William J. Haynes II
General Counsel, Department of Defense
(2001-2008)
William "Jim" Haynes, the civilian general counsel of the Department of Defense from 2001 until 2008, was a protégé of the Vice President's legal counsel, David Addington. In 1989, when Dick Cheney was Secretary of Defense under the first President Bush, David Addington was appointed the Pentagon's general counsel; Haynes was subsequently named general counsel of the Army. In November 2002, Haynes, a member of the "War Council," authored an "Action Memo" urging Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld to approve a list of coercive interrogation techniques to be employed at Guantanamo. His nomination by President Bush to the Fourth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals was blocked by the Senate amidst questions about his role in shaping harsh interrogation policies. In 2008, Haynes was hired as chief corporate counsel for Chevron.
