{{Short description|American lawyer and government official (born 1962)}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Ken Wainstein | image = Kenneth L. Wainstein, Under Secretary of Homeland Security.jpg | office = Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Intelligence and Analysis | status = | president = Joe Biden | term_start = June 13, 2022 | term_end = January 20, 2025 | successor = Matthew Kozma | predecessor = David Glawe | office1 = 4th United States Homeland Security Advisor | president1 = George W. Bush | term_start1 = March 30, 2008 | term_end1 = January 20, 2009 | predecessor1 = Frances Townsend | successor1 = John O. Brennan | office2 = United States Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division | president2 = George W. Bush | term_start2 = September 28, 2006 | term_end2 = March 30, 2008 | predecessor2 = Position established | successor2 = Patrick Rowan | office3 = United States Attorney for the District of Columbia | president3 = George W. Bush | term_start3 = May 2004 | term_end3 = September 28, 2006 | predecessor3 = Roscoe Howard | successor3 = Ronald Machen | birth_name = Kenneth Leonard Wainstein | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1962}} | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | party = | education = University of Virginia (BA)<br>University of California, Berkeley (JD) | caption = Official portrait, 2022 }} '''Kenneth Leonard Wainstein''' (born 1962) is an American lawyer.<ref name=Wainstein2006Appointment> {{cite news|url=http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2006/September/06_nsd_655.html|title=Kenneth L. Wainstein Sworn in as First Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division: Other Senior National Security Division Officials Announced|publisher=United States Department of Justice|date=2006-09-26|accessdate=2009-03-17}}</ref> He served as the first assistant attorney general for national security, and later as the homeland security advisor to United States President George W. Bush. In 2022 under the Biden administration, he was appointed under secretary of homeland security for intelligence and analysis.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Statement by DNI Haines on the Confirmation of Kenneth L. Wainstein to Lead the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis |url=https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/press-releases-2022/item/2303-statement-by-dni-haines-on-the-confirmation-of-kenneth-l-wainstein-to-lead-the-dhs-office-of-intelligence-and-analysis |access-date=2022-06-10 |website=www.dni.gov |archive-date=2022-06-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220610212331/https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/press-releases-2022/item/2303-statement-by-dni-haines-on-the-confirmation-of-kenneth-l-wainstein-to-lead-the-dhs-office-of-intelligence-and-analysis |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=":0">"Kenneth L. Wainstein, of Virginia, to be Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis, Department of Homeland Security." {{US Senate Vote|117|2|217}}</ref> He served in this position until 2025.
==Education== Wainstein earned a B.A. from the University of Virginia where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He went on to earned a J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley where he was the Note and Comment Editor of the California Law Review.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kenneth L. Wainstein, Partner – Washington, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP |url=https://docs.house.gov/meetings/AS/AS26/20160203/104393/HHRG-114-AS26-Bio-WainsteinK-20160203.pdf |website=U.S. House of Representatives}}</ref>
Following law school, Wainstein served as law clerk to the Honorable Thomas Penfield Jackson of the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia.<ref name="Wainstein2006Appointment" />
==Career== Wainstein worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as General Counsel and as Chief of Staff to the FBI Director.<ref name=Wainstein2006Appointment/> He was the United States attorney for the District of Columbia.<ref name=Wainstein2006Appointment/>
On September 26, 2006, he was sworn in as the Department of Justice's assistant attorney general responsible for National Security.<ref name=bio >{{cite web|title=Official Bio|url=https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/government/kwainstein-bio.html|accessdate=October 25, 2011}}</ref>
Wainstein was appointed homeland security advisor by President George W. Bush on March 30, 2008. He was also assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism and chaired the Homeland Security Council. He was appointed as the "national continuity coordinator" under the auspices of National Security Presidential Directive 51.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2007/05/20070509-12.html|title=National Security Presidential Directive|accessdate=October 25, 2011}}</ref>
After leaving the Bush administration, Wainstein joined the law firm of O'Melveny & Myers. In 2012, he moved to Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, where he was co-chair of the firm's litigation department and chair of the white-collar group.<ref>{{Cite web |last=ALM Media |date=June 28, 2017 |title=DC White-Collar Star Ken Wainstein Swaps Firms |url=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/dc-white-collar-star-ken-061056541.html |website=Yahoo Finance}}</ref> During his time at Cadwalader, Waintstein conducted an investigation which uncovered academic fraud and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The 136-page report<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 16, 2014 |editor-last=Wainstein |editor-first=Kenneth |editor2-last=Jay III |editor2-first=A. Joseph |editor3-last=Depman Kukowski |editor3-first=Colleen |title=Investigation of Irregular Classes in the Department of African and Afro-American Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |url=https://dig.abclocal.go.com/wtvd/docs/102214-UNC-FINAL-REPORT.pdf}}</ref> detailed a complex, multi-year scheme to inflate the grades of student athletes.<ref>{{Cite web |title=UNC report on academic fraud released, employees disciplined |url=https://abc11.com/unc-scandal-investigation-paper-classes/361272/ |access-date=2025-03-28 |website=ABC11 Raleigh-Durham |language=en}}</ref>
From 2017 to 2020 Wainstein was a partner at the law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nominee Report, U.S. Office of Government Ethics |url=https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/legaldocs/gkvlglgmkpb/wainstein-disclosure-2021.pdf |website=Thomson Reuters}}</ref> While at Davis Polk, Wainstein was reported to have represented clients including AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP; Chevron Corp; Comcast Corp; JP Morgan Chase Bank NA; Walmart Inc; Purdue Pharma; HSBC Holdings PLC; Facebook Inc; and General Dynamics Corp.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Scarcella |first=Mike |date=December 1, 2021 |title=Partner pay watch: DHS nominee Wainstein discloses $13 mln in Davis Polk compensation |url=https://www.reuters.com/legal/legalindustry/partner-pay-watch-dhs-nominee-davis-polks-wainstein-discloses-13-mln-2021-12-01/ |website=Reuters}}</ref>
On November 5, 2021, President Joseph Biden nominated Wainstein for the position of under secretary of homeland security for intelligence and analysis. The United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence held its open hearing on his nomination on January 12, 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hearings {{!}} Intelligence Committee |url=https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/hearings/open-hearing-nomination-mr-kenneth-wainstein-be-under-secretary-intelligence-and-analysis |access-date=2022-06-10 |website=www.intelligence.senate.gov |language=en}}</ref> The United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs held its hearing on his nomination on February 3, 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-02-03 |title=Nominations of William J. Valdez to be Under Secretary for Management, U.S. Department of Homeland Security; Dimitri Kusnezov to be Under Secretary for Science & Technology, U.S. Department of Homeland Security; and the Honorable Kenneth L. Wainstein to be Under Secretary for Intelligence & Analysis, U.S. Department of Homeland Security |url=http://www.hsgac.senate.gov/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220201132004/https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/hearings/nominations-of-william-j-valdez-to-be-under-secretary-for-management-us-department-of-homeland-security-dimitri-kusnezov-to-be-under-secretary-for-science-and-technology-us-department-of-homeland-security-and-the-honorable-kenneth-l-wainstein-to-be-under-secretary-for-intelligence_analysis-us-department-of-homeland-security |archive-date=2022-02-01 |access-date=2022-06-10 |website=U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs |language=en}}</ref> The full Senate voted to confirm Wainstein 63–35 on June 7, 2022.<ref name=":0" /> He was sworn in on June 13, 2022.<ref>{{cite tweet |user=DHSgov |author=United States Department of Homeland Security |number=1536469537176145928 |title=Today @SecMayorkas swore in Kenneth L. Wainstein, our new Undersecretary for Intelligence and Analysis |access-date=2022-06-17}}</ref>
Wainstein joined Mayer Brown in April 2025 to lead the law firm's global investigations and white collar practice.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Strom |first=Roy |date=April 1, 2025 |title=Mayer Brown Hires Wainstein to Lead Global Investigations Group |url=https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/mayer-brown-hires-wainstein-to-lead-global-investigations-group |archive-url= |access-date=April 16, 2025 |work=Bloomberg Law}}</ref>
== Personal life == Wainstein also serves as a member of the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense, a group that encourages and advocates changes to government policy to strengthen national biodefense.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense |url=http://www.biodefensestudy.org |access-date=2017-03-31 |website=www.biodefensestudy.org}}</ref>
Wainstein's mother, Eleanor Sullivan Wainstein was a defense research analyst with the Rand Corporation from 1952 to 1989. For more than 30 years she specialized in U.S.-Soviet economic research.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |date=2006-12-22 |title=Obituaries |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2006/12/22/obituaries/45a6cc16-4cb0-4ab4-a944-d4155b7a77df/ |access-date=2025-03-28 |work=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref>
Wainstein has two siblings: Anne W. Bond and Richard Wainstein.<ref name=":1" />
In 2020, Wainstein, along with over 130 other former Republican national security officials, signed a statement that asserted that President Trump was unfit to serve another term, and "To that end, we are firmly convinced that it is in the best interest of our nation that Vice President Joe Biden be elected as the next President of the United States, and we will vote for him."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.defendingdemocracytogether.org/national-security/ |title=Former Republican National Security Officials for Biden |date=20 August 2020 |website=Defending Democracy Together |access-date=26 August 2021}}</ref> Months later, Wainstein joined with 19 other Republican-appointed former U.S. attorneys endorsing Joe Biden.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hamburger |first1=Tom |last2=Barrett |first2=Devlin |date=October 27, 2020 |title=Former U.S. attorneys — all Republicans — back Biden, saying Trump threatens 'the rule of law' |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/republican-us-attorneys-back-biden/2020/10/27/c1b55702-17fd-11eb-befb-8864259bd2d8_story.html |accessdate=27 October 2020 |newspaper=Washington Post}}</ref>
== See also == * List of Jewish American jurists
== References == {{reflist}}
==External links== {{commons-inline}} * {{C-SPAN}}
{{s-start}} {{s-legal}} {{s-bef|before=Roscoe Howard}} {{s-ttl|title=United States Attorney for the District of Columbia|years=2004–2006}} {{s-aft|after=Ronald Machen}} |- {{s-new|office}} {{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|United States Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division}}|years=2006–2008}} {{s-aft|after=Patrick Rowan}} |- {{s-off}} {{s-bef|before=Frances Townsend}} {{s-ttl|title=United States Homeland Security Advisor|years=2008–2009}} {{s-aft|after=John O. Brennan}} {{s-end}}
{{Homeland Security Advisors}} {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wainstein, Kenneth L.}} Category:1962 births Category:Biden administration personnel Category:George W. Bush administration personnel Category:Living people Category:UC Berkeley School of Law alumni Category:United States assistant attorneys general Category:United States attorneys for the District of Columbia Category:University of Virginia alumni