[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 96 (Thursday, June 14, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S7721]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING THOMAS F. HOUSTON

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I wish to honor Thomas F. Houston for his 37 
years of public service. For the past 9 years, Tom has served as the 
Senior Policy Advisor to the Director of the Naval Criminal 
Investigative Service. After almost four decades of service, he will 
retire this month after a career in which he served the United States 
in numerous capacities, including almost 20 years as a congressional 
staff member.
  He left Mississippi in 1973 to join me on the staff of Congressman 
William Colmer. Tom served as Congressman Colmer's press assistant and 
later helped with my first campaign to replace our former boss. Tom's 
skill and hard work earned him a stint as deputy press secretary for 
the Ford-Dole Presidential campaign in 1976, and when that came to a 
close, Tom joined the staff of the House Committee on Government 
Operations, serving there until June 1989.
  During his 12-year tenure on the committee, Tom had a major hand in 
writing a number of historical pieces of legislation, including the 
Inspector General Act of 1978 that first established Inspector General 
Offices inside Cabinet-level agencies to independently monitor their 
work.
  In 1989, Tom left the Hill to join the George H.W. Bush 
administration at the Department of Defense. During the Persian Gulf 
buildup and war, he was the Director of the Desert Shield/Desert Storm 
Public Affairs Cell. That operation set the precedent for the 
military's public affairs policy during the recent wars in Afghanistan 
and Iraq. The impact of his tenure at the Pentagon is reflected in the 
fact that during just a 4-year period in office, Tom was twice honored 
by Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney with the Secretary of Defense Medal 
for Outstanding Public Service.
  In 1992, Tom left the administration and returned to the Hill to 
serve as the communications director for the first Defense Base 
Realignment and Closure Commission. He met with potentially-affected 
communities and their congressional delegations to negotiate the best 
path forward for the transformation of the U.S. military. When the 
first commission began wrapping up its work, he was named Staff 
Director to oversee the transition to the next round.
  In 1995, Tom signed on as chief of staff to Congressman Jim Saxton of 
New Jersey as the second BRAC round began. Congressman Saxton's 
district stood to be hit hard by the BRAC process, and Tom devoted 
himself to helping see the Congressman and his constituents through the 
duration of the second round of the process.
  When it came to a close in 1996, Tom accepted an offer to serve as 
the chief of staff to Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, a key 
member of the Senate Armed Services Committee at the time and later a 
member of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee.
  Tom's seemingly endless devotion to his country was only surpassed by 
his commitment to his family. Tom decided in 1998 to step away from the 
Hill in order to spend more time with his children. In a move he later 
called ``the best decision I've ever made,'' Tom took a job at the 
Naval Criminal Investigative Service, NCIS. He was recruited by NCIS 
Director David Brant, who charged him with overhauling the way the 
agency conducted its public affairs. Tom proceeded to do just that, 
working as head of communications for NCIS and Senior Policy Adviser to 
the Director to help bring about this revitalization that resulted in 
NCIS receiving the international recognition it enjoys today.
  Tom worked tirelessly to make lasting improvements in the way NCIS 
approached public affairs during his tenure. Recruiting a top-notch 
media and congressional affairs team, he undertook an unprecedented 
public outreach campaign to make NCIS and its mission more widely known 
and better understood.
  I am confident that his enormous efforts will continue to bear fruit 
for years to come. Perhaps the most well-known outcome of his efforts, 
though, has been in garnering NCIS international attention through the 
hit TV show ``NCIS,'' which Tom was instrumental in bringing about. The 
show has earned NCIS and its employees the kind of public acclaim few 
in Federal Government enjoy, and through constant collaboration with 
the show's producers, Tom has worked to ensure the show continues to be 
a credit to the hard-working men and women that make up the agency.
  I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate, honor, and 
thank Tom and his wife Ginger for their friendship and contributions to 
our country.

                          ____________________