Civil Unrest & Election Countdown Intel Briefing - October 16th, 2020

Brosnan's Civil Unrest & Election Countdown Intelligence Briefings take place each Friday in October at 1pm EST. They are moderated by Patrick Brosnan Sr, Founder and CEO of Brosnan Risk Consultants, and include security service insights and critical information regarding security guard services and the state of security guard industry. The following recording is from Friday, October 16th, 2020. Brosnan's panel included Special Guest Speaker Patrick Reddan.

Mr. Reddan currently serves as the Deputy Assistant Director (DAD) of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Counterterrorism Division, Intelligence Branch.

Moderator

Patrick J. Brosnan
Founder & CEO
Brosnan Risk Consultants

Patrick J. Brosnan founded Brosnan Risk Consultants in 1996. He is a former NYPD detective with extensive field experience in the Robbery/Gun Squad and the Organized Crime Control Bureau. He was selected as the New York State Police Officer of the Year for investigative skills that led to the arrests of over 900 violent criminals during his career and was heralded by the Governor as a “one-man war on crime in New York City.”

Guest Speaker

Patrick Reddan
FBI - Deputy Assistant Director
Intelligence Branch
Counterterrorism Division

Mr. Reddan currently serves as the Deputy Assistant Director (DAD) of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s, Counterterrorism Division, Intelligence Branch. In this capacity, he oversees strategic analysis, targeting, and collection against international terrorism and domestic terrorism actors. Prior to his selection as DAD, Mr. Reddan was the Section Chief of the tactically-focused Target Discovery Section.

Panelists

Bryan Paarmann
Chief Intelligence Officer
Bryan Paarmann retired from the FBI as a Senior Executive after over 30 years in government service, including 8 years as an Infantry Officer in the U.S. Army with both peacetime and combat tours, and 23 years with the FBI in both domestic and international assignments.

John Franchi
Senior Intelligence Director
John Franchi is a retired Senior Intelligence Officer with the Central Intelligence Agency, with service both internationally and in Washington DC. John is a recognized expert in geopolitical and transnational issues, counter-terrorism, counterintelligence and cyber issues.

Eric White
Executive Vice President
Eric White began his career catching shoplifters and unloading trucks for Walmart. In his 17-year career with the world’s largest retailer he advanced to run several key security programs, including executive protection, crisis management, global readiness, enterprise risk management, aviation security, and homeland security. Mr. White also held similar roles at The Home Depot, and has been in the security technology consulting space for a decade. Mr. White is also a publicly elected official as President of the Bentonville Schools Board of Education.

Michael J. Palladino
National Account Manager
Michael J. Palladino was elected President of the Detectives’ Endowment Association, Inc. (DEA) in June 2004 and was re-elected three times. He spearheaded contract negotiations and all dealings with the City, chaired the union’s Health Benefits Funds, as well as chaired the Trustees of the DEA’s Annuity Fund. He was also the former head of NAPO and a Trustee of the $38-billion New York City Police Pension. Fund.

Summary of the Call

Brosnan Risk Consultants are dedicated to bringing you the most current and authoritative information that we can during these troubled times. As one of the best security guard companies in the nation, we are committed to informing our clients and communities about any threat that can disrupt or negatively impact their lives and businesses. This Security Intelligence Briefing was conducted on October 16^th, 2020 and featured guest panelist Deputy Assistant Director Pat Reddan from the FBI's Counterterrorism Division for Intelligence calling in from FBI Headquarters in Washington DC. Deputy Assistant Director Redden is the FBI Senior Executive in charge of analyzing and reporting on intelligence matters concerning terrorism threats to United States, both foreign and domestic.

On this call, he was asked to speak about any potential threats going into the 2020 Presidential Election and election security, including the potential for foreign influence. He also gives an overview of international terrorism and domestic terrorism threats that the United States is currently faced with.

Election security is one of the FBI’s highest national security priorities. They do not take it lightly and they will not tolerate any foreign influence in our elections. The FBI is actively engaged with their government partners, particularly the Department of Homeland Security, to share information to enhance our election security and identify and disrupt any potential threats. The FBI is the primary agency responsible for safeguarding election integrity and investigating allegations of election crimes and election-related civil rights violations. The FBI is also the primary federal agency responsible for investigating malignant foreign influence aimed at political campaigns and election infrastructure. Influence efforts by Russia, China and Iran are especially significant and require a multidiscipline approach to address. The FBI continues to lead in investigating cyber activity targeting political campaigns and election infrastructure.

The FBI coordinates closely with their other agency counterparts to safeguard the voting process. Along with the DHS, they continually monitor the risks related to all our methods of voting during our elections. The FBI regularly provides this information to state and local election officials who are responsible for our voting systems. According to Redden, bad actors seeking to cast doubt on the voting process continue to try to undermine the confidence in the legitimacy of the 2020 elections and could exploit the wide variety of voter information available by spreading disinformation. As the FBI works to ensure that there is little impact the voting process or election results, they continue to work closely with the Department of Justice to investigate election-related crimes and hold those who are responsible accountable. Election crimes coordinators are stationed in all 56 of the FBI field offices and are responsible for rooting out any election-related criminal offenses.

Deputy Assistant Director Reddan suggests that citizens report any potential election crimes, including attempts to interfere with the right to vote, to their closest FBI office. Citizens should also rely on authoritative sources of information, such as state and local government election officials, their websites, and social media accounts, for information about the time, manner, and place of voting and for official election results. Other questionable sources of information may or may not be reliable. While election officials will certify the results as soon as possible, the increased use of mail-in ballots due to COVID-19 protocols may mean that it may take more time to count the votes which could delay the release of election results.

At Brosnan, we are evaluating the current security situation surrounding the 2020 elections for our clients as they unfold and through the lens of three separate but intertwined crisis situations - a global pandemic, a teetering global economic crisis, and a contentious and divided political contest. The factors of public health, economic well-being, race relations, public safety and politics are all coloring our security recommendations and outlook. Pandemic academic studies have shown that out of 57 pandemic episodes that have happened over our history, the potential for social unrest is two times as likely coming out of it as it is during or before the episode.

Learn More About Strategic Response

Protests may not march past your physical building, but they might impact your supply chain or the ability for your employees to go to work when curfews are enacted. If your Business Continuity Plan does not account for social unrest, spend some time evaluating the potential impacts and creating contingency plans. 

All indicators show that it is not if but when the next violent protest will erupt. A little planning and preparation go a long way. Click the link below to learn more about Brosnan's Strategic Response Team.

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