[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 169 (Monday, November 7, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Page S7150]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO FEDERAL EMPLOYEES


                               Ann Martin

  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I rise today to continue an initiative 
that was actually started by the Presiding Officer's predecessor, 
Senator Kaufman, whereby on a fairly regular basis I try to come down 
and recognize the service of one of our incredible Federal employees. 
We spend a lot of time in this body talking about policy. We oftentimes 
spend a lot of time also talking about what government does wrong. 
There are things government does wrong, but too often we don't 
acknowledge what government does right, particularly the incredible 
service many of the folks who work for our Federal Government perform.
  Today, I am pleased to honor another great Federal employee, Ms. Ann 
Martin. Ms. Martin is the Senior Intelligence Research Specialist for 
the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network or 
FinCEN. She worked with Mexican officials to help disrupt the 
laundering of billions of dollars derived from illegal U.S. narcotics 
sales.
  At the age of 29--as the Presiding Officer may recall when he was 
that age--Ms. Martin led a team of financial experts to compile and 
analyze hundreds of pieces of data. Her research analysis gave 
unprecedented insight into how Mexican drug cartels finance their 
operations in both Mexico and the United States. It also provided 
American and Mexican law enforcement authorities with a number of leads 
into cross-border money laundering and transnational organized crime 
groups.
  Discussing Ms. Martin's work, James Freis, the Director of FinCEN, 
explained that ``no one had ever put together a picture of this kind of 
financial movement across our borders.'' In other words, nobody put 
together in an organized way the kinds of activities in which some of 
these drug cartels were involved.
  The exhaustive and comprehensive analysis Ms. Martin conducted 
supported the Mexican Government's decision in June 2010 to issue new 
regulations to restrict the amount of U.S. dollars that could be 
deposited into Mexican banks. As a result, more than 700 suspicious 
activity reports have been filed from Mexican banks. In other words, we 
have gotten the leads on 700 potential activities that are now being 
investigated due to Ms. Martin's work.
  While her time working for the Federal Government has been relatively 
brief, she has already made a major impact. Karen Fleischer, the Deputy 
Associate Director at FinCEN, had this to say:

       I've been in government for 35-plus years and Ann is the 
     kind of person that you want to hold up as an example for 
     others. She is extremely dedicated to the agency's mission.

  I hope my colleagues will join me in honoring Ms. Martin, a fellow 
Virginian, for the excellent work she has done and her commitment to 
public service.
  I yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
order for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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