[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 21]
[Senate]
[Pages 28234-28235]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO DAVID L. BRANT

 Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I take this opportunity to 
recognize a dedicated law enforcement official at the Naval Criminal 
Investigative Service, NCIS, David L. Brant, who is retiring after 28 
years of service to the United States. Culminating a law enforcement 
career spanning over 30 years, Director David Brant has announced his 
retirement from Federal service effective December 9, 2005.
  Following graduation in 1975 with a master's degree in criminology 
from Indiana State University, Mr. Brant began his law enforcement 
career as a police officer with the Dade County Metropolitan Public 
Safety Department in Miami, FL. Two years later, he

[[Page 28235]]

accepted an offer from the Naval Investigative Service and began his 
service as a special agent assigned to NISRA Norfolk, VA. During his 4 
years in the Norfolk area, Mr. Brant served in four different NIS 
offices and also completed an assignment as special agent afloat aboard 
the USS Independence. 
  For 13 years, Mr. Brant served NCIS in a number of assignments in the 
United States and the Philippines, and he earned an appointment to the 
Senior Executive Service as Assistant Director for Counterintelligence 
in 1994. Mr. Brant served in that capacity until he succeeded Roy D. 
Nedrow as Director of the NCIS in May 1997.
  Mr. Brant has been widely recognized within the Department of the 
Navy and the Department of Defense, as well as within the Federal law 
enforcement community, for his innovative and transformational 
approaches to enhancing law enforcement and counterintelligence 
capabilities. He has led NCIS in developing and implementing 
operational strategies, across all of the agency's mission areas, which 
serve as models for others to follow. Additionally, Mr. Brant 
established the Counterterrorism Directorate and built the Multiple 
Threat Alert Center, MTAC, specifically to enhance the ability of the 
NCIS to counter threats facing the Navy and Marine Corps.
  Other noteworthy accomplishments during Mr. Brant's tenure include 
the creation of both the NCIS Contingency Response Field Office, CRFO, 
to improve the capacity of NCIS to deploy agents to meet naval 
requirements in high-threat environments like Iraq and Afghanistan, and 
the Deployment Support Office, DSO, to better support those personnel 
once they are deployed. Mr. Brant has also led the creation of the Law 
Enforcement Information Exchange, LInX, Program, which has brought 
local, State, and Federal law enforcement agencies together to great 
effect in support of naval force protection and crimefighting in the 
Hampton Roads area and other parts of the country. He has partnered 
NCIS with the FBI on Joint Terrorism Task Forces, and assigned agents 
to Defense Department Force Protection Detachments, FPDs, around the 
world. Moreover, he has been an outstanding spokesman for NCIS and the 
Department of the Navy in senior level law enforcement, 
counterintelligence, and counterterrorism venues around the world.
  Most of all, Mr. Brant appreciates that what makes NCIS a truly great 
agency is the quality of its people. He routinely fought to ensure that 
agents, analysts, and support personnel alike had the equipment, 
training, and support required to do their jobs. Under his leadership, 
NCIS gained civilian arrest authority and built a reputation as a 
first-class law enforcement agency. He established the Director's 
Advisory Board, DAB, to provide him with direct feedback for the field 
on emergent issues. Mr. Brant improved upon the NCIS support 
infrastructure by hiring specialists in the fields of communications, 
congressional affairs, human resources, and information technology. He 
increased the number of SES and other high-grade billets while also 
working diligently for the additional funding that will ensure the 
success of his agency for years to come.
  During his career, Mr. Brant has been recognized as an outstanding 
leader by multiple organizations. For his distinguished service, he has 
received the Department of Defense Presidential Rank Award and the 
Department of the Navy Distinguished Service Award. Recently, he was 
honored by the Hispanic American Police Command Officers Association, 
HAPCOA, with the Aguila Award for Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice 
and by the Women in Federal Law Enforcement, WIFLE, as the 2004 
Outstanding Advocate for Women in Federal Law Enforcement.
  As he begins his well deserved retirement, Mr. Brant will remain in 
the Washington, DC, area with his wife Merri Jo, and his children, 
Emily and Andrew. I salute David Brant for his dedicated service to our 
country, and I wish him and his family well in the years to 
come.

                          ____________________