[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 138 (Tuesday, December 7, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2171-E2172]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    IN HONOR OF CAPTAIN GILMAN G. UDELL, JR. ON THE OCCASION OF HIS 
                               RETIREMENT

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JACK KINGSTON

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 7, 2004

  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor one of our Capitol 
Police Officers. On December 31, 2004, Captain Gilman G. Udell will 
retire after 33 years of serving the Congress as a member of the United 
States Capitol Police (USCP). Captain Udell spent the majority of his 
career, and finished as the commanding officer, of the USCP Hazardous 
Incident Response Division. Captain Udell was one of the six original 
members of the USCP bomb squad, first organized in the Spring of 1974. 
To exemplify Captain Udell's fine work in this area, one must review 
the threat environment over the last 30 years.
  On March 1, 1971 a bomb exploded in a restroom on the first floor of 
the Senate wing of the Capitol, causing extensive damage. After that 
incident, the Department selected six officers to attend the basic bomb 
course at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. When Gill Udell and 
the other original members returned to Washington after completing the 
training at Redstone Arsenal, their new unit became part of the Special 
Investigations Division.
  Over the 30 years of its existence, the Bomb Squad has excelled at 
developing and adapting new tools and techniques for rendering safe 
procedures. Members of the unit work with other Federal agencies such 
as the FBI, ATF, DoD and DoE, as well as private contractors in the 
defense industry to stay current with new technology and to promote the 
development of new tools and techniques for the bomb technician 
community. Captain Udell has been instrumental in every measure of this 
development.
  Although most of the calls received by the Bomb Squad each day turn 
out to be nothing harmful, there have been a number of incidents over 
the years in which the danger was real.
  July 4, 1976: An individual was stopped who had been acting 
suspiciously, looking at the grates on the West Front. When searched, 
the suspect admitted having home-made explosive devices, 1" x 6" inch 
lengths of cardboard tubing with non-electric fuses. Each of these 
bombs packed the explosive power of about a quarter stick of dynamite. 
The devices were transported to Ft. Belvoir, where the ATF assisted in 
detonating them. The suspect had intended to light the devices and 
throw them into the crowd.
  September 26, 1980: A Chevy pickup truck being used as an incendiary 
device tried to crash the South Wall of the Capitol building.
  May 20, 1982: A hoax device consisting of red candles with a sparkly 
coating that looked like dynamite and a clock placed inside a shoe box 
inside a paper bag, was found in the office of the Clerk of the House.
  October 18, 1983: At 1330 hours, a male foreign national entered 
House Gallery #10 with a device that consisted of two one-liter soft 
drink bottles filled with homemade black powder, a slide switch for 
control, flash bulb as an initiator, and a battery for a power source. 
The man stood up and, instead of exiting, walked down to the front, 
meanwhile trying to flip the switch on his device. Fortunately, the 
black powder mixture was not mixed correctly, so the device did not go 
off. The suspect was apprehended as soon as he walked towards the rail, 
and was eventually deported back to Israel after this event.

  November 7, 1983: At 2255 hours, a detonation occurred on the second 
floor of the U.S. Capitol, opposite the Republican Cloak room, causing 
extensive damage. The device was constructed of 4 to 5 pounds of 
dynamite, a battery, electric blasting cap and watch, all placed in a 
gym bag. Credit for the explosion was claimed by a group calling itself 
The Armed Resistance Unit. Seven militants belonging to the group were 
convicted of this bombing in 1990.
  August 20, 1984: A Molotov Cocktail was thrown and ignited on the 
East Front, Center Steps portico, by the 2nd floor entrance. One 
bystander, a Priest, was injured. The device consisted of a beer bottle 
filled with gas and containing a wick, and was ignited with a lighter. 
The perpetrator was arrested.
  March 15, 1986: A letter bomb addressed to a senator was intercepted 
by the U. S. Post Office. The device, consisting of a hollow antenna 
segment filled with match heads, battery, and wire heating element, had 
been made by a prisoner and sent from a prison in Kansas.
  April 19, 1988: The FBI called the Hazardous Devices Section for 
assistance. While executing a search warrant, FBI agents discovered 
deteriorated nitroglycerine-based dynamite in a suspect's closet. The 
HDS responded, removed, transported and destroyed the dynamite.
  June 21, 1988: A hoax device designed to resemble a hand grenade was 
sent to a Congressman's office but was intercepted by the House Post 
Office. The item was detonated during render safe procedures performed 
by the Hazardous Devices Section.
  December 5, 1990: A subject attempted to enter the Dirksen Senate 
Office Building with a hoax device consisting of three signal flares, a 
clock, wires and a circuit board.
  January 3, 1995: Just three weeks after the Bomb Squad acquired its 
new, state-of-the-art Andros robot, a suspected pipe bomb was found at 
3rd and Independence Ave., SW., and the Metropolitan police contacted 
HDS for assistance. When remote procedures could not open the device, 
it was placed in the bomb sphere truck and transported to the Marine 
Corps explosives range at Quantico, Virginia, where it was counter-
charged and blown open. The device turned out to be a sand fuse 
belonging to METRO.
  The Capitol Police Bomb Squad is rated by the FBI Bomb Data Center 
and staff of the Hazardous Devices School at Redstone Arsenal as one of 
the top bomb squads in the Nation. The unit has achieved recognition 
throughout the bomb technician community through their assistance to 
other agencies and service in offices and positions in professional 
associations and organizations.
  Captain Udell successfully led the Unit through many changes as the 
Department's mission evolved in recent years. The unit that started 
with a home-made bomb truck put together from donated and surplus parts 
is today equipped with state-of-the-art technology. Captain Udell was 
one of the first to recognize the need for specialized training in

[[Page E2172]]

Weapons of Mass Destruction and Hazardous Materials. Years before the 
Anthrax Letter was received in Senator Daschle's Office, all the HDS 
technicians were certified to handle nuclear, biological and chemical 
incidents.
  Captain Udell was instrumental in the response to the Anthrax letter 
attack, which occurred just one month after September 11th, 2001. He 
led his hazmat trained bomb techs on emergency calls that appeared to 
never end. Prior to the Anthrax attack, there was typically one or two 
``suspicious powder'' calls a month. That was soon to change. On 
October 15th, the Senator Daschle anthrax letter was opened in the Hart 
Senate office building. It was the 3rd, of a total of 56 ``suspicious 
powder'' response calls, for just that day. Captain Udell managed the 
teams' response, and being a certified bomb and hazmat technician 
himself, he jumped in and responded to calls with his team. The 
response and clean up of the anthrax incident encompassed nearly seven 
months until completion. Captain Udell worked tirelessly throughout the 
entire period, working long extended hours and rarely taking a day off. 
To Captain Udell, this was just doing his job; to his team, the Capitol 
Police, and the Congressional Community Captain Udell is a true leader 
and patriot in the protection of Congress.
  After the Anthrax incident, Captain Udell played a critical part in 
the development and implementation of the police department's Hazardous 
Materials Response Team. He finished his career as the Commander of the 
newly formed Hazardous Incident Response Division of the Capitol 
Police. The new unit incorporated an ``all hazards'' response 
capability to deal with the new and emerging threats in the post 9/11 
era.
  Captain Udell started his relationship with the Congress as high 
school student in the Page Program. He has served the Capitol Police 
and the Congress in an exemplary manner throughout his career. He is a 
role model to those who follow in what it means to ``protect the 
Congress''--the mission of the U.S. Capitol Police, which Captain Udell 
has never forgotten.

                          ____________________