Susan Hennessey is a Counsel in WilmerHale’s Defense, National Security, and Government Contracts practice group. In private practice, she focuses on national security, technology and defense-related matters. Previously, Ms. Hennessey served as Chief Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for National Security and Chief of Staff of the Department of Justice’s National Security Division.

In 2022, Ms. Hennessey served as the Director of National Intelligence's representative on the Senior Steering Group examining the relationship between the National Security Agency and US Cyber Command. She began her legal career as an attorney in the Office of General Counsel at the NSA.

Before joining the Justice Department, Ms. Hennessey was a Senior Fellow of Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, where she published influential legal and policy analysis on topics including surveillance law, cybersecurity, and emerging technologies and served as Executive Editor of Lawfare. As a Brookings scholar, she provided nonpartisan expert advice, briefings, and testimony to Congress, senior government officials, non-governmental organizations, business leaders, and other stakeholders.

Ms. Hennessey is the co-author of a book on the US presidency and has contributed to several other books and monographs, including the first edition of the PLI treatise, “Cybersecurity: A Practical Guide to the Law of Cyber Risk.” Her work has appeared in the Washington Post, New York Times, Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, The Atlantic, and other leading publications. From 2017 to 2021, Ms. Hennessey appeared as a national security and legal analyst on CNN.

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