[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 17 (Wednesday, February 1, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S589-S590]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           TRIBUTE TO BRIGADIER GENERAL FRANCIS XAVIER TAYLOR

  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, today I wish to recognize an 
extraordinary public servant and a dedicated leader of the U.S. 
intelligence community, Brig. Gen. Francis Xavier Taylor, the Under 
Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis, I&A, at the Department of 
Homeland Security.
  I had the pleasure of presiding as chairman of the Intelligence 
Committee for the confirmation hearing for General Taylor in 2014 and 
have witnessed his leadership over the past 2 and a half years as I&A 
has made perhaps the most impressive progress of any intelligence 
agency over this time.
  After nearly 40 years of honorable service to our Nation, Under 
Secretary Taylor retired on the last day of the Obama administration.
  Prior to his work at DHS, Frank Taylor served for 31 years in the 
U.S. Air Force and at the U.S. Department of State as an ambassador for 
counterterrorism and head of diplomatic security. He also served as 
vice president of security at General Electric. For the past 2 years, 
he has applied the leadership skills, understanding of security at home 
and abroad, and his close personal friendship with Secretary Jeh 
Johnson to transform the Office of Intelligence and Analysis.
  I&A's mission is to equip the Homeland Security Enterprise with 
timely intelligence and information it needs to keep the homeland safe, 
secure, and resilient. It provides critical intelligence to the 
leadership of the DHS and its components; State, local, tribal, and 
territorial governments, and private sector partners. The office itself 
was formed after the creation of DHS through the Homeland Security Act 
of 2002 and has seen significant change and disruption in its short 
lifetime. Due to Under Secretary Taylor's leadership, I&A is much 
further along on its vision of becoming a premier element of the IC, 
driving information sharing and delivering unique predictive 
intelligence and analysis to operators and decisionmakers at all 
levels.
  During his confirmation hearing, General Taylor was asked why I&A 
needed to exist, given the domestic mission of the FBI and the analytic 
work of the National Counterterrorism Center. He was asked to justify 
the office's existence if it produced one analytic product per employee 
per year. Members questioned him on the need for State and local fusion 
centers and the support provided to them by the Federal Government. I 
focused my questions on why an intelligence agency should have more 
than 60 percent of its staffing come from a contractor workforce.
  As we begin 2017, those questions are no longer applicable. Under 
Secretary Taylor has transformed the organization. He removed internal 
I&A stovepipes and realigned the organization to more closely reflect 
the intelligence cycle. Where homeland intelligence analysis had too 
often relied on repackaging products from other members of the IC, DHS 
collection now forms the basis of I&A production. Under Secretary 
Taylor also ordered that finished intelligence include DHS and State-
local-tribal Partner data. Within 1 year, the organization achieved 
great success on this front, ensuring 80 percent of finished 
intelligence in fiscal year 2016 included unique homeland-derived data. 
Under his leadership, I&A is fulfilling the unique homeland-focused 
role that Congress intended. The contract workforce is below 25 percent 
and the office is producing valuable intelligence analysis, tips to law 
enforcement, compiling and improving the quality of DHS data for 
intelligence purposes, strengthening our watch listing capability, and 
lending expertise to decision makers from the President down to the cop 
on the beat.
  Under Secretary Taylor has worked tirelessly to mature and strengthen 
the Department's relationship with the State and local fusion centers 
and make information sharing a priority, changing the way the IC 
analyzes the domestic threat picture. When I have visited my local 
fusion center in San

[[Page S590]]

Francisco, I receive nothing but praise for the support that I&A 
provides and the importance of local, State, and Federal information 
sharing. The most recent example of this partnership is the Field 
Analysis Report, FAR, an intelligence report written by State and local 
intelligence analysts in coordination with I&A for the State and local 
audience. This is an important development from intelligence handed 
down from intelligence agencies inside the Federal beltway that, at 
times, misses the mark of what the local customer needs. FARs are among 
the most highly rated finished intelligence products coming out of I&A 
and are a direct result of General Taylor's vision.
  Under Secretary Taylor also took to heart the need to invest in the 
workforce and address extremely low employee morale. He has 
restructured the workforce, drastically reducing the ratio of 
supervisors to workers, streamlining management and developing what he 
calls ``seed corn''--young, junior intelligence professionals brought 
in to rejuvenate the organization and help develop a truly homeland-
focused workforce. Besides shifting the balance of the staff, Under 
Secretary Taylor focused on hiring, growing, and investing in the 
workforce and ensuring that inherently governmental work is done by 
governmental employees and clear communication between the workforce 
and the leadership.
  Members of the Intelligence Committee spend most of our time on 
international events and the often controversial practices of the CIA, 
NSA, and FBI. We have had the luxury in the recent past not to have to 
worry on the intelligence coming from and provided to our homeland 
security professionals because of the leadership and uncommon skill of 
Under Secretary Frank Taylor. We owe him a tremendous debt of 
gratitude. I wish to thank Under Secretary Taylor for his decades of 
exceptional service to our country and to wish him and his wife, 
Connie, the very best in the days and years ahead as he retires for the 
fourth time.
  Thank you.

                          ____________________