David R. Young, Nixon National Security Aide and Plumbers Overseer, Dies at 89

David R. Young, a White House national security official who helped lead the investigative unit known as the “Plumbers” during the Nixon administration, died on Dec. 24 at his home in Oxford, England. He was 89; his death from heart failure was confirmed on Monday by his son, David K.

Young. Mr. Young joined the Nixon administration in 1970 as a special assistant to Henry A. Kissinger and in 1971 was assigned, with Egil Krogh Jr., as a twinned deputy to John D. Ehrlichman. Mr. Ehrlichman created the Plumbers to stop leaks of classified material, including the Pentagon Papers, and Mr.

Young and Mr. Krogh jointly oversaw the unit’s work, which included break-ins such as the burglary of the Beverly Hills office of Daniel Ellsberg’s former psychiatrist, Dr. Lewis Fielding, that turned up nothing. As investigators probed Watergate, Mr. Young cooperated and was granted limited immunity to testify before the Senate Watergate Committee and, with approval from U.S.

District Judge John J. Sirica, in court against Mr. Ehrlichman and other conspirators. He avoided federal prosecution, moved his family to England, completed a doctorate at Oxford, lectured there and in 1975 founded the consulting firm Oxford Analytica; he retired from consulting in 2015.

Key Topics

Politics, David R. Young, Watergate, Plumbers, Pentagon Papers, Oxford Analytica