David Spears Addington (born January 22, 1957) is an American attorney who served as legal counsel to Vice President Dick Cheney from 2001 to 2005 and as Cheney’s chief of staff from 2005 to 2009. He graduated summa cum laude from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in 1978 and earned a Juris Doctor with honors from Duke University School of Law in 1981. Addington was a principal architect of the legal framework for warrantless surveillance and enhanced interrogation and is widely regarded as a proponent of expansive interpretations of executive power. He has been described by former State Department official Lawrence Wilkerson as a staunch advocate for allowing the president, as commander in chief, to deviate from the Geneva Conventions and as contributing to an environment under Vice President Cheney and Secretary Rumsfeld that shaped early post‑9/11 detainee policies. His role in promoting expansive executive authority and related post‑9/11 policies has drawn significant criticism from legal scholars and human rights advocates. After leaving government, Addington joined The Heritage Foundation, where he served as vice president of domestic and economic policy studies from 2010 to 2016 and also held positions there, including president for research, until mid‑2016.