[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 55 (Tuesday, March 29, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E312-E313]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   HONORING CRAIG McLEAN ON FORTY YEARS OF SERVICE WITH THE NATIONAL 
                 OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. MIKIE SHERRILL

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 29, 2022

  Ms. SHERRILL. Madam Speaker, I rise today to commend Assistant 
Administrator Craig McLean on his retirement after forty years of 
distinguished service in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration (NOAA). This son of New Jersey grew up on the Passaic 
River and turned a childhood passion for ocean diving and exploration 
into a forty-year career that started as a commissioned NOAA Corps deck 
officer charting the ocean floor and culminated as a preeminent 
champion of NOAA's mission to understand and predict changes in 
climate, weather, ocean, and coasts.
  Craig started working on diving boats as a teenager. As a college 
student at Rutgers University, where he earned his B.A. in Zoology in 
1979, he investigated barges dumping toxic sludge into waterways. While 
serving as a NOAA Corps officer and, later as a senior executive of 
NOAA, Craig was instrumental to founding NOAA's Ocean Exploration and 
Research Program and its mapping of U.S. waters to advance 
oceanographic scientific knowledge and discover deep ocean secrets 
including new species, historical shipwrecks, and undersea mountains. 
With Craig's leadership, NOAA mapped two million square kilometers of 
the ocean floor, collected ocean data in the waters of sixteen 
countries and the high seas, and contributed to key conservation 
decisions for vital marine habitats such as establishment of new marine 
national monuments and deep sea protection areas.
  Craig served as Assistant Administrator for NOAA Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Research for over six years. He expertly led an enterprise 
of ten federal laboratories across the country and six major programs. 
Under his tenure, NOAA Research achieved vital advancements for the 
benefit of the Nation, including improved forecasting of weather 
extremes such as hurricanes, winter storms, and excesses and deficits 
of precipitation, enabling society to be better prepared to reduce the 
severe impacts of these events on life and destruction

[[Page E313]]

of property. These advancements greatly increased our understanding of 
the earth's climate system, improved modeling of the weather and 
climate seamlessly across timescales, and strengthened the scientific 
basis for investigating climate change.
  On the international stage, Craig helped broker a consensus on the 
Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO for global 
biogeochemical Argo sensors that enabled a $53 million commitment to 
expand deployments to improve ocean health and climate forecasting. He 
championed a global framework under the U.N. Decade of Ocean Science 
for Sustainable Development initiative to ensure ocean science can 
support countries and achieve the United Nations' 2030 Sustainable 
Development Goals.
  Craig boldly stepped forward as a complainant when NOAA experienced 
high-level, public political interference, putting himself at risk to 
uphold NOAA's scientific integrity and reputation. Afterward, he worked 
with other federal agencies on the National Science and Technology 
Council's effort to restore public trust in government through 
scientific integrity in policymaking.
  On behalf of the Committee on Science, Space and Technology, I thank 
Craig for his forty years of service. His leadership and personal 
commitment to scientific integrity and the public good exemplify the 
highest ideals of public service. I wish Craig a long and joyful 
retirement.

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