The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“TRIBUTE TO FRANK TAYLOR” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E73-E74 on Jan. 20, 2017.
The State Department is responsibly for international relations with a budget of more than $50 billion. Tenure at the State Dept. is increasingly tenuous and it's seen as an extension of the President's will, ambitions and flaws.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
TRIBUTE TO FRANK TAYLOR
_____
HON. PETER T. KING
of new york
in the house of representatives
Friday, January 20, 2017
Mr. KING of New York. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize an extraordinary public servant and a dedicated leader of the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC), Brigadier General (Retired) Francis Xavier Taylor, the Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis at the Department of Homeland Security. Brig Gen Taylor came out of retirement in 2014 when the President nominated him to be the Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). After nearly 40 years of honorable service to our nation, Under Secretary Taylor will retire again on Friday, January 20, 2017.
Under Secretary Taylor applied his knowledge and experience from his 31 years in the United States Air Force, his service at the U.S. Department of State as an Ambassador for Counterterrorism and head of Diplomatic Security, and as Vice President of Security at General Electric. Applying his decades of experience and innovative thinking, Under Secretary Taylor rolled up his sleeves and got to work.
Due to Under Secretary Taylor's leadership, I&A is much further along on its vision of driving information sharing and delivering intelligence and analysis to operators and decision-makers at all levels. One of Under Secretary Taylor's first actions at I&A was to guide the organization through a transformation. He removed internal I&A stovepipes and realigned the organization to ensure DHS-collected information now forms the basis of the majority of I&A production. Under Secretary Taylor also ordered that finished intelligence include State and local data.
Under Secretary Taylor also worked tirelessly to mature and strengthen the Department's relationship with the state and local fusion centers and make information sharing a priority. In FY2016, 62 percent of I&A's finished intelligence products were disseminated at the SECRET level or below to best serve those who protect our borders, critical infrastructure and communities.
Under Secretary Taylor also took to heart the need to invest in the workforce and address extremely low employee morale. He spent a great deal of his tenure fine-tuning the organization, restructuring and rebalancing the workforce. He drastically reduced the ratio of supervisors to workers, reducing the amount of bloated management and replacing it with what he called ``seed corn''--young, junior people brought in to rejuvenate the organization and help develop a truly homeland-focused workforce.
Our Nation owes this public servant a tremendous debt of gratitude. I wish to thank Under Secretary Taylor for his decades of exceptional service to our country and to wish him and his wife Connie the very best in the days and years ahead. Under Secretary Taylor can now enjoy his three grandchildren Ava, Aaron and Alexander, while taking in some more games under the Golden Dome at Notre Dame.
