[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 94 (Tuesday, May 19, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2482-S2483]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO MIKE DiSILVESTRO

  Mr. McCONNELL. Now, Madam President, on another matter, it is my 
honor to help bid farewell to a distinguished staff leader, who has 
himself handled sensitive security matters with great care and 
dedication.
  For more than 30 years, this body has functioned more safely and 
smoothly because Mike DiSilvestro was on the clock as Director of the 
Office of Senate Security. Mike D.'s job is tough to describe. That is 
partially because long tenured all-stars like Mike have a way of 
carving out their own niche, but it is mostly because his work is 
literally classified. Mike has been in charge of the Office of Senate 
Security almost as long as I have been in the Senate.
  He came on board as Acting Director in 1987. He took over a brandnew 
office with incredibly important and sensitive functions. The details 
are not for public consumption, but let's say there were two main 
missions.
  First, Mike has managed, modernized, and expanded the secure 
facilities and systems that provide classified information in the 
Capitol to Senators and committees as we govern the country. He has 
simultaneously been a diplomatic liaison to the executive branch and 
has advocated for the Senate's prerogative, and he has been a skillful 
manager of people and logistics, who has made sure our secrets stay 
secret once they arrive here.
  Second, Mike has been one of our top leaders on the security of the 
Senate itself. He helps to plan for contingencies and guard every facet 
of our institution, its people, and its systems from outside actors 
with bad intentions.
  These are tall orders--even for a fellow graduate of the University 
of Louisville. Consider how much has changed in the 37 years since Mike 
first came to the Senate and in the 32 years he has held this job: 
major wars, terrorist strikes on the homeland, anthrax in the Hart 
Building, countless technological advances that have made his task 
radically more complex. Imagine guarding some of the Nation's most 
closely held secrets, planning for possible attacks on the institution, 
and still being unanimously described by your colleagues as calm, cool, 
and even-keeled.
  Mike is no cheap people pleaser. His duties don't permit it. When you 
see

[[Page S2483]]

Mike outside his secure facility and heading our way, it does not mean 
a social call--it means bad news--and you had better believe this stoic 
sentinel has had to say no a lot more than yes. Just doing the job half 
as reliably and reassuringly as Mike is a herculean task by itself, but 
then factor in the fact that he is also one of the most personally 
well-liked and respected colleagues among the circle of folks with whom 
he has worked.
  Mike D.'s reputation extends far outside the Senate. I have it on 
good authority that, when Secretary of Defense Esper--who served as 
national security adviser to a former majority leader--comes to Senate 
Security to brief us Members, he doesn't consider his visit complete 
until he has stopped in Mike D.'s office to check on his old colleague.
  Yet, ironically, outside a select circle, most people in the Senate 
itself probably could not pick Mike D. out of a lineup. I guess, when 
everything you work on is strictly ``need to know,'' you wind up on a 
need-to-know basis yourself. Even Mike's own teammates describe his 
approach as somewhat ``stealth-like.''
  In short, even to his beloved Senate, Mike has remained somewhat 
mysterious. It is definitely a good sign for all of us that he has 
never become a household name, but some careful intelligence work on 
our own has turned up clues about Mike D.'s next assignment. His well-
earned retirement will bring more hikes, more long runs, a lot more 
golf, and more time with the family he treasures. He may miss his 
colleagues and the importance of his job, but I don't think tears will 
be shed for the end of those heroically long commutes on I-95 which 
took place at all hours, day and night, whenever duty called.
  I can't offer Mike any higher praise than to repeat what he actually 
already knows.
  The Senate has been safe and secure for more than a generation 
because of you. Decades of Senators have gotten the information we need 
because of you. Some people spend their whole careers wondering if they 
have made a difference. You have not needed to ask that for almost 40 
years, and you will never need to ask it again.
  Mike, we are going to miss you, but old habits die hard, and we 
simply aren't willing to sever all ties.
  So, this morning, the Senate will officially designate Mike as Senate 
Security's Director Emeritus. The Office's first-ever Director will 
become its first-ever Director Emeritus.
  But don't worry, Mike. Your new job description will just be a little 
bit lighter. I hope the biggest mystery you have to tackle for a while 
will be whether to play 9 holes on Saturday or fit in 18. The Senate 
and your country thanks you for everything you have done.

                          ____________________