[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 15 (Tuesday, January 26, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S168-S169]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO DAVID GRANNIS

 Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Madam President, today I wish to pay tribute 
and offer my heartfelt thanks to one of my most trusted advisers, David 
Grannis. David has served me on the Senate Select Committee on 
Intelligence for over a decade, beginning as my designee in March of 
2005, then as my staff director from January of 2009 when I took over 
as chairman of the Committee. Over this decade, I have grown to trust 
his expertise and advice on all aspects of our oversight of the 
Intelligence Community and to rely on David's keen abilities to manage 
the committee in a fair and bipartisan manner, while shepherding 
through some of the Nation's most important and sometimes controversial 
legislation.
  Prior to joining the Intelligence Committee in 2005, David worked on 
the House Select Committee on Homeland Security and was the senior 
policy adviser to Representative Jane Harman on matters of national 
security. Before coming to Congress, David worked for 2 years at the 
National Research Council's Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology 
on projects studying the ability to make explosives more detectable and 
identifiable. He has a master's of public policy from the Kennedy 
School of Government at Harvard University, where he worked for now-
Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, who I understand recommended him to 
Representative Harman. David is a proven expert on both process and 
substance, which I am certain he developed by applying his 
characteristic analytic approach to everything, a skill he developed 
while a student in chemistry at Cornell University.
  David's accomplishments on the Intelligence Committee are extensive, 
so I will mention only a few of the highlights today. As staff 
director, David played a central role in assisting and guiding me and 
the committee through all stages of the committee's study of the CIA's 
detention and interrogation program, where a deft hand was required to 
negotiate numerous aspects of the review with the CIA and the 
administration. He played a significant role in prodding the 
administration to provide information and access to critically 
important material. He worked with the committee study team to 
declassify and secure release of a 500-page executive summary of the 
full 6,700-page report, a process that required months of 
excruciatingly detailed negotiations. The report is believed to be the 
largest review in congressional history. After the release of the 
declassified summary, David helped me and Senator McCain draft and pass 
legislation that will help ensure these types of harsh interrogation 
techniques will never be used again by the CIA or any other agency or 
representative of the U.S. Government.
  David also managed the bipartisan committee staff as it helped pass 
seven straight intelligence authorization bills from 2009 to the most 
recent one, which was signed by the President last month under the 
leadership of Chairman Burr. This effort, which helps ensure proper 
oversight of the intelligence community, was a significant achievement 
as no legislative guidance had been provided to the intelligence 
community during the previous 5 years prior to 2009. I thank David for 
leading the staff development of these bills and helping to 
successfully push them through Senate passage to bring them to the 
President's desk.
  Another recent significant accomplishment in which David's steady 
hand and expert advice helped achieve success is his work on the 
Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015. This act, which was 
signed by the President last month, will help this Nation defend itself 
from cyber attacks by encouraging increased information sharing on 
cyber intrusions between private industry and the government.
  As staff director, David also oversaw the completion of two important 
committee reviews. The first one was a committee report on the 2009 
Christmas Day attempted bombing of flight 253 over Detroit, and the 
second one was a bipartisan report on the 2012 Benghazi attacks. Each 
unflinchingly laid out the facts and helped determine what changes 
should be made as an appropriate response. David also worked to improve 
oversight of counterterrorism operations that helped assure the 
American public that Congress knew the details of what was being done 
by the executive branch, as well as provided recommendations for 
improvements.
  In 2007, David worked on the committee's investigation into prewar 
intelligence regarding Iraq. David served as the co-lead for the 
committee's sixth and final report on this topic, which dealt with the 
subject of prewar statements by senior policymakers. This was an 
important and sensitive subject, and David and his staff colleagues 
handled it with objectivity and professionalism. The report, approved 
by a bipartisan majority of the committee in June 2008, helped resolve 
a number of important questions regarding the run-up to the Iraq War. 
The great work that David and his colleagues did on this project 
ensured that the public finally received the facts and helped conclude 
what had at times been a contentious chapter in the committee's 
history.
  I also want to echo many of the comments that our committee staff has 
made about David including one that was passed onto me where a 
colleague said that he ``has been the rock upon which the staff's 
foundation is built.'' He has been a solid and stable leader that has 
provided the confidence that the staff needs to flourish. David's 
intellect and knowledge of the intelligence community and his 
communication skills in conveying that knowledge to committee members 
has gained him the respect and admiration of the entire committee. 
Finally, his demeanor and behavior in dealing with people, both inside 
and outside the committee, on both sides of the aisle and in both 
bodies of Congress, as well

[[Page S169]]

as with leaders of the intelligence community and the executive branch, 
is an example to be emulated.
  As I mentioned earlier, these are just a few of David's traits and 
accomplishments that I have come to rely upon while he served on the 
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. And I thank him for them. I 
also want to thank David's wife, Kerry Searle Grannis, for enduring the 
long hours and time away from home that is often a part of life in the 
Senate; and to acknowledge their three beautiful children--Owen, 
Amelia, and Nathaniel--who I hope now will have more time with their 
father, who can help them achieve more Boy Scout badges, excel in drama 
classes, and perfect that high board dive and soccer goal. Kerry has 
mentioned how wonderful a husband and father David has been, supporting 
her as she completed her Ph.D. and sharing all household chores, 
driving duties, and doctors' appointments for his busy crew.
  I know David will thrive as he begins a new set of challenges as the 
Principal Deputy Under Secretary at the Department of Homeland 
Security's Office of Intelligence and Analysis. I wish him the very 
best and thank him for his many years of service and dedication to this 
country and to me.

                          ____________________