[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 21]
[House]
[Page 29026]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   RECOGNIZING THE GENEROSITY OF ROSS PEROT'S GIFT TO THE U.S. ARMY 
              COMMAND AND GENERAL STAFF COLLEGE FOUNDATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moran) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MORAN of Kansas. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening in the House of 
Representatives to recognize a remarkable gift that will enhance the 
professional education of our country's military officers and thereby 
improve the safety and security of every American.
  In November, Mr. Ross Perot of Texas pledged $6.1 million to support 
two new initiatives at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College 
located at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. At a time when our country is 
demanding so much from those in uniform, this significant contribution 
will ensure that America's military leaders receive the best education 
and training to accomplish their missions around the world.
  Mr. Perot's contribution followed a recent visit to Fort Leavenworth. 
He experienced firsthand the classroom instruction that U.S. officers 
and their interagency and international counterparts receive at the 
Army's Command and General Staff College, our country's oldest and 
largest military staff college. He also met with students and toured 
the Lewis and Clark Center, an impressive new building completed in 
2007 to house the college.
  Mr. Perot's gift will fund a new center for interagency cooperation 
and a new chair of ethics. As the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan 
make clear, cooperation between military and other agencies is an 
important component for our country's success. To address this need, 
the Col. Arthur D. Simons Center for Study of Interagency Cooperation 
will enhance the cooperation of interagency affairs. The second 
initiative to be created, the Gen. Hugh Shelton Chair in Ethics, will 
attract world-class academics and researchers to stress the importance 
of ethics and values in the military.
  You may notice that rather than naming these new programs after 
himself, Mr. Perot chose to name them after others. Col. Arthur 
``Bull'' Simons led the 1970 Son Tay raid to free prisoners of war in 
Vietnam, as well as a 1979 mission to rescue, from a prison in Tehran, 
two of Mr. Perot's employees. Retired Army Gen. Hugh Shelton served as 
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and is a friend of Mr. Perot's. 
Mr. Perot selflessly named his initiatives after military members who 
have played an important role in his life and defended our country's 
honor. This gesture is a testament to Ross Perot's character and 
patriotism.
  I commend Mr. Perot for his generous and continued support for our 
Armed Forces. I also want to commend retired Colonel Bob Ulin, who, as 
CEO of the Command and General Staff College Foundation, was 
instrumental in securing this tremendous pledge and growing the 
foundation generally. Since its inception in 2005 as a not-for-profit 
to support the college, the foundation has offered many programs and 
activities to promote excellence, including awards for students and 
faculty, support for conferences and lectures, and community outreach 
activities.
  For 128 years, the Command and General Staff College at Fort 
Leavenworth, Kansas, has served as the ``intellectual heart of the 
Army,'' producing numerous world and military leaders. The next 
Marshall, Eisenhower, or Petraeus may very well be sitting in a 
classroom in Leavenworth, Kansas, today.
  We are grateful to Ross Perot, an American patriot, for his support 
of our men and women who protect and defend our Nation by their service 
in the United States military, and we are grateful for Fort 
Leavenworth, Kansas.

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