[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 57 (Tuesday, April 8, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Page S2231]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TAYLOR CONFIRMATION
Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I support the confirmation of Gen.
Frank Taylor to be the Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis at
the Department of Homeland Security, DHS.
General Taylor has a long and distinguished career in national
security, starting with his 31 years in the U.S. Air Force, most of
which was spent in counterintelligence. In his final assignment for the
Air Force, General Taylor led the Air Force Office of Special
Investigations where his office provided independent investigations of
fraud, counterintelligence, and major criminal matters.
In 2001, he was named Coordinator for Counterterrorism, the top
counterterrorism position in the State Department, where he was a key
advisor to Secretary of State Colin Powell. After that position,
General Taylor served as the Assistant Secretary of State in charge of
diplomatic security where he was in charge of security for over 250
U.S. embassies and consulates worldwide.
General Taylor has spent the past 9 years in the private sector, most
as the chief security officer for General Electric where he was
responsible for GE's global security operations and crisis management.
In that position, he has seen the government's homeland security
functions from the outside, giving him an important perspective on the
Department of Homeland Security's support to the private sector.
General Taylor will have to put his extensive experience and
leadership skills to good use as Under Secretary of DHS for
Intelligence and Analysis. The Office of Intelligence and Analysis has
been without a leader confirmed by the Senate for over a year now, and
it has a large number of missions, like DHS as a whole.
I hope and expect that General Taylor will provide strong leadership
to the Office of Intelligence and Analysis at DHS and I look forward to
working with him.
General Taylor was approved by the Intelligence Committee on March 4,
2014, and the committee received several letters supporting him,
including from the International Association of Chiefs of Police and
the Major Cities Chiefs Association which represents the law
enforcement agencies in largest cities in the U.S.
I fully support General Taylor's confirmation.
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