July 12, 1999 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S8293 Now, Marine Lieutenant Colonels, even The power brokers in Washington, who ered that some messages could be those of us no longer on active service, favor ‘‘yes men’’ over honest men, probably paired as having been ‘‘randomized’’ by aren’t in the habit of referring to Generals as won’t miss Chuck Krulak very much. But his the same pad and page carrying ran- friends—particularly when the General in Marines will. And I will—mostly because I dom additive digits (and hence were question is the top Marine. And we sure remember him as a young Captain of Infan- don’t offer a public critique of his perform- try, thirty years ago, when we served to- solvable). ance as Commandant of all Marines. It just gether in a corner of hell called Vietnam. He Such mixed pairs were worked on by isn’t done. was then, as he is today, a warrior and a man a small group of women led by Katurah But in this case, somebody needs to do it. of principle, integrity and character. He em- ‘‘Katie’’ McDonald. This group had al- Because when Chuck Krulak takes off his bodied then, as he does today, the guiding ready produced a remarkable amount Dress Blues with those four stars on the ethos of the Marines—Semper Fidelis—Al- of code text, and the code-groups that shoulders for the last time as he will at the ways Faithful. end of this month, the conscience of the had appeared so far had even been in- Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, I believe dexed in context by a card machine. Joint Chiefs of Staff will have retired. And in you can see how fitting it is that this this town, that kind of moral authority is The material was just awaiting the ap- going to be missed more than most people re- article be included in the RECORD.∑ pointment of a linguist, and Gardner alize. f ‘‘appointed himself’’ to be it. It was the For four years, Chuck Krulak has been MEREDITH GARDNER easy stage, but without it all the pre- ‘‘the General who tells it like it is’’—in pub- paratory work would have been for lic and in private. Whether in testimony on ∑ Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President. I rise nothing. Capitol Hill, in the Pentagon’s ‘‘tank’’ where today to pay tribute to Meredith Gard- the Joint Chiefs of Staff meet, or at the Gardner’s reconstruction of the for- ner, long unsung contributor to the eign intelligence (VENONA) code book White House, Chuck Krulak could be counted identification of spies. Described by upon to tell the truth—whether they wanted was slow at first, but gained momen- to hear it or not. His reputation for integrity the FBI’s Robert Joseph Lamphere as tum. Because some recruits were in a city that too little values this virtue is ‘‘the greatest counter-intelligence tool named in the messages and given cover unparalleled—and a credit to the Corps of this country has ever known,’’ Gardner names, it became obvious that the FBI Marines he has led through some of the most was the ’s ought to receive translations of the ca- tumultuous events in our history. His stead- leading enabler of the reading of thou- bles. Special agent Robert Joseph fast devotion to his 174,000 Marines is evident sands of enciphered cables intercepted in all that he has said and done as Com- Lamphere was assigned to be the (very from Soviet foreign intelligence in the efficient) link between the NSA and mandant. And very little of it endeared him 1940’s. The NSA, under its various to an administration hell bent on FBI. The next is history. downsizing, feminizing, and de-‘‘moralizing’’ names, spent four decades deciphering Gardner spent 27 years working on America’s Armed Forces. what Moscow intended to be an un- the ‘‘Russian problem’’ before retiring When General Krulak was appointed Com- breakable Soviet cipher. Gardner and in 1972. He and his wife of 56 years, mandant in 1995, the Clinton White House his team painstakingly worked on Blanche, who also worked for the Army was busy taking an axe to America’s defense these messages in a project which came establishment. By the time these draconian Security Agency, now spend part of to be known eventually as ‘‘VENONA.’’ their time teaching to a small cuts were done, the Army would lose eight The resulting VENONA decrypts, active combat divisions. The Air Force and group of students. I commend Mr. Navy would lose 20 air wings—and 2,000 com- which were finally revealed publicly in Gardner for the invaluable assistance bat aircraft. Another 232 strategic bombers, 1995, detail the Soviet’s espionage ef- he has given to our country, which we 13 ballistic missile submarines, four aircraft forts in the during and are only now beginning to realize and carriers, all of our battleships, and more after World War II. understand. I salute Mr. Gardner for than 100 other combat vessels would be sent Gardner has a genius for learning his dedicated and important service.∑ to the boneyard. Only the Marine Corps was languages, and is fluent in German, f able to withstand Commander-in-Chief Clin- Spanish, French and Russian and has ton’s quest for a mothballed military. had courses in Old High and Middle TRIBUTE TO MR. LARRY STOLTE, And it didn’t stop there. The Marines were ON HIS RETIREMENT badgered to make their boot camps co-ed. High German, Old Norse, Gothic, Lith- General Krulak said no. The Corps was told uanian, and Sanskrit. He taught lan- ∑ Mr. SMITH of New Hampshire. Mr. that it should put women in ground combat guages at the Universities of Texas and President, I rise today to acknowledge assignments in their expeditionary forces. Wisconsin before being recruited by the and commend Mr. Larry Stolte as he Again, the top Marine said no. When the U.S. Army’s Signals Intelligence Serv- retires from the United States Fish and Pentagon started talking about relaxing the ice (the precursor to the National Se- Wildlife Service. standard on sexual misconduct, Chuck curity Agency) shortly after the Japa- Larry’s career in New England began Krulak just said, no. And when a Clinton po- litical appointee responsible for ‘‘femi- nese bombed Pearl Harbor. The Army as a fisheries biologist in 1969 with the nizing’’ the military decried the Marines as wanted people fluent in many lan- New Hampshire Fish and Game Depart- ‘‘extremists,’’ the Commandant fired back a guages to work on breaking German ment, working on the introduction of blistering response that yes, they were, ‘‘ex- and Japanese codes. Until 1955 Gardner Coho salmon in the Great Bay area. In tremely fit, extremely faithful and ex- worked at , a former 1975, he joined the United States Fish tremely patriotic.’’ In every case he was girl’s school located 10 miles outside and Wildlife Service and became the right. Washington, which served as the Atlantic Salmon Planner for New Eng- And he didn’t give an inch when the Army’s headquarters for code-breaking vaunted Clinton ‘‘National Security Team’’ land. Larry took the lead in developing acted as though the Marines had done so operations. Gardner soon added Japa- an Atlantic salmon strategic plan for much for so long with so little that they nese to his repertoire of languages. By southern New England, and chaired the could continue to do everything with noth- chance, he became the first American state committee that developed the At- ing forever. Faced with unprecedented global to read in an intercepted message the lantic salmon plan for Maine’s rivers. commitments and the prospect of declining Japanese word for atom bomb, ‘‘genshi- While working to restore Atlantic readiness, Krulak pulled no punches. He told bakudan.’’ salmon to New England’s waterways, the House and Senate Armed Services Com- When the war with Japan ended, the Larry began researching the ‘‘king of mittees that the Marines were ready to per- NSA phased out its Japanese section. form Mission Impossible—but that they gamefish’’ in the Merrimack River. He needed to be better armed and equipped. He Gardner learned that there was a sec- documented his research in a book ti- got what he wanted. tion working on messages tled ‘‘The Forgotten Salmon of the While the other branches of our Armed (its existence was kept secret) and he Merrimack,’’ which was published in Forces struggle to meet recruiting and re- transferred into it. Gardner insists 1981 and is recognized by many as the tention goals, lower their entrance stand- that the most arduous efforts to make most accurate record of the history of ards, ease training requirements and try to the messages readable had already been the Atlantic salmon in the Merrimack make military service less ‘‘military’’—the done before he came along. First, the Corps has done exactly the opposite. Krulak River. extended boot camp—adding his ‘‘Crucible messages had to be sorted into at least For the past 15 years, Larry has been Training’’ to the already rigorous initiation four varieties, each used by representa- the Fish and Wildlife Service’s coordi- into the Corps. His Marines loved him for it, tives of separate Soviet government nator for anadromous fish restoration and the Corps has thrived. departments. It had also been discov- in the Merrimack River. He has also