[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 73 (Wednesday, May 13, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2846-S2847]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                 TRIBUTE TO REAR ADMIRAL KEVIN S. COOK

 Mr. BOOKER. Mr. President, I take this occasion to honor Rear 
Admiral Kevin S. Cook of the U.S. Coast Guard for his 36 years of 
dedicated service to our country. He is a man who, throughout his 
career, has led from the front, and our Nation has benefited greatly 
from his efforts.
  A native of Freehold, NJ, Rear Admiral Cook earned his bachelor of 
science degree in ocean engineering and his commission from the U.S. 
Coast Guard Academy in 1979. Rear Admiral Cook spent his early years in 
the service afloat on ``work boats,'' the Coast Guard's black hull/aids 
to navigation fleet. He served as a deck watch officer on the Coast 
Guard Cutter Madrona, as Executive Officer on the Coast Guard Cutter 
Bittersweet, and as commanding officer of the Coast Guard Cutter 
Cowslip.
  After his afloat career, Rear Admiral Cook developed proficiency in 
the Coast Guard's marine safety missions. His first operational ashore 
tour was at Marine Safety Office Hampton Roads. He was later assigned 
as executive officer and, subsequently, commanding officer of Marine 
Safety Office Houston-Galveston--the position he held at the time of 
the September 11, 2001, attacks. Under his leadership, the Marine 
Safety Office Houston-Galveston developed integrated tactics, 
techniques, and procedures to ensure the safety of the ports under its 
purview. In the years immediately following 9/11, Rear Admiral Cook 
directed homeland security operations while commanding the Regional 
Task Unit covering waters from Freeport, TX, to Lake Charles, LA. He 
carefully balanced safety and security with the need to facilitate 
commerce in the largest petrochemical complex in the United States. He 
executed these duties without any substantial disruption to the 
waterways or the more than 150 facilities that comprise the Port of 
Houston. His work established the foundation for Coast Guard maritime 
security operations today.
  Rear Admiral Cook also spent time developing policy for the Coast 
Guard and the international maritime community. He was an engineer for, 
and later the Chief of, the Coast Guard's hazardous materials division. 
He also served as the director of prevention policy, where he was 
responsible for many of the Coast Guard's Marine Safety, Security, and 
Stewardship missions affecting waterways management, domestic and 
international shipping, recreational and fishing boats, and port 
facilities throughout the Nation. During this tour, our Nation would 
once again need Rear Admiral Cook's leadership and, as before, he would 
answer that call, serving as the national incident commander's 
representative to BP headquarters for

[[Page S2847]]

oversight of well containment activities during the 2010 Deep Water 
Horizon response. His specialty knowledge and incident response 
expertise was instrumental to the management of the first-ever 
designated Spill of National Significance, SONS, in U.S. history.
  Rear Admiral Cook later served as deputy commander of the Atlantic 
area in Portsmouth, VA, overseeing operations spanning five Coast Guard 
districts and 40 States, from the Rocky Mountains to the Arabian Gulf.
  Rear Admiral Cook presently serves as the commander of the Eighth 
Coast Guard District. Headquartered in New Orleans, the Eighth District 
is responsible for Coast Guard operations spanning 26 States, from 
North Dakota to Brownsville, TX; more than 1,200 miles of Gulf of 
Mexico shoreline from South Padre Island to the Florida Panhandle; and 
more than 10,300 miles of inland waterways, including the entire 
lengths of the Mississippi, Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, and Tennessee 
river systems. It also oversees more than 179,000-square-miles of the 
Gulf of Mexico and the associated oil and gas exploration activities 
that occur on the Outer Continental Shelf.
  Unique to the Eighth Coast Guard District are the wide and varied 
missions carried out daily across the gulf and heartland of America. 
Rear Admiral Cook has provided strategic vision and critical 
operational support to ensure that the nearly 10,000 Active Duty, 
Reserve, Civilian, and Auxiliary members under his charge have the 
necessary tools and direction to protect some of our Nation's busiest 
ports and waterways. In fact, the Eighth District oversees 17 of the 
top 40 busiest U.S. ports in terms of gross tonnage shipped annually--
ports such as Houston, Lake Charles, Corpus Christi, New Orleans, and 
Mobile that are vital to our Nation's economic prosperity. The Eighth 
District's boundaries also contain the majority of our Nation's river 
systems, which facilitate the movement of 880 million tons of cargo 
annually via towboat and barge traffic. His responsibilities stretch 
200 miles from shore into the Gulf of Mexico, where there are more than 
6,500 oil and gas wells, over 100 mobile offshore drilling units, and 
approximately 30,000 people working on the Outer Continental Shelf 
every day. This is a vast area to command, but Rear Admiral Kevin Cook 
does so admirably.
  A lifelong learner, Rear Admiral Cook has taken advantage of every 
opportunity to improve himself for the betterment of the Coast Guard 
and his community. He earned a master of science degree in chemical 
engineering from Princeton University, and he is a 1999 graduate of the 
U.S. Army War College. He later served a 1-year appointment as the 
Coast Guard fellow to the chief of naval operations strategic studies 
group. Rear Admiral Cook has earned numerous military honors, including 
the Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Coast Guard 
Commendation Medal, and the Coast Guard Achievement Medal.
  Rear Admiral Cook is a Coast Guardsman, but that is not all he is. He 
is husband to Kristen, and, together, they are the proud parents of 
three grown children: Erin, a second-grade teacher at Rosa Parks 
Elementary school in Woodbridge, VA; Peter, a technician at a TV 
station in Winter Park, FL; and Megan, who followed in her father's 
footsteps and serves as a lieutenant junior grade on the Coast Guard 
Cutter Juniper in Newport, RI.
  This week, Rear Admiral Kevin Cook will leave his post in New Orleans 
and retire after 36 years of exemplary service to the Coast Guard and 
our Nation. Including his Coast Guard Academy time, Rear Admiral Cook 
has served our Nation for 40 years. Just as he has stood the watch and 
has been ``Semper Paratus . . . Always Ready'' during his career, I am 
sure that he is ready for the next phase of his life. The Coast Guard 
will carry on, as will his service legacy, through the men and women 
who he has led and mentored for the past four decades.
  I ask my colleagues in the Senate to join me in thanking Rear Admiral 
Cook for his distinguished service and, in Coast Guard tradition, wish 
him fair winds and following seas.

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