David Spears Addington (born January 22, 1957) is an American lawyer who was legal counsel (2001–2005) and chief of staff (2005–2009) to Vice President Dick Cheney. He was the vice president of domestic and economic policy studies at the Heritage Foundation from 2010 to 2016. During 21 years of federal service, Addington worked at the CIA, the Reagan White House, the Department of Defense, four congressional committees, and the Office of the Vice President. He was appointed to replace I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby Jr. as Cheney's chief of staff upon Libby's resignation when Libby was indicted on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice on October 28, 2005. Addington was described by U.S. News & World Report as "the most powerful man you've never heard of" in May 2006. Early life and education Addington was born in Washington, D.C., and is the first son of Eleanore "Billie" (Flaherty) and the late Jerry Spears Addington, a retired brigadier general and West Point graduate. The Addington family moved often and there were periods during which Jerry was posted overseas while his family remained stateside. After David's birth in 1957 in Washington, D.C., his father was posted to Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania; Camp St. Barbara, South Korea; Colorado Springs, Colorado; Oakdale, Pennsylvania; and Dhahran. Addington lived in Saudi Arabia during his father's 1967–1969 assignment as chief of the United States Military Training Mission, headquartered in Dhahran. In this role, the elder Addington (promoted to brigadier general in 1965), was responsible for U.S. training and security assistance programs for the Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia. During the family's two-year stay in Saudi Arabia, David Addington (then 10 and 11 years old) was a student at the Dhahran Academy on the grounds of the U.S. Consulate. Addington graduated from Sandia High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico in May 1974. He was admitted to United States Naval Academy and attended beginning in fall 1974, but dropped out during his freshman year. Addington took classes at the University of Albuquerque before enrolling at Georgetown University in 1975. He is a May 1978 graduate of the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service (B.S.F.S., summa cum laude) and holds a Juris Doctor from Duke University School of Law (May 1981). He was admitted to the bar in both Virginia and the District of Columbia in 1981. Career Addington was an assistant general counsel for the Central Intelligence Agency from