Ridge praises federal workforce, 70 executive honorees

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge praised the work of federal employees Thursday night during a ceremony in which 70 senior executives received the country's highest civilian service award.

In a speech that portrayed government service as both a sacrifice and a "high calling," Ridge invoked the memory of recently slain soldier Pat Tillman, who turned down a multimillion-dollar professional football contract to enlist in the Army. Tillman was killed recently in Afghanistan.

"He just wanted to serve, unheralded," Ridge said. "Our country was built on the backs of similar patriots."

The 70 honorees were awarded the rank of Presidential Distinguished Executive and Distinguished Senior Professional during a ceremony at the State Department in Washington. The Senior Executives Association estimated that the executives had saved the federal government more than $187 billion through innovation and improved management. The majority of those savings came from the Department of Health and Human Services, according to a release from the association.

The award winners were drawn from a broad sampling of federal agencies, including the Defense Department, the Office of Personnel Management, NASA and the FBI. They were lauded for a variety of accomplishments, from innovations in law enforcement and homeland security to dramatic scientific breakthroughs.

Ridge told the crowd that American history is full of both famous and anonymous federal employees who chose to follow a path of "service to a greater good."

"The only difference between all those people is that some found their names written in history books and some did not," he said. "But they all chose service."

Ridge also noted that a life of civil service included a great deal of personal and monetary sacrifice.

A career civil servant must think, "I could make so much more money in the private sector. I could have so much more time," Ridge said. But he said the work of government is worth its tribulations: "It is a career that matters. It is a pursuit that motivates."