Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 176
•
Trim: 6¼ x 9¼
978-1-5381-2662-2 • Hardback • September 2019 • $24.95 • (£18.99)
978-1-5381-2663-9 • eBook • September 2019 • $23.99 • (£17.99)
Jake Braun is Executive Director of the University of Chicago Harris Cyber Policy Initiative, where he works at the center of politics, technology and national security to advance the field of cyber policy. He has more than 15 years of national security and cybersecurity expertise. Previously, he served in the Obama administration as White House Liaison to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. He has appeared extensively on TV, radio, print, and online media, including CNN, NBC, CBS radio, NPR, CSPAN, USA Today, WIRED magazine, Wall Street Journal, the HBO documentary "Democracy Hacked," and many others. He teaches at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and resides in Chicago.
Introduction
1. Table Setting: The Putin Problem
2. Clusterf*ck
3. Mandela-Level Turnout
4. Reset?
5. Same-Old-Same-Old or Something New?
6. Here Come the Hackers
7. “You Have to Sit on Those Boxes”
8. “We Have No Evidence”: DEF CON
9. “Child’s Play”
10. Cyber Politics
Epilogue
Notes
Index
About the Author
While much has been written about the role of Russian propaganda, Democracy in Danger focuses instead on Russia’s hacking of voting systems across the United States, erasing voters from voter registration databases and hacking the websites of several secretaries of state. Written as a first-person narrative but packed with information, the book uses Braun’s background and expertise to stress the importance of securing our voting systems. . . . Democracy in Danger is a harrowing account of just how unprepared states were, and remain, to stop election-crippling Russian hacks. It explains the problem in thorough and clear detail, with a call to action to protect the fundamentals of American democracy. This is a good and important work.
— Foreword Reviews
“From the frontlines of democracy as a political operative to the Department of Homeland Security to academia – Jake Braun has thought about the intersection of cybersecurity and America from all angles, and weaves his personal vignettes into Democracy in Danger. At home and abroad, from Europe to Africa, cyberattacks on democratic infrastructure are occurring regularly and we must all think and act with greater urgency. Jake understands true stakes and the solutions.”
— John F. Kerry, 68th U.S. Secretary of State
Jake Braun has done a great service to the Nation with the publication of this book. There can be no doubt about the threat to our democracy from cyber space and the immediate need for us to get beyond politics to confront and defeat this threat. Jake’s journey of discovery and action sets the stage for the future. The book reflects my strong view on the need for immediate action.
— Francis X Taylor, Brig General, USAF (Retired), Former Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Intelligence and Analysis (2014 to 2017)
Democracy in Danger reads like a spy thriller, but feels like a horror movie. In his brilliant book, Jake Braun relates, in details emerging from his front row seat, the too-slow recognition of the vulnerabilities of our election system well before 2016 and how a series of missteps, blinders, bureacracy and politics led to the events surrounding the 2016 election. But all is not lost. Braun shows us how stakeholders, election officials and even hackers are building a community with one, and only one, goal: to save our elections and therefore our democracy. An engaging, detailed and honest account, Democracy in Danger is an essential read for those who have the same mission.
— Juliette Kayyem, former Assistant Secretary Department of Homeland Security, current Faculty at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government