One of President Paul Walsh's four principal goals for the year ahead is that NDAA accelerate the raising of its profile in Washington, DC, and that the association's officers, committee chairs and other prosecutors "go to Washington ourselves" and personally engage members of Congress in discussions about legislation of interest and concern to America's prosecutors.

This goal is about to become reality.

Beginning in 2005, the annual Washington meeting, previously called either the Metro Conference or the Capitol Conference, will now be called the Capital Conference, but the change will not be in name only. The entire concept, format and date will change to reflect a more aggressive and personal contact with Congress.

The dates will be February 13-15. The place: historic downtown Washington. This will be only a few weeks after the president has delivered his State of the Union Address, outlining his policy goals, and a new Congress -- the 109th -- is in session and has begun considering legislation. All three branches of the federal government will be in town and at work. What better time to go to Washington to make our presence and interests known?

This concept, in fact, goes back to the original idea of bringing America's prosecutors to Washington once a year to discuss legislation among themselves and with their federal legislators, as well as to hear talks on criminal justice issues. This time, the emphasis will be on personal contact with Congress.

Rather than having the conference program centered around a theme, the entire February 2005 Capital Conference will be devoted to roundtable discussions, workshops and strategy sessions dealing with pending legislation and legislation that the association would like to see enacted. There also will be a "how to" session on the proper way to contact your representative and senator on legislation.

We still expect to have several high-level speakers to discuss legislative issues, and we will be inviting key members of Congress and the administration to attend the discussions and participate in the deliberations. We will also have our traditional reception on Capitol Hill, inviting members of Congress to join us. In recent years NDAA has gradually become a major player in the formulation and consideration of criminal justice policy and legislation in Washington. The new format and emphasis of the Capital Conference represents a move to the next level, raising our visibility, taking a more direct stance and engaging in more face-to-face discussions of legislative issues with the lawmakers who will be considering and voting on that legislation.

As has been the case in recent years, prosecutors from every size jurisdiction, from the smallest to the largest, are welcome and encouraged to attend the Capital Conference. There will be no better opportunity not only to discuss legislation of common interest with your counterparts from across the nation, but also to discuss those issues with your representative and senators, individually and collectively.

This will also provide a great opportunity for you to visit our offices in nearby Alexandria, Virginia, where you can meet members of our NDAA and APRI staffs, and observe some of the work being done here to serve and assist America's prosecutors.

I look forward to seeing you in Washington, DC, in February and in our Alexandria offices as well.