Chapter 7 - On Capitol Hill
Friday, March 19
"I'm to be where Monday? Let me check my schedule…" Grimacing, with the phone receiver tucked on his shoulder, Vance called up his appointment calendar on his computer, praying he hadn't missed entering something in his week of having to fend for himself.
"Doesn't matter, Leon. Whatever you have down, reschedule it. You can't refuse to go before Congress."
The SECNAV was right, of course. When a Congressional committee orders you to testify, you go.
"They want to know all about your furloughs. It doesn't reflect well on them when a government agency furloughs special agents…and double that trouble when that agency comes under the DoD. I'll be there with you, so don't lose too much sleep over it."
Easy for him to say. It wasn't his agency to run.
It had been a tough week. McGee had been fortunate to get off with just a shoulder wound; two days in the hospital and he was back home, recuperating. He'd be out of action for awhile. This left Gibbs with only Burley able-bodied enough to go out in the field, and he was available only half days. Vance made the decision to temporarily dissolve Gibbs' team, and turn the MCRT duties over to Klara Schultz' team. DiNozzo could continue doing desk work. Burley—was too good to be stuck riding a desk here. Vance sent him to the small unit at Bethesda, which had lost two of its three agents in the furloughs. Burley was happy; this put him closer to his dad. Gibbs…without a team to lead, Gibbs would be at loose ends, so Vance filled his arms with management stuff. Gibbs was not pleased, but he knew that someone had to do it.
At this point, Vance could only hope that the budget impasse ended soon. This was no way to run an agency.
Monday, March 22
Vance didn't even report to NCIS that morning; leaving Gibbs in command. Instead he went directly to Capitol Hill; had coffee and a sweet roll with the SECNAV, and they then showed up for the 10 o'clock hearing.
"It's the Subcommittee on Personnel, isn't it?" Vance asked. He'd met a few of those senators before. Most were okay, although guarded in their proclamations.
"No," said Kel Paulsen, sounding surprised. "I thought I told you. This is big, Leon. Not a subcommittee. This situation is considered far-reaching enough that it's the full Committee on Armed Services. Twenty-eight pairs of eyes on us, if they all show up. Get your gulping done now, before we go in."
The Russell Senate Office Building was an eye-pleasing architectural sight, its façade of limestone and marble was modeled after the style of the Beaux Arts period. How pretty to behold; how troubling to imagine the weight of business that went on inside.
The room of the hearing continued the decoration. Deep blue velvet-capped chairs and draperies gave the room a solemn look. A page showed Vance and Kel where to sit; at a table facing the two-seat-deep semi-circle of Senate committee members. Behind them sat assistants, tech people, and selected guests. Vance stiffened; glad that Jackie had convinced him to wear his most sober dark suit and tie, and to put a flag pin on his lapel. A tie tack with a Marines emblem rounded out the look he wanted to project: DoD-oriented, serious, in control. Kel, on the other hand, wore a standard grey suit and plain red tie…but then, most of the senators probably knew him already.
The committee chairman, Senator Goldman from New Jersey, lead off the hearing. "Secretary Paulsen, Director Vance, thank you both for taking time out of your busy schedules to meet with us today. I hope we can get through all of this today." Vance and Kel nodded in assent, while Vance kept his face bland. More than a day! I'll go crazy if it's more than a day!
"I'd like to turn the questioning first over to Senator Ackerley, who has been itching to ask you questions. Itching so much that I offered him a bottle of flea powder." The room rocked with laughed at the small gibe at his political opponent. Vance, Kel, and Ackerley all smiled.
"Thank you, Myron," said Ackerley as the laughter died down. "Secretary Paulsen, Director Vance, we have asked you to come here today because we have heard that there have been layoffs at NCIS. Why is that?"
Vance's throat caught, but Kel smoothly came to his rescue. "They are not layoffs, Senator, but furloughs. It's our hope that we will have a full staff again shortly…as soon as the DoD is given a budget."
"Do you think this is a wise course of action, Director Vance?" Ackerley said pointedly. "NCIS' mission is to fight crime and combat terrorism. Tell me, how does working with fewer people accomplish this? Were you overstaffed?"
"Hardly," Vance said, forcing the words out. He was seething but tried to sound neutral. "Our workloads are heavy. I have had to furlough the 10% of the staff, across the board, who are our most recent hires because our constrained budget had to give somewhere. I simply could not meet payroll."
Another person jumped in. "Senator Tighe of Nebraska," she introduced herself. Yes; she was very new, Vance remembered. She had been selected to fill the seat of her late husband in 2009. "Director Vance, your moves are troubling. An intelligence and law enforcement agency should not be planning so badly that it suddenly decides it can't meet its payroll. That reflects badly on the rest of the government."
"Got any skeletons in your closet, Director?" another senator said with a smirk.
Tighe stared him down. "What happened, Director?" she pressed.
"The lack of a budget happened," Vance started, but was drowned out by a couple of hoots.
"Don't blame this on us!" was the common cry, until Goldman gaveled the hearing back to order. "Director, continue," he said.
"NCIS needs good equipment in order to be successful," said Vance. "I'm not asking for the best equipment; the top-of-the-line stuff. I know there are fiscal realities. But my people, my special agents, are putting their lives on the line every day when they hit the streets. They've been using firearms, guns, which they have had for 16 years. Senator, guns for use in active duty were never meant to go on that long. Guns are machines: they wear out and the elements get the better of them after awhile, just like any other machine. And when they get old, they don't fire as accurately.
"I authorized purchase of new SIG Sauer P 229 handguns last year. Enough guns to replace our entire stock of pre-21st century weapons, and the usual extra ones for spares. I made a 30% down payment at the time of purchase, as the conditions of the contract required. I expected that when the order was delivered this year, approximately in March, that we would have a budget and I could pay the balance due." Vance looked down at the table top, not ready to read the eyes in front of him. Was he convincing anyone? What would it take?
"Director Vance, about those SIG Sauer P 229s…couldn't NCIS get by with a less expensive model?"
"This is the best model for our purposes," put in Kel. "Small enough to meet concealment needs. Highly thought of. You don't want our people using substandard equipment, do you?"
"I don't want you needlessly wasting the taxpayer's money."
"May I remind you, Senator, that the people using these guns to fight crime and defend themselves are also taxpayers."
"Director, in these tough economic times for our country, why are you buying a foreign-made product? Why outsource jobs?"
"Sauer has a plant here in the US, Senator. The guns are made by US workers."
"Every day the working people of this great country are asked to do with less, just to maintain their jobs. Director, your agents aren't constantly out in the field; why can't they share guns, and then you won't have to buy so many?"
Kel's quick hand over his own stopped Vance from slamming it on the table.
The idiocy of some of these questions!
"I applaud the work that the NCIS does, Director Vance. Honestly, I do. Yours is ranked one of the best federal law enforcement agencies to work for."
"Thank you."
"Just stating a fact. What do you see happening, if your budget is not approved before the end of the fiscal year in six months?"
Ah. Senator Tighe seems to be on our side, even though few others are. Not surprising, her late husband was, too. "Our projection is that our furloughed employees will stay furloughed until approximately August 15. By the time we are able to call them back, it's expected that 10-20% of those will have found employment elsewhere and be lost to NCIS forever."
"So a net loss of 1-2% of your agency's workforce. That's rough, but not intolerable, I suppose."
"The damage will have been done, though. We will have to bring the returning workforce up to speed. We are constantly training our staff because of new developments arising from new threats and new policies, some of which come from you lawmakers. That will cost us man-hours in training. We will have to face the psychological fallout of the workers brought back in and how this affects the 90% who stayed on. Assuming we still have 90%. Just yesterday one of our agents in San Diego with three years of experience resigned to join the FBI, rather than take a chance of being caught up in a second round of furloughs."
"Do you think a second round is likely?"
"No, but it's possible. If we are hit with some other calamity, some other large expense and still don't have a budget, then I'll have no choice. My headquarters' heating system is kaput, Senator. The headquarters employees make do with space heaters and several layers of clothing in winter. I think we're okay for summer air-conditioning, but we'll have to see. That's going to be an expensive replacement."
"I see…"
"Director Vance, I have long been a supporter of the military and the organizations that serve it. I, for one, am trying to break this logjam and give your agency—and the rest of the Department of Defense—the money it needs to keep America safe!"
Vance smiled slightly at that senator, and tried to tune out the overriding murmurs of dissent from a number of his colleagues. He filled his water glass from the pitcher of ice water on the table for the third time. Would this day never end?
A question was directed to Kel. "Mister Secretary, if money is appropriated for NCIS, won't your Navy and Marines…get jealous?"
Kel chuckled along with everyone else and then wore a sad smile. "You called us here today to talk about NCIS because they are the division that has had to furlough some employees, and because the news media is having a field day with it. But we're not looking for a handout for NCIS. We'd like to see a comprehensive budget that would cover the entire Department of Defense, as I'm sure my friends in the Army and Air Force would tell you. NCIS will then be glad to have its share."
The day wore on, without even a break. "How are the furloughs affecting you, personally, Director?"
"I am having to be more focused on duties in a day-by-day matter. My secretary was one of the ones furloughed, and without him, I simply can't book anything very far in advance. A director has to be ready to work with the unexpected."
"Do you think having a secretary is a bit of a luxury in this day and age of technology, Director?"
"No," Vance shot back. "Do you think having Congressional pages is a luxury?"
"We've heard talk, talk, talk all day about poor NCIS, having to lay off people, just like private industry. The average worker on his or her third extension of unemployment benefits won't cry any tears for you, Director Vance. Tell us, bottom line, why your agency needs to keep complaining over a little belt-tightening."
Vance could see that even easy-going Kel had stiffened at this remark, but Vance waved his boss down. "I'll tell you, Senator. Roughly one-half of the NCIS workforce are special agents, serving in the US and in places around the globe. Their lives are on the line every day, fulfilling our mission: To prevent terrorism, protect secrets, and reduce crime. Our agents are tremendously dedicated and willing to do what it takes. Last Monday, our Major Case Response Team—that's our premier field operations team—here in Washington was down to only two operatives, down from four, having one out for an injury and one furloughed. One man was sent out alone on what should have been a two-man mission. The operation went south, and he was shot. Thank God he is recovering, but his boss…and I…will long be remembering this, and blaming ourselves. That shooting should not have happened. I don't want to ask my employees to take horrible risks. I don't want my people to die because of a budget impasse. I don't want my people to die."
The room fell silent.
The hearing adjourned at 3 o'clock. Most of the senators exited without saying anything to Vance or Kel, although a few, like Senator Tighe, lingered to shake their hands and express words of encouragement, as well as sympathies for Tim's shooting; making careful note of Tim's name. Vance guessed that Tim would get a few arrangements of flowers sent to him before the end of the day.
"Go home, Leon," Kel urged as they stepped out into the dim spring sunshine. "You did well. What happens here is not up to us."
"Thanks. I'll see you later, Kell." They went their separate ways, but Vance did not head for Virginia and home. Instead, he went to NCIS—his other home.
Gibbs looked up and got up from the $2,000 chair as Vance entered the Director's office. "How'd it go?"
"Reading a congressman's face is like reading a mountain. I honestly don't know. I'm not going to set my hopes high."
Thursday, March 25
Kel phoned Vance at half-past three that afternoon. "I've just got the word from Senator Goldman. Call your people back, Leon. The DoD has a budget."
Vance nearly tipped his chair over. "A budget!"
"Yes; and it's a nice one. More than I'd even hoped for. I don't have details for you yet, as I have other areas to fund beside yours, but there's no reason to keep your people out a day longer. And you'll get money to replace your heating system, too."
Glancing up at the TV, Vance saw that ZNN wasn't reporting it yet. They would, soon. And then other federal agencies would be clamoring to get their budgets passed, too, but that wasn't Vance's concern. "Thanks, Kel. I am so relieved."
"That doesn't surprise me," Kel laughed. "You know what did it, don't you?"
"No, what?"
"Your talk about Agent McGee. That really moved most of them, maybe all of them, according to Goldman. They may seem like a hard-hearted bunch, but most of them were in the service at one time. Ten of them have children in the service now. They understand sacrifice. Some of them even felt some responsibility for what happened to McGee. They want to make things right."
"Excellent."
"Doesn't mean they're going to love you forever, or not make things hard on you the next time, but don't dwell on that now. Cherish your victory."
"Our victory. Thanks again, Kel."
Hanging up, Vance promptly set to sending out come back in emails to his 250 furloughed employees.