[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Page 17264]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO CARYN WAGNER

  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I wish to recognize today an 
extraordinary public servant and a dedicated leader of the U.S. 
intelligence community, Ms. Caryn Anne Wagner, the Under Secretary for 
Intelligence and Analysis--I&A--at the Department of Homeland Security. 
After 30 years of devoted Federal service, Caryn came out of retirement 
in 2010 when the President nominated her to the Under Secretary 
position. She was confirmed for this position and has proven herself a 
manager and leader of what had been a troubled agency. After nearly 3 
years in the job, Ms. Wagner will retire again on Friday, December 21. 
I am sorry to see her leave but wish her the very best as she prepares 
for her next chapter.
  I came to know Caryn when she was nominated to be the Under Secretary 
for Intelligence and Analysis. Since then, she has drawn on the depth 
and breadth of her experience in the intelligence community and the 
Congress to build the foundations of a Homeland Security intelligence 
office that will long outlast her tenure. The mission of I&A is to 
provide the Department of Homeland Security with the intelligence and 
information it needs to keep the homeland safe, secure, and resilient 
and to bring to the intelligence community the information and analysis 
from the Department's thousands of officers posted at our Nation's 
airports, borders, and numerous other places around the world. It also 
informs and empowers State, local, and tribal governments and law 
enforcement on the frontlines of our homeland defense against 
terrorism.
  Caryn's many years of experience in the intelligence community, 
combined with an indepth knowledge of the National Intelligence 
Program, collaborative instincts, and insightful thinking on 
intelligence matters have been key components of her success. She 
previously held senior positions involving oversight of the collection 
and analysis of intelligence to include: the Director of Analysis and 
Production and Director of the Military intelligence staff for the 
Defense Intelligence Agency, where she was responsible for development 
and management of the General Defense Intelligence Program; the Defense 
Intelligence Agency's senior representative to the U.S. European 
Command and North Atlantic Treaty Organization--NATO--Assistant Deputy 
Director of National Intelligence for Management and the first chief 
financial officer for the National Intelligence Program; as well as the 
Executive Director for Intelligence Community Affairs. In that role, 
she was responsible for the Community Management staff, which provided 
strategic planning, policy formulation, resource planning, program 
assessment and budget oversight for the intelligence community. Adding 
to her experience in the executive branch, she also served for a brief 
time in the private sector, where she provided support to military 
operations, intelligence planning, and intelligence systems 
architecture development. She also served our Nation in uniform for 8 
years as a signals intelligence and electronic warfare officer in the 
U.S. Army, and in the Congress as budget director for the House 
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
  But I want to note in particular her role as Under Secretary in the 
Department of Homeland Security. Caryn stepped into a relatively new 
organization that had some notable problems, to include an unclear 
mission, a shocking overreliance on a workforce in which government 
contractors outnumbered employees, and major shortfalls in office 
budgeting and spending. Drawing upon her considerable experience, Caryn 
was able to shape I&A's personnel structure to match as closely as 
possible that of the larger intelligence community; thereby greatly 
decreasing the number of contractors, flattening the Federal grade 
structure, and moving junior and midgrade personnel into career ladder 
positions. She also addressed and conquered basic management challenges 
that had previously gone unnoticed and unaddressed. As a result, I&A 
now has a functioning process to develop a budget request and execution 
plan; procedures in place for hiring and training qualified personnel; 
and procedures for identifying the need for policies, then writing, 
publishing and enforcing them.
  While overseeing the Department of Homeland Security's intelligence 
functions, Under Secretary Wagner has promoted information sharing and 
engagement with State, local, and tribal partners and has championed 
the consolidation of the Department's counterintelligence mission. In 
the critical area of cyber security, Caryn has overseen I&A's close 
collaboration and analytic support to the Department's National 
Protection and Programs Directorate.
  Under Secretary Wagner has approached every issue with a pragmatic 
and professional approach that should be a model for all who follow 
her.
  I would also like to note that over the past year or so, I have had a 
series of dinners and informal gatherings with senior women in the 
intelligence community. In that context, I have gotten to know Caryn on 
a more personal level, and I hope that we will continue our friendship 
after her retirement.
  Our Nation owes this public servant a tremendous debt of gratitude. I 
wish to thank her on behalf of the committee for her decades of 
exceptional service to our country and to wish her and her husband Chad 
the very best in the days and years ahead. Caryn can at long last 
dedicate more time to her love of gardening, travel, theater going and 
fine dining, and I wish her all the very best.

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