Aloha kakou. I am pleased to be part of today's grand opening and blessing of the Pacific Leadership Academy. I want to congratulate the Honolulu-Pacific Federal Executive Board, the Office of Personnel Management, and all the individuals, agencies, and organizations involved in creating the Academy and fostering its timely mission. Indeed, the Academy's work is most timely and important when you consider that over half of the federal government's 1.8 million workers will be eligible to retire within the next five years. By 2010, fully three-quarters of current employees will be retirement eligible. We must take steps now to recruit, retain, and motivate workers – talented and skilled people who represent the backbone of the federal government. We can do this by ensuring that current and future employees have the tools and resources to manage efficiently, effectively, and responsibly. To do so requires a commitment to train employees for leadership roles and to sustain confidence and trust in the federal government.

I commend the Honolulu-Pacific Federal Executive Board for recognizing the human resource challenges facing all our federal agencies in dealing with the looming retirement of skilled workers, the need to train new managers, and the desire to make government service a career option for your people. To address these needs in Hawaii and the Pacific, your Workforce Shaping Initiative called for the establishment of a Pacific Leadership Academy to nurture the next generation of federal leaders and managers.

As chairman of the Senate's Civil Service Subcommittee, I have voiced my strong support for the Academy to Kay Cole James, the director of the Office of Personnel Management. I am so proud of what you have accomplished, and I am delighted to share in today's grand opening of the Pacific Leadership Academy.

Thank you and the best of luck.