[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 86 (Wednesday, June 9, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4741-S4742]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO DONALD C. STONE

  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, today I wish to recognize Donald C. 
Stone, who is one of the most experienced members on the staff of the 
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence who has brought unique skills 
to the committee during his tenure. Friday, June 11 will mark Don's 
last day in government.
  After 27 years, Don will be leaving the public sector and taking on 
new challenges. He has had an extraordinary career, mostly in the 
secret world of secured offices while he served his country well 
overseeing our Nation's intelligence agencies.
  Don comes from this area. He grew up in Maryland and received a 
bachelor of arts in business administration and a master's in business 
administration from Loyola College in Baltimore. He now lives in Falls 
Church, VA, with his wife Dana and their two sons Robert and Andrew.
  Don did not waste any time getting into the national security world. 
Right out of graduate school he went to work at the Central 
Intelligence Agency with the inspector general's audit staff. He worked 
there for 11 years on very sensitive classified projects both here and 
abroad, sometimes under very trying circumstances. While working with 
the CIA inspector general, Don had a rotational assignment with the 
National Reconnaissance Office's inspector general audit staff from 
1993 to 1995, where he worked to make sure our Nation's spy satellite 
programs were run well and that the tax dollars spent in the secret 
world of spy agencies would pass muster if exposed to the light of 
review.

[[Page S4742]]

  Don first came to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in June 
1995 to serve as an auditor on the committee's audit team. The 
committee had created the audit staff in 1988 to provide `` a credible 
independent arm for Committee review of covert action programs and 
other specific Intelligence Community functions and issues.'' Don's 
aptitude for this work quickly led to his being named the committee's 
chief of the audit staff in September 1998. Mr. Stone then crossed the 
Capitol to work on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence 
in March 2005 as the deputy staff director of the Subcommittee on 
Oversight. We were fortunate enough to bring Don back to the SSCI in 
January 2007 as our director of Audit and Evaluations.
  During his time on the committee, Don has completed many reviews and 
audits to assure us that our intelligence agencies spent our tax money 
appropriately and legally, and that they managed their programs 
effectively within the law.
  Over the years, Don has conducted audits of major acquisition 
systems, major espionage cases and their related damage assessments, 
the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, budget and personnel growth, 
and information sharing. He has led the committee's review of financial 
statements of nominees for key intelligence positions, for keeping up 
with what the inspectors general of the intelligence community agencies 
were investigating, and for reviewing dozens of whistleblower and other 
complaint cases. Don has been properly persistent in reminding 
intelligence agencies of their need to do better.
  He is also largely responsible for the effort, underway for the past 
several years, to push intelligence agencies to improve their financial 
auditability. A notable example of this was last year when the 
committee expressed concern and displeasure over the lack of progress 
that one intelligence agency was making toward being able to produce an 
auditable financial statement. I received a call from the agency's 
director, who was not very pleased about the committee's critical view. 
The committee staff and the agency staff met, and due in large part to 
Don's thorough research, the agency came away with a clearer picture of 
what steps it needed to take and, I hope, appreciative of the 
constructive role the committee was playing.
  As this body of work reflects, Don has the talents required to 
conduct congressional oversight. He is able to see both the forest and 
the trees, and when necessary he can examine the individual leaves and 
roots. He has an extraordinary ability to focus on the details without 
losing knowledge of how they fit within a larger context. We have 
benefitted as a nation when he has cast his gaze on the workings of our 
national security apparatus.
  At home he practices his attention to detail on his model car 
collection and taking up the hammer and paint brush to do the home 
improvement work he truly enjoys.
  I would be remiss without noting Don's passion for the local sports 
teams. Don lives and breathes the burgundy and gold of his hometown 
Washington Redskins and his residence is covered in red, white and blue 
not just because he's a true patriot, but also because he's an avid fan 
of the Washington Capitals hockey team.
  Don's love of hockey has rubbed off on his two sons who now play on 
the ice and led him to take active roles in organizing and managing a 
local hockey league. This year, he is serving as the president of that 
league and we can be certain the games are starting on time, the kids 
are playing hard and having fun, and the league's finances are in 
order.
  Even with his retirement from government service, Don will be putting 
his skills and expertise to use in the private sector, but still 
working in the intelligence arena.
  Donald Stone has worked in the shadows both in the clandestine world 
of our Nation's spy agencies and out of the public limelight. It is my 
pleasure that now, as he leaves public service, we can openly 
acknowledge and praise the admirable work he has done to keep our 
Nation safe.
  Mr. Stone, on behalf of myself and all the members of the Senate 
Select Committee on Intelligence during your years of service, I am 
pleased to say on the Senate floor how greatly we appreciate your fine 
work and your exemplary career. We will miss your insights and your 
professionalism. And I wish you all the best as you move on to the next 
stage of your life.

                          ____________________