[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 200 (Wednesday, December 19, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7853-S7854]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    NOMINATION OF WILLIAM R. EVANINA

  Mr. BURR. Mr. President, I rise today--and it was my intent to ask 
unanimous consent with my colleague, the vice chairman of the 
Intelligence Committee--for the Senate to confirm Bill Evanina as 
Director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center.
  Bill has served our Nation for over 23 years, including service as a 
supervisory special agent and assistant section chief with the Federal 
Bureau of Investigation. Prior to joining the NCSC, Bill served as the 
chief of counterespionage at the CIA.
  Bill has served honorably as the Director of the NSC since June of 
2014, before the position required Senate confirmation, necessitating a 
vote by the U.S. Senate. Here is a guy who has served for 3\1/2\ years, 
and we changed the statute and said that this is a position that the 
Senate needs to confirm in the future, and, all of a sudden, the same 
guy who has been there is now being held up.
  Intelligence threats facing our Nation are numerous. They are 
growing, and they are significant. Bill is experienced, professional, 
and understands the threats through real world experience. We need a 
Director who can ably lead our Nation's counterintelligence security 
activities during a period of unprecedented threats. We need someone 
who can actively and effectively engage and educate the private sector 
on the threats--something Bill has done time and again.
  Director Evanina was unanimously approved by the Senate Select 
Committee on Intelligence in May, and it is time this body moved 
forward. We cannot continue to let politics or nongermane issues get in 
the way of confirming good people.
  I ask this body to confirm Bill Evanina as Director of the National 
Counterintelligence Security Center without further delay.
  I yield to my vice chairman of the Intel Committee.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Virginia.
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I want to join with the chairman of the 
committee and basically echo what he has said.
  Bill Evanina is a true professional. I have had a chance to work with 
him for a number of years in my role on the Intelligence Committee and, 
more recently, as vice chair. Let me cite one example.
  Outside of his lane--not a duty as required--Bill has been a 
consistent voice in raising concerns about the challenges and threats 
that are posed by China. As a matter of fact, the chairman and I were 
recently in Austin, and Bill came down and gave one of the most 
powerful briefs I have heard,

[[Page S7854]]

which he has done a number of times for the committee and increasingly 
for the business community, talking in an honest, straightforward way 
about the security threats, the intellectual property theft, the host 
of concerns that confront our country by China.
  Bill Evanina is one of those rare public servants, and I don't 
think--as the chairman has pointed out, since he received unanimous 
confirmation from the Intelligence Committee--that there is any 
question about his service, any question about his temperament, any 
question about his ability to do the job--no partisan challenges to 
him, as the chairman has mentioned. He has served in his current 
position for 3\1/2\ years.
  We do him and other intelligence professionals a disservice when they 
are arbitrarily held up for confirmation, not because of a substantive 
issue that this individual may have performed or not performed but 
because of a totally extraneous issue.
  My intent today, along with the chairman, was to ask unanimous 
consent that the Senate proceed to the Executive Calendar nomination, 
getting Bill Evanina permanently confirmed to this job. He is an 
individual who, if we are not careful and don't act on soon, may decide 
to take his extraordinary professional skills and find much higher 
remuneration in the private sector rather than serving our country.
  I am not going to ask for that UC today in deference to one of our 
colleagues who has lodged an objection to the nomination. It is my hope 
that before the end of this session, the chairman and I will come to 
the floor one more time and make this request.
  I implore the Member who has a challenge against Mr. Evanina, again, 
not based on his performance, not based on his politics, not based on 
any professionalism he brings to this job--my hope is that the Member 
will reflect and decide to remove this extraneous objection and allow 
this great professional to be confirmed to a position he has already 
served in for the last 3\1/2\ years.
  I yield back.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Rhode Island.

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