Executive Session

Floor Speech

EXECUTIVE SESSION -- (Senate - May 07, 2009)

NOMINATION OF R. GIL KERLIKOWSKE TO BE DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL POLICY

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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, our Nation's next drug czar is going to face a number of key challenges. The Office of Drug Control Policy is going to play a leading role in addressing the drug-related violence in Mexico and along the southwest border--an area where, if we don't take the right steps to tackle problems today, we will most certainly see the spread of violence and drugs into towns and residences thousands of miles from the Mexican border.

We also know from history that as the economy falls, crime rises, and that crime is growing at the same time law enforcement agencies across the country face painful cutbacks and greater strains on their personnel and resources. It is, therefore, incumbent upon the next drug czar to ensure that law enforcement at all levels is working smarter, forging new relationships, and leveraging the resources they have. We will also have to address the rise in prescription drug abuse, the continued scourge of methamphetamine use, and the violence that affects so many of our communities due to drug trafficking.

Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske is the right man to address these big challenges. Chief Kerlikowske brings a fresh new perspective to the job as the Nation's drug czar. He is a cop's cop, and his perspective was shaped patrolling the streets in Florida, New York, and Washington State. Along the way, he has helped thousands of people touched by violence and drugs. He and the law enforcement officials that he has led have been on the front lines of our Nation's war against illicit narcotics and in keeping our communities safe. And I know that he will bring this hands-on perspective to his job as our Nation's drug czar.

Chief Kerlikowske also understands the importance of partnerships between ONDCP and our State and local law enforcement communities, because he has been on the local level. As the head of the Major Cities Chiefs Organization, which represents the 63 largest police departments in the United States, he sees the common problems facing cities across the country. I have seen this firsthand in his work as Seattle police chief.

This past December, under Chief Kerlikowske's leadership, the Seattle Police Department, in cooperation with county, State, and Federal law enforcement agencies, he was able to bust a drug ring that stretched from Mexico to Idaho to Seattle.

Chief Kerlikowske worked cooperatively to create a regional response to gang violence in Seattle and in King County. He built a coalition with the King County Sheriff's Office and other King County police chiefs, with the Washington Department of Corrections, the ATF, and other community leaders to tackle persistent gang violence in our neighborhoods. These multiagency, Federal-local partnerships require cooperation and compromise, and they require a leader with Chief Kerlikowske's experience to bring them all together. Local police chiefs and sheriffs have told me they are sorry to see him go, but the Nation is gaining a true innovator in Gil Kerlikowske. I know he is going to continue to work on these relationships with State and local law enforcement across the country, and this approach will make all of our communities safer.

Chief Kerlikowske also understands that the drug war will not only be won on the streets but in our classrooms and in our homes. For the past 9 years, he has been the national board chairman for the group Fight Crime: Invest in Kids. Under the guidance of Chief Kerlikowske, this group has focused their efforts on the importance of prevention by fighting for early childhood intervention funding, afterschool programs, and efforts to prevent child abuse. Chief Kerlikowske knows the best way to end the use of drugs and spread of crime is to prevent it, and he will bring that commonsense approach to ONDCP.

Chief Kerlikowske has served the people of our State well, and he will serve the people of the Nation well also. I am so proud to support his confirmation. In a few short minutes, the Senate will be voting on this confirmation, and I am very proud to stand here today to tell my colleagues they will be glad they voted with us to confirm this nomination.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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