This article was accepted into the corpus but its outbound wikilinks were never NER-processed — typical at the deepest BFS hop or when the run's entity cap was reached. No expansion funnel to show.
| Kenneth Wainstein | |
|---|---|
| Name | Kenneth Wainstein |
| Office | United States Attorney for the District of Columbia |
| Term start | 2004 |
| Term end | 2006 |
| President | George W. Bush |
| Predecessor | Roscoe C. Howard Jr. |
| Successor | Jeffrey A. Taylor |
| Office1 | Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division |
| Term start1 | 2006 |
| Term end1 | 2008 |
| President1 | George W. Bush |
| Predecessor1 | Position established |
| Successor1 | J. Patrick Rowan |
| Office2 | Homeland Security Advisor |
| Term start2 | 2008 |
| Term end2 | 2009 |
| President2 | George W. Bush |
| Predecessor2 | Frances Fragos Townsend |
| Successor2 | John O. Brennan |
| Alma mater | University of Virginia (BA), University of California, Berkeley (JD) |
Kenneth Wainstein is an American attorney who has held several high-ranking positions in the United States Department of Justice and the Executive Office of the President of the United States. His career has focused extensively on national security, counterterrorism, and federal law enforcement, serving as the first Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division and as Homeland Security Advisor to President George W. Bush. Wainstein has also had a distinguished career in private practice at major law firms, including Davis Polk & Wardwell and O'Melveny & Myers.
Wainstein was born in New York City and grew up in Scarsdale, New York. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Virginia, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree. He then attended law school at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, where he received his Juris Doctor. Following law school, he began his legal career by serving as a law clerk for Judge J. Clifford Wallace of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Wainstein's early legal career was spent in public service as an Assistant United States Attorney in the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. He later joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a special assistant to then-FBI Director Louis Freeh. In 1997, he moved to the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, where he held several leadership roles, including Chief of the Organized Crime and Narcotics Trafficking Section. His work during this period involved prosecuting complex cases related to organized crime and drug trafficking.
In 2004, President George W. Bush appointed him as the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, one of the nation's largest and most prominent United States Attorney's offices. During his tenure, he oversaw the prosecution of a wide array of federal and local crimes, including significant counterterrorism cases following the September 11 attacks. He also managed the office's response to major investigations, such as those related to the CIA leak scandal involving Valerie Plame.
In 2006, Wainstein was appointed by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to serve as the first-ever Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division, a new division created to consolidate the Justice Department's national security and counterterrorism functions. In this role, he coordinated efforts across agencies like the FBI, the CIA, and the Department of Defense. In 2008, he was named the Homeland Security Advisor to President George W. Bush, succeeding Frances Fragos Townsend, where he advised on domestic security policy and coordinated the National Security Council's homeland security agenda.
After leaving government service in 2009, Wainstein returned to private practice. He joined the law firm O'Melveny & Myers as a partner, co-chairing its National Security Practice. In 2015, he moved to Davis Polk & Wardwell, where he served as a partner in the firm's White Collar Defense & Investigations group. His practice has focused on corporate internal investigations, regulatory compliance, and complex litigation, often involving issues at the intersection of law and national security. He has also served on advisory boards, including the FBI Director's Advisory Board.
Wainstein is married and has children. He maintains a low public profile regarding his personal affairs. He is a member of the American Bar Association and has been involved in various legal and civic organizations throughout his career. His professional writings and speeches often address topics related to law enforcement, cybersecurity, and the legal challenges of modern counterterrorism efforts.
Category:American lawyers Category:United States Attorneys for the District of Columbia Category:George W. Bush administration personnel