After leaving government service in January 2009, Addington reportedly had trouble finding work, which some observers surmised was a result of the negative press he received during his tenure in Cheney’s office. According to a March 2009 New York Times report, Addington was one of several Bush lawyers who had difficulty landing jobs.

When Heritage announced in August 2010 its decision to hire Addington, Heritage president Edwin Feulner said, “Addington is a brilliant policy expert with over twenty years of senior experience at all levels and branches of governance. As a trusted advisor to two White Houses, the Defense Department, and four congressional committees, Mr. Addington understands Washington and how policy ideas become law.”

Although his post at Heritage focuses almost exclusively on domestic policy and the economy, Addington’s defense work under VP Cheney received renewed attention from a number of observers in the wake of the killing of Osama bin Laden in early 2011, particularly Addington’s role as one of the authors of the infamous “torture memos.”However, while some of his erstwhile colleagues, like John Yoo, used the opportunity created by bib Laden’s death to revisit their ideas about torture, Addington failed to address the issue in any of his regular publications for Heritage.

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