[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 12 (Monday, January 26, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Page S462]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO LORENZO GOCO

  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I wish to pay tribute and thank a 
dedicated and capable individual, Lorenzo Goco, who retired from the 
Senate on Friday after 20 years of expert service.
  For the past 6 years, Lorenzo has served as the deputy staff director 
of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, SSCI. He has worked on 
the committee since 1995, when he was brought over by Senator Bob 
Kerrey. He has seen the highs and the lows of Senate life, and has made 
a valued contribution to the committee, to the Senate, and to the 
national security of the United States.
  Since the beginning of my chairmanship of the committee in 2009, 
Lorenzo has been the heart of the Democratic staff. Without drawing 
attention to himself, he has gotten things done--whether it meant 
setting the schedule and wrangling agency witnesses to attend on short 
notice, assisting the intelligence community to see the wisdom of the 
committee's approach, or bridging the divide between the majority and 
minority in the rare case of disagreement, Lorenzo kept the committee 
on track and headed in the right direction.
  As the deputy staff director, Lorenzo is responsible for everything 
but gets the credit for nothing. He has represented the SSCI at the 
weekly meeting of Democratic staff directors more often than the actual 
staff director, and he has had my full faith in representing the 
committee and me countless times. Often, a line of committee staffers 
will build in front of his door as people seek his advice on how to 
handle an issue or ask a question about a program.
  Classification prevents me from relating on the Senate floor most of 
the projects that Lorenzo has contributed to or overseen in his time on 
the committee staff. But they include numerous reviews of CIA covert 
actions, reviews of acquisition programs by the National Security 
Agency and the National Reconnaissance Office, and the budget review of 
the Defense Intelligence Agency.
  Due to CIA's declassification of the underlying information, I can 
say that Lorenzo was part of the committee's excellent work in 
investigating CIA's role in a shootdown of a missionary plane in Peru. 
He was instrumental in the committee's report on the prewar 
intelligence assessments of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, and a 
constant force behind the staff's work on the Study of CIA's Detention 
and Interrogation Program.
  The committee's success in enacting six intelligence authorization 
bills in the past 6 years is in good measure a result of Lorenzo's work 
in drafting the legislation and the classified annexes the contain, 
working with other committees in the Senate and the House, and 
negotiating provisions with the executive branch.
  There are plenty of congressional staff that are passionate advocates 
for aggressive action for this cause or that. Other staff focus on 
protecting their boss and as a result are more judicious and 
deliberate. Some are experts on process; some are experts on substance. 
Lorenzo is all of the above. His depth of experience on intelligence 
matters is unparalleled today in the Senate. He fights strongly for 
what he believes in, and has at times pushed me to be stronger on a 
cause than I might otherwise be. But he is always cool, calm, and 
collected, and manages to navigate the buffeting winds and tempestuous 
times that we face all too often.
  I am sorry to see a key part of my team go, but I wish Lorenzo the 
best of luck. I have no doubt that he will have more time to spend with 
his wonderful wife Audrey and his three boys, whom I know are the 
source of unending pride, and perhaps the occasional bout of parental 
frustration. With any luck, they'll grow up like their father.
  Thank you, Lorenzo, for your steadfast service.

                          ____________________