View source for Walter B. Slocombe

{{Short description|American lawyer (born 1941)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name               = Walter Slocombe
|image              = Portrait of Walter B. Slocombe, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy.jpg
|office             = [[Under Secretary of Defense for Policy]]
|term_start         = September 15, 1994
|term_end           = January 19, 2001
|president          = [[Bill Clinton]]
|predecessor        = [[Frank G. Wisner]]
|successor          = [[Douglas Feith]]
|birth_name         = Walter Becker Brakeman
|birth_date         = {{birth date and age|1941|9|23}}
|birth_place        = [[Albuquerque, New Mexico]], U.S.
|death_date         = 
|death_place        = 
|party              = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|spouse             = Ellen Seidman
|children           = 3
|education          = [[Princeton University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br>[[Balliol College, Oxford]]<br>[[Harvard University]] ([[Bachelor of Laws|LLB]])
}}
'''Walter Becker Slocombe''' (born Walter Becker Brakeman; September 23, 1941)<ref name=Hearing2/> is a former [[Under Secretary of Defense for Policy]] (1994–2001)<ref>
{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/18/international/middleeast/18reconstruct.html |access-date=2007-09-28
|title=Issuing Contracts, Ex-Convict Took Bribes in Iraq, U.S. Says
|work=New York Times | first=James | last=Glanz | date=2005-11-18}}</ref> and was the Senior Advisor for Security and Defense to the [[Coalition Provisional Authority]] in [[Baghdad]] (2003).

A lawyer and career federal official, Slocombe joined the staff of the [[United States National Security Council|National Security Council]] in 1969. Prior to that, he worked as a [[law clerk]] for [[Supreme Court Justice]] [[Abe Fortas]].<ref name="abe fortas">{{cite book
  | title = Abe Fortas
  | author = Laura Kalman
  | publisher = [[Yale University Press]]
  | year = 1990
  | isbn = 9780300046694
 | url = https://archive.org/details/abefortasbiograp00kalm
  | url-access = registration
  | access-date = 2008-10-20 }}</ref> Slocombe currently sits on the Board of Directors at the [https://www.atlanticcouncil.org Atlantic Council],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/about/board-of-directors/|title=Board of Directors|website=Atlantic Council|language=en-US|access-date=2020-02-11}}</ref> is a four-time recipient of an award for Distinguished Public Service and a member of the [[Council on Foreign Relations]]. He currently practices law with the Washington firm of Caplin & Drysdale.

==Education==
Slocombe was born in [[Albuquerque, New Mexico]] and raised in [[Ann Arbor, Michigan]], where he graduated from [[Ann Arbor Public Schools#Middle schools|Tappan Junior High School]] in 1955 and the University High School in 1959. He earned a [[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]] degree from the [[Princeton School of Public and International Affairs|School of Public and International Affairs]] at [[Princeton University]] in 1963,<ref name=Hearing2>{{cite news |title=Nominations Before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Second Session, 103d Congress: Hearings Before the Committee on Armed Services, United States Senate |volume=103 |issue=873 |pages=961–964 |date=1994 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |location=Washington, D.C. |isbn=978-0-16-046386-0}}</ref><ref name=Hearing>{{cite news |title=Nominations Before the Senate Armed Services Committee, First Session, 103d Congress: Hearings Before the Committee on Armed Services, United States Senate |volume=103 |issue=414 |pages=802–803 |date=1994 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |location=Washington, D.C. |isbn=978-0-16-043611-6}}</ref> where he received the [[Moses Taylor Pyne]] Honor Prize, the highest general distinction conferred on an undergraduate.  Slocombe was also a [[Rhodes Scholarship|Rhodes Scholar]], studying Soviet politics at [[Balliol College, Oxford]], from 1963 to 1965. He graduated [[summa cum laude]] with a [[Bachelor of Laws|LL.B.]] degree from [[Harvard Law School]] in 1968<ref name=Hearing2/><ref name=Hearing/> and was admitted to the bar in 1970.

==U.S. Government service==
*Committee on the Intelligence Capabilities of the [[United States]] Regarding [[Weapon of mass destruction|Weapons of Mass Destruction]] (2004)
*Senior advisor for the [[Coalition Provisional Authority]] (2003)
*[[Under Secretary of Defense for Policy]] (1994–2001)
*[[Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy]] (1979–1981), (1993–1994)
*Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Security Affairs (1977–1979)

==Personal life==
Slocombe is married to Ellen (Shapiro) Seidman. He has two daughters and one son. His wife was employed by the [[Bill Clinton White House|Clinton White House]].<ref name=Hearing2/>

== See also ==
* [[List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States (Seat 2)]]

==References==
{{Commons category|Walter B. Slocombe}}
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{C-SPAN|2734}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Slocombe, Walter}}
[[Category:1941 births]]
[[Category:Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford]]
[[Category:American Rhodes Scholars]]
[[Category:Carter administration personnel]]
[[Category:Clinton administration personnel]]
[[Category:Harvard Law School alumni]]
[[Category:Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States]]
[[Category:Lawyers from Ann Arbor, Michigan]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Albuquerque, New Mexico]]
[[Category:Princeton School of Public and International Affairs alumni]]
[[Category:United States Under Secretaries of Defense for Policy]]

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