Michael A. L. Balboni, a former New York State Senator and Senior Homeland Security and Law Enforcement official for the State of New York, helps expand the firm’s services in the areas of cyber, financial and energy-related security, public safety, healthcare, and government relations.

Of Counsel to Rivkin Radler, Michael is a member of the Corporate and Health Services Practice Groups. The Health Services Practice Group has been listed in the prestigious Legal 500 and since 2016, the Health Services Practice Group has been recognized in the Chambers USA directory.

As founder and managing partner of RedLand Strategies Inc., a homeland security practice based in New York City, Michael relies on his extensive domestic and international relationships and experience with respect to a broad range of homeland security and government relations issues to provide clients with management, strategic direction, and business development services.

At RedLand Strategies, Michael has advised companies including TEI, Bethpage Federal Credit Union, Coalfire Systems, CSX Transportation, Raytheon, 3VR, and FJC Security, as well as the County of Nassau and the Town of North Hempstead. In addition, he advises municipalities on matters ranging from emergency management to mass fatality planning and crime lab operations.

Michael serves as executive director of the Greater New York Health Care Facilities Association, which provides regulatory compliance services, labor negotiations, legal, government relations, and political strategy for 80 nursing homes in the metropolitan region.

Receiving Senate confirmation in late 2017, Michael was appointed a Trustee on the board of New York Power Authority. Hewas appointed Deputy Secretary for Public Safety in January 2007. In this role, he was the Senior Homeland Security and Law Enforcement official for the State of New York. With over 60,000 employees and a budget of nearly $4 billion, the Public Safety Directorate is comprised of 13 state agencies, including the Office of Homeland Security, Division of State Police, Division of Military and Naval Affairs, and the State Emergency Management Office.  The innovative programs that have been created include New York Alert, a multimedia, cyber-based emergency notification system that currently has 1.5 million subscribers; CI-SAR, which overlays suspicious activity tip information upon critical infrastructure to provide threat context and trend analysis capability; and Empire Shield Reconfiguration, which redeploys National Guard units to form a rapid response and a ‘surge’ patrol capability for the region’s airports, train terminals, tunnels, bridges, and nuclear power plants.

Michael has received training and briefings on protecting critical infrastructure, and served as the security chair for the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, where he assisted and advised on the security for the rebuilding of the World Trade Center. He was the governor’s representative to the Secure the City program to create a ringed defense of nuclear and radiological detection systems around New York City.

As a New York State Senator, Michael represented the Seventh Senate District, located in Nassau County, and was chairman of the Committee on Veterans, Homeland Security and Military Affairs. There, he led the enactment of nearly every anti-terrorism law in New York State, including the first chemical plant security law in the nation, the law criminalizing biological and chemical terrorism, a water plant security law, pet sheltering laws for disasters, and the creation of the Office of Homeland Security.

In addition, Michael was:

• Named co-chairman of the National Conference of State Legislatures’ Task Force for Protecting Democracy and Homeland Security (2003);
• Appointed by then-federal Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge to a national task force that examined the flow of homeland security dollars from the federal government to local communities (2004);
• Named a senior fellow of the Homeland Security Policy Institute at George Washington University and appointed co-chairman of the Executive Task Force on Homeland Security of the National Conference of State Legislatures (“NCSL”) (2005);
• Appointed to the State and Local Officials Senior Advisory Committee (“SLSAC”) of the U.S. Homeland Security Advisory Council (2006);
• Appointed a member of the board of advisors of the Homeland Security Management Institute of Long Island University (2006);
• Appointed to the Quadrennial Homeland Security Review Advisory Committee of the Homeland Security Advisory Council (2008);
• Appointed to the Homeland Security and Public safety Transition team for Governor-Elect Cuomo (2008);
• Appointed Outside Advisor to the Transition Team for Homeland Security by President Obama (2008 and 2010); and
• Appointed by Governor Cuomo to the SAGE Commission (Savings and Government Efficiency) and charged with helping to realign the state’s emergency response (2011).

A frequent commentator, Michael is a consultant on terrorism issues for Fox (nationally), NBC (nationally and locally), ABC News, and News 12 Long Island. He also is a frequent contributor to the op-ed page of the Long Island newspaper, Newsday.