James Dolan

James S. Dolan (July 20, 1981 – December 27, 2017) was an American computer security expert who, with Aaron Swartz and Kevin Poulsen, co-developed SecureDrop, a widely used secure digital platform for sources to anonymously submit materials to journalists.

Early life Dolan grew up in Chester, New York. He was raised with four sisters. He attended the Tuxedo Park School and was considered gifted at an early age. Later, he moved to Brooklyn and also had returned to Chester.

Career From 1999 to 2006, Dolan served with the Marines in two deployments during the Iraq War where he worked as a data network specialist.

In 2012, as a side project to his IT job, Dolan helped develop the open source SecureDrop, initially known as DeadDrop. In 2013, Poulsen and Dolan moved it to the Freedom of the Press Foundation to ensure its continued development and adoption following the death of fellow developer Aaron Swartz. Dolan was the lead maintainer for DeadDrop, and as the Freedom of the Press Foundation's first employee, performed outreach and assisted in installations for news organizations that included The New Yorker, ProPublica, The Washington Post,, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and VICE News, among dozens of others.

In 2015, Dolan moved to San Diego, California, to work as head of security at Classy, an American software company and an online fundraising platform designed for nonprofit organizations, a position he held at the time of his death. Former colleagues speculate James died of suicide (the same as Swartz). He reportedly had developed PTSD from his time in the Marines.