[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 4 (Wednesday, January 8, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S130-S131]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO KATHLEEN McGHEE

  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise today with Senator Saxby 
Chambliss to honor and thank one of the Senate's longest-serving and 
most widely-respected professional staff members--Kathleen McGhee. 
Kathleen is retiring this week after 33 years of continual service to 
the Select Committee on Intelligence.
  As all Senators know, much of the work of the Senate is done quietly 
and behind the scenes, by staff whose names are not in the papers and 
who are not in public service for the recognition. This is especially 
true for the work of the Intelligence Committee, which operates behind 
closed doors and--when things are working right--without public 
attention. For 33 years, Kathleen McGhee was the person who made sure 
that the committee operated professionally by ensuring that our 
hearings ran smoothly, reports were written, letters sent and received, 
transcripts maintained, and budgets were met, all in a timely fashion.
  The only thing she has not been able to overcome is the mice.
  Kathleen came to the committee shortly after graduating from the 
University of Maryland, joining the committee staff on April 7, 1980, 
in order to assist the committee's arms control expert. She 
subsequently provided administrative support to the committee's budget 
director, minority counsel, and minority staff director. In 1987, 
Chairman David L. Boren appointed Kathleen as the chief clerk of the 
Intelligence Committee, a position she has held ever since.
  In her time here, she has been present when some of our Nation's most 
important national security issues were considered and debated--from 
espionage during the Cold War to the response to the terrorist attacks 
of September 11, 2001, and many more. In the thousands of hearings, 
briefings, and markups she has run, Kathleen has truly seen and heard 
it all.
  Kathleen has served as clerk, and mostly as chief clerk, for 11 
committee chairmen: Birch Bayh, Barry Goldwater, Dave Durenberger, 
David Boren, Dennis DeConcini, Arlen Specter, Richard Shelby, Bob 
Graham, Pat Roberts, Jay Rockefeller, and for me. Owing to the nature 
of the committee and its rules, and to her even-handed, nonpartisan 
approach, she has also served many Vice Chairmen equally well during 
her tenure: Patrick Moynihan, Pat Leahy, Bill Cohen, Frank Murkowski, 
John Warner, Bob Kerrey, Richard Bryan, Kit Bond, and now Saxby 
Chambliss, to name a few. Few people in the U.S. Congress can say that 
they have worked for so many Senators--85 Senators in all--and as 
professionally.
  As importantly, in her time here, and especially as the committee's 
chief clerk for more than two decades, Kathleen has worked with more 
than 300 staffers who have uniformly appreciated and respected her 
professionalism and collegiality. Kathleen has managed the 
administrative staff and functions of the committee, and coordinated 
with other Senate offices on matters ranging from the rules to the 
architecture. She has walked dozens of staff directors through the 
preparation and execution of the committee's budget and has been hailed 
repeatedly as the committee's ``institutional memory.''
  As the chief clerk, Kathleen has been responsible for showing new 
staffers the ropes and making sure they were able to transition 
smoothly into their new roles on the committee staff. Especially for 
people used to the bureaucratic difficulties in the executive branch, 
her ability to pave the way has been nearly miraculous.
  Sadly, but understandably, it is now the time for her own 
transition--although true to her form, Kathleen agreed to continue her 
service longer than anticipated in order to make sure that the hand-off 
to her successor would go smoothly.
  Now, we are pleased to take the opportunity on behalf of the Senate 
to thank Kathleen McGhee for her tremendous service to the Select 
Committee on Intelligence, the Senate, and

[[Page S131]]

the Nation. We wish her all the very best as she enjoys a well-earned 
retirement to her home in Falls Church, VA, and on her beloved shores 
of Bethany Beach, DE, with her husband Mike and children, Luke and 
Molly.

                          ____________________