[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 131 (Wednesday, August 2, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S4718]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              UNITED STATES INTELLIGENCE PROFESSIONALS DAY

  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee 
on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration of S. Res. 
222 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 222) designating July 26, 2017, as 
     ``United States Intelligence Professionals Day.''

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. WARNER. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, 
the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered 
made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 222) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  (The resolution, with its preamble, is printed in the Record of July 
19, 2017, under ``Submitted Resolutions.'')
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, for several years now I have regularly 
come to this floor to publicly acknowledge the contributions made by 
our great Federal employees. This is a tradition I inherited from one 
of our former colleagues, Senator Ted Kaufman of Delaware. Senator 
Kaufman, who had been a longtime staffer himself before he served as a 
Senator, would come to this floor on a regular basis to acknowledge and 
celebrate the tireless work and occasional heroics performed by many of 
our Federal employees. When Senator Kaufmann left this body, I gladly 
picked up that mantle and since then have come to the floor to draw 
attention to the extraordinary contributions of many of our Federal 
workers.
  Over the past few years, this recognition has included a Social 
Security executive who eliminated a claims backlog to more quickly meet 
the urgent needs of thousands of Social Security recipients with grave 
terminal illnesses. We have also celebrated the work of a Department of 
Homeland Security official who saved taxpayers $750 million by 
streamlining her agency's procurement processes, and we proudly 
highlighted the work of a group of engineers at NASA Langley Research 
Center in Virginia, who, in 2010, designed a capsule that proved to be 
crucial in saving the lives of 33 Chilean miners who were trapped 
underground.

  Too often, our Federal workers are disrespected and demeaned by those 
who would attempt to use them as scapegoats for all that is allegedly 
wrong here in Washington. In reality, thousands of our Nation's 
dedicated civil servants work tirelessly every day to make our 
government work for and by the people.
  Today, I wish to focus for a moment on one such group of outstanding 
Federal employees--those who work across our Nation's intelligence 
agencies to keep our Nation safe. Most of these professionals work in 
anonymity. Many risk their lives far away from the limelight. That is 
how it should be, for they are sworn to secrecy, even from their 
families and loved ones.
  Over the last decade and a half, our intelligence professionals have 
increasingly been deployed overseas into war zones and other high-
threat environments. Regrettably, some have made the highest 
sacrifice--laying down their lives for their country.
  For their service, the risks they take and the sacrifices they make 
every day and because they do not hear this nearly enough, let me say 
``thank you'' to the intelligence community.
  As a Senator from the Commonwealth of Virginia, I am proud to 
represent thousands of current and former members of the intelligence 
community who live, work, or retire in our great State. I am also proud 
to represent these individuals in my current capacity as vice chairman 
of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
  My colleagues and I on the committee have again submitted a 
resolution that marks July 26 as ``United States Intelligence 
Professionals Day.'' It was on that day 70 years ago that President 
Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947, which laid the 
foundation for today's U.S. intelligence community. It was earlier in 
my statement that we passed that resolution. In recent years, our 
committee has had success, as we try to protect our intelligence 
community, with greater intelligence sharing and interoperability and 
because of investments in people and systems.
  Many challenges remain--from the constant barrage of leaks to the 
security of the supply chain, to outdated processes for security 
clearances. I hope that this year's intelligence authorization bill 
will begin to address some of these issues.
  Yet today it is the people in the intelligence community whom I want 
to acknowledge--their professionalism, their dedication to duty and 
country, their silent service, their sacrifices.
  The men and women of the Nation's intelligence agencies deserve our 
respect and our thanks. They do not deserve to be belittled, 
disrespected, or threatened, and certainly not from their Commander in 
Chief.
  To the men and women of the intelligence community--these great 
Federal employees--I conclude with this: We, simply, do not say it 
enough, but thank you for your service. Thank you for your dedication, 
and thank you for the great work you do--often unheralded.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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