[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 115 (Wednesday, July 13, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E722]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO A GREAT AMERICAN

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. CHRIS STEWART

                                of utah

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 13, 2022

  Mr. STEWART. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a great 
American, Mr. Ed Mahen who died this past fall. Edward C. Mahen, Jr., 
was a dedicated civil servant, an Air Force combat veteran and an 
extraordinary engineer. Ed worked for the National Reconnaissance 
Office (NRO) for more than 23 years. Prior to his work for the NRO, he 
honorably served for 27 years as an active duty officer for the United 
States Air Force, including as a veteran of the Vietnam War.
  Ed was always excited about his work. He was fascinated by science 
his entire life, and he served as a trailblazer throughout his career. 
He was a leader, a driving force behind innovation, and a model of 
procurement excellence. Recognized for his contributions, he received a 
number of awards over his career, including that of Pioneer of National 
Reconnaissance. His work profoundly influenced the NRO's capabilities, 
and he has left an indelible mark across the Intelligence Community 
(IC).
  Born in rural Missouri, Ed was raised by his mother and father who 
were born during the Great Depression. His upbringing was greatly 
influenced by his parents' experience, as he was taught the importance 
of frugality, hard work, self-reliance and family loyalty.
  Once Ed entered high school, he was exposed to his first experience 
with formal education. He grew up in the post-World War II period with 
its proliferation of science and technology, including rockets and 
nuclear weapons. While still living at home, Ed built a high-frequency 
radio telescope to listen to the radio emissions of the planet Jupiter 
as it would rise at night. In high school, he excelled in science and 
math. After graduation, Ed worked his way through the University of 
Missouri and graduated with a bachelor's degree in physics and a 
master's degree in electrical engineering.
  In 1969, Ed Mahen was drafted for the Vietnam War and joined the 
United States Air Force. His formal education was over, but Ed was a 
firm believer in life-long learning. He stated, ``Education is a 
continuum. It doesn't stop when you get a degree, and you have to 
continue to learn. So I never stopped going to school; I just stopped 
going to formal school . . . If I want to learn cryptography, I go off 
and study cryptography for a while. And I could figure it out. I could 
learn about it and apply it . . . So you just never stop learning.''
  From May 1972 to May 1973, Ed Mahen took an assignment on an AC-130 
gunship in Vietnam. As was the case for many young Americans, this was 
a time of harrowing conflict and quick growth as he matured in a combat 
zone. In 1972 alone, the squadron lost one-fourth of its airplanes. Ed 
reflected, ``It was the first time anybody really tried to kill me. We 
tried to die a lot of times.'' in that year, Ed earned two 
distinguished flying crosses and eleven air medals, and he flew 144 
combat missions. At the end of his tour, Ed returned to the United 
States and served in various assignments in the Air Force, including 
overseeing all of the classified strategic and electronic warfare 
programs. He also served as a technical director for the Defense 
Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
  In 1996, Ed Mahen went to work for the Secretary of Defense to help 
resolve the situation in the Balkans, serving as the Director of the 
Bosnian Command and Control Initiative. He helped establish a peace-
keeping mission with no loss of life and kept the price tag within 
budget.
  Upon his return to the United States, as a Colonel in July 1997, the 
logical next step was promotion to Brigadier General. However, this 
would entail an assignment away from his family across the country. His 
upbringing and lessons from his parents meant putting family first. So 
he retired from a highly successful career in the Air Force.
  In 1998, as a civilian, Ed Mahen was recruited by the Director of the 
NRO to join the agency, where he served as the Chief Technology Officer 
for the Advanced Systems and Technology Directorate. In the years that 
followed, he was recognized repeatedly for his many contributions in 
the field of national reconnaissance. His work defeated current and 
emerging threats from terrorism and nuclear weapons proliferation--he 
became a standard of success at the NRO.
  In 2009, Ed was nominated for the NRO Director's Award for Excellence 
in Acquisition. This time he was recognized for developing capabilities 
that ``have yielded actionable intelligence and made significant 
contributions to IC missions.'' Further, ``his mission-focused, 
technically driven, and results-oriented leadership has and will 
continue to deliver revolutionary new capabilities to help counter the 
most critical threats to our Nation's security.'' As well as his 
technical accomplishments, he served as a role model and mentor for his 
team.
  In January 2020, Ed Mahen was named a Pioneer of National 
Reconnaissance, the highest award offered by the NRO. The Director of 
the NRO, Dr. Chris Scolese noted, ``Mr. Mahen's work enabled 
intelligence analysts to understand adversary capabilities and intent 
and helped our warfighters locate and track adversaries.''
  Ed Mahen was a remarkable leader, applying the lessons learned over a 
lifetime of experience and focusing that knowledge on practical, 
technical problem solving for national security challenges. He 
developed a unique ability to hire junior people and groom them into 
subject matter experts. He explained, ``The key to program management, 
the first thing you do is put yourself out of business. So the first 
thing you do is hire the people who are going to replace you. So this 
program pretty much runs itself . . . it's sort of the biblical story 
of teaching people to fish. Teach people to be self-sufficient.''
  Ed was a storyteller, and he maintained a sense of humor. He 
illustrated his work at the NRO by telling the story of ``Stone Soup,'' 
concluding, ``A lot of these programs are finding the pieces to stitch 
together so that you can do things very quickly.'' Most importantly, he 
never lost his enthusiasm and wonder for the accomplishments of the 
NRO. He once reflected, ``I think the NRO is a magic place. And I think 
with visionary leadership, the NRO could do anything.''
  After nearly 50 years of service to the country, and still an active 
innovator, Ed Mahen passed away on September 29, 2021. Madam Speaker, 
our Nation has been blessed and prospered with greater national 
security by the lifetime of service of Ed Mahen. May he rest in peace 
and may his wife and family be comforted knowing their husband and 
father was a true patriot--one who endlessly loved them and his 
country.

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