Who in the U.S. Government should be in charge of what dimensions of cybersecurity—and how should responsibilities be split? What kinds of domestic or international regimes or institutions could be created to manage the security issues arising around the Internet of Things? What institutions or incentive structures could improve information sharing between private companies and the federal government? What programs or practices might be deployed to protect online privacy for dissidents, journalists, and other vulnerable individuals?
To help us scope these (and other) research questions, the Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity is pleased to welcome a new Research Fellow, Sean Brooks, whose past work has focused on relevant issues such as privacy, national security and surveillance, and human rights online. He most recently worked as a Privacy Engineer for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an agency of the United States Department of Commerce. He served as a subject-matter expert on privacy engineering and public policy in the NIST Applied Cybersecurity Division, and represented the NIST Information Technology Lab (ITL) on the West Coast, conducting outreach on behalf of ITL programs to private-sector, civil society, academic, and public institutions.
Sean has also supported NIST efforts to engage public & private stakeholders on cybersecurity and privacy: he was co-developer of a NIST privacy engineering report, “An Introduction to Privacy Engineering and Risk Management in Federal Systems”, which aimed to improve privacy-enhancing system design, risk management, and assessment in federal agencies. He also contributed to the “National Privacy Research Strategy,” which was published in June 2016.
Prior to joining NIST, Sean worked for the Governance Lab at New York University, where he explored the impact of technology on open government and the future of democracy. He also worked for the Center for Democracy & Technology, where he assisted in policy analysis and research related to national security and surveillance, consumer privacy, global internet freedom, and other issues, and he served as a legislative intern with the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. He holds a BA in Comparative Politics from UC Santa Cruz and a Masters of Public Administration in International Development and Cybersecurity from New York University’s Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service.
Through his six-month engagement as a CLTC Research Fellow, Sean will be focusing primarily on two projects. First, he will investigate the potential for helping vulnerable civil society organizations, journalists, and dissidents develop strong electronic systems that are resistant to sophisticated adversaries. Second, he will help scope future CLTC research on governance and regulatory regimes for cybersecurity, which includes exploring questions related to domestic restructuring of U.S. government agencies, improved interactions between the U.S. government and private sector actors, and improved international collaboration on issues of cybersecurity.
“Sean brings a wealth of experience to CLTC,” said Betsy Cooper, Executive Director of the Center. “It’s fantastic to have someone join us who has experience working on applied cybersecurity and privacy in government and academic research institutions, the private sector, and civil society to help us explore these research questions.”
We are excited to have Sean Brooks join our team. Welcome, Sean!
