The National Sheriffs Association, The Leaders

February 15, 2022

Last week, I published a story for Slate on the National Sheriffs Association, a c(4) “dark money” group that represents all of the 3,080 sheriffs in the United States. (And the FBI Director spoke to them in what seems like a closed meeting.)

Like a lot of organizations, the NSA holds two conferences. This year’s winter conference was last week and featured a variety of speakers, panels, plenary sessions, and a trade showroom, which, if you are familiar with any sales-style conference, is full of corporations distributing free sticky pads and squishy balls emblazoned with logos.

I should be fair and point out that the amount of money the NSA has — which seems to range between $5 to $8 million — is not as much cash as other lobbying organizations. (Heritage Foundation, for example, is in the hundreds of millions of dollars.) My focus, however, is less on the amount of money than on the influence of policy decisions both at the national level (an upward stream to the executive and legislative branches) as well as the state and local level (a downward stream via influencing individual sheriffs and their policy).

Take, for example, the Executive Director of the NSA, Jonathan Thompson, who has lately been taking strong stances that could be read as either 1) a typical right-wing, pro-police stance; and/or 2) a reactionary force pushing against the reforms that became more politically popular after the summer of 2020. It’s not really a novel observation that pro-law enforcement forces are in an era of retrenchment. LEO I have spoken with describe feeling “under attack,” but, when I probe, are unable to define how that actually influences their work or ability to get funding. It should be noted that local sheriffs derive funding from their counties, their states (through some specific initiatives), some corporate and private donations, and — the big money pot — the federal government in the form of grants for specific activities.

Thompson — not a sheriff — has a long history of lobbying for “national security” interests. Before joining the NSA in 2015, Thompson was a “principal” at Refero Communications, which appears to have been primarily involved in electronics and broadcasting technology. (There is or was also a gun dealer in Virginia with the same name, but I don’t know if there is any connection or not. Both are in Virginia, but they have different street addresses.) What I can say is that Refero did a lot of government contracts.

Before Refero — the timeline here is a bit hazy — Thompson was worked for the government, mostly the G.W. Bush administration. Most of his work was in the national defense/ national security space in addition to a stint as the Director of External Affairs for FEMA. (Before joining the government, Thompson worked for trade associations in electronics, so more “strategic partnerships” work.)

As a director at FEMA, Thompson says he worked with sheriffs and private partners in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. His time in national security under the Bush administration is a bit more interesting. One of his jobs was “Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, responsible for the design, development, and oversight of communications planning for the Department’s Iraq and Global War on Terror.” Basically, from what I can gather, he helped structure the Bush administration’s PR strategy to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars post 9-11. He also traveled abroad to do communications work for the wars there, too.

One of the friends Thompson met along the way was a man named Mark Pfeifle, who now runs a communications firm called “Off The Record Strategies,” which helped advise the Bush administration’s PR strategy for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Pfeifle and Thompson also worked together at a group called S4 Inc during the Obama administration years. (S4’s primary role seems to be serving as a consultant and comms advisor with tech companies/ surveillance/ comms and Department of Defense/ Homeland Security — so, helping to sell tech to the state war apparatus.)

According to Pfeifle’s personal website:

As White House Dep. National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications and Global Outreach, Mark Pfeifle led the successful communication effort to promote President Bush’s “surge” of U.S. forces into Iraq and international communication initiatives to de-legitimize al Qaeda. During his White House service, Pfeifle was awarded the Army’s Outstanding Civilian Service Award for “dramatically improved communication planning and strategies…in support of the Global War on Terror.”

At least one website makes a specific link between Pfeifle and the NSA, calling him the NSA’s “senior advisor for marketing, strategy, and communications.” And on the website for Off the Record Strategies, Pfeifle says he “led the successful communication effort to promote President Bush's “surge” of U.S. forces into Iraq and international communication initiatives to de-legitimize al Qaeda.”

A good example of how Thompsons’ background came into play was the NSA’s response to the protests at Standing Rock. During the pipeline protests in Standing Rock, North Dakota, the NSA was there to take an undisclosed amount of money from private contractor TigerSwan to surveil pipeline protestors. They then lobbied Congress for additional funding and military equipment for additional policing of the oil pipeline. And the NSA sent sheriff representatives to train local sheriffs in North Dakota how to “handle” protestors, in addition to writing to the federal government to lobby for additional resources for law enforcement. The NSA also contracted with Delve, an opposition research firm popular with Republican politicians, and Off The Record Strategies.

Pfeifle wrote talking points for law enforcement as it pertained to Standing Rock, from the sheriffs’ point of view of course. He suggested emphasizing “out of state agitators” He also suggested undermining social media feeds of protestors showing police violence and suggested “following the money” — “Also list of Soros’ contributions and look for any Tom Steyer money.” (Johnson also made edits to some public statements by sheriffs at the time, including saying there should be an emphasis on “criminals and thugs.”)

According to emails released under public records requests, the NSA “worked in secret on talking points, media outreach, and communications training for law enforcement dealing with Dakota Access opponents mobilized at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in Cannon Ball, North Dakota.” (According to The Intercept, police actions at Standing Rock included “water cannons, rubber bullets, armored personnel carriers, and sound cannons” as well as aerial surveillance and eavesdropping.) When I talked to an NSA representative about Standing Rock, he took pains to say that most of the protestors were from out-of-state and not local people. This was emphasized (coincidentally?) in the emails I talk about above released to various reporting outlets about the NSA’s response and PR strategy.

Thompson and Pfeifle also helped the Manitowoc County Sheriff with crisis control over the Making a Murderer Netflix series. They were joined by another Republican communications buff, Patrick Royal, who is on staff with the NSA. It appears that at one point (the document is undated), Royal was part of Off the Record Strategies, Pfeifle’s group. (Royal, as the main communications person at the NSA, is my main contact when I contact the group for comment.) The Making a Murderer PR debacle is a bit funny because of the sheriff’s communications with Nancy Grace’s and Jeanine Pirro’s shows, which contacted the sheriff to ensure he was portrayed in a positive light.

Look, spin and communications is part of any nonprofit work and part of the policing universe, as we all know, but also it’s hard for the NSA to argue it’s politically neutral with these types of right-wing talking points and the kind of people Thompson brings into the fold to direct communications. I also find it interesting that so many of the contacts are from the national security world, not policing, and how does that intersect with other histories of police militarization, professionalization, and global counter-insurgency style tactics? I am not a NatSec expert, but it’s a new rabbit hole for me and something to think about. Was this intentional? Or a drift rightwards given the expanding influence of anti-immigration groups and the police interests that began to coalesce after the Ferguson uprisings? (Note that Thompson was hired right after Ferguson, which featured a huge amount of artillery. Government contracts perhaps? Maybe readers have ideas. I’m reading Stuart Schrader to learn more. )

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In my piece for Slate, I mention some of Thompson’s on-the-record comments about policing reform groups and the NFL. Just last week, after the story went to press, he sided with Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva opposing vaccine mandates:

“This decision is going to risk the safety of every L.A. County citizen. We hope the board will reconsider this decision immediately and choose instead to support law enforcement during the current troubles. The sheriff, the men and women of LACSD, and the people of L.A. County deserve and need protection and safety more than ever!” he said.

It’s hard for me to buy the nonpartisan nature of the NSA when the leadership is so plainly biased. But, that’s only the start because I didn’t even get into the panels yet. I’ll just drop this here as a preview of the next post.

Next time: More on how the NSA is helping to build the crimmigration surveillance empire.