Trine Bramsen

Bramsen was born in Svendborg to schoolteachers Bo Steffen Madsen and Lene Bramsen Madsen. She worked as a consultant with Deloitte from 2007 until 2011.[1]

Bramsen was first elected member of Folketinget for the Social Democrats in the 2011 election, where she received 4,497 votes. She was reelected in 2015 with 8,337 votes and again in 2019 with 10,594 votes.[2][3][4]

Bramsen was appointed Minister of Defence in the cabinet of Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on 27 June 2019.[5] Early in her tenure, she oversaw the addition of about 700 soldiers, a frigate and four fighter jets to NATO forces.[6] Following the 2020 Iranian attack on U.S. forces in Iraq, she temporarily moved some of its military personnel for the international military intervention against ISIL from the Al Asad Airbase to Kuwait.[7]

Bramsen was the IT and telecommunications spokesperson for the Social Democrats, when she replied to a comment by the IT-Political Association of Denmark, in a debate about electronic elections wherein participants are identified with chips.[8] Bramsen argued in favour of the electronic elections, which she perceived as feasible, even though the Association with technical industry experience was in opposition.

She wrote an article[9] titled A call for IT nerds: Stop wearing tennis socks — and speak so that we can understand you!. The article was met by criticism for its condescending attitude. As a result, she was reassigned to be a spokesperson on justice. In her new position, she argued for making The Onion Router illegal.[10]

In 2020, Bramsen exposed a secret agreement with the US, made during the tenures of Bill Clinton and Poul Nyrup Rasmussen and signed by subsequent Danish defense ministers, allowing American authorities to tap Danish phone cables.[11]