MTMC creates commandwide Legislative Liaison function - Legislative Liaison Leesha Galery - Brief Article

Translog: Journal of Military Transportation Management, March-April, 2001

After 10 years in the Military Traffic Management Command, Leesha Galery thought she had heard and seen it all.

After all, she had served eight years in passenger transportation--the last seven working with the U.S. Government Rental Car Program.

However, after 10 weeks in her new job as MTMC's Legislative Liaison, she finds herself in a whole new world.

"I am working with the Command Group, I am working with senators and congressmen on Capitol Hill," said Galery. "This is a whole new perspective and range of issues."

MTMC joins the U.S. Transportation Command and its components in having a dedicated person interacting with Congress.

Four weeks into the job, Galery found herself sitting in on the Senate confirmation hearings on then Secretary of Defense-select Donald Rumsfeld.

"It was amazing," said Galery.

Top Congressional figures she had only seen on television news or in newspapers were in the same room with her--including Senators Ted Kennedy, John McCain and John Warner.

In her new job, Galery works in the Command Affairs Office at MTMC Headquarters, in Alexandria, Va.

Her top priority is to handle Congresssionals in a timely manner. A Congressional is any type of written inquiry or request for information from a member of Congress.

"The reason the issues are important to members of Congress is that the requests usually come from their constituents," said Galery.

The inquiries cover a wide range of issues.

"They can involve personnel, household goods, privately owned goods and entitlements," said Galery.

"We even get some inquiries involving major commercial companies who do business with the Department of Defense."

The job doesn't end with the paperwork.

Galery's mission includes meeting and interacting with the staffers and key legislative officers of the new 107th Congress, and fellow Congressional staffers within the Department of Defense.

"I'm building relationships so we can handle any type of situation that comes up," said Galery.

Her first stop, she said, is visits to Congressional counterparts at the U.S. Transportation Command and the Army Office of Congressional Liaison, at the Pentagon.

Galery has jumped into her new role by scheduling several training courses. Her first course was Feb 7: "The New Congress: The 107th Session," sponsored by The Brookings Institution.

"It is exciting," said Galery. "I like the challenges of doing something new."

Galery may be contacted at (703) 428-3456; galeryl@mtmc.army.mil.