Homeland privacy officer selected

Commerce official Nuala O'Connor Kelly is named privacy officer for Homeland Security

Nuala O'Connor Kelly bio

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Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge today named Nuala O'Connor Kelly as the privacy officer for the new department.

The Homeland Security Department (DHS) and its planned information collection and analysis actions have raised many privacy concerns, and many advocates applauded the decision to include a chief privacy officer within the department's top management.

O'Connor Kelly is currently serving in the Commerce Department's Technology Administration as privacy officer, chief counsel for technology, and the deputy director for policy and planning. Before that she was the vice president for data protection and chief privacy officer for DoubleClick Inc., an online advertising and marketing company.

As privacy officer for DHS, O'Connor Kelly will be responsible for overseeing privacy policy development and enforcement across all of the department's actions. But particular attention will be paid to her oversight of programs such as the National Security Entry/Exit Registration System and the Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System II (CAPPS II) program.

Officials within DHS and the Office of Management and Budget have been working together closely in recent months to develop the beginnings of privacy policies for the department.

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