agency, provide its vision, and assure its rapid success. 
Jay's accomplishments make him an excellent choice for this job. While 
Jay, a nuclear physicist, had spent the majority of his career at 
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, he's been active in treaty 
verification and nonproliferation technologies, as well as the design 
of research and development collaborations.
  He served as scientific advisor to the United Nations Secretariat, 
several US agencies, and to the scientific agencies of the governments 
of Australia and New Zealand. He participated in two UN inspections in 
Iraq. Jay is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and was one of 
its Centennial Lecturers in its 100th Anniversary Year. The author of 
more than seventy published works in his discipline, he also holds 
three patents on analytical techniques and applications.
  During his three years at DTRA, Jay created an agency that is widely 
respected. Today, DTRA performs many important missions. It is 
partnered with the Commanders-in-Chief of the combatant commands, the 
Services, and the Department of Energy on the maintenance of the 
physical and doctrinal components of our nuclear deterrent. It provides 
warfighters with tools to prevail against WMD. DTRA also executes all 
arms control treaty inspections, cooperative agreements, and technology 
control activities in the Department of Defense. In addition, Jay has 
been instrumental in leading and defining the Department's role in 
supporting local and state agencies in WMD terrorism response 
operations. Under his leadership, DTRA has contributed significantly to 
the evolving concept of homeland defense.
  Jay has twice been awarded the Distinguished Public Service Medal by 
the Secretary of Defense, DoD's highest civilian award, for his 
contributions to national security.
  He and his wife May soon will return to the Livermore valley, where 
he will become the first National Security Fellow at the Lab's Center 
for Global Security Research. In this new position, Jay will do what he 
does best, bringing together scientists and technologists with policy 
analysts to study ways in which technology can enhance national 
security. I congratulate Jay on all his accomplishments at DTRA and 
wish him the best in his future endeavors at Lawrence Livermore 
National Laboratory.

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