Jake Braun

Jacob H. Braun (born October 3, 1975) is an American cyber and national security expert. He was appointed by President Joseph Biden as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary's Senior Advisor to the Management Directorate, and as Senior Counselor for Transformation to the Secretary of Homeland Security from June 2021 - May 2023. He was later appointed as the Acting Principal Deputy National Cyber Director in The White House from May 2023 - July 2024.

He is the CEO of Cambridge Global Advisors (CGA), a bipartisan consulting firm based in Washington, DC. Braun is also a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy Studies where he teaches courses on cyber policy and election security and also serves as the Executive Director for the University of Chicago Harris Cyber Policy Initiative (CPI).

From 2009 to 2011, Braun served as White House Liaison to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. He has also served as National Deputy Field Director for Obama for America in 2008 and as the Michigan Field Director for John Kerry in 2004.

Braun is co-founder of the DEF CON Voting Machine Hacking Village (Voting Village) hacker conference.

Education Braun is a graduate of Troy St. University where he earned an MA in International Relations. He also has a Master’s in Secondary Education from National Louis University in Chicago and a BA in Philosophy from Loyola University of Chicago.

Career Braun began his career as a journalist reporting for newspapers in Illinois and Taiwan. and multiple state Democratic Party committees.

Braun served on the Presidential Transition Team in 2008-2009 for the Obama Administration as Deputy Director for the National Security Agencies Review, which oversaw the agency review process for the State Department, DOD, DHS, CIA, USAID. He was appointed White House Liaison to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on January 21, 2009, where he facilitated key DHS public engagements. The event was renewed in 2018 and 2019 and featured additional components of U.S. election infrastructure including the hacking of mock Secretary of State websites. In cooperation with DEF CON, Braun has co-authored two works on election infrastructure cyber vulnerabilities, The DEF CON 25 and 26 Voting Village Reports.

On February 13, 2018, in a hearing titled “Defending Our Democracy: Building Partnerships to Protect America’s Elections,” Braun testified before the U.S. House Homeland Committee on his election security work with CPI and DEF CON.

In February 2021, Braun was appointed as a Senior Advisor to the DHS Management Directorate. His initial focus will be on managing and recruiting cybersecurity professionals.

In 2024, Braun co-founded an organization dedicated to improving cybersecurity of critical U.S. infrastructure like water supplies called DEF CON Franklin.

Publications Braun is the author of a book on the subject of election security entitled Democracy in Danger: How Hackers and Activists Exposed Fatal Flaws in the Election System published by Rowman & Littlefield in 2019, as well as a June 2020 article in the Boston Review entitled "A Perfect Storm of Vulnerabilities Could Determine the 2020 Election."

Awards Along with the team that wrote the DEF CON Voting Village report, Braun was Gold winner for the Cybersecurity Project of the Year and finalist for the award for Cybersecurity Team of the Year. In 2023, Braun was recognized by the Department of Homeland Security for the Secretary’s Meritorious Service Silver Medal Award.