Joseph Pfeifer’s most recent position was as the FDNY’s First Deputy Commissioner, the second in command at the New York City Fire Department.
Pfeifer was the founding director of FDNY’s Center for Terrorism and Disaster Preparedness. As a Battalion Chief on September 11th, he was the first Chief to respond to the World Trade Center attacks. While at FDNY, Pfeifer served for 17 years as the Chief of Counterterrorism and Emergency Preparedness, shaping strategic planning, intelligence sharing, and interagency response.
Pfeifer began his career in 1981, first assigned to Engine Company 234 in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. In 1987 he was promoted to Lieutenant and assigned to Ladder Company 128 in Long Island City, Queens, and in 1993 he was promoted to Captain and assigned to Engine Company 307 in Jackson Heights, Queens. A promotion to Battalion Chief in 1997 led to his assignment to Battalion 1 in Lower Manhattan, where he was serving on the morning of September 11th, 2001. In 2002, he was promoted to Deputy Chief and assigned to Division 1 in Manhattan and then shortly later to Deputy Assistant Chief. He was cited twice for bravery, including for a rescue of an elderly woman trapped by fire.
Pfeifer has spoken both nationally and internationally, including the United Nations General Assembly Conference on Fighting Terrorism for Humanity. He is a Senior Fellow at the Combating Terrorism Center and the Program on Crisis Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School. In addition, he has spoken at the United States Military Academy, Harvard University, Columbia University, Wharton Business School, The Naval Post Graduate School, Tsinghua University in Beijing, and to classes from both the Army and Navy War Colleges. Pfeifer holds a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, a Masters in Security Studies from the Naval Postgraduate School, and a Masters in Theology from Immaculate Conception. He writes frequently and is published in various books and journals.
