[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 88 (Tuesday, June 12, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3972-S3973]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                       TRIBUTE TO ANDREW LIEPMAN

 Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, Today I wish to recognize an 
unsung hero of the U.S. intelligence community and upstanding San 
Franciscan, Mr. Andrew Liepman, who is retiring from the U.S. 
Government after 30 years of service.
  I came to know Andy when he joined the National Counterterrorism 
Center, or NCTC, as the Deputy Director of Intelligence in 2006. He has 
served in that position and as Principal Deputy Director for the past 6 
years. Andy has been a friend to the Senate Intelligence Committee and 
a dedicated leader of our Nation's counterterrorism efforts. I am sorry 
to see him leave the NCTC and the government but wish him the very best 
as he plots his future course.
  Andy has had a distinguished career in the intelligence community 
since he joined the CIA in 1982. He served in multiple positions at the 
CIA, at the Office of Near East and South Asian Analysis, the Office of 
Iraq Analysis, and the Office of Terrorism Analysis in the 
Counterterrorism Center. He also worked in a variety of assignments 
outside the CIA before coming to the NCTC, including time at the 
Department of State, the Nonproliferation Center, and the National 
Intelligence Council.
  But it was during his time at the NCTC that Andy came to be one of 
the Nation's top counterterrorism officials and a true leader of the 
intelligence community. He has worked closely with the NCTC's three 
Directors: ADM Scott Redd, Michael Leiter, and now Matt Olsen. And he 
has diligently kept the Senate Intelligence Committee informed on the 
terrorist threat--as a hearing witness and as a briefer to Senators and 
staff and also on the phone to describe imminent or breaking 
counterterrorism operations.
  When the committee has had to resolve a problem in the 
counterterrorism arena, whether getting information or fixing processes 
that weren't working, Andy was usually the person to solve it.
  He has served with a direct, frank professional manner, although Andy 
has quite the reputation for being a lively and fun boss as well.
  Mr. Liepman's legacy is the strength and reputation of the National 
Counterterrorism Center and particularly its Directorate of 
Intelligence. Since its creation in 2005, the NCTC has developed into a 
world-class analytic organization. It produces thousands of reports a 
year, from hour-to-hour situational reports when terrorist threats are 
unfolding, to daily analyses, to detailed, comprehensive products. The 
NCTC leads interagency reviews and speaks for the intelligence 
community on key intelligence questions. It produces tailored reports 
to answer policy questions--I recently requested one myself, on whether 
the Haqqani Network in Pakistan meets the criteria to be named a 
foreign terrorist organization.
  Under Andy's leadership, along with the Directors with whom he has 
worked, the National Counterterrorism Center has also grown to fill the 
role for which it was created. Among other things, the NCTC now 
includes Pursuit Groups, formed after the Christmas Day 2009 attempted 
airline bombing, to make sure that no terrorism lead goes unchecked. 
The center is the single repository of the government's definitive 
terrorism databases, which supports the various watchlists that keep 
suspected terrorists from boarding a plane or crossing the border. The 
NCTC plays a key role in coordinating the government's preparation and 
response to terrorist events, enhancing border and transportation 
security, and sharing terrorism-related intelligence with other 
intelligence agencies, the rest of the Federal Government, and with 
State, local, and tribal partners.
  A lasting reflection of Andy's work is the NCTC workforce itself. 
Many of its

[[Page S3973]]

analysts and operators are detailed from around the intelligence 
community, and these positions have become valued assignments. With the 
large growth of intelligence personnel working on counterterrorism 
since September 11, 2001, Andy has been a teacher, mentor, and 
supervisor for a generation of analysts. People across the intelligence 
community would seek out positions working for Andy and at the NCTC, 
and his efforts to develop them into expert professionals is a key 
reason that the NCTC is capable of the work it does today.
  I understand that after 30 years in government service and 6 years in 
the grueling environment of the NCTC, it is time for Andy to move on. I 
am pleased that he will have some time with his family, his mother 
Marianne, and his two brothers, who all live in California. It has been 
a long time since Andy graduated from the University of California at 
Berkeley--with a degree in forestry, no less--and I wish him well as he 
heads back to California and wherever else his future may lead.
  Mr. President, the intelligence community is filled with men and 
women who serve this Nation with dedication and skill and who are never 
properly recognized for their efforts and their contribution. I am 
pleased to be able to honor one of them today and give thanks on behalf 
of the committee for his career of service.

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