George Sairas

Sairas is an aging, balding man with grey hair, rendered blond in the anime, and ochre-colored eyes. He keeps to the uniform of his office, almost always appearing in a black suit and tie.

The companion guidebook paints Sairas as a feeble leader, calling him weak-willed and plainly unfit for command. His conduct bears this out: rather than stand against Kira on principle, he is governed by self-preservation, bending the policy of an entire nation to avoid becoming a target himself. He privately concedes that Kira is not justice even as he refuses to act on that conviction.

In the manga, Sairas serves as Vice President and ascends to the presidency upon the death of David Hoope. Dreading that defiance would make him Kira's next victim, he announces that the United States will cease opposing Kira and accepts the new order. The anime drops Hoope entirely and installs Sairas as president from the outset; there he is introduced in the Oval Office alongside Steve Mason and Near, who briefs him on the investigation, the existence of the Death Notes, the death of the original L, and the fake L maintained by the Japanese police. Persuaded, Sairas supplies the resources that establish the SPK. He later faces the press to declare America's surrender, denying that he considers Kira just while admitting that wars have ceased and crime has fallen, then exits without taking further questions to a chorus of criticism.