Lecturer Bios
Paul Abbate Esq.
Paul Abbate was named deputy director in February 2021. As deputy, he oversees all FBI domestic and international investigative and intelligence activities
Prior to his appointment as Deputy Director, Mr. Abbate served as the Associate Deputy Director of the FBI where he was responsible for the management of all FBI personnel, budget, administration, and infrastructure.
Mr. Abbate served as the Executive Assistant Director of the Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch prior to his appointment as Associate Deputy Director. In this capacity, Mr. Abbate oversaw all FBI criminal and cyber investigations worldwide, international operations, critical incident response, and victim assistance. Additionally, he served as the Assistant Director in Charge (ADIC) of the FBI's Washington Field Office (WFO) for several years.
Mr. Abbate served in a variety of executive leadership roles earlier in his career to include: Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Detroit Division, Special Agent in Charge of the Washington Field Office Counterterrorism Division (also serving as the on-scene commander in Libya during this time), and Section Chief in the Counterterrorism Division. As Section Chief, he provided oversight of all FBI international terrorism investigations and counterterrorism operations external to the United States.
Additionally, Mr. Abbate previously served in the Los Angeles Field Office as Assistant Special Agent in Charge for counterterrorism matters, overseeing the primary branch of the Los Angeles Joint Terrorism Task Force. Mr. Abbate also previously served as the Assistant Section Chief in the Counterterrorism Division, providing national-level oversight and guidance of all United States-based international terrorism investigations. During this time, Mr. Abbate received the Attorney General's Award for Exceptional Service alongside other team members.
From February 2006 to December 2009, he served as a Supervisory Special Agent within the Newark Division's Joint Terrorism Task Force. During this time, he deployed to Afghanistan and served as the FBI deputy on-scene commander, leading FBI counterterrorism operations and personnel in theater. Mr. Abbate previously deployed to Iraq, in October 2005, where he served as the senior FBI liaison officer to the U.S. Department of Defense and lead a group of FBI personnel conducting counterterrorism operations in theater.
In December 2003, Mr. Abbate began his extensive leadership career as a Supervisory Special Agent for the Counterterrorism Division in the Iraq Unit, overseeing FBI counterterrorism operations and personnel deployments in Iraq. He began his FBI career as a Special Agent in March 1996, assigned to the New York City Field Office, where he worked in the Criminal Division and served as a member of the SWAT team.
Brian Nelson Esq.
Brian Nelson is the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. Prior to joining Treasury, Brian was the Chief Legal Officer at LA28, the organizing committee for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles. In this capacity, he was responsible for directing the efforts with local, state, and federal partners to make the 2028 Games secure, as well as lead LA28’s public-diplomacy work with various stakeholders.
His previous government service includes roles as a senior policy advisor, policy chief, and general counsel in the California Department of Justice. There, he oversaw key national security initiatives, including efforts to combat transnational criminal organizations, dismantle human trafficking networks, and build state and international partnerships to stop money laundering and high-tech crimes. Brian also led a number of efforts to enforce and then reform financial regulations in the aftermath of the national foreclosure crisis in the late 2000s.
Earlier in Brian’s career, he was a special counsel and then deputy chief of staff of the National Security Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. In those roles, Brian managed the flow of national security information critical to the Assistant Attorney General’s capacity to use intelligence and criminal authorities to disrupt terrorist threats in real time. One of Brian’s core responsibilities was also to oversee the economic national security work of the Division’s Foreign Investment Review Staff, which participates in the Treasury-led Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.
Following clerkships at the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Brian began his career at Sidley Austin’s DC office as an attorney in information privacy, national security, and appellate practices. He received his bachelor’s degrees from UCLA and his J.D. from Yale Law School.
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