| Walter Slocombe | |
| 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: | 23 September 1941 |
| Birth Place: | Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S. |
| Party: | Democratic |
| Spouse: | Ellen Seidman |
| Children: | 3 |
| Education: | Princeton University (BA) Balliol College, Oxford Harvard University (LLB) |
Walter Becker Slocombe (born Walter Becker Brakeman; September 23, 1941) is a former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy (1994–2001)[1] 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 National Security Council in 1969. Prior to that, he worked as a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas.[2] Slocombe currently sits on the Board of Directors at the Atlantic Council,[3] 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.
Slocombe was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he graduated from Tappan Junior High School in 1955 and the University High School in 1959. He earned a B.A. degree from the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University in 1963,[4] [5] where he received the Moses Taylor Pyne Honor Prize, the highest general distinction conferred on an undergraduate. Slocombe was also a Rhodes Scholar, studying Soviet politics at Balliol College, Oxford, from 1963 to 1965. He graduated summa cum laude with a LL.B. degree from Harvard Law School in 1968[4] [5] and was admitted to the bar in 1970.
Slocombe is married to Ellen (Shapiro) Seidman. He has two daughters and one son. His wife was employed by the Clinton White House.[4]