Washington, D.C., Sept. 17, 2010—David S. Addington yesterday assumed full duties as The Heritage Foundation’s vice president for domestic and economic policy, when Heritage’s Board of Trustees approved the veteran federal official as a corporate officer of the leading Washington think tank.
Addington, most recently chief of staff and counsel to Vice President Richard B. Cheney, also served in senior positions at the CIA, the Department of Defense and the White House.
He succeeds Stuart M. Butler as Heritage’s top domestic policy official. Heritage President Edwin J. Feulner announced Aug. 27 that Butler, who remains on the senior management team, will run the think tank’s new Center for Policy Innovation.
“David is a brilliant policy expert and an outstanding administrator,” Feulner said at the time. “He understands how Washington works at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue and knows exactly what it takes to turn policy ideas into law. David will focus on running our domestic research operations, where analysts refine ideas and sweat the details.”
Addington’s private sector experience includes the presidency of a multicandidate political action committee. He also served as of counsel to the law firm of Baker, Donelson, Bearman & Caldwell, PC; as a partner in the law firm of Holland & Knight LLP; and as the senior vice president and general counsel of American Trucking Associations Inc.
In the legislative branch, Addington served as Republican staff director for the Senate intelligence committee and as the Republican chief counsel or counsel for the House intelligence, foreign affairs and Iran-Contra committees.
In the executive branch, he was an assistant general counsel of the Central Intelligence Agency during the Reagan administration, later becoming a special assistant and then a deputy assistant for legislative affairs in the Reagan White House. He went on to serve the administration of George H.W. Bush as special assistant to the secretary and deputy secretary of defense, and then as the general counsel of the Department of Defense.
Addington received his bachelor of science degree in foreign service, summa cum laude, in 1978 from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. He holds a law degree from Duke University School of Law, graduating with distinction in 1981. Addington and his wife, Cynthia, currently reside in Alexandria, Va. They have three children.
Founded in 1973, The Heritage Foundation is the nation’s most broadly supported think tank, with more than 696,000 contributors. It works to develop effective policy solutions based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values and a strong national defense.