Frances M. "Fran" Fragos Townsend (born December 28, 1961) is an American lawyer and business executive who served as Homeland Security Advisor to United States President George W. Bush from 2004 to 2007, and was formerly the executive vice president for corporate affairs, corporate secretary, and compliance chief officer for Activision Blizzard, until September 2022, due to Microsoft acquiring Blizzard for $75 billion. She previously served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Combating Terrorism. In 2008, Townsend joined CNN as a contributor, but later switched over to CBS where she is a national security analyst. Townsend was president of the Counter Extremism Project.

Early life, education, and family

Frances Mary Fragos the daughter of John Fragos, a Greek American roofer, and Dorothy Townsend, an Irish American office manager for a construction company. Townsend was the first in her family to finish high school. At the age of 11, she penned letters requesting that she be allowed to be an altar boy, first to her priest, then to the bishop, the cardinal, and ultimately to the Vatican. After her requests were refused, her priest caught her trying to sneak into Mass with a borrowed robe.

Townsend graduated cum laude from the American University in 1982, receiving a B.A. in political science and a B.S. in psychology. She received her J.D. from the University of San Diego School of Law in 1984.

Frances Fragos married lawyer John Michael Townsend on October 8, 1994, in an Episcopal ceremony at Manhattan's Church of the Incarnation. As of 2006, they have two children, both sons. In 1988, she was hired by Giuliani for the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York where she worked on white-collar crime. Townsend also ran the office's organized crime unit, where she conducted one-on-one interviews with members of the Gambino crime family. In May 2007, she was appointed "National Continuity Coordinator" under the auspices of National Security Presidential Directive (NSPD) 51.

In 2014, Townsend became the President of the Counter Extremism Project, an organization devoted to fighting global extremism, including a program that studies the digital strategy of groups like the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) in an effort to combat their success at spreading propaganda online.

In November 2016, the UAE Ambassador to the United States Yousef Al Otaiba recommended through real estate investor and Trump ally Thomas Barrack that Townsend become President Donald Trump's Director of National Intelligence or Secretary of Homeland Security. In May 2017, Townsend was on the short list for the Director of the FBI following James Comey's firing.

Business

From 2010 to 2021, Townsend served as vice chairman, general counsel, and chief administrative officer at MacAndrews & Forbes.

In March 2021, Townsend joined Activision Blizzard as executive vice president for corporate affairs, corporate secretary, and chief compliance officer to oversee government affairs, public policy, and communications. While serving as executive vice president of Activision Blizzard, an open letter signed by over 2,000 employees called for Townsend "to stand by her word to step down as Executive Sponsor of the ABK Employee Women's Network" due to her criticized response to a California Department of Fair Employment and Housing lawsuit. It was later revealed that Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick had written the letter and not Townsend.

Afterwards, Townsend stated that Activision was working to remove employees guilty of bad behavior and had "exited" 20 employees, with another 20 facing disciplinary action.

Boards

Townsend was previously appointed to the U.S. President's Intelligence Advisory Board.

She is a trustee of the Atlantic Council, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, the McCain Institute, and the New York City Police Foundation.

In July 2022, Townsend helped found a group of U.S. business and policy leaders who share the goal of constructively engaging with China in order to improve U.S.–China relations.

References

Further reading

  • White House bio
  • C-SPAN Q&A interview with Townsend, February 10, 2008