President Obama today issued a proclamation creating a new Federal Privacy Council that charges the federal government with finding “more effective and innovative” ways to protect the information that it collects about U.S. citizens. The council will develop recommendations for the Office of Management and Budget on federal government privacy policies and requirements.  As part of that effort, federal government agencies shall establish an “interagency support structure” that aims to build on existing agency efforts protect privacy by providing expertise to agencies, expanding the skill and career development opportunities for privacy professionals, improving the management of agency privacy programs by sharing best practices, and promoting cooperation between agencies to reduce duplicative efforts. 

The proclamation requires the Office of Management and Budget to issue within 120 days a revised policy on the role and designation of “Senior Agency Officials for Privacy” that provides guidance on the officials’ responsibilities, required levels of expertise, and resource levels.  Federal agencies will be required to implement the new policy requirements “within a reasonable time frame by the OMB director and applicable law.

 In addition to designating Senior Agency Officials for Privacy, federal agency heads will work with the Federal Privacy Council as the “principal interagency forum” to improve government privacy practices, and the council also will serve to “reinforce the essential work that agency privacy officials undertake every day to protect privacy.” The council also will coordinate with federal agency chief information officers “to promote consistency and efficiency across the executive branch when addressing privacy and information security issues,” the White House proclamation says.   The council may also coordinate its actions with those of the President’s Management Council, the Chief Financial Officers Council, the President’s Council on Integrity and Efficiency, the National Science and Technology Council, the National Economic Council, the Domestic Policy Council, the National Security Council staff, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Interagency Council on Statistical Policy, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council, and the Small Agency Council.

The council will be chaired the deputy director-management at OMB and its membership will include the Senior Agency Officials for Privacy from 24 federal agencies including the Departments of State, Treasury, Defense, Justice, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Labor, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, House and Urban Development, Transportation, Energy, Education, and Veterans Affairs.   It also will include Senior Agency Officials for Privacy from the Environmental Protection Agency, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Small Business Administration, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Agency for International Development, General Services Administration, National Science Foundation, Office of Personnel Management, and National Archives and Records Administration.

“The new privacy council is an important step forward in formalizing privacy oversight throughout the federal government,” commented Greg Nojeim of the Center for Democracy and Technology. “It has the potential to be a valuable mechanism for agencies with strong privacy practices, such as the Department of Homeland Security, to share their expertise across the government. Privacy should be treated more consistently across agencies and this should help achieve that result.” – John Curran, john.curran@wolterskluwer.com

Courtesy TRDaily