Dr. Allan Friedman is the Director of Cybersecurity Initiatives at National Telecommunications and Information Administration in the US Department of Commerce.

Prior to joining the Federal government, Friedman was a noted infosec and technology policy researcher at a range of institutions, including George Washington University, the Brookings Institution, and Harvard University. Wearing the hats of both a technologist and a policy scholar, his work spans computer science, public policy and the social sciences, and has addressed a wide range of policy issues, from cryptography to telecommunications. Friedman has over a decade of experience in security research, with a particular focus on economic, market, and trade issues. He is the coauthor of Cybersecurity and Cyberwar: What Everyone Needs to Know (Oxford University Press, 2014). Friedman has a Computer Science degree from Swarthmore College, a PhD in Public Policy from Harvard University, and has made his peace with the word "cybersecurity.