[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 75 (Wednesday, May 23, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Page S3511]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      REMEMBERING STEPHEN DAGGETT

  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I was deeply saddened to learn of the 
sudden death on April 17 of Stephen Daggett, a highly respected defense 
expert at the Congressional Research Service and an authority on the 
U.S. defense budget.
  Mr. Daggett provided Congress with authoritative analysis on many 
aspects of defense spending in the overall context of defense policy 
and U.S. national security strategy. His briefs to Members of Congress 
and his written reports captured the complexity of issues ranging from 
the Department of Defense's Quadrennial Defense Review to the budget 
priorities of the Armed Services.
  Very few ``defense experts'' could do what he could do. Mr. Daggett 
was admired by his professional colleagues in CRS and earned many 
awards for his dedication and outstanding performance. His appraisals 
were sought-after by Members of Congress and their staffs, by others in 
the Department of Defense, and by industry. Mr. Daggett's particular 
interest in providing an unbiased, unvarnished assessment to diverse 
constituencies, especially outside Congress, was laudable.
  In an era of wide political gulfs, he supplied irrefutable ground 
truths--which often became the basis for common understanding and 
problem solving. His accounts of the interrelated nature of defense 
policy, strategy, and budgets continue to be the standards of the 
discipline. Thought leaders on and off the Hill, in industry, 
associations and think tanks, on the right and the left, will feel his 
absence.
  Mr. Daggett was a national asset who provided the Congress with 
invaluable expertise on defense issues for over 20 years and during 
three U.S. wars. He will be sorely missed by his professional 
colleagues and friends, by his wife, Diana, his sons Thomas and Sam, 
and by the many in Congress who depended on him.

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