James S. Dolan (July 20, 1981 – December 27, 2017) was an American

computer security Computer security (also cybersecurity, digital security, or information technology (IT) security) is a subdiscipline within the field of information security. It consists of the protection of computer software, systems and computer network, n ...

expert who, with

Aaron Swartz Aaron Hillel Swartz (; November 8, 1986January 11, 2013), also known as AaronSw, was an American computer programmer, entrepreneur, writer, political organizer, and Internet hacktivism, hacktivist. As a programmer, Swartz helped develop the we ...

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 grew up with four sisters. He went to school at the Tuxedo Park school and was considered gifted at an early age. Later, he moved to Brooklyn, which is where he called home and Chester, New York.

Career

From 1999 to 2006, Dolan served with the

Marines Marines (or naval infantry) are military personnel generally trained to operate on both land and sea, with a particular focus on amphibious warfare. Historically, the main tasks undertaken by marines have included Raid (military), raiding ashor ...

in two deployments during the

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

where he worked as a data network specialist. In 2003, Dolan served with

III Marine Expeditionary Force III Marine Expeditionary Force (III MEF) is a formation of the Marine Air-Ground Task Force of the United States Marine Corps. It is forward-deployed and able to rapidly conduct operations across the spectrum from humanitarian assistance and ...

during the initial

. In his second deployment, which was from September 2004 to March 2005, Dolan served with 4th Civil Affairs Group in

Fallujah Fallujah ( ) is a city in Al Anbar Governorate, Iraq. Situated on the Euphrates, Euphrates River, it is located roughly to the west of the capital city of Baghdad and from the neighboring city of Ramadi. The city is located in the region ...

, which was one of the centers of the conflict at that time. Dolan was in Fallujah during Operation Phantom Fury, part of the

Second Battle of Fallujah The Second Battle of Fallujah, initially codenamed Operation Phantom Fury, Operation al-Fajr (, ) was an American-led offensive of the Iraq War that began on 7 November 2004 and lasted about six weeks. A joint military effort of the United ...

. Trevor Timm from the

Freedom of the Press Foundation Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) is an American non-profit organization founded in 2012 to fund and support free speech and freedom of the press. The organization originally managed crowd-funding campaigns for independent journalistic organ ...

referenced Dolan's military service in his description of Dolan in the obituary he wrote, saying that the impact of serving in Iraq was an often spoke of motivating factor for Dolan's cybersecurity work, with the goal of making metadata "transparent and accountable." After his service in the Iraq War, Dolan worked in computer security at a large IT company. In 2012, as a side project to his IT job, Dolan helped develop the

open source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...

SecureDrop, initially known as DeadDrop. In 2013, Poulsen and Dolan moved it to the

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 ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

,'' ''

ProPublica ProPublica (), legally Pro Publica, Inc., is a nonprofit investigative journalism organization based in New York City. ProPublica's investigations are conducted by its staff of full-time reporters, and the resulting stories are distributed to ne ...

,'' ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

,'' and ''

VICE News Vice News (stylized as VICE News) is Vice Media's alternative current affairs channel, producing daily documentary essays and video through its website and YouTube channel. It promotes itself on its coverage of "under-reported stories". Vice Ne ...

,'' among others. In 2015, Dolan moved to

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, 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.

Death

Dolan was found dead in a Brooklyn hotel in December 2017 at the age of 36. Former colleagues speculate James died of suicide (the same as Swartz). He reportedly had developed

PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that develops from experiencing a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, warfare and its associated traumas, natural disaster, traffic collision, ...

from his time in the Marines. Dolan was the second member of the SecureDrop team to die by suicide. A

GoFundMe GoFundMe is an American for-profit crowdfunding platform that allows people to raise money for events ranging from life events such as celebrations and graduations to challenging circumstances like accidents and illnesses. From 2010 to the ...

fund was set up by his fellow Marines to establish the James Dolan Memorial Fund, which will annually donate to designated non-profit foundations and projects in his name.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dolan, James 1981 births 2017 suicides 2017 deaths American computer programmers Computer security specialists Internet activists United States Marine Corps personnel of the Iraq War