Jon Kyl, December 20, 2002

The year 2002 was a productive one for Congress and the Bush administration. The results of our work will impact every single American.

One of the most prominent achievements for President Bush was the creation of a new Homeland Defense Department, to be managed by Secretary-designate Tom Ridge. The new Cabinet agency will lead a massive effort to reorganize and restructure significant parts of the federal government with the goal of streamlining and improving U.S. counterterrorism activities.

In that regard, one of the most notable achievements of 2002 was something that did not happen. Namely, that there was not another terrorist attack anywhere on U.S. soil. While we cannot be complacent about the terrorist threat, Americans can be grateful that the increased efforts to protect our country have significantly disrupted terrorists' ability to strike us.

Also of major significance, voters gave Republicans full control of Congress for the first time in decades, providing a tremendous boost to successful enactment of President Bush's legislative agenda. The new Senate majority will move quickly to approve President Bush's judicial nominees to end a growing vacancy crisis on the federal courts. It will also attempt to make permanent President Bush's tax cuts and approve other measures to stimulate the economy and create jobs. Many of us in Congress also are at work on plans for a prescription drug benefit for seniors as part of a program to reform and strengthen Medicare.

Back home in Arizona, I joined other state officials in commemorating the start of construction of the Hoover Dam bypass, a top national-security priority. Through creation of a bypass to move traffic away from close proximity to the Dam, officials can better protect the Dam from terrorist attack and ease dangerous congestion in the area.

Last summer, our state survived a catastrophic fire season with a renewed focus on efforts to treat forests to reduce future fire risks. As part of that commitment, I helped establish a new ecological research institute in Arizona that will work with land managers and environmental scientists to begin to immediately treat areas at critical risk of future fire outbreaks.

After years of complex negotiations, Senator McCain and I introduced a landmark Gila River water settlement. The legislation would end decades of disputes over rights to Gila River water and allow communities to plan their growth with greater certainty as to the amount of water they will be able to utilize.

Across the globe, the international community continued to rally behind the United States in many ways, offering intelligence information, apprehending terror suspects, and helping thwart impending attacks as part of a global coalition against terror. Surprising many, the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously in support of a new US-backed UN resolution to force the dictatorship of Iraq to permit weapons inspections. Though I remain extremely skeptical of the prospects for a peaceful settlement of the Iraqi crisis, the Security Council vote demonstrated the effectiveness of the Bush administration's global leadership.

Another major occurrence was the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), perhaps the most stable and powerful alliance in the history of the world. When many Americans think of the United Nations, they have an idealized notion of a collection of peaceful nations working together for high-minded goals of freedom and democracy. But that is not what the UN represents.

The organization they should really be thinking about is NATO. For roughly six decades, NATO has been an alliance of democracies committed to free market economies and equal rights for its citizens. No NATO member is perfect, of course, but each moves in common pursuit of the same ideals of democracy, peace, and freedom. This year many former Soviet-controlled dictatorships entered the NATO alliance as free nations. As an enlarged NATO seeks to redesign its mission in light of a post-Cold War world, we can all look to its endurance with hope for the future and pray for its continued success.

All in all, America ends 2002 a strong nation, confident in its future, and a leader and role model for the rest of the world. Happy New Year.

U.S. Senator John Kyl (Republican of Arizona) is a member of the Senate Judiciary, Finance, Energy and Natural Resources, and Intelligence Committees.