DHS Privacy Office

By law, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) must have a Privacy Office. The Privacy Office operates under the direction of the Chief Privacy Officer, who is appointed by and reports directly to the Secretary of the Department. The Privacy Office serves to implement Section 222 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, and has programmatic responsibilities involving the Privacy Act of 1974, the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), the privacy provisions of the E-Government Act of 2002, and DHS policies that protect individual privacy associated with the collection, use, and disclosure of personally identifiable information.

Section 222 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 calls on the Chief Privacy Officer to assume primary responsibility for privacy policy within the Department, as well as “assuring that the use of technologies sustain, and do not erode, privacy protections relating to the use, collection, and disclosure of personal information.”