Frances Townsend

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This article is about the U.S. Homeland Security advisor. For the old-age pension advocate, see Francis Townsend.

Frances Fragos Townsend (born December 28, 1961, in Mineola, New York, and raised in Wantagh, Long Island) is the current Homeland Security Advisor to United States President George W. Bush. Townsend was appointed to this position by President Bush on May 28, 2004. She chairs the Homeland Security Council and reports to the President on homeland security policy and counterterrorism policy. She previously served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Combating Terrorism.

1 Personal
2 Career
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Personal

Frances Fragos was born the daughter of a Greek American father who was a roofer and an Irish American mother who was an office manager for a construction company.

Raised on Long Island, Townsend was the first in her family to finish high school. Her parents were determined that their only child would receive a college education, but money was tight. Frances decided to save money by accelerating her course load in addition to waiting tables and working as a dormitory adviser.

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 received her Juris Doctor from the University of San Diego School of Law in 1984. In 1986, she attended the Institute on International and Comparative Law in London, England.

In 1994, she married lawyer John Townsend; the couple have two sons, ages 9 and 3 years old.

[edit] Career

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 and white-collar crime cases.

In 1991, she worked in the Office of the Attorney General to assist in establishing the newly created Office of International Programs, the predecessor to the Executive Office for National Security. In December 1993, she joined the Criminal Division where she served as Chief of Staff to the Assistant Attorney General and played a critical part in establishing the Division's international training and rule of law programs.

She came to the White House from the United States Coast Guard, where she had served as Assistant Commandant for Intelligence. Prior to that, Townsend spent thirteen years at the United States Department of Justice in a variety of senior positions, her last assignment as Counsel to the Attorney General for Intelligence Policy.

In 2007, her name was floated as a possible replacement for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.[1]