Meet Brett Freedman

Meet the members of Ohio State's Cyber Security Canon Committee. 

 

Brett Freedman 

Brett Freedman, an attorney and advisor, with 10+ years of experience in roles at the Department of Homeland Security, National Security Agency, National Counterterrorism Center, and Capitol Hill has reviewed some of our books. Read his reviews at: http://bit.ly/CyberCanon

 

Interview

 

What books are currently in your queue of reading materials? 
“Hacker State” by Ben Buchanon and “Nudge” by Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler.

 

What’s the last great Security book you read? 

“Like War.” Just a great take on social media and new technology.

  

Are there any classic novels that you only recently read for the first time?

Classic novels?  With two small kids under the age of 10, I’m lucky if I get to read the books I’ve assigned before passing out from sheer exhaustion.

 

Describe your ideal reading experience (when, where, what, how) 

Beach.  Pina colada at my side.  Slight breeze.  Low humidity.  Children occupied.  No electronic devices in sight.  

 

What’s your favorite book no one else has heard of? 

“Magic Kingdom for Sale...Sold” by Terry Brooks.  Such a wonderful escape.  Read it as a child and still have fond memories.

 

Which writers – novelists, playwrights, critics, journalists, poets – working today do you admire most? 

Tim Ferris.  Mark Bowden.  Anything by Bill Bryson.  Bill Simmons.  Malcolm Gladwell.  Joby Warrick. I have to say my brother Andrew Freedman who writes for Axios on climate science issues.  My friend Shane Harris over at the Washington Post.  Commentary by Maureen Dowd.  Comedian John Mulaney.  Anyone willing to speak their mind constructively and with a touch of humor.  And my late Uncle-in-Law Charles Krauthammer - a voice lost to us too early.

 

What Security book would you most like to see turned into a movie or TV show that hasn’t already been adapted? 

Cuckoo’s Egg.

 

What’s the most interesting thing you learned from a Security book recently 

Just that it permeates all of our lives and will only grow - from basic human functions to complex AI-related algorithms.  And much of the influence is too subtle to sense, leading to a future where I fear we look back and say “wow, if I’d only known.”

 

Which Security subjects do you wish more authors would write about? 

As a lawyer working on the Hill, I’m always looking for ideas related to public policy and in particular how to ensure that the law and the pace of technology don’t become so out of sorts that we become a society unbounded.

 

How do you organize your books? 

By general subject area - sports, national security, cybersecurity, etc.

 

What book did you feel as if you were supposed to like, and didn’t? 

Too many to name.

 

What books are you embarrassed not to have read yet? 

Many of the cyber classics.  Just read Cuckoo’s Egg.  Now need to get to Perfect Weapon, 5th Domain, and Sandworm.

 

What do you plan to read next? 

Hacker State.

 

What book do you wish was never converted into movie?  

A Wrinkle in Time.

 

Which book or movie most inspired you in this field? 

“The Cybersecurity Dilemma” by Ben Buchanon.