In My Own Words

Kim Kotlar
Legislative Director, Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas)

My job is to make sure Congressman Thornberry's agenda is carried out by staff members, who have a variety of portfolios. I handle his national security issues myself and I run his Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Science, Research & Development.

Before coming here, I spent 20 years in the Navy as a cryptologist. I started at the bottom by enlisting as an E-2 and I retired as a lieutenant commander. I couldn't afford to go to college on my own, so the Navy paid for my bachelor's degree and for my master's education at the Naval Postgraduate School. I had great assignments and worked with some incredibly talented people. Toward the end of my career, I was a congressional fellow in the Speaker's office. The political bug bit really hard.

You don't have to be a military veteran to work in defense issues on Capitol Hill. But you do have to understand the military. You can do that by having military experience, or by taking a deep dive into what the military is all about. One of the younger assistants here who helps on national security did not serve in the military. But he often asks the dead-on question because he brings a fresh perspective to the job.

There is no doubt the military gets a fair shake on the Hill. There is tremendous support up here for the men and women in uniform.

The military services send smart, articulate representatives up here to talk on the issues. If I were to give one piece of advice, it's to be as candid as possible. If we don't know about problems, we can't fix them. So it doesn't do any good to put a happy face on something that is not terrific. Just be honest, and let's figure out together how to solve problems and move on.

The Hart-Rudman study on national security was a turning point for me. It said we were not organized properly for homeland security and that there would be an attack on the homeland within the next 10 or 20 years. Mac called me in one morning ­ I always will remember this ­ and said "Kim, we need to write legislation on this." And he had the first bill to create the homeland security department, six months before 9/11. Later, I had a chance to work on the Marjority Leader's staff and help put together the final bill that passed the House and Senate. So because of my work for Mac, I had the opportunity to be a part of something that will have long-term positive effects for our country.

Because of his work on that bill, Mac was given the chair of a subcommittee of the Select Committee on Homeland Security. It's on Cybersecurity, Science and Research & Development. We want that subcommittee to be different. It is being run very much as a partnership. We want a positive relationship with the Department of Homeland Security. We want to help set their strategic direction. We want to be sure that people with good ideas have access to the department and can get a hearing and have their ideas analyzed. And we want to make the country safer.

I still use my contacts from my Navy days. I talk to my friends who are on active duty and say, "Hey, is this really the way it works." I do that a lot. I don't know of anyplace that's more networked than Congress. If you don't have a network, it's difficult to get anything done. *