Figliuzzi, former FBI assistant director for counterintelligence, will present “Seeking Security in an Unstable World” at 8 p.m. in the Memorial Union’s Great Hall during an intimate and candid armchair conversation with Dave Price, WHO-TV’s political director and host of the Sunday morning show “The Insiders.” This presentation is free and open to the public.
“Getting insight from someone who understands the law enforcement community and international relations will be fascinating at a time when some claim a ‘deep state’ is at work to undermine President Trump’s administration, as well as the administration’s changing priorities regarding conflicts across the world,” Price said.
At NBC, Figliuzzi provides commentary regarding the impeachment inquiry, special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential race and has provided coverage on tragic mass shootings. As assistant director of the FBI, he oversaw all espionage investigations in the U.S government.
“An increasing sense of insecurity has many of us questioning the stability of our personal lives, jobs, communities, government and world. Are we really more unstable?” Figliuzzi said. “What does the future hold for our institutions and our democracy? Let’s explore those questions and more in a dialogue that combines professional cynicism with cautious optimism.”
Following his FBI career, Figliuzzi became a corporate security executive for a Fortune 10 company and led global investigations, insider threat, workplace violence prevention, and special event security for 300,000 employees in 180 countries.
“After a distinguished career in counterintelligence at the FBI and later in private industry, Frank Figliuzzi has unique insight to help the Manatt-Phelps lecture audience better understand the strains our system is undergoing, both domestically and internationally,” said Michele Manatt, daughter of the late Charles T. Manatt and Kathleen Manatt and former senior policy adviser at the U.S. State Department. “He no doubt has some great stories as well. We are thrilled he will be our 2019 speaker.”
In addition to the Manatt and Phelps families, the fall 2019 Manatt-Phelps Lecture in Political Science is co-sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Department of political science, and the Committee on Lectures, which is funded by the Student Government.
“‘May you live in interesting times’ is a common saying referring to the wish to avoid times of conflict and confusion. Well, we live in what to many of us do seem to be ‘interesting times,’ when security and stability are not exactly everyday experiences,” said Mack Shelley, chair of the Iowa State political science department. “We will all gain valuable perspectives from what he shares.”
The Manatt-Phelps lecture series was established in 2002 by the late Ambassador Charles T. Manatt and Kathleen Manatt and Tom and Elizabeth Phelps. It is now overseen by Michele Manatt.
Previous Manatt-Phelps lectures have featured ambassadors from crucial American allies and friends – France, Germany, India, Spain and Sweden – as well as distinguished leaders from America’s largest trading partners, such as Mexico’s secretary of foreign affairs and Canada’s former minister of foreign affairs. Other lectures have been presented by then-U.S. Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Delaware); then-U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Nebraska); U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Nebraska); former U.S. Rep. Lee Hamilton (D-Indiana); Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne; counterterrorism expert Malcolm Nance; and MSNBC anchor and business correspondent Ali Velshi.