[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 91 (Wednesday, June 4, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1138]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                RECOGNIZING JESSICA RAE HERRERA-FLANIGAN

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 4, 2008

  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize 
Jessica Rae Herrera-Flanigan, Staff Director and General Counsel of the 
Committee on Homeland Security, for her dedication to the security of 
the Nation. As the chairman of the committee, it is with sadness that I 
report that on Friday, June 6, she will be leaving us for the private 
sector. I speak for all the committee's members and staff in saying 
that she will be missed.
  Jessica has the distinction of being the longest serving Democratic 
staffer on the committee, having joined it in 2003 when it was merely a 
select committee. She has played a pivotal role, first as Counsel under 
former Ranking Member Jim Turner, and then as my top aide, in the 
committee's development and growth over the last 5 years.
  Jessica was a well-respected cybercrime prosecutor and former 
Department of Justice official before coming to the Hill. With the 
attacks of September 11, her knowledge of cybersecurity and critical 
infrastructure protection put her on the frontlines of homeland 
security, before it was known as that. She came to the House for the 
right reasons shortly thereafter--because she believed we could do 
better to secure our Nation.
  I truly believe that Jessica symbolizes the future of our Nation's 
national security leaders. Leaders that look more like America. The 
daughter of Leonel and the late Virginia Ann Herrera, she grew up in 
the southeast Texas oil-refining town of Port Arthur, Texas, which she 
saw struck by Hurricane Rita during her tenure on the committee. With 
the help of student loan and work-study programs, she graduated from 
Yale University and Harvard Law School. She is, I've been told, the 
first and only Latina to ever serve as a staff director of a full 
committee in the House. And don't let her 4'11'' frame fool you--she is 
a 1st degree blackbelt and a sharpshooter.
  Any recognition would be incomplete if I did not thank Tom Flanigan 
for lending us so much of his wife's time and energy. He not only stood 
by her, but by the committee as we tackled its creation, Hurricanes 
Katrina, Rita, and Wilma, the 9/11 implementation bill, and countless 
other homeland security issues over the last 5 years.
  In sum, I welcome this opportunity to recognize Jessica Herrera-
Flanigan for her tireless work, patriotism, and professional dedication 
to Congress, the Committee of Homeland Security, and the Nation.

                          ____________________