Brandon Friedman

Brandon Friedman is a communications strategist in Fleishman-Hillard's Washington, D.C. office. He is also the author of the combat memoir The War I Always Wanted—recognized in 2010 by The Military Times as one of "The Best Military Books of the Decade" and by Daily Kos as one of "The Best Books of the Decade."

Brandon joined Fleishman-Hillard after three years with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs where he launched and managed the first Office of Online Communications inside America’s second-largest federal agency. While at VA, Brandon planned and oversaw execution of a digital media strategy for a department with over 300,000 employees servicing eight million enrolled veterans. Leading a team in the Office of Public Affairs, he acted as the Department’s senior advisor on all matters relating to online media.

From 2007 to 2009, Brandon helped veterans get involved in politics as a Vice Chairman at VoteVets.org. While there, he represented the organization on national television, radio, online, and in print, advocating on a variety of defense and foreign policy related issues. Prior to that, Brandon served as an infantry platoon leader and executive officer in the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division, completing combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq between 2001 and 2004.

In addition to his memoir, Brandon’s writing has been featured by a number of publications—from The New York Times and The Guardian to The Huffington Post and The White House Blog. Brandon has been the subject of stories in The Washington Post, Stars and Stripes, and Government Executive magazine and he has been interviewed and quoted by ABC News, the Associated Press, Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, Politico and many other media outlets. He has appeared as a guest on CNN, BBC, MSNBC, Al Jazeera, and C-SPAN, as well as on dozens of radio programs.

Brandon holds an MPA from the University of Texas at Dallas, a BA from LSU in Shreveport and he is a Fellow with the Truman National Security Project.