Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee

Chairman D'Amato, it's a pleasure to appear before the Banking Committee today to support Amanda DeBusk, the President's nominee to the important post of Commerce Department Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement. Her range of experience will provide strong assistance for Commerce Secretary Daley, as well as the nation, protecting both our national security and our economic future.

When confirmed, Amanda DeBusk will be among the highest ranking women in federal law enforcement, perhaps trailing only the Attorney General. Assistant Secretary DeBusk will oversee a staff of more than 150 agents, analysts and investigators in eight field offices around the country, including San Jose, California. Mr. Chairman, Amanda DeBusk has strong international credentials and will serve the Office of Export Enforcement well:

• She has served as counsel to Chairman Susan Hammer, Mayor of San Jose, on the President's Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations, contributing on a wide variety of international trade issues.
  
  
• She has also served as counsel to the chairman of the President's Commission on US/Pacific Trade and Investment Policy.
  
  
• She is a partner, specializing in international trade, at the international law firm O'Melveny and Myers, headquartered in Los Angeles;
  
  
• Amanda DeBusk is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the International Trade section of the District of Columbia Bar Association, as well as the International Law and Practice Section of the American Bar Association.

Mr. Chairman, I am sure you share my belief the Office of Export Enforcement has an important mission. As we approach the 2 1 st century, the nation faces significant threats from terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Amanda de Busk is a skilled nominee who can continue this important mission.

Over the last several years, the Bureau's nonproliferation, counter terrorism and national security export enforcement programs have conducted hundreds of investigations, supporting several important criminal investigations, including:

• The illegal export of zirconium for Iraqi munitions;
  
  
• The illegal export of unlicensed equipment for India's missile program;
  
  
• The providing of Illegal brokerage services for Iraqi rocket fuel; and
  
  
• The illegal sale of gas masks to suspected Aum Shinrikyo, the Japanese terrorist group who released the deadly Sarin gas in a Tokyo subway.

The Office of Export Enforcement enhances the nation's security and its economic prosperity by controlling exports and assisting the prosecution of violators. These are just a few examples of the office's important assistance for law enforcement and commitment to public safety.

I urge the Committee to act expeditiously on this matter and send the nomination to the floor for confirmation. The office is an important post and we have before us a nominee who appreciates the importance of the mission and the need to move forward into the 21st century.

Amanda will be a very able successor to Frank Deliberti, the current acting assistant secretary for export enforcement. I am pleased to extend my support.

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