[国会记录：2011年9月23日（参议院）] [第S5941] TRIBUTE TO MIKE DAVIDSON洛克菲勒先生。主席先生，我谨表彰和感谢迈克·戴维森，他几十年来非常敬业和相应的服务，我们的国家，最近作为参议院情报特别委员会在过去的8年总法律顾问。许多人都称赞聪明的，挑剔的，和声音律师自那时以来已表征麦克的杰出的职业生涯的每一步，从他的时间在和平队在肯尼亚在1960年代中期，在他几十年的服务：作为NAACP一名律师Legal Defense Fund, as a professor of clinical law at the State University of New York at Buffalo, as chief staff counsel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, as the first legal counsel of the Senate, and, following his first retirement from the Senate in 1995, as counsel for several important public initiatives--including, most prominently, serving as general counsel for the Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001. This exceptionally distinguished record speaks for itself, and in 2003 it led me to recruit Mike back to full-time service in the Senate. As the Intelligence Committee's vice chairman at the time, I asked Mike to serve as the committee's minority counsel, a position he held from 2003 through 2006. When I became the committee's chairman in 2007, I asked Mike to undertake the duties of general counsel. He agreed to take on this role, and he continued to serve me and the committee well throughout the 2 years that I was chairman. After I passed on the gavel to Senator Dianne Feinstein in 2009, Mike stayed on for nearly 3 more years, until his quiet retirement earlier this month. Throughout this time on the committee, Mike's calm and unflappable presence; his evenhanded, understated, and fair approach to even the most contentious issues; his painstaking attention to detail and unfailing memory; and, above all, his dedication to the law and to the security interests of the United States, have served this committee and our Nation well. Day in and day out, we knew we could rely on Mike's counsel. Whether it was a situation involving routine oversight or a matter of great sensitivity and historical importance--of which there were many during those years, including our investigations into the intelligence regarding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, our efforts to end the CIA's coercive interrogations, our drafting and passing the landmark Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Amendments Act of 2008, among others--Mike Davidson's legal acumen and advice were invariably excellent, and also indispensable to the work of the committee. My colleagues and I trusted Mike's judgment implicitly. His example of dedicated public service and his exceptional day-to-day performance on the job earned our respect and admiration, and it inspired a generation of staff who had the privilege to work alongside him. We will miss Mike dearly, but his legacy will remain a part of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence for years to come. We wish him well in his second retirement, even as we leave the light on for him just in case he decides to serve again. ____________________