[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 17] [Senate] [Pages 23639-23640] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]TRIBUTE TO ROBERT ROTH Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I wish to take a few moments to acknowledge the life and work of a very ordinary, yet extraordinary, American named Bob Roth of Bristow, VA. Bob died of cancer earlier this year, at the young age of 44, leaving behind a wife of 19 years and five young children. His was one of far too many vibrant young lives cut short by this terrible disease. As was his way in life, Bob fought cancer to the very end attacking the disease as ferociously as it attacked him. Recent developments in the FBI anthrax case had brought the case back into the media in the last month. I want to pause and recognize that the recent breaks in the case were built upon the hard work of Special Agent Roth and his team. Many of us remember what it was like on Capitol Hill in October of 2001 when an anthrax-laced letter appeared in Senator Daschle's office and another in Senator Leahy's office. Spores were found at the U.S. Supreme Court, and postal workers who handled the letters died from inhalation. No one felt entirely safe from one of the most deadly germs known to man. The FBI was immediately on the case, and a September 2003 Washington Post article explained their approach in the following manner: To run the anthrax case day to day, Assistant FBI director Van Harp turned to veteran FBI agent Bob Roth whose meticulous style mirrored his own. Roth sometimes referred to himself as a cops-and-robbers kind of guy, best suited to pursuing the mobsters, embezzlers and kidnappers who had always been the FBI's bread and butter. But this case posed an entirely new set of challenges, and Roth was willing to try almost anything to solve it . . . the FBI's frustrations with the case were palpable. At one meeting at the Washington field office, agents talked candidly about the toll the long hours were exacting on their families. Roth vented, too, groaning to no one in particular, ``Get me out of this.'' But he never asked to get out. Long after the media lost interest, Agent Roth worked tirelessly. As the FBI slogged through one of the most complicated, high-profile cases it ever faced, Agent Bob Roth served his country as a pioneer in the efforts to fight domestic terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. He literally risked his life investigating scenes and evidence from the anthrax case. He was later honored by being promoted to Assistant Section Chief of the Bureau's newly created Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate. It was a role he had little time to address because he spent the last year of his life fighting against his own personal WMD: multiple myeloma, an aggressive bone cancer. Bob was an exemplary father, devoted husband, committed Christian, community leader, and Government servant. He served 16 years for the FBI and was highly commended and decorated for his exceptional life and unfailing integrity, for his leadership and excellence in his profession for his inspiring example as a devoted husband and loving father to five beautiful children for his character and long service [[Page 23640]] to our country, and for his pioneering efforts in fighting against weapons of mass destruction. I ask that the Congressional Record reflect the impressive contributions made by Special Agent Robert Roth to his country. ____________________