AG LYNCH MAKES REMARKS AT SWEARING-IN CEREMONY

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch Delivers Remarks at Swearing-In by Vice President Joe Biden
Washington, DCUnited States ~ Monday, April 27, 2015

As I look out over all of you gathered here today, my overwhelming reaction is one of profound gratitude.  I must, of course, thank the President for his faith in me in asking me to lead the department that I love to even greater heights.

Thank you, Mr. Vice President, for your presence and your comments here today, and for your steadfast support and wise counsel throughout the process.  I also must thank Senators Schumer and Leahy for their support, over the years and now, and for making the floor of the U.S. Senate a welcoming place for me and my family.  And of course, my wonderful family.  As you can see, we’re quite a force multiplier!

Many of you have come to know my father through this process.  He has been at every hearing and every vote.  But he didn’t just start now.  I remember looking up as a young Assistant U.S. Attorney starting my first trial and seeing him there – and he came to every one thereafter.  He has encouraged me in all things, even when my choices were not the ones he would have made for me.  In that, he has been the best of fathers.  Without him, I would not be here today, being sworn in as the 83rd Attorney General of the United States, just one week after his 83rd birthday.

And my mother, who could not be here today but is never far from my thoughts or my heart.  She grew up in a world where she was always told what she could not do or could not be, but always knew in her heart that she could soar.  She did what would have seemed impossible in the small North Carolina town of her youth.  She raised a daughter whom she always told, whatever the dream, whether lawyer, prosecutor or even Attorney General, “of course you can.”

I must also thank my wonderful husband, who has supported all of my choices and my dreams.  I would not trade his love and support for all the riches in the world – because to me, they are all the riches in the world.

Thanks also go to my colleagues and friends here in the department, in the Eastern District of New York, and beyond.  But even more than that, tremendous thanks go to the literally thousands of people, many of whom I have never met, who have expressed their support throughout the process.  From the sisterhood of my sorority and all the Greeks who came together, to churches and schools and people on the street who have stopped me and said just a word or two – please know that those few words sometimes made all the difference in the world to me as I traveled this road.

I thank you all, as I prepare to join once again with the outstanding people of the Department of Justice.  I have been privileged to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with you twice before from the Eastern District of New York.  You are the ones who make real the promise of justice and redress for all Americans.  I am honored beyond words to step into the larger role today as your Attorney General, as we continue the core work of our mission – the protection of the American people.

All of the people here at the department are here because at some point in our lives, we all said, “I want to be a lawyer.”  “I want to be a law enforcement officer.”  “I want to be a federal agent.”  “I want to be someone’s hero.”

At the heart of that – for me and for all of us – whether attorney or agent, staff or principal – is the desire to leave this world a better place for us having been a part of it.

The challenge in that – for you, for me, for all of us that love this department and love the law – is to use the law to that end.  To not just represent the law and enforce it, but use it to make real the promise of America, the promise of fairness and equality, “of liberty and justice for all.”  We are all just here for a time – whether in this building or even on this earth.  But the values we hold dear will live on long after we have left this stage.  Our responsibility, while we are here, is to breathe life into them; to imbue them with the strength of our convictions and the weight of our efforts.

I know this can be done.

Because I am here to tell you, if a little girl from North Carolina who used to tell her grandfather in the fields to lift her up on the back of his mule, so she could see “way up high, Granddaddy,” can become the chief law enforcement officer of the United States of America, then we can do anything.

We can imbue our criminal justice system with both strength and fairness, for the protection of both the needs of victims and the rights of all.  We can restore trust and faith both in our laws and in those of us who enforce them.  We can protect the most vulnerable among us from the scourge of modern-day slavery – so antithetical to the values forged in blood in this country.  We can protect the growing cyber world.  We can give those in our care both protection from terrorism and the security of their civil liberties.  We will do this as we have accomplished all things both great and small – working together, moving forward, and using justice as our compass.

I cannot wait to begin that journey.

Thank you all for being here, both today and in my life.

Thank you.

A NATIONAL DAY OF SERVICE

Vice President Joe Biden stops to smile for a photograph while packing care kits for deployed troops during a national day of service event at the District of Columbia Armory in Washington, D.C., Jan. 19, 2013. DOD photo by Army Sgt. 1st Class Tyrone C. Marshall Jr.

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Volunteers Come Together For National Day of Service
By Army Sgt. 1st Class Tyrone C. Marshall Jr.
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Jan. 20, 2013 - In conjunction with tomorrow's observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday, about 10,000 people from all across the country traveled here to participate yesterday in the national day of service.

Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, were among many people who came out to support troops overseas by packing care kits to send to them.

"We all get what is so important today," the vice president said. "We still have 68,000 troops in harm's way. ... They're not looking for anything, but knowing that those of us here at home remember them and know what is going is an important piece of the equation."

Dr. Biden expressed her gratitude to the many volunteers who came out to pack care kits as a part of the national day of service, noting that she and First Lady Michelle Obama began the Joining Forces initiative to rally the nation behind military families.

"I'd like to thank each and every one of you for volunteering today to assemble these important care kits," she said. "Our military families have done so much for our country, and each of us can do something in return. [This] is why the first lady and I created Joining Forces -- to encourage all Americans to support and honor our military families."

John Adams, a former Marine Corps captain and a Milwaukee native, works with an organization called Operation Gratitude, which helped to sponsor the event.

"It means the world to me," he said. "I believe strongly in having everybody's efforts focused on supporting the military. For everybody to come here together and assemble care kits for Operation Gratitude to send to troops overseas is very special and very meaningful."

Adams also was able to speak from a service member's perspective, having served as an infantry officer, leading rifle and mortar platoons for two deployments – one in Afghanistan and another aboard a Navy vessel in Southeast Asia.

"It meant the world to me [then as well]," he said. "We received much needed items such as the hygiene kits and some letters of support that helped raise morale. So it meant the world to everybody, and I'm speaking on behalf of all the sailors and Marines that I was with. We really felt a connection with people back home."

Two volunteers, Paquilla Jones and Sajedea Chin, both sophomore students studying civil engineering at Howard University, said they enjoyed volunteering.

"It's a good thing to do for the troops," Jones said.

"I just like giving back, so this is an opportunity to give back and be with friends," Chin said.

Chin added that she enjoyed meeting new people and had volunteered previously, but nothing like the national day of service, where the event's goal was to pack 100,000 care kits.

"I think it's a good opportunity for us to get together with different people – meet people we don't know – and do something good," she said.

AMERICANS KILLED IN LIBYA HONORED AS THEY CAME HOME

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Top U.S. Officials Honor Americans Who Died in LibyaBy Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Sept. 14, 2012 - As they touched down for the last time on U.S. soil, four Americans killed during attacks this week at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, were honored with eulogies today by President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

In the audience at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland included Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, Vice President Joe Biden, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan E. Rice, former Secretary of State and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin L. Powell, as well as many other top military, State Department and civilian officials, and family members of the fallen patriots.

In four flag-draped caskets, each carried from a C-17 aircraft and into a large hangar by seven Marines, were the remains of U.S. Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens, Foreign Service information management officer Sean Smith, and security officers Tyrone S. Woods and Glen A. Doherty.

The Sept. 11 attacks in Benghazi also wounded three Americans who are recovering at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.

At the ceremony, Clinton spoke first, commenting on the life of each State Department hero.

"Today," she said, "we bring home four Americans who gave their lives for our country and our values. To the families of our fallen colleagues I offer our most heartfelt condolences and deepest gratitude."

Sean Smith, who joined the State Department after six years in the Air Force, was respected as a technology expert by colleagues in Pretoria, South Africa, Baghdad, Montreal, and The Hague in the Netherlands. He enrolled in correspondence courses at Pennsylvania State University and had high hopes for the future, Clinton said.

"Sean leaves behind a loving wife, Heather; two young children, Samantha and Nathan; and scores of grieving family, friends and colleagues," she said.

"And that's just in this world," the secretary added, "because online, in the virtual worlds that Sean helped create, he is also being mourned by countless competitors, collaborators and gamers who shared his passion."

Clinton said Tyrone Woods, known by friends as Rone, spent 20 years as a Navy SEAL, serving multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and later earning distinction as a registered nurse and a certified paramedic.

"Since 2010 he protected American diplomatic personnel in dangerous posts from Central America to the Middle East," she said. "Our hearts go out to Tyrone's wife Dorothy and his three sons, Tyrone Jr., Hunter and Kai, born just a few months ago, and to his grieving family, friends and colleagues."

Glen Doherty, called Bub by his friends, also was a former SEAL and an experienced paramedic, the secretary said, who died as he lived -- serving his country and protecting his colleagues.

"Glen deployed to some of the most dangerous places on earth, including Iraq and Afghanistan, always putting his life on the line to safeguard other Americans," Clinton said.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with Glen's father, Bernard; his mother, Barbara; his brother, Gregory; his sister, Kathleen and their grieving families, friends and colleagues, the secretary added.

Clinton said she was honored to know Ambassador Chris Stevens.

"I want to thank his parents and siblings who are here today for sharing Chris with us and with our country. What a wonderful gift you gave us," she told them.

During a distinguished career in the Foreign Service, Clinton said, Stevens won friends for the United States around the world and made their hopes his own.

"During the revolution in Libya, he risked his life to help protect the Libyan people from a tyrant, and he gave his life helping them build a better country," the secretary added.

People loved to work with Chris, who was "known not only for his courage but for his smile -- goofy but contagious -- [and] for his sense of fun and that California cool," she said, referring to his home in the northern part of the state.

In the days since the attack, so many Libyans have expressed sorrow and solidarity, the secretary said.

"One young woman, her head covered and her eyes haunted with sadness, held up a handwritten sign that said: 'Thugs and killers don't represent Benghazi nor Islam,'" Clinton said.

"The president of the Palestinian Authority, who worked closely with Chris when he served in Jerusalem, sent me a letter remembering his energy and integrity, and deploring, and I quote, 'an act of ugly terror,'" she added.

Others from across the Middle East and North Africa have offered similar sentiments, the secretary said.

"This has been a difficult week for the State Department and for our country. We've seen the heavy assault on our post in Benghazi that took the lives of these brave men. We've seen rage and violence directed at American Embassies over an awful Internet video that we had nothing to do with," she said.

It's hard for Americans to make sense of these events because the events are senseless and unacceptable, Clinton added, referring to multiple protests at U.S. Embassies over a film posted on the Internet that insults the Prophet Mohammed.

In response, protestors also have swarmed the U.S. Embassy in Tunisia and the German Embassy in Sudan, and the State Department website has posted travel alerts advising caution because of possible demonstrations for anyone visiting U.S. Embassies in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Jakarta, Indonesia.

"The people of Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Tunisia did not trade the tyranny of a dictator for the tyranny of a mob," Clinton said. "Reasonable people and responsible leaders in these countries need to do everything they can to restore security and hold accountable those behind these violent acts."

More difficult days lie ahead, she added, "but it is important that we don't lose sight of the fundamental fact that America must keep leading the world. We owe it to these four men to continue the long, hard work of diplomacy."

As he took the podium, Obama quoted Scripture as teaching that, "'Greater love hath no man than this; that a man lay down his life for his friends.'" And he said a few words about each of the Americans who died in Libya.

"Four Americans, four patriots," the president said. "They loved this country and they chose to serve it and served it well. They had a mission and they believed in it. They knew the danger and they accepted it."

Obama added, "I know that this awful loss -- terrible images of recent days, the pictures we're seeing again today -- have caused some to question this work, and there is no doubt these are difficult days."

In such incidents of anger and violence, he said, even the most hopeful must wonder.

"But amid all the images of this week I also think of the Libyans who took to the streets with homemade signs expressing their gratitude to an American who believed in what we could achieve together," the president said.

"I think of the man in Benghazi with his sign in English," Obama said. "A message he wanted all of us to hear. It said, 'Chris Stevens was a friend to all Libyans. Chris Stevens was a friend.'"

That message is one each American sends every day, he added, that America is a friend.

"Even as voices of suspicion and mistrust seek to divide countries and cultures from one another, the United States of America will never retreat from the world," the president said.

Americans will never stop working for the dignity and freedom that every person deserves, whatever their creed or faith, he added.

"That's the essence of American leadership. That's the spirit that sets us apart from other nations. This was their work in Benghazi and this is the work we will carry on," the president said.

The sacrifice of Doherty, Woods, Smith and Stevens will never be forgotten, he added.

"We will bring to justice those who took them from us," Obama said. "We will stand fast against the violence on our diplomatic missions. We will continue to do everything in our power to protect Americans serving overseas, whether that means increasing security at our diplomatic posts, working with host countries ... and making it clear that justice will come to those who harm Americans."

HONORING SURVIVORS AND SHARING LOSS

Vice President Joe Biden talks with troops after a ceremony at Victory Base Complex, Iraq, Dec. 1, 2011. The ceremony commemorated the sacrifices and accomplishments of U.S. and Iraqi service members. U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Cecilio Ricardo   


FROM:  AMERICAN FORCES PRESS SERVICE
Dempseys, Bidens Honor Survivors, Biden Shares Loss
By Lisa Daniel
American Forces Press Service
ARLINGTON, Va., May 25, 2012 - The first family of the military joined the second family of the United States here today in support of relatives of those who died while serving their country.

"We're here to honor you this weekend," Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, standing alongside his wife, Deanie, told some 2,000 people who gathered at a Marriott hotel to start the 18th annual TAPS National Military Survivor Seminar. TAPS, or Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, is a nonprofit group that supports surviving families of fallen service members.

"Most Americans have not had the life-altering experience of being handed a folded flag like all of you have," Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said.
"You are the face of these two wars" in Iraq and Afghanistan, Dempsey said. "We honor your sacrifice ... and will never forget it."

"We're with you," he added. "I promise you that."
Dempsey said he was honored to share the stage with Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill. "I can tell you, their heart is exactly where you want it to be," he told the audience.

Looking out over a sea of red TAPS "Survivor" t-shirts, Biden shared his own personal story of loss with the audience. It was just a few weeks after his first election to the U.S. Senate on Dec. 18, 1972 when the call came into his Washington office that his wife and three very young children had been in a car crash.

"Just like you guys, you can tell by the tone of that phone call," he said. "You can feel it in your bones."

Biden was told that his wife, Neilia, and their one-year-old daughter, were both dead. "They were not sure if my sons would make it," he told the hushed crowd.
"I know people meant well when they came up and said, 'Joe, I know how you feel,' but they didn't have a damn idea," he said as some clapped with empathy.
"For the first time in my life, I understood how someone could contemplate suicide," Biden said. "Because you've been to the top of the mountain and you knew you'd never get there again.

"No parent should be pre-deceased by their son or daughter," he added.
"I don't know about you guys, but I was angry," Biden said, adding that the devastation tested his faith as a Catholic.

Biden's sons made a full recovery and he remarried in 1977. "This woman literally saved my life," he said, reaching out to Jill next to him.

The vice president went on to say that he "has a wonderful family. They are always there for me. But there is still something gigantic missing."

Each year, Biden said, Jill makes a wreath to commemorate the family's loss and they take flowers to the cemetery.

"Your relationship with your family will be like a bond of steel," Biden told the survivors. "You'll see the depth of a relationship you never knew could happen."

Speaking to those who'd lost spouses, the vice president said, "You're going to go through periods where you will feel guilty as hell" by starting a new relationship. But, he added, "Keep thinking about what your husband or wife would want you to do."

Biden urged the survivors to have hope. "It can and will get better. There will come a day, I promise, when your thoughts of your son or daughter or husband or wife will bring a smile to your face before it brings a tear."