Transcripts For CSPAN Commencement Speeches Attorney General

I am assistant director of the fbis Training Division. Visitors, we are very happy to have you with us. Members of the marine corps, fbi, dea and National Academy family, welcome home. I see we have several beautiful and peaceful babies in the audience. All babies are beautiful, they are not always peaceful. While all babies are beautiful, theyre not always peaceful. There is a high likelihood they will get frustrated with us. Please stay with us, keep us in the audience. Their voices remind us of why we choose this for a profession. Today, we have 213 kids in the audience, many of which are skipping school. [laughter] this is far too many to ask for an emergency waiver, so when you get back home you may have to write a short report to avoid detention reminding your teachers why this is such a special place. Quantico is a crossroads of american history. The oldest artifact discovered here is a native american spearhead over 4500 years old. It was a historic path through quantico on which it is told that pocahontas was walking when she met the english in 1613. That road became part of a larger road that general washington used march the Continental Army down to yorktown to defeat the british and secure our future. That same road was used by soldiers in the war of 1812 and Union Soldiers before and after the battle affect fredericksburg. The marines later marched down reported in 1917 to train and join general pershing in france to protect our friends and allies. In the last century and this one this has been a home, not only for the fbi, but for the marine corps, National Academy, and partners from the dea who have come here to prepare to protect the American People and uphold the constitution of the United States. This is a special place for many of us. To begin, if you are able, i ask that you stand for our National Anthem and remain standing for the invocation. O say can you see, by the dawns early light what so proudly we hailed at the twilights last gleaming whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight oer the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming. And the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there o say, does that starspangled banner yet wave oer the land of the free, and the home of the brave [applause] eternal god, creator of us all, we live in two worlds, the one that is and the one that ought to be. In the world that is, injustice is routine, violence is ordinary, most refuse to get involved. In the world that ought to be, injustice is never excused, violence is never accepted, and no one stands idle while his neighbor bleeds. Each of the men and women have dedicated themselves into turning the world that is into the world that ought to be. At times the work is lonely and frustrating, but in the past weeks they have discovered that they are not alone. Leaders in departments large and small, they encountered others from their own region, nation, or across the globe that shared their dedication and commitment. Together they wept, studied, and tested themselves. They pushed beyond their own limitations and found hidden strengths. We ask your blessings this morning upon their instructors and counselors, bless them for their patience and persistence. They have provided them with insights, skills, and knowledge. The world that ought to be is drawing closer because of them. We ask your blessings upon the families of your graduates, all those who love and nurture them. Their parents, brothers, and sisters, their wives and children. We thank them for their selfless sacrifice of weeks of family time, without which this program could not exist. Please make there were unions in the days and weeks ahead joyous. They deserve it. We thank you for allowing all of us to share in the building of a world of justice and peace, and we say, amen. Donald please be seated. Before we go any further, let us take a minute to remember the 47 Law Enforcement professionals who have died in the line of duty since the beginning of the year. Please join me in a moment of silence in their honor. Please join me in a moment of silence in their honor. Donald in 1935, during the height of the gangster area, the fbi worked with our partners around the country and opened the National Police Training School in washington, d. C. This began a Great Partnership between Law Enforcement worldwide. In 1940, the fbi operated its first marine base in a small building loaned to the fbi by our partners from the marine corps. In 1962, president kennedy authorized the training of our international Law Enforcement partners in the United States. As a result, 10 of the students are from the international community. In 1972, 200 members of the 90th session of the National Academy graduated from the new fbi academy in this room. During this session, over 4300 academic credit hours were completed. The men and women graduating today are a result of a continuous commitment to get better at what we do. It is my pleasure to introduce the distinguished members of the platform party. Please hold your applause until everyone has been introduced. In the first row, to my left, brian izzet, lieutenant of the Phoenix Police department, william barr, christopher wray, johnny adams, seated in the second row to my left, fbi chaplain mark schook, Salt Lake City field office. Maurice miller. Renee mcdermitt, cynthia reed, charles spencer, assistant director, International Operations division of the fbi. Seated in the third row to my left, cory mcgukin, unit achieve of the National Academy unit, john jarvis. Acting section chief Training Division. Dave iswright. Please welcome todays platform party. [applause] today we also have graduates of past sessions, some representing multiple generations of graduates. Would the past graduates stand and be recognized. [applause] each graduating section selects a spokesperson to represent them. The spokesperson is lieutenant brian isner is a secondgeneration Police Officer been employed by the Phoenix Police for over 18 years. He is currently assigned to the Phoenix Regional Police Academy where he is responsible for the advanced training program. In addition to his previous assignments, he has spent the majority of his career is assigned to the special assignments unit which is the fulltime swat team as well as the Homeland Defense bureau he was attached to the Arizona Counterterrorism Information Center as a detective and a sergeant. He has two masters degrees. He is currently working on completing his doctorate from Northeastern University in organizational leadership. Brian has been married 18 years to his college sweetheart, on, and autumn, and they have four children. Please join me in welcoming brian. [applause] brian history. It is by far one of my favorite topics. First, because looking at the past always points us towards the future. Second, because we are all part of creating it. Every Single Person in this room, from the smallest child to the oldest adult, history binds us together. On april 1, 2019, and i know what youre thinking, surprise, april fools. Thats what my kids thought, anyway. On that day, 256 Law Enforcement professionals representing 49 states, 49 states and 35 countries began making history. The history of the fbi National Academy, session 276. Some of us came here as strangers. Some were High School Friends or college roommates, or both. Some acquaintances from years past. Regardless, we came as many. Good morning, friends, families, coworkers, Law Enforcement leaders, and agency heads. Welcome to Graduation Day. The Graduation Day of session 276, the greatest session yet. Which, by the way, i do have proof of, as you will hear. I have been given the honor of speaking on behalf of my brothers and sisters of the 276, who voted me up here to tell a story. A story of the accomplishments that we have achieved together over the past 10 years. 10 years 10 weeks. [laughter] brian it seems like 10 years. And the pride that we all feel while graduating here today. It is our story. Before going any further, we would like to thank attorney general william barr for being here to celebrate and memorialize this day with us. It is truly a great honor for us all that you are here. [applause] brian we would also like to extend our sincere appreciation to director wray and the entire staff at the National Academy for putting together this most professional and rewarding experience of our Law Enforcement careers. We would especially like to thank the esteemed faculty, as well, for challenging us daily. There is no doubt how and why the National Academy is known as the premier Law Enforcement Leadership Development program in the world. Thank you. [applause] brian so, lets get back to history. There were many markers of history that were made while we were here. But none as visible and frankly , amazing, as the opportunity that we all had to be experiencing the opportunities of joe redman and alyse toppling the longstanding records for the male and female mile runs. Joe came in at 5 08, yes you heard me right. Thats five minutes and eight seconds. And she came in at five minutes 52 seconds. I can tell you that there was nothing more thrilling than hearing joe coming up from behind me as i was crossing the finish line. For my third lap. [laughter] brian the class was cheering louder, and then i heard joe screaming like a madman. And i knew at that point that he had broken the record. Then i heard more cheering as i was about 200 meters out and found that she had broken the record, as well. Hopefully, with any luck, i can finish up the speech as fast and smoothly as they can run the mile. Over the past 10 weeks, we were challenged, challenged with the opportunity to learn, not only from the greatest subject Matter Experts in the field of crisis negotiations, counterterrorism, media relations, law, policy, public seeking posted in, which right now, i wish i wouldve taken. But most significantly, the opportunity to learn from each other. We were reminded of the impact of saying i love you from special guest speakers like greg steube. And learned the importance of managing largescale incidents from our own john pelier, who ran our nations most violent and tragic active shooting incident in history all serving while serving the citizens of las vegas. We also had the opportunity to grow. Physically and mentally. I know that there are few of us who might break into a cold sweat the next time the wizard of oz comes on tv. Thats because all of our fitness challenges were named after various parts of that magical land. Im convinced at this point that the fbi might stand for the fitness body initiative, and we all gladly participated as our physical Fitness Instructors had their way with us, culminating in the infamous yellow brick road. While we grew physically, we were also challenged mentally. As we took a deep dive into knowing ourselves more and evaluating how we could become better leaders for our organizations and communities. But most importantly, we had the opportunity to make new and lifelong friends. No speech about the National Academy would ever be complete without mentioning some of our extracurricular activities. After all, lets be honest, thats where the real bonding really happened. There was the networking the board room, and the growth where can jam became the game of the session. I mean, who knew that slamming a frisbee into a can could bring so much joy and competition . Then there was international night. And for those that could remember it, it was epic. [laughter] brian sharing 35 different cultures over a two hour period was only made better by our own thanks to our own supervisory agent jim bring and his gentlemans agreement with our friend from canada. Thank god for the Boston Bruins beating the Toronto Maple Leafs because we are all blessed with an amazing rendition of the starspangled banner from my favorite canuck. To top the evening off, bob tobias and john fired up their bagpipes, which was the perfect end to our night of festivities. And how could we ever forget the texas or louisiana night . Even though they still have a feud going on over whose night was better, i know better than to step in that one and ill just leave it a tie. Id be remiss if i do not talk about our travels, the philly and new york trips where we were treated like true dignitaries. Itll be hard going back to normal life and not have a Police Escort wherever we go. To tony lucca, where are you . There you are. I still think your name would make the best restaurant brand in the country and im ready to invest when you are. You made sure that our trip to philly was amazing, from getting to see the birthplace of our country, to running up the stairs of the art museum to the rocky theme song. [hums rocky theme song] brian you get the point, but now you can have that song in your head like we did for months. To eating some real philly cheese steaks at ginos, the trip was more than any of us could ever imagine. Thank you. And to ken, latonia, a thank you to you, as well. He rolled out the red carpet from the amazing demonstrations in the harbor with the Emergency Services unit to the famous carmines restaurant where we were greeted by nypds pipes and drums. From the moments spent in times square and other places the night would take us, to the 9 11 memorial and museum, where we were reminded again to strengthen our resolve and never forget. We were also treated to several impromptu trips, to baltimore. Set up by shary and paul. The pentagon, thanks to john. Work john duckworth. The capital, and washington monument. And of course, the white house. With tim burns. We were fortunate to also be able to unite together for police week as we paid honor and tribute to those who have gone before us and paid the ultimate sacrifice. Nothing could magnify this in such a tangible way as when the concerns of police survivors, or cops kids swarmed our campus. Over 100 children who lost their parents in the line of duty spent the day with us and we did our best to bring a smile to the kids who have had to endure more than any little person ever showed. It was by far one of the greatest highlights of our time here. Their visit meant so much that we raised over 28,000 to support the cops kids charity through our silent auction. [applause] brian well, speaking of highlights and history, we also had the opportunity in the first ever joint fbi, National Academy Wounded Warriors challenge, which allowed us to encourage and lift up our wounded heroes with potential Job Opportunities and plenty of camaraderie through a tough physical fitness work out, you guessed it, put on by our favorite physical Fitness Instructors. It was a true honor and privilege for us all. Before i close, theres one group of people here that i would like to recognize above all. Theyre our mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, and significant others, daughters and sons, friends and relatives, the family and friends who have supported us day in and out over the past 10 weeks. We know it was not easy. We know that there were a lot of sacrifices made. But you never wavered, and we knew that you had it at home and had us here in quantico. I would like all the family and friends that gave support to the members of the 276 to please stand up and be recognized. Please, stand up. [applause] 276, lets give them a loud standing ovation. [applause] brian thank you. To wrap this up, id like to leave you with a story. A story about a little tavern nestled in a small neighborhood in lower manhattan, the oldest irish outhouse in new york, mcsorleys, has been around since 1854. In a dimly lit tavern, pictures of old adorn the walls, and the sounds of family and community echo through the hall. An old chandelier drapes over and on the chandelier, youll find wish bones, a lot of wish bones from decades past. As the story goes, the wish bones that remain above the bar are from the warriors who fought in world war i and never made the return trip home. Their memory is long remembered through the visual reminder hanging on the balance. Today, as we graduate from this most prestigious institution, and which less than 1 of all Police Officers in the entire world will ever attend, we are hanging up our wish bones in the same customary way. As we go our separate ways, may we always remember the friendships that were forged, the memories that were made, and the history that we accomplish here together at the National Academy. Session 276, you are the best. We came as many, and we now leave as one. Stay safe, and god bless you all. [applause] donald thank you. [applause] donald all right. Director wray, as the assistant director of the