David Addington

From the Shadows, David Addington was Vice President Cheney’s Lawyer

Vice President Dick Cheney’s Chief of Staff and longtime government lawyer, David S. Addington has played a powerful role from behind the scenes in enabling and creating the U.S. torture program. Addington has been described as the “invisible hand” of the Bush regime as well as the Vice President’s “eyes, ears, and voice”. He has remained a crucial component of the governmental center of power yet more or less hidden from the general public and the media, quietly asserting his starkly conservative and military positions.

Presidency or Monarchy?

Perhaps David Addington’s greatest objective throughout his service with the U.S. government has been the vast expansion of executive power that has enabled the governmental infraction of human rights. With a 20 year career history in national security, Addington has helped profile the Bush administration’s strategy in the war on terror including a narrow interpretation of the U.S. Constitution and a stalwart belief that the powers of the presidency are the only solution to national security-the administration’s default excuse for the use of persecution and other war crimes. This has entailed a very broad interpretation of U.S. law prohibiting torture, allowing the president to override or ignore laws put in place to criminalize the act. This became especially germane following the 9/11 attacks, evidenced by an Office of Legal Council opinion disallowing Congress to place any limits upon the president’s response to terrorist threats, essentially handing the president unlimited powers.