Nomination of William R. Evanina

Floor Speech

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Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I want to join with the chairman of the committee and basically echo what he has said.

Bill Evanina is a true professional. I have had a chance to work with him for a number of years in my role on the Intelligence Committee and, more recently, as vice chair. Let me cite one example.

Outside of his lane--not a duty as required--Bill has been a consistent voice in raising concerns about the challenges and threats that are posed by China. As a matter of fact, the chairman and I were recently in Austin, and Bill came down and gave one of the most powerful briefs I have heard, which he has done a number of times for the committee and increasingly for the business community, talking in an honest, straightforward way about the security threats, the intellectual property theft, the host of concerns that confront our country by China.

Bill Evanina is one of those rare public servants, and I don't think--as the chairman has pointed out, since he received unanimous confirmation from the Intelligence Committee--that there is any question about his service, any question about his temperament, any question about his ability to do the job--no partisan challenges to him, as the chairman has mentioned. He has served in his current position for 3\1/2\ years.

We do him and other intelligence professionals a disservice when they are arbitrarily held up for confirmation, not because of a substantive issue that this individual may have performed or not performed but because of a totally extraneous issue.

My intent today, along with the chairman, was to ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the Executive Calendar nomination, getting Bill Evanina permanently confirmed to this job. He is an individual who, if we are not careful and don't act on soon, may decide to take his extraordinary professional skills and find much higher remuneration in the private sector rather than serving our country.

I am not going to ask for that UC today in deference to one of our colleagues who has lodged an objection to the nomination. It is my hope that before the end of this session, the chairman and I will come to the floor one more time and make this request.

I implore the Member who has a challenge against Mr. Evanina, again, not based on his performance, not based on his politics, not based on any professionalism he brings to this job--my hope is that the Member will reflect and decide to remove this extraneous objection and allow this great professional to be confirmed to a position he has already served in for the last 3\1/2\ years.

I yield back.

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