[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Page 5291]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         TRIBUTE TO RETIRING SERGEANT AT ARMS ALFONSO LENHARDT

  Mr. BENNETT. Mr. President, the Democratic leader took to the floor 
recently to pay tribute to the retiring Sergeant at Arms, GEN Al 
Lenhardt.
  I used to chair the Committee on Legislative Branch Appropriations, 
in which circumstance I had continual contact with the Office of the 
Sergeant at Arms. When I became the ranking member of that subcommittee 
was when Al Lenhardt was hired as the Senate Sergeant at Arms. I can 
report to my fellow Senators that he had no partisanship at all in the 
way he discharged his duties.
  It was within a matter of days after he was sworn in as Sergeant at 
Arms that September 11 hit. His baptism into the procedures of the 
Senate was handling the disaster of September 11 and trying to work out 
security for the Senators, and then to handle security as we traveled 
to Ground Zero in New York. Since that time, he has been faced with the 
challenge of making the Capitol as secure as possible.
  As he moves on to his next assignment, I want to make it clear that 
I, too, salute him for the service he has performed for the Senate. He 
has handled himself in a very professional way. He has done very 
significant things to make this building safer, things that most 
Senators do not see.
  By virtue of my position on that subcommittee, I was privileged to be 
in a confidential, classified briefing, as he outlined for us the 
actions that have been taken to make this building safe.
  Indeed, I now take some comfort out of the fact that if there is a 
biological or chemical attack on Capitol Hill, this building is the 
safest place to be of any place on Capitol Hill. And that is a tribute 
to the patriotism, professionalism, and service of Al Lenhardt.
  So I join with my friends on the Democratic side of the aisle, and 
the Democratic leader, who chose him for that position, in wishing him 
the very best in his professional service here forward.
  Mr. REID. Will my friend yield?
  Mr. BENNETT. I am happy to yield.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I am embarrassed that I have not come prior 
to tonight and said something about GEN Al Lenhardt. I have served in 
the Senate a long time, and we have had some very fine Sergeants at 
Arms. But for the time and place, he was what we needed.
  He is a man who had been literally under fire when he was in the 
military. He had been head of all the MPs in the Army. And for him to 
step in here, it was a perfect time, when we were going through all the 
trouble we had.
  I have gotten to know him extremely well. He has been a personal 
asset to me and to all the Senators. As the distinguished Senator from 
Utah mentioned, staff and a number of Senators do not know how much he 
has done. Someday maybe something will be written about everything he 
personally went through to make sure this place is very safe.
  I very much appreciate the Senator from Utah mentioning this fine 
man. This is not a partisan issue. Those of us who worked with him know 
what a wonderful job he has done. This is a spoils system we have here, 
and there are things that happen when there are new administrations, 
and I accept that.
  I personally am going to miss him. He is a fine American. He has 
rendered great service to the Senate and to our country.
  Mr. BENNETT. I thank the Senator from Nevada. I would also note that 
at the request of the majority leader, I was somewhat involved in the 
selection process to come up with a successor to Al Lenhardt. I can 
assure the Democratic whip and all other Senators that in the new 
Sergeant at Arms Pickle, we have a worthy replacement for Sergeant 
Lenhardt.
  Mr. REID. General Lenhardt.
  Mr. BENNETT. Now General Lenhardt. All right. I am very comfortable 
that the new Sergeant at Arms will carry on the same level of 
professionalism and provide the same level of protection for the 
Senators and our staffs that we have seen before.
  It is a tribute to General Lenhardt that he has agreed to stay on 
until March 17 to see that the transition is as seamless as possible 
and that we do indeed maintain the level of safety we now have.
  As good as the hands we have been in in the past, we will remain in 
good hands in the future.

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