Hon. Kenneth L. Wainstein

Kenneth L. Wainstein is a partner at O'Melveny & Myers LLP. He is a member of his firm's White Collar Defense and Corporate Investigations Practice. Mr. Wainstein focuses his practice on handling corporate internal investigations and civil and criminal proceedings.

Mr. Wainstein spent 19 years in the Department of Justice. From 1989 to 2001, he served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in both the Southern District of New York and the District of Columbia, where he handled numerous prosecutions, tried 25 jury trials, and presented 15 appellate arguments.

In 2001, Mr. Wainstein was appointed Director of the Executive office for U.S. Attorneys, where he provided oversight and support to the 94 U.S. Attorneys' offices. The next year, Mr. Wainstein joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation to serve first as General Counsel and then as Chief of Staff to Director Robert S. Mueller. At the FBI, Mr. Wainstein was involved in a myriad of sensitive national security and criminal enforcement matters, as well as a variety of civil litigation, managerial, and Congressional oversight issues. In 2004, he was appointed, and later confirmed as, U.S. Attorney in DC, where he oversaw the investigation and prosecution of high-profile white-collar and public corruption cases, including the case against Riggs Bank for Bank Secrecy Act violations and the prosecution of the MZM Chief Executive Officer for paying bribes to former Congressman Randall "Duke" Cunningham.

Mr. Wainstein was confirmed by the Senate again in 2006, after being nominated as the first Assistant Attorney General for National Security at the Justice Department. He established and led the new National Security Division, which consolidated DOJ's law enforcement and intelligence activities on counterterrorism and counterintelligence matters, and he oversaw the Department's role in regulatory mechanisms such as the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS). He also led several national security initiatives, including the launch of the national, inter-agency Export Control Enforcement Initiative targeting illegal exports of sensitive technology and weapons components.

In 2008, Mr. Wainstein was named President Bush's Homeland Security Advisor, with a portfolio covering the coordination of the nation's counterterrorism, homeland security, infrastructure protection, and disaster response and recovery efforts. In that position, Mr. Wainstein advised the President, convened and chaired meetings of the Cabinet Officers on the Homeland Security Council, and oversaw the inter-agency coordination process for our homeland security and counterterrorism programs.

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