[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 15 (Tuesday, January 26, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S168-S169]
TRIBUTE TO DAVID GRANNIS
Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Madam President, today I wish to pay tribute
and offer my heartfelt thanks to one of my most trusted advisers, David
Grannis. David has served me on the Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence for over a decade, beginning as my designee in March of
2005, then as my staff director from January of 2009 when I took over
as chairman of the Committee. Over this decade, I have grown to trust
his expertise and advice on all aspects of our oversight of the
Intelligence Community and to rely on David's keen abilities to manage
the committee in a fair and bipartisan manner, while shepherding
through some of the Nation's most important and sometimes controversial
legislation.
Prior to joining the Intelligence Committee in 2005, David worked on
the House Select Committee on Homeland Security and was the senior
policy adviser to Representative Jane Harman on matters of national
security. Before coming to Congress, David worked for 2 years at the
National Research Council's Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology
on projects studying the ability to make explosives more detectable and
identifiable. He has a master's of public policy from the Kennedy
School of Government at Harvard University, where he worked for now-
Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, who I understand recommended him to
Representative Harman. David is a proven expert on both process and
substance, which I am certain he developed by applying his
characteristic analytic approach to everything, a skill he developed
while a student in chemistry at Cornell University.
David's accomplishments on the Intelligence Committee are extensive,
so I will mention only a few of the highlights today. As staff
director, David played a central role in assisting and guiding me and
the committee through all stages of the committee's study of the CIA's
detention and interrogation program, where a deft hand was required to
negotiate numerous aspects of the review with the CIA and the
administration. He played a significant role in prodding the
administration to provide information and access to critically
important material. He worked with the committee study team to
declassify and secure release of a 500-page executive summary of the
full 6,700-page report, a process that required months of
excruciatingly detailed negotiations. The report is believed to be the
largest review in congressional history. After the release of the
declassified summary, David helped me and Senator McCain draft and pass
legislation that will help ensure these types of harsh interrogation
techniques will never be used again by the CIA or any other agency or
representative of the U.S. Government.
David also managed the bipartisan committee staff as it helped pass
seven straight intelligence authorization bills from 2009 to the most
recent one, which was signed by the President last month under the
leadership of Chairman Burr. This effort, which helps ensure proper
oversight of the intelligence community, was a significant achievement
as no legislative guidance had been provided to the intelligence
community during the previous 5 years prior to 2009. I thank David for
leading the staff development of these bills and helping to
successfully push them through Senate passage to bring them to the
President's desk.
Another recent significant accomplishment in which David's steady
hand and expert advice helped achieve success is his work on the
Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015. This act, which was
signed by the President last month, will help this Nation defend itself
from cyber attacks by encouraging increased information sharing on
cyber intrusions between private industry and the government.
As staff director, David also oversaw the completion of two important
committee reviews. The first one was a committee report on the 2009
Christmas Day attempted bombing of flight 253 over Detroit, and the
second one was a bipartisan report on the 2012 Benghazi attacks. Each
unflinchingly laid out the facts and helped determine what changes
should be made as an appropriate response. David also worked to improve
oversight of counterterrorism operations that helped assure the
American public that Congress knew the details of what was being done
by the executive branch, as well as provided recommendations for
improvements.
In 2007, David worked on the committee's investigation into prewar
intelligence regarding Iraq. David served as the co-lead for the
committee's sixth and final report on this topic, which dealt with the
subject of prewar statements by senior policymakers. This was an
important and sensitive subject, and David and his staff colleagues
handled it with objectivity and professionalism. The report, approved
by a bipartisan majority of the committee in June 2008, helped resolve
a number of important questions regarding the run-up to the Iraq War.
The great work that David and his colleagues did on this project
ensured that the public finally received the facts and helped conclude
what had at times been a contentious chapter in the committee's
history.
I also want to echo many of the comments that our committee staff has
made about David including one that was passed onto me where a
colleague said that he ``has been the rock upon which the staff's
foundation is built.'' He has been a solid and stable leader that has
provided the confidence that the staff needs to flourish. David's
intellect and knowledge of the intelligence community and his
communication skills in conveying that knowledge to committee members
has gained him the respect and admiration of the entire committee.
Finally, his demeanor and behavior in dealing with people, both inside
and outside the committee, on both sides of the aisle and in both
bodies of Congress, as well
[[Page S169]]
as with leaders of the intelligence community and the executive branch,
is an example to be emulated.
As I mentioned earlier, these are just a few of David's traits and
accomplishments that I have come to rely upon while he served on the
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. And I thank him for them. I
also want to thank David's wife, Kerry Searle Grannis, for enduring the
long hours and time away from home that is often a part of life in the
Senate; and to acknowledge their three beautiful children--Owen,
Amelia, and Nathaniel--who I hope now will have more time with their
father, who can help them achieve more Boy Scout badges, excel in drama
classes, and perfect that high board dive and soccer goal. Kerry has
mentioned how wonderful a husband and father David has been, supporting
her as she completed her Ph.D. and sharing all household chores,
driving duties, and doctors' appointments for his busy crew.
I know David will thrive as he begins a new set of challenges as the
Principal Deputy Under Secretary at the Department of Homeland
Security's Office of Intelligence and Analysis. I wish him the very
best and thank him for his many years of service and dedication to this
country and to me.
____________________
