a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Webb has worked and traveled throughout this vast region, from Micronesia to Burma, for nearly four decades, as a Marine Corps officer, a defense planner, a journalist, a novelist, a Department of Defense executive, and as a business consultant. He worked in the 1990s as a consultant for companies attempting to do business in Vietnam. Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2009 On March 26, 2009, Webb filed the Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2009 (SB 714), which would create a blue ribbon commission to reevaluate the criminal justice system and drug policy and make recommendations for reform. Noting that the United States houses 25% of the world's inmates despite having only 5% of the world's population, Webb proposed a comparison between U.S. incarceration policies and those of other developed nations. At a United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs hearing, Webb described the criminal justice system as being in "... a profound, deeply corrosive crisis that we have largely been ignoring at our peril." He also criticized the lack of standards in prison administration and highlighted the justice system's negative impact on communities. The subcommittee chairman, Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA), expressed support for the bill at the hearing and indicated his intent to move the bill to the full United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. By the end of June 2010, the bill had 39 cosponsors. In the fall of 2009, an amendment to SB 714 was proposed by Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) that would have prohibited the commission created by the bill from discussing or recommending the decriminalization or legalization of any substance prohibited under the Controlled Substances Act. The proposed amendment drew criticism from some in the online community. Grassley later rescinded the amendment and claimed in a Des Moines Register op-ed that he had proposed it to "start a debate on this important issue". SB 714 passed the Senate Judiciary Committee by a voice vote on January 21, 2010. but no further action was ever taken. Retirement from the U.S. Senate On February 9, 2011, Webb announced that he would not run for re-election to his Senate seat in 2012. Committee assignments Committee on Armed Services Subcommittee on Airland Subcommittee on Personnel (Chairman) Subcommittee on SeaPower Committee on Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Peace Corps and Narcotics Affairs Subcommittee on African Affairs Subcommittee on East