[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 546-547]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO FEDERAL EMPLOYEES

  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, as we get started on this next Congress--
and I wish to congratulate the Presiding Officer for joining this 
Chamber. As someone who has had the opportunity to preside during my 
first 2 years in the Senate, I commend the Presiding Officer for those 
actions and look forward to working with you on a variety of projects.
  What I want to do today is continue a tradition that I actually 
inherited from one of our former colleagues, Senator Ted Kaufman of 
Delaware. Senator Kaufman, who had been a long-time employee of the 
Senate, came to this floor on a fairly regular basis during his time 
here to basically celebrate and acknowledge--in most cases--the 
tireless, unsung work of so many of our Federal employees. As we debate 
budgets, debt, and deficit, we oftentimes recognize we have to make 
extraordinary and difficult choices in cuts. In many instances, behind 
all of those cuts are Federal employees who do remarkable work in 
keeping us safe, providing services, and helping our country grow.
  Ted Kaufman used to come down here on a regular basis and celebrate 
some of those unsung heroes. I was proud to continue his tradition 
during the last Congress and look forward to carrying it on through 
another session.
  I start this next Congress actually celebrating two great Federal 
employees, I might add, who both happen to be Virginians who serve as 
excellent role models. They represent the thousands of professionals 
who work quietly every day across our intelligence community to keep 
our Nation safe.
  Very often these professionals work in anonymity and many risk their 
lives in troubled spots far away from the limelight, and that is how it 
should be. Recently we have seen certain incidents abroad, and 
sometimes they pay with the highest sign of sacrifice in terms of their 
lives.
  For their service, their late nights and early mornings away from 
their families, the risks they take, and the sacrifices they make every 
day--and because they do not hear this nearly enough--allow me to say 
thank you to those members of the intelligence community.


                          Jeanne Vertefeuille

  Today I wish to briefly tell the remarkable stories of two 
extraordinary women who built their careers at the Central Intelligence 
Agency. Jeanne Vertefeuille, who is pictured here, passed away on 
December 29 at the age of 80 after a brief illness.
  In announcing her death to the CIA family, Acting Director Michael 
Morell appropriately described Ms. Vertefeuille as an icon within the 
agency. If her story were not true, it would read like a spy novel.
  Jeanne joined the CIA when she graduated from college in 1954. It was 
the year I was born and a year Dick Durbin was also young. This was a 
time when the American intelligence community could be best described 
as an old boys' club. She was hired at the CIA as a GS-4 typist. This 
is a woman coming out of college in 1954 hired as a typist.
  Over her career, which stretched over nearly a half century, Jeanne 
Vertefeuille blazed a trail for women in the national clandestine 
service. She methodically worked her way up to leadership positions. 
There were overseas postings in Ethiopia, Finland, and The Hague. She 
became an expert in Soviet intelligence and spycraft. She retired as a 
member of the Senior Intelligence Service in 1992.
  Even after her retirement, she continued her work for the agency as a 
contractor, making still more valuable contributions and working 
without a day's break in service until she became ill last summer. As 
her obituary reads:

       She remained a quiet agency soldier . . . purposefully 
     nondescript and selflessly dedicated.
       She lived alone and walked to work.
       But if she was a great figure at the agency, Ms. 
     Vertefeuille was also a tenacious and effective one, and in 
     October of 1986 was asked to lead a task force to investigate 
     the disappearance of Russians whom the CIA had hired to spy 
     against their own country.

  Together, with colleagues at the CIA she invested years in the 
methodical and painstaking hunt for a mole. It was through her efforts, 
and the good work of many others, that we ultimately unmasked the 
notorious traitor Aldrich Ames in 1984. Remember, this is a woman who 
joined the CIA in 1954 as a typist.
  Aldrich Ames turned out to be one of the most dangerous traitors in 
the Nation's history. Thanks in large measure to Ms. Vertefeuille, he 
was convicted of espionage and is now serving a life term without 
parole.


                              Sandy Grimes

  Jeanne Vertefeuille's story does not end there. The Washington Post 
recently described how one of her colleagues, Sandy Grimes--another 
Virginian who worked with her on the Ames task force--stepped up over 
the past year to care for Jeanne as she was battling cancer.
  Sandy Grimes, a career CIA employee whose parents worked on the 
Manhattan Project, ultimately served as Jeanne's primary caregiver. She 
sat with her each day during the final 3 months of her remarkable life. 
She monitored Jeanne's care and tried to make sure she remained 
comfortable. She often brought personal messages of support and 
appreciation from their former colleagues. Ms. Grimes said:

       I felt an obligation to be there with her. I can't imagine 
     not doing it. I was the one Jeanne would accept. I owed it to 
     her as a friend.

  By all accounts Jeanne Vertefeuille was an intensely private woman, 
and she doubtless would recoil at the attention she is now receiving. 
One cannot help but be inspired by this true-life story of service, 
patriotism, and friendship demonstrated by these two great employees, 
Sandy Grimes and the late Jeanne Vertefeuille. Their service reflects 
well on the thousands of other intelligence professionals whose names 
can never be revealed. Both of them deserve our recognition and thanks.
  During the last Congress I joined 14 Senators in a Joint Resolution 
to mark the U.S. Intelligence Professionals Day. At some point during 
this Congress, I hope we can gather more supporters so we can have a 
day designated on a more formalized basis to recognize the enormous 
contributions made by intelligence professionals. Again, this is an 
effort to bring respectful attention to these quiet professionals who 
literally--as a member of the intelligence committee, I can testify to 
this--keep our Nation safe every day without any thought of 
recognition.
  Again, I look forward to working with my colleagues so we can 
introduce this resolution in the next Congress.
  As I conclude my remarks, I see my friend the distinguished majority 
whip. We have spent a lot of time over the last 2\1/2\ years grappling 
with the challenges around the debt and deficit and trying to make some 
of the very hard choices we are going to need to make as a Nation.
  While it appears that we may be avoiding some of the immediate 
consequences of the so-called debt ceiling debate, which I am glad to 
see, never should the full faith and credit of the United States be 
used as a political hostage. Again, I want to compliment my friend the 
Senator from Illinois who has been as stalwart as anyone in this 
Chamber at stepping up and who has been willing to speak truth to even 
those who are the most supportive about some of the challenges and 
choices we have to make.
  We are going to have to proceed at a level of spending that is less 
than what we have had in the past. As we think about cutting back 
budgets, I think it

[[Page 547]]

is important to remember that behind many of these budgets, there are 
not just numbers but there are incredible professionals who give their 
life's service to making this a stronger Nation. So with this tribute 
to Jeanne and Sandy, I commend these two great Federal employees.
  I will be back on a regular basis to celebrate Federal employees 
throughout this Congress because too often in today's day and life, 
government service is disparaged. But for Jeanne Vertefeuille and Sandy 
Grimes we might not have as safe a Nation as we do today.
  With that, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I will accept my colleague from Virginia's 
kind words with at least an indirect apology for the defamation which 
he included in his speech suggesting that I was somehow an Ancient 
Mariner here in the Senate. I wear my trousers rolled but not quite as 
rolled as my friend suggested.
  I thank the Senator for his leadership on this deficit and debt 
issue. We have a lot to do and we have to do it thoughtfully. I am glad 
my colleague highlighted the two employees.
  I read the obituary of the one the Senator from Virginia highlighted. 
It was an extraordinary story of a woman who persevered in an agency 
which didn't have much use for women beyond the secretarial staff. I am 
glad the Senator continues this tradition of acknowledging these 
important Federal employees.
  I thank my friend from Virginia.

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