DAVID ADDINGTON

'David S. Addington' (b. January 22, 1957, Washington, D.C.), is chief of staff and former legal counsel to Vice President Dick Cheney. He was appointed to replace Lewis "Scooter" Libby as Cheney's chief of staff upon Libby's resignation on October 28, 2005. Cheney's new chief of staff controversial He was described by ''U.S. News and World Report'' as "the most powerful man you've never heard of". Cheney's Guy

Contents

Family

Education and career

Vice President's office

War crimes prosecution

References

External links

Family

Addington is the son of Eleanore and the late Jerry Addington, a retired brigadier general and West Point graduate.[1] He is married to Cynthia Mary Addington; the couple have three children. Previously, Addington had been married to Dr. Linda Werling, whom he met while the two were both attending Duke University.[2]

Education and career

Addington graduated from Sandia High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1974. He is a graduate of the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and holds a J.D. from Duke University School of Law. He was admitted to the bar in 1981.
Addington was assistant general counsel for the Central Intelligence Agency from 1981 to 1984. From 1984 to 1987 he was counsel for the House committees on intelligence and international relations. He served as a staff attorney on the joint U.S. House-Senate committee investigation of the Iran-Contra scandal as an assistant to Congressman Dick Cheney, and was one of the principal authors of a controversial minority report issued at the conclusion of the joint committee's investigation.[3]
Addington was also a special assistant to President Ronald Reagan for one year in 1987, before becoming Reagan's deputy assistant. He was Republican counsel on the Iran-Contra committee in the 1980's. From 1989 to 1992, Addington served as special assistant to the Secretary of Defense, before becoming the Department of Defense's general counsel in 1992.
From 1993 to 2001, he worked in private practice, for law firms Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz and Holland & Knight, and the American Trucking Associations. Addington's Role In Cheney's Office Draws Fresh Attention He headed a political action committee, the Alliance for American Leadership, set up in large part to explore a possible presidential candidacy for Mr. Cheney.

Vice President's office

After he began working for Vice President Cheney, Addington was very influential in many different areas of policy. He authored or helped to shape many of the most controversial policies of the Bush administration. Addington's influence strongly reflects his hawkish views on U.S. foreign policy, a position he had apparently already committed to as a teenager during the late phase of the Vietnam War in the early 1970s.Jane Mayer, "The Hidden Power", ''The New Yorker'', July 3, 2006.
Addington has consistently advocated that under the Constitution, the President has unlimited powers as commander in chief during wartime. In October 2005, Addington was tapped to become the Vice President's chief of staff, replacing I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, who had resigned after being indicted on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. He is the legal force behind over 750 signing statements President Bush has added to bills passed by Congress. Addington was a legal advisor to President Reagan, and suggested that such signing statements be used to exempt President Reagan from responsibility for the Iran-Contra scandal.
Addington helped to shape an August 2002 opinion from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel that said torture might be justified in some cases. In Cheney's New Chief, a Bureaucratic Master He advocates scaling back the authority of lawyers in the uniformed services. According to Jack Goldsmith, the head of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel from 2003 to 2004, Addington once said that "we’re one bomb away from getting rid of that obnoxious court,” referring to the secret FISA court that oversees clandestine wiretapping.
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He consistently advocates the expansion of presidential powers and Unitary Executive theory, nearly absolute deference to the Executive Branch from Congress and the Federal judiciary. In a June 26, 2007 letter to Senator John Kerry, Addington asserted that by virtue of Executive Order 12958 as amended in 2003 that the Office of the Vice President was exempt from oversight by the Information Security Oversight Office for its handling of classified materials.[4]
Addington was mentioned by title in "Scooter" I. Lewis Libby Jr.'s indictment for five felony charges related to the Plame affair, regarding the leak of the identity of a CIA officer. Palace Revolt

War crimes prosecution

In November 2006, the German government received a complaint seeking the prosecution of Addington for alleged war crimes.[5]

References

1. Conscience of a Conservative

External links

★ "Pushing the Limit on Presidential Powers," by Barton Gellman and Jo Becker, ''The Washington Post'', Monday, June 25, 2007

★ "The Hidden Power," by Jane Mayer, profile of David Addington in the July 3, 2006, issue of ''The New Yorker'' magazine.

★ ''The New Yorker'' magazine Q&A with Jane Mayer about her David Addington article

★ ''Fresh Air'' with Terry Gross interview of Jane Mayer about her David Addington article July 5, 2006

★ David Addington's campaign contributions

★ 'Democracy Now!' coverage of Addingtion's appointment as chief of staff for Vice-President Dick Cheney and his role in the expansion of presidential power

★ Meet David Addington: Cheney's Guy

★ "50 Most Powerful People in D.C.", ''GQ Magazine'', August, 2007

★ December 12, 2002 letter from Addington as OVP general counsel to operator of parody website