Frances Fragos Townsend currently runs her own independent consulting business. Until recently, she served as the executive vice president 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. In her ten years there, Townsend focused internally on financial, legal, and personnel issues, as well as international, compliance, and business development across MacAndrews’ portfolio companies. Before her tenure at MacAndrews, she was a corporate partner with the law firm of Baker Botts, LLP. From 2004 to 2008, 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. Ms. Townsend spent thirteen years at the U.S. Department of Justice under the administrations of President George H. W. Bush, President Bill Clinton, and President George W. Bush. She has received numerous awards for her public service accomplishments. Townsend is a director on the board of two public companies: Chubb and Freeport McMoRan, where she chairs or serves on compliance, compensation, governance, corporate social responsibility, and executive committees. She previously served on the public boards of Scientific Games, SciPlay, SIGA, and Western Union. Townsend also serves on multiple private company boards, where she is chairwoman of one and chairs all the compensation committees. For five years, Townsend was an on-air senior national security analyst for CBS News and, before that, she was at CNN for seven years. She previously served on the DNI’s Senior Advisory Group, the CIA External Advisory Board, and the U.S. President’s Intelligence Advisory Board. Townsend is a trustee on the board of the Hospital for Special Surgery; 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. Townsend also serves on the executive committee of the Trilateral Commission, and the board of the International Republican Institute. She is a member of the Aspen Strategy Group.
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FeaturedInternational efforts, such as the Paris Agreement, aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But experts say countries aren’t doing enough to limit dangerous global warming.
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FeaturedIntroduction Throughout its decades of independence, Myanmar has struggled with military rule, civil war, poor governance, and widespread poverty. A military coup in February 2021 dashed hopes for…
by Lindsay Maizland January 31, 2022
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Explainers
FeaturedDuring the 2020 presidential campaign, Joe Biden promised that his administration would make a “historic effort” to reduce long-running racial inequities in health. Tobacco use—the leading cause of p…
by Olivia Angelino, Thomas J. Bollyky, Elle Ruggiero and Isabella Turilli February 1, 2023 Global Health Program
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Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies
President Trump has many times suggested that tariff revenue could replace the federal income tax. This claim is absurdly off-base, since it is mathematically impossible for tariffs, even at…by Benn Steil and Elisabeth Harding April 24, 2025 Geo-Graphics
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Webinar with Carolyn Kissane and Irina A. Faskianos April 12, 2023
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World Trade Organization (WTO)
World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala discusses the future of global trade and the WTO's role in the rules-based international system. The C. Peter McColough Series on International Economics brings the world’s foremost economic policymakers and scholars to address members on current topics in international economics. This meeting series is presented by the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies. This meeting is presented by RealEcon: Reimagining American Economic Leadership, a CFR initiative of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies. If you wish to attend virtually, log-in information and instructions on how to participate during the question and answer portion will be provided the evening before the event to those who register. Please note the audio, video, and transcript of this hybrid meeting will be posted on the CFR website.Virtual Event with Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Michael Froman April 23, 2025
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