[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 155 (Wednesday, September 25, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5700-S5701]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   TRIBUTE TO GENERAL JOSEPH DUNFORD

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I have been honored to know and work with 
many of the leaders in our military. One of the absolute finest I have 
known is General Joseph F. Dunford, Jr., the outgoing Chairman of the 
Joint Chiefs of Staff. I have known General Dunford for years, 
certainly in his current capacity, but before that as Commandant of the 
Marine Corps. As the father of a marine, I looked at Joe Dunford as the 
best the Corps could have and what we all want from the men and women 
serving and leading the Marine Corps.
  General Dunford has had a long and distinguished career of service as 
a marine. He was deployed during Operation Iraqi Freedom, earned the 
nickname ``Fighting Joe'' while serving under James Mattis, and led the 
U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. He is admired by the men and women 
who served under him and is known for his respect and care for 
civilians caught up in conflict.
  Marcelle and I were honored to travel with him to Vermont in 2017, 
where he gave the commencement address at St. Michael's College, 40 
years after his own graduation at that same institution. He told the 
graduates about to step out into their futures, ``have the moral 
courage to do what's right, even when it's tough. Commit to serving 
something bigger than yourself.'' Like General Dunford, I am a graduate 
of St. Michaels, and Marcelle has an honorary degree from St. Michaels. 
Also like General Dunford, I did my graduate work at Georgetown.
  I mention his background because he is not a man that would ever brag 
about all the things he has done. Rather, he speaks to the values that 
he believes America should follow. I listened to him, standing in his 
uniform, speaking to these young men and women who were graduating. You 
could hear a pin drop in the hall, except for the times when they would 
interrupt his speech with standing ovations.
  He has led by service his entire career. He thought always of the men 
and women under his command. He thought of their families. He thought 
of our future and the world we would leave to our grandchildren. His 
legacy will be measured by his presence on the battlefield, but perhaps 
more so by the capable leadership he has brought that will be felt for 
generations to come. That is truly the mark of an exceptional and 
visionary leader.
  General Dunford and his wife Ellyn are looking forward to their 
retirement, but I do hope that academic and public institutions will 
call on him for his expertise and his knowledge, but especially his 
conscience.
  I ask unanimous consent that an article from the Washington Post, 
entitled ``Joseph Dunford's steady hand in the turmoil of Trump's 
Washington,'' by David Ignatius be printed in the Record, as it so 
eloquently captures the general's legacy and service to our Nation.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

               [From the Washington Post, Sept. 12, 2019]

   Joseph Dunford's Steady Hand in the Turmoil of Trump's Washington

                          (By David Ignatius)

       Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint 
     Chiefs of Staff who will retire this month, is that rare 
     senior official in Donald Trump's Washington whose career and 
     reputation don't seem to have been tarnished by his dealings 
     with the president.
       The explanation is simple: The low-key, Boston-Irish Marine 
     maintained the distance and discipline of a professional 
     military officer. He didn't try to be Trump's friend or 
     confidant, and he stayed away from palace intrigue. The White 
     House treated him with respect, and his fellow commanders 
     came to regard him with something approaching awe: ``We'd all 
     like to be Joe Dunford,'' says one four-star general.
       In the ceaseless turmoil of the Trump administration, 
     Dunford has been a steady hand who helped insulate national 
     security policy from disruption and political pressure. His 
     Pentagon colleagues say he will be keenly missed--several 
     described him as the best chairman in recent decades--and 
     they are hoping Gen. Mark Milley, his successor, can sustain 
     the independence and cool judgment that defined Dunford's 
     tenure.
       Dunford doesn't like talking about his relationship with 
     the White House. The closest he has come was probably a 
     Pentagon news briefing last month: ``I've worked very hard to 
     remain apolitical and not make political judgments. . . . I 
     work very hard to provide military advice . . . and make sure 
     that our

[[Page S5701]]

     men and women in uniform have the wherewithal to do their 
     job.''
       ``Joe Dunford is a man for all seasons,'' says Jim Mattis, 
     the former defense secretary and a fellow Marine. ``Joe has a 
     quiet mind, not easily distracted; he quantifies things, but 
     he brings in the nonquantifiable. Still waters run deep in 
     him. You simply can't shake his faith in his fundamental 
     values.''
       Mattis cites two combat anecdotes to explain Dunford's 
     unflappable style. In March 2003, on the eve of the invasion 
     of Iraq, Mattis told Dunford that because of a last-minute 
     change of plans, his regiment had to move out in five hours, 
     rather than at dawn the next morning. ``He just took it in 
     stride,'' says Mattis.
       A few days later, Dunford's unit had fought its way to the 
     Tigris River, with the loss of some Marines, and was ready to 
     seize a strategic bridge. Mattis told him he had to fall back 
     until conditions were safer for the assault. Dunford obeyed 
     that painful retreat order without hesitation, Mattis says.
       Dunford was born for the job. The son of a Marine who 
     fought at Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War, he grew up 
     in Quincy, Mass., a working-class suburb of Boston. 
     Colleagues say he retained those grounded values throughout a 
     rapidly rising career.
       Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of the Central Command and 
     another fellow Marine, remembers that Dunford faced a 
     delicate problem as a young lieutenant colonel on the staff 
     of the Marine commandant. He had to manage a popular but 
     misplaced protocol officer. He promptly removed the officer, 
     to the consternation of some politically powerful friends.
       Dunford's dream was probably to become Marine commandant 
     himself, and after he was appointed to that position in 2014, 
     friends say he assumed it was his last military post. When 
     President Barack Obama nominated him chairman in 2015, ``he 
     took the job with a Catholic sense of guilt'' to do his duty, 
     says one friend.
       On Dunford's desk as chairman, he placed the admonition of 
     a venerated predecessor, Gen. Omar Bradley, who cautioned his 
     staff that they didn't have the ``luxury'' of focusing on 
     just one theater but needed to think globally. Dunford has 
     prodded the different services and combatant commands to do 
     just that--move toward integrated global strategy, rather 
     than separate fiefdoms.
       Dunford built a powerful joint staff to coordinate policy, 
     directed by strong officers such as McKenzie and Adm. Michael 
     Gilday, the new chief of naval operations. The joint staff's 
     importance grew as the interagency process of the National 
     Security Council decayed. Some grouse that the joint staff is 
     now too powerful, but it helped fill a dangerous vacuum.
       In dealing with Trump, Dunford's friends say his model was 
     Gen. George C. Marshall, the celebrated wartime chief of 
     staff to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Marshall didn't try 
     to be FDR's pal, or laugh at his jokes, or join his social 
     gatherings. Marshall simply did his job.
       One four-star general recalls that Trump would sometimes 
     ask Dunford whether he liked a particular policy option. 
     ``I'm not in love with any of them,'' Dunford would answer. 
     ``My job is to give you choices.''
       It's Dunford's legacy that in a time of national tumult and 
     division, the military seems to have remained steady as a 
     rock.
  (At the request of Mr. Thune, the following statement was ordered to 
be printed in the Record.)

                          ____________________