Leading National Security Advisor Joins Covington

Leading National Security Advisor Joins Covington

September 6, 2017

WASHINGTON—Stephen Rademaker has joined Covington’s Public Policy and Government Affairs practice in Washington.

With wide-ranging experience working on national security issues in the White House, the State Department, and the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, Mr. Rademaker focuses on legislative and policy issues involving sanctions, trade controls, CFIUS, and other national security issues. Among his accomplishments in public service, he had lead responsibility, as a House staffer, for drafting the legislation that created the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

“Steve’s broad experience will be a tremendous benefit to the firm’s clients,” said Roger Zakheim, co-chair of Covington’s Public Policy and Government Affairs practice. “His understanding of government and policy will undoubtedly enhance our national security capabilities, including in the complex areas of sanctions policy and CFIUS review.”

Serving as an Assistant Secretary of State from 2002 through 2006, Mr. Rademaker headed at various times three bureaus of the State Department, including the Bureau of Arms Control and the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation. He directed the Proliferation Security Initiative, as well as nonproliferation policy toward Iran and North Korea, and led strategic dialogues with Russia, China, India, and Pakistan. He also headed U.S. delegations to the 2005 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons, as well as many other international conferences.

Mr. Rademaker’s Capitol Hill experience includes serving as Senior Counsel and Policy Director for National Security Affairs for then-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. In this role, he helped manage all aspects of the legislative process relating to foreign policy, defense, intelligence, and national security. He earlier served as Chief Counsel for the House Select Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives and as Deputy Staff Director and Chief Counsel of the House Committee on International Relations.

During President George H. W. Bush’s Administration, Mr. Rademaker served as General Counsel of the Peace Corps, Associate Counsel to the President in the Office of White House Counsel, and Deputy Legal Adviser to the National Security Council. After leaving government in 2007, he continued to serve as the U.S. representative on the United Nations Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters, and he was subsequently appointed by House Republican Leader John Boehner to the U.S. Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism. 

Mr. Rademaker received his B.A., J.D., and an M.A. in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia. 

Covington helps clients worldwide achieve critical business objectives by combining legal, political, and policy expertise to provide strategic advice and advocacy. With more than 120 former government officials, diplomats, and regulators backed by global corporate and litigation practices, Covington’s Public Policy and Government Affairs practice turns government-related insight into practical advice for doing business.

With an experienced team of former government regulators, enforcers, elected officials, and agency heads, Covington offers national security clients insight and practical advice to avoid pitfalls, solve problems, and understand opportunities. The firm’s work encompasses government contracts, trade controls and sanctions, CFIUS clearances for foreign investments, FOCI and industrial security issues, cybersecurity, public policy and government affairs, congressional investigations, and mergers and acquisitions.