Kenneth L. Wainstein
Kenneth Leonard Wainstein (born 1962) is an American lawyer. 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. Education. Wainstein is a graduate of the University of Virginia and earned his J.D. degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. Career. Wainstein worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as General Counsel and as Chief of Staff to the FBI Director. He was United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. On September 26, 2006, he was sworn in  as the Department of Justice's Assistant Attorney General responsible for National Security. 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. 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. In October 2020, Wainstein signed a letter, along with  19 other Republican-appointed former U.S. Attorneys, calling President Donald Trump "a threat to the rule of law in our country" and endorsing Joe Biden.