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March 15, 2017
Cadwalader partner Kenneth Wainstein gave testimony today on “The Modus Operandi and Toolbox of Russia and Other Autocracies for Undermining Democracies Throughout the World” before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism.
Wainstein, who focused on counterespionage and related investigations and issues while Assistant Attorney General of National Security and as Homeland Security Advisor, was part of a four-member panel of experts that discussed with Senate committee members the tools and capabilities that can be effective in countering the threat of foreign interference in the U.S. political system, as well as the need for sustained and decisive action.
“I don’t think it’s a political issue. It’s not a Democratic issue, it’s not a Republican issue – it’s a national issue,” Wainstein told the Senate committee. “Reasoning with the Russians, just like reasoning on cyber theft with the Chinese, isn’t going to do it. We’ve got to have a resolute, strong, united pushback against them. That’s the only way they’re going to listen to us. So I think it is really critically important that they see that we are united across the board.”
Co-chair of Cadwalader’s Global Litigation and White-Collar groups, Wainstein focuses his practice on corporate internal investigations and civil and criminal enforcement proceedings. He spent more than 20 years in a variety of law enforcement and national security positions in the government, serving as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in both the Southern District of New York and the District of Columbia; Director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys General Counsel of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Chief of Staff to Director Robert S. Mueller III. In 2006, the U.S. Senate confirmed Wainstein as the first Assistant Attorney General for National Security. In 2008, he was named Homeland Security Advisor by President George W. Bush.
Also providing testimony to the Senate committee were His Excellency Toomas Hendrik Ilves, the former president of Estonia; Heather Conley, Europe Program Director, Center for Strategic & International Studies and co-author of “The Kremlin Playbook”; and Dr. Ben Buchanan, Cyber Security Project, Belfer Center for Science And International Affairs, Harvard University.
