David S. Chu, under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, hosted the 26th DoD Disability Awards Ceremony and 19th DoD Disability Forum today, Dec. 5 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Bethesda, Maryland. On behalf of the secretary of defense, Chu presented awards to 14 outstanding DoD employees with disabilities and three DoD components with outstanding affirmative-action programs for people with disabilities.

The outstanding DoD employees with disabilities are:

Chester Bogart III, Department of the Army
James Nelson Templeman, Department of the Navy
Paul Robert Gabriel, Department of the Air Force
Christine Murphy, Office of the Secretary of Defense

Jerome Anthony Knight, Army and Air Force Exchange Service

Derek Alan Lee, Defense Commissary Agency

Kenneth R. Austin, Defense Contract Audit Agency
Judy C. Spain, Defense Contract Management Agency
Vicki D. Morgan, Defense Finance and Accounting Service

Deirdre J. Carter, Defense Logistics Agency

Lisa Marie Waugh, Defense Threat Reduction Agency
Gregory Paul Springer, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
Carlene J. Miles, National Guard Bureau
Leslie Eden Bell, National Security Agency

Organizations honored were:

Department of the Army

Defense Logistics Agency

Defense Security Service

The Defense Logistics Agency has created a Web site about the 2006 DoD Disability Awards Ceremony and Forum to include information about the 2006 National Disability Employment Awareness Month. The Web site can be accessed at: http://www.dla.mil/do/NDEAM/2006/DACindex-2006.html .

For more information about this event, contact Deborah Johnson-Hood at Deborah.Johnson-Hood.ctr@osd.mil (703) 571-9333 or Diane Levesque at Diane.Levesque.ctr@osd.mil (703) 571-9334.