ABOUT
Frances Fragos Townsend runs her own independent consulting business. She most recently served as the EVP of Corporate Affairs, Chief Compliance Officer, and Corporate Secretary at Activision Blizzard. Prior to that, she was Vice Chairman, General Counsel, and Chief Administrative Officer at MacAndrews & Forbes, Inc. Before that, she was a corporate partner at the law firm of Baker Botts, LLP. From 2004 to 2008, Ms. Townsend served as Assistant to President George W. Bush for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism and chaired the Homeland Security Council. She also served as Deputy National Security Advisor for Combatting Terrorism from May 2003 to May 2004. During her White House tenure, Ms. Townsend was responsible for the drafting and implementation of the Intelligence Reform and Preventing Terrorism Act, as well as, review and enactment of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission recommendations among other duties. Ms. Townsend has received numerous awards for her performance including: the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, the CIA Director’s appreciation medal, the FBI Director’s appreciation medal, and the Attorney General’s Edmund J. Randolph award.
Ms. Townsend is a Director on the Board of three public companies, sits on multiple private company Boards, and serves on several nonprofit boards. Ms. Townsend advises various corporate Boards on regulatory and cyber issues that enable them to operate more securely.
After leaving government, Ms. Townsend continued her public service by sitting on several government advisory boards and commissions at various times during the three subsequent administrations. She previously served on the U.S. President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, the CIA External Advisory Board, and the DNI’s Senior Advisory Group.
Ms. Townsend was an on air senior national security analyst for CBS News and CNN. She regularly appears on network and cable television as a foreign policy, counterterrorism, national and homeland security expert.
Ms. Townsend came to the White House from the U. S. Coast Guard, where she served as the first Assistant Commandant for Intelligence.
Prior to that, Ms. Townsend spent 13 years at the U.S. Department of Justice under the administrations of four U.S. Presidents. Ms. Townsend began her prosecutorial career in 1985, serving as an Assistant District Attorney in Brooklyn, New York. In 1988, she joined the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York where she focused on international organized crime. In December 1993, she moved to Washington to join the Criminal Division as Chief of Staff to the Assistant Attorney General. From 1995 to 1997, Ms. Townsend was Director of the Office of International Affairs in the Criminal Division. In November of 1997, Ms. Townsend was appointed as Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division, where she oversaw international law enforcement and training matters, and acted as an advisor to the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General on international law enforcement policy. In March of 1998, Ms. Townsend was appointed Counsel to the Attorney General for Intelligence Policy. In this capacity she headed the office of Intelligence Policy and Review, a predecessor of what is now the National Security Division.
Ms. Townsend graduated cum laude from the American University in 1982 where she received a B.A. in Political Science and a B.S. in Psychology. She completed her J.D. from the University of San Diego School of Law in December of 1984. In 1986, she attended the Institute on International and Comparative Law in London, England. In 2001, she attended the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University where she completed the Senior Managers in Government course. Ms. Townsend has taught trial advocacy at Harvard Law School.