[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 23 (Tuesday, February 28, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E215-E216]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    IN MEMORY OF EDWARD R. CUMMINGS

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 28, 2006

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor the life of Edward R. 
Cummings of Maryland and lament his untimely passing. Mr. Speaker, we 
all know of the many unsung heroes that make this great institution 
work, the staff and advisers who labor in obscurity but without whom we 
could not do our work to represent the American people. It is even more 
so in the Executive Branch, where an individual can spend a whole 
career and never be introduced to the wider public, laboring not for 
the recognition that drives so many in the public sphere but instead 
toiling to uphold the public interest to and to serve his country. Our 
government cannot function without such individuals and it is they who 
can bring order and sanity to an ever changing kaleidoscope of figures 
who pass through the United States Government as elections occur and 
administrations change.
   Mr. Speaker, yesterday this Nation lost such a person, a remarkable 
public servant and a remarkable human being, Edward R.

[[Page E216]]

Cummings. Mr. Cummings served his country for over 30 years, first with 
the U.S. Army and then with the U.S. Department of State. Mr. Cummings 
earned a bachelor's degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1972, and 
then became an active military officer in 1972, where he completed 
training to become an airborne ranger, one of this Nation's elite 
forces. Instead of what surely would have been a distinguished career 
in armed combat, Mr. Cummings took another path and with the support of 
the U.S. military, entered George Washington University Law School. He 
studied a variety of subjects that were directly relevant to legal work 
in the international sphere, such as international law, Chinese law, 
human rights law, diplomatic and consular law, and United Nations law, 
and served on the G.W. international law journal. In 1975, he graduated 
first in his class of 317 students.
   Mr. Cummings was on active duty with the U.S. Army until 1979, 
graduating from judge advocate general's schools, and serving in the 
Office of the Judge Advocate General where he represented the 
Department of Defense at a number of international negotiations related 
to the Law of War. He remained in the Army Reserve from 1979 to 2000, 
assigned to the War Crimes and Prisoners of War Branch of the Office of 
the Judge Advocate General. He retired as a lieutenant colonel.
  In 1979, because of his distinguished representation of the Defense 
Department and his exceptional contributions to the U.S. delegations in 
which he participated, Mr. Cummings was invited to join the Office of 
the Legal Adviser of the U.S. Department of State where, over the 
course of nearly twenty five years, he has served as an attorney and 
adviser to numerous U.S. officials throughout the Government. Among 
other positions, he has been the Assistant Legal Adviser for Politico-
Military Affairs, Assistant Legal Adviser for Nonproliferation, 
Assistant Legal Adviser for Arms Control and Verification, and 
Counselor for Legal Affairs at the U.S. Mission in Geneva. From 2000 to 
the present, he has served as the U.S. Head of Delegation to 
negotiations relating to the Convention on Conventional Weapons. 
Appointed to the Senior Executive Service in 1987, Mr. Cummings has 
received numerous awards for superior service to the Department of 
State and has written on such subjects as the law of belligerent 
occupation, war crimes, arms control, international humanitarian law, 
and extradition.
  But this description of his career does not do justice to his 
accomplishments. Last year, after he was diagnosed with the pancreatic 
cancer that killed him yesterday, George Washington University Law 
School organized a symposium entitled Lawyers and War in honor of Mr. 
Cummings, which was held on September 30, 2005. Mr. Cummings was 
fortunate not only to hear a set of knowledgeable remarks, but to hear 
the gratitude of his colleagues and proteges and to reflect on the 
amazing set of accomplishments that he participated in. Whether it was 
negotiating status of forces agreements to protect our troops abroad, 
helping draft the first set of comprehensive sanctions against South 
Africa during the apartheid era, supporting and then leading 
negotiations to control the use of conventional weapons that might 
cause unnecessary suffering, or aiding in the positive developments in 
international human rights and international humanitarian law, Mr. 
Cummings made an invaluable contribution to this nation and to 
humankind.
  Let me just cite three accomplishments that can be directly related 
to Mr. Cummings that may not be his most important but have special 
significance to some of my colleagues in this body. First, Mr. Cummings 
was instrumental in fashioning the compromise that allowed the United 
States to become a party to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on 
the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed 
conflict. For those who did not follow that debate, most countries 
around the world wanted to ban the recruitment of any individual under 
the age of 18. However, because the United States recruits students in 
high school, the U.S. military insisted that the age be reduced to 17. 
This position put the United States in the posture of preventing an 
international consensus and seeming to be in league with those who were 
not committed to banning this terrible abuse at all. It was Ed Cummings 
who originated the idea of allowing voluntary recruitment of 17 year 
olds but not allowing them in combat until they were 18, creating an 
international consensus that put the focus where it always should have 
been, on militias that conscript 12, 13 and 14 year olds.
   Mr. Cummings also worked for decades on enhancing the substance and 
image of the laws of war. One life long accomplishment in this area was 
the recent decision by the countries that are party to the Geneva 
Conventions to create a new symbol in addition to the red cross and red 
crescent to allow the Israeli society, the Magen David Adom, to become 
an official member of the Red Cross community. This success, which will 
do much to erase a small but important irritant in this country's 
relation to the International Committee on the Red Cross, was due in 
large part to Mr. Cummings 20 year dedication to achieving this end.
  Another of his major accomplishments was his success in persuading 
the international community to agree on the extension of the 
Conventional Weapons Convention to all forms of armed conflict, whether 
international or internal in character. It has been in the savage 
internal armed conflicts of past decades that the civilian population 
has suffered most from the indiscriminate use of conventional weapons, 
and Mr. Cummings efforts will help to mitigate and limit this 
lamentable carnage.
  These three examples of a much deeper and richer career represent all 
that was exceptional about Mr. Cummings's service to this country. 
Using his full grasp of the complex issues he dealt with, his deft 
understanding of the U.S. military and the mechanisms of government, 
his keen eye for cutting through the issues to find a way through 
controversy, his strong personal relationships with individuals across 
our government and around the world, and his unwavering commitment to 
accomplish his mission, Mr. Cummings was able to accomplish these three 
difficult goals, thereby increasing both stature and national security 
of the United States. There are countless other successes of this sort 
which would take up pages of this record if they were described in 
full.
  Finally, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Cummings was an extraordinary human being. 
His colleagues and friends speak personally and movingly about his 
commitment to others as individuals and as attorneys. If the law 
remains a place where law school is but a starting point and it is the 
learning from one's colleagues that is the most important basis for 
success, Mr. Cummings has served as ``master'' to many ``apprentices'' 
who are now serving their own distinguished careers in many walks of 
life (although Mr. Cummings would have dismissed those terms, calling 
everyone ``colleagues''). This is a legacy that will last beyond Mr. 
Cummings final horizon. And with his personal warmth and his many 
avocations such as opera, mountain climbing and skiing, Mr. Cummings 
was admired by all who knew him.
  Mr. Speaker, it is tragic that just at a time when Mr. Cummings was 
considering moving on to a new stage in his career and life, he was 
diagnosed in December 2004 with an untreatable form of pancreatic 
cancer which took him from us just yesterday. From all reports, his 
efforts to combat this illness and to show grace in the face of death 
itself demonstrated once again why Mr. Cummings is respected and loved, 
and our heart goes out to his wife and life partner, Clair, during this 
difficult time.
   While Mr. Cummings was a clear example to all of us of a life well-
lived, his tragic end is still a loss for all of us. We can only be 
thankful that this fellow traveler was able to do so much for his 
friends and acquaintances and for his country while he was with us.

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