[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 23 (Tuesday, February 6, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S647-S648]
TRIBUTE TO KERRY SUTTEN
Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, today I wish to recognize the dedicated
career and service to the Congress and the intelligence community of
Kerry Sutten, who is retiring at the end of this month after more than
20 years of service in both the executive and legislative branches of
our government. Kerry dedicated his professional career to help keep
our Nation safe and to improve our government and intelligence
community. We thank him for his dedication.
Kerry is leaving the Senate as the deputy minority staff director of
the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, a post he has held for the
last 2\1/2\ years. He first joined the committee as the head of the
committee's collection review, a study looking at the intelligence
activities of all the IC. During his time on the committee, Kerry has
worked tirelessly to help the committee rigorously oversee the 17
intelligence agencies that make up our national intelligence community
and has especially dedicated himself to improving the oversight of the
IC's inspectors general and to the protection of IC whistleblowers. His
efforts in these subjects have been invaluable.
Prior to joining the committee, Kerry served in a variety of roles in
the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), including
spending almost 5 years as the lead for intelligence community
strategic planning in the Office of Systems and Resource Analysis,
(SRA). In that capacity, Kerry was responsible for helping provide
resource direction for the entirety of the IC, developing integrated
planning guidance for the various intelligence programs, and managing
the development of strategic priorities.
In addition to his time in SRA, Kerry held important roles in the
Business Transformation Office at ODNI and the Office of the Chief
Financial Officer. Kerry was also instrumental in helping to create the
national counterterrorism budget, a key accomplishment in his time at
the National Counterterrorism Center, (NCTC), where he served for
almost 2 years as a Senior Program and Resource Officer. Prior to
joining the IC, Mr. Sutten spent almost 5 years supporting the Director
of the Bureau
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of Economic Analysis at the U.S. Department of Commerce, was the
Director for Congressional and Intragovernmental Affairs at the
Economics and Statistics Administration, and worked for 2 years at the
Bureau of the Census. Kerry began his governmental career as a Senior
Economist at the Joint Economic Committee in July 1997.
During his time in the government, Kerry won a wide variety of
performance awards for his work. However, I am sure that he feels his
most important award is his forthcoming and well-deserved retirement.
Kerry plans to relocate full-time to the Sperryville, VA, area, where
he owns and runs a popular coffee shop. Kerry's plans include expanding
the services offered by his shop to include a wine bar, and he has
expressed an interest in raising chickens and miniature goats. While
these subjects are far from the expertise he has shown in his time in
and around the intelligence community, I am sure he will excel at them
just as he has in his time with SSCI.
Kerry Sutten, we wish you great success and great happiness in your
retirement. Thank you for your years of service.
____________________