Robert Ruhl “Rob” Simmons
Member of Congress, CT/2

Robert Ruhl “Rob” Simmons, 62, has spent over 40 years in public service. In November 2004, he was re-elected to a third term in Congress.

He is the first Republican to be elected to a third term in Connecticut’s 2nd District since Horace Seeley-Brown in 1954 – one half century ago. The 2nd District includes 65 towns in the eastern half of the state, stretching from the Massachusetts border to Long Island Sound, and including all of the Rhode Island Border with Connecticut

Previously, Rob served in the Connecticut General Assembly for ten years representing the 43rd District which includes the towns of Stonington and North Stonington, and the villages of Mystic, Old Mystic and Pawcatuck.

In Congress Rob serves on the Armed Services, Transportation and Homeland Security Committees. Rep. Simmons is currently the chairman of the Homeland Security Intelligence, Information Sharing, and Terrorism Risk Assessment subcommittee. He is on leave from the Veterans' Committee and is past Chairman of the Veterans' Health Subcommittee.

Rob enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1965 as a Private, graduated from Infantry Officer Candidate School in 1967, and spent 19 months in Vietnam, where he earned two Bronze Star Medals. In 1969 he joined the Central Intelligence Agency, working as an Operations Officer for a decade, including five years on assignment overseas in East Asia.

In 1979, Rob left the CIA to join the staff of Senator John H. Chafee (R-Rhode Island). In 1981, he was assigned to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence as Senator Chafee’s Professional Staff Member. He was subsequently named Staff Director of the Senate Intelligence Committee by Chairman Barry Goldwater (R-Arizona) – a position he held from November 1981 through February 1985.

On leaving the Committee, Simmons was commended by the 99th Congress with Senate Resolution 57 for "Distinguished Service to the United States of America." He was also cited by CIA Director William Casey for his "distinguished contribution to the intelligence community" and was awarded the CIA Seal Medallion, its highest civilian award.

At the same time, LTG General James A. Williams, Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, commended Rob for his “outstanding leadership and for his enduring contributions to the mission of the Defense Intelligence Agency and the defense interests of the United States.”

Rob has served in the U.S. Army Reserve as a Military Intelligence Officer since1970, retiring as a Colonel in 2003 with over 37 years of active and reserve service. He is past commander of the 434th Military Intelligence (MI) Detachment (Strategic) in New Haven, CT

In 1996, Rob’s unit received the Reserve Officers Association's Outstanding USAR Small Unit Award as the best small unit in the Nation. In 1998, Rob received the Knowlton Award for "Integrity, Moral Character, Professional Competence and Selflessness" in recognition of his contributions to the Military Intelligence Corps.

Rob Simmons is a 1965 graduate of Haverford College, PA, where he won six varsity letters and was captain of the cross-country and track teams. He earned a Master in Public Administration degree from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government in 1979, where he was a Littauer Fellow.

From 1988-1992, Rob was a Teaching Assistant and pre-doctoral candidate in Political Science at the University of Connecticut in Storrs. Since 1986, he has been an Associate Fellow of Berkeley College at Yale, where he taught courses titled "Congress and the U.S. Intelligence Community" and "The Politics of Intelligence" for a decade.

In 1974, Rob Simmons married Heidi Paffard, also of Stonington. She is a public school teacher at the Regional Multicultural Magnet School in New London, CT, specializing in early childhood education and literacy.

Rob and Heidi are blessed with a daughter, Jane, 27, who is a graduate of Norwich Free Academy and Trinity College in Hartford and lives in New York City; and a son, Robert, 21, who is a graduate of The Williams School and a senior at Providence College in Providence, RI.

They live with their four dogs -- Gabrielle, Bailey, Lucy and Grigio -- in a family residence on North Main Street in Stonington, CT.

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