[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Pages 14504-14506]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO FEDERAL EMPLOYEES


           Officer Codie Hughes and Special Agent Tate Jarrow

  Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I come to the floor maybe once a month 
when we are in session to talk about folks who are a part of the team 
at the Department of Homeland Security. There are about 225,000 of 
them. What I do every month is pick on a couple of them. We pick on a 
part of the Department of Homeland Security that maybe doesn't get a 
lot of attention.
  Before the Presiding Officer leaves, I just want to say ``Happy 
Thanksgiving'' to him.
  Tonight, if I can, in the time that I have, I will start off by--I 
have been doing this now for 2 years, coming to the floor and talking 
about people in the Department of Homeland Security who have done 
amazing things for all of us.
  If you will recall, the Department of Homeland Security didn't even 
exist when I first came here in 2001. It was created on the heels of 9/
11. We took about 22 disparate agencies and glommed them together. They 
all had something to do with Homeland Security. The Department has 
struggled at

[[Page 14505]]

times to try to be a coherent, collegial, productive organization. I 
think they are hitting their stride, and I am proud of the work they 
do.
  There are more than 230,000 employees in the Department of Homeland 
Security around the country and around the world. They do some of the 
most difficult and some of the most diverse work that is done in the 
Federal Government, anything from protecting against cyber attacks--we 
have plenty of that going on--to helping communities recover from 
natural disasters. Unfortunately, we have a lot of that going on as 
well with FEMA helping out--to securing our borders, our ports of 
entry. The Department of Homeland Security faces great challenges as it 
carries out its mission of protecting all of us as we go about our 
daily lives.
  As most people know, the U.S. Secret Service is charged primarily 
with protecting the President and the Vice President and their families 
24 hours a day, 7 days a week. When I was a kid growing up, I thought 
that was all they did. As it turns out, there is a whole lot more that 
they do. It is a huge challenge, especially in a Presidential year like 
this when you have all these people running for President--mostly in 
the Republican Party, but some in our party too. As all the candidates 
are traveling around this Nation and going hither and yon, the Secret 
Service is trying to keep them and their families safe and doing it on 
a regular basis.
  This part of their job becomes a lot harder during a Presidential 
election. The men and women of the Secret Service worked this year 
thousands of hours of overtime in this campaign cycle in order to 
provide protection for every candidate who needed it, whether 
Republican or Democrat. The Secret Service did this while continuing to 
perform other special protection duties, such as the massive task of 
securing the United Nations General Assembly.
  In September, converging on New York City at the United Nations, we 
had leaders of over 100 different nations around the world, and the job 
of protecting them and keeping them safe fell largely--not entirely, 
but largely on the Secret Service. For many agents, this required 
significantly long hours and weeks at a time on the road and away from 
their homes, all while standing ready at a moment's notice to thrust 
themselves into harm's way should their duty require it.
  I am enormously proud of the Secret Service in this election season. 
Their work to ensure our candidates' personal safety and protect them 
from harm also helps protect our democracy, ensuring that the American 
people have the final say on who will be our next President and next 
Vice President. The Secret Service agency is a critical part of 
ensuring the peaceful transition of power from one duly elected leader 
to the next.
  For all these reasons it is urgent that the Congress do what it needs 
to do to ensure that the Secret Service agents who have worked so hard 
in recent months receive the pay that they have earned and deserve. The 
pay limit in current law prevents that from happening at the moment for 
those agents who are owed overtime compensation. I support efforts in 
this year's House and Senate appropriations bills to address that issue 
and to make our Secret Service agents whole. I'm hopeful that a fix to 
this problem can be included in any final spending bill that we take up 
during the final week of this year.
  The demanding work done by the men and women of the Secret Service 
exemplifies the term ``public servant,'' as they put their lives on the 
line every day to protect our President, Vice President, and the 
candidates for those offices, regardless of party or politics. Even 
during the busy Presidential campaign like the one we have just gone 
through, every division of the Secret Service, despite the added 
strains, continues to exceed expectations through their ongoing work.
  While many of us know of the Secret Service's duty to protect the 
President, relatively few of us know of the important work done behind 
the scenes by countless others across the Secret Service, two of whom I 
am proud to highlight tonight.
  One is called the Secret Service Uniformed Division, and they protect 
the White House and its grounds 24/7. They ensure that the people's 
house is secure for the President and their families, for their guests, 
staff, and visitors.
  I have no idea how many people visit the White House every year, but 
I know it is in the hundreds of thousands, maybe more, maybe even in 
the millions--but a lot of people go there from all over the world and 
visit. One of the things that the Secret Service Uniformed Division 
does is help to make sure that when visitors go there, they are safe.
  One uniformed division officer who has lived her entire life in the 
service of others is Codie Hughes. Officer Hughes joined the Secret 
Service 12 years ago.
  Here is a photo of her with the Secretary and Deputy Secretary 
Mayorkas. As a uniformed officer with the White House branch, Officer 
Hughes is charged with securing one of the most iconic public buildings 
in the world, the White House.
  In the past 3 years alone, she made more than 45 arrests while 
patrolling the area around the White House, including one person who 
was wanted by the FBI for previously making threats against law 
enforcement officers. Since 2013, Officer Hughes has helped save the 
lives of not one but three people who needed her help.
  When a man collapsed in the White House before a meeting with the 
President, Officer Hughes administered CPR before the man was revived 
with a defibrillator.
  Similarly, earlier this year, when Officer Hughes found a man 
collapsed on the street outside the White House without a pulse, she 
administered CPR until medics arrived.
  And last year, most remarkably, when Officer Hughes happened upon two 
detectives in her hometown of Leesburg, VA, administering CPR to an 
unconscious man, she quickly identified herself as a Secret Service 
agent and offered to help. Along with the detectives, Officer Hughes 
administered CPR until the medics could respond.
  This is her picture. As I said earlier, she is shown here with the 
Secretary of the Department, Jeh Johnson, who has done a great job, and 
the Assistant Secretary, Ali Mayorkas, who has also done a terrific 
job, and the fellow who has been the Director of the Secret Service for 
several years now, Joe Clancy, who by everybody's acknowledgment has 
done a very good job providing wonderful leadership. This photograph 
represents a time not long ago when she received the Secretary's award 
from the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. It is, I 
think, the highest honor that can be presented by the Secretary of the 
Department. It is the Exceptional Service Gold Medal for her 
``extraordinary bravery saving numerous lives both on and off duty.'' 
It is a well-deserved award for an exemplary public official. Codie, 
congratulations.
  Officer Hughes currently serves as an instructor at the Secret 
Service training academy, teaching new agents how to respond to 
stressful situations while maintaining their composure at all times. I 
can think of few people better prepared to serve in this position than 
Codie Hughes.
  When Officer Hughes is off duty, she continues her service as a 
volunteer with the Leesburg, VA, fire company. For 10 years she has 
worked on her own time to make a difference in her community and 
protect her neighbors during fires and other emergencies.
  So to Codie, we say thank you for the example you have set for so 
many others at the Department of Homeland Security, in your community 
in Leesburg, and across our country. Thank you, Codie.
  Another true public servant within the Secret Service is a fellow 
named Tate Jarrow, a special agent. Tate is pictured here to my left. 
He looks like a young fellow, but after graduating from the U.S. 
Military Academy at West Point, Special Agent Jarrow served 5 years as 
an Army infantry officer, achieving the rank of captain before joining 
the Secret Service.
  Mr. President, as an old Navy guy, a retired Navy captain--he is an 
Army captain--I feel I should say ``Navy salutes Army,'' and the Navy 
does salute

[[Page 14506]]

the Army. I like to say to people--I like to kid folks in the different 
services, and we take shots at one another in a fun-loving way, but I 
would say to my friends in the Army kidding me about the Navy, 
``different uniforms, same team.'' So we are lucky that we are on the 
same team with this fellow.
  Tate is a special agent in the New York Electronic Crimes Task Force. 
He has worked to protect millions of Americans from large-scale 
financial fraud. While fraud and counterfeit investigations are one of 
the Secret Service's lesser known tasks, the growth, scope, and scale 
of cyber crimes makes Agent Jarrow's work more important than ever.
  After one of the largest data breaches in history compromised the 
information of nearly 100 million people, Special Agent Jarrow worked 
with forensic investigators and the FBI to track down the hackers and 
stop them from using the information to perpetrate a large-scale stock 
manipulation scheme. Special Agent Jarrow's work brought to justice 
three men who not only stole this information but were stealing more 
than $100 million using various illegal enterprises that preyed on 
innocent people around the world.
  In another case, Special Agent Jarrow shut down a criminal enterprise 
that used investment fraud, credit card fraud, identity theft, and 
computer hacking to steal more than $250 million--$250 million--from 
some 600,000 Americans and thousands of other people around the world. 
His work helped put away the culprits, sending the ring leader to jail 
for 20 years or more.
  Special Agent Jarrow has been described by his colleagues as ``one of 
the most preeminent cyber investigators in the Federal Government.'' 
That is really saying something, because we have some terrific ones in 
the NSA, or the National Security Agency, and in the Department of 
Homeland Security and elsewhere. So that is high praise.
  While they say that Special Agent Jarrow is quiet, they say he is 
humble in person, and he is dogged. He is dogged in his pursuit of the 
bad guys. Unfortunately, there are plenty of them out there.
  The American people, their information, and their hard-earned savings 
are all safer thanks to Tate's efforts to go after the bad guys who 
prey on hard-working Americans online.
  This October, about a month ago, Special Agent Jarrow was honored by 
Secretary Jeh Johnson, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland 
Security, with the Secretary's Silver Medal Award for his work with the 
New York Electronic Crimes Task Force. Shortly after that, the 
Partnership for Public Service awarded Special Agent Jarrow with the 
Call to Service Award, one of its prestigious ``Sammy'' awards that go 
to talented Federal servants for outstanding service to us, the 
American people.
  The Secret Service is full of women and men like Codie Hughes and 
Tate Jarrow, who have dedicated their lives to serving others on the 
job and off the job. The work done by them and others like them, 
especially over these past 18 months, and by thousands of men and women 
in the U.S. States Secret Service is a shining example of public 
service at its best. While many of us can get swept away in the 
politics of the day or the latest headlines and the last tweets, there 
are countless public servants across the Department of Homeland 
Security who wake up every morning, and they go to work on behalf of 
us, the American people.
  Their dedication, their service, and their sacrifice continue to move 
our country forward. So, to Officer Hughes, to Special Agent Jarrow, 
and to all their colleagues at the U.S. States Secret Service, we thank 
you for your unwavering dedication, your long hours, tireless service 
to our President, to our Vice President, to their families, and really 
to the American people. All of us here in this Chamber and countless 
others around the country are better servants thanks to your hard work 
and shining example.
  In closing, I should acknowledge the fact that, despite the excellent 
work I have detailed in these remarks, the Secret Service has faced its 
share of challenges in recent years. But this week the inspector 
general of the Department of Homeland Security issued a new report 
praising a number of steps that the agency--the Secret Service--has 
been taking to make needed improvements. These improvements are thanks, 
in part, to the exceptional work of rank-and-file personnel like 
Officer Hughes and Agent Jarrow, and also to the strong leadership of 
Director Clancy, Secretary Johnson, Deputy Secretary Mayorkas, and 
others who have been committed to ensuring that the Secret Service 
remains the finest protection agency in the world.
  As I prepare to yield the floor and leave the building, I just want 
to take a moment to say, when a lot of American families gather on 
Thanksgiving Day across our country and enjoy a meal together--
hopefully, a wonderful meal together with their parents and their moms 
and dads, their brothers and sisters, their children, aunts and uncles, 
nieces and nephews--my hope is that when we give thanks, we will also 
remember to be thankful for the folks I talked about here today and the 
hundreds of thousands of people like them who are a part of the team at 
the Department of Homeland Security.
  One of the reasons we have the freedom we do as a nation is because 
of their vigilance and commitment to duty. So I extend that on behalf 
of all of the Members of the Senate to the folks who serve us in the 
Department of Homeland Security and throughout this government and to 
the folks who work in this building and who enable us by providing for 
Members and staff here in the Capitol and to the pages who are going to 
go home for a week or so and come back for maybe a week or so. We wish 
all of them a happy Thanksgiving, and we look forward to seeing all of 
you, including my friend the Presiding Officer in about 10 days.
  With that, the majority leader is here. I am happy to yield the floor 
to him and wish him a happy Thanksgiving a few days in advance.
  I yield the floor.

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