About the Department

• Strategic Plan
• Budget and Finance
• Department Structure
  • Organization Chart
  • Leadership
• Laws and Regulations
• International
• History
• Careers
• Compliance Issues

Chief Privacy Officer: Mary Ellen Callahan

On March 9, 2009, Mary Ellen Callahan became the Chief Privacy Officer of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.  Prior to joining the Department, Ms. Callahan specialized in privacy, data security, and consumer protection law as a partner at Hogan & Hartson, LLP, where she worked for more than ten years. She was the Co-Chair of Online Privacy Alliance, a self-regulatory group of corporations and associations established to create an environment of trust and foster the protection of individuals’ privacy online. Ms. Callahan also served as Vice-Chair of the American Bar Association’s Privacy and Information Security Committee of the Antitrust Division.  

A frequent author and speaker on privacy issues, she was selected in 2008 as a “Band 1” privacy and data security lawyer in the United States by Chambers and Partners.  Ms. Callahan holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago Law School and graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pittsburgh. Prior to law school, Callahan worked at the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress as part of the Special Task Force on the Development of Parliamentary Institutions in Eastern Europe.

The Privacy Office is responsible for privacy compliance across the Department, which includes assuring that the technologies used by the Department to protect the United States sustain, and do not erode, privacy protections relating to the use, collection, and disclosure of personal and Department information. The Privacy Office also has oversight of all privacy policy matters, including compliance with the Privacy Act of 1974,  the Freedom of Information Act of 1966 (as amended), and the completion of Privacy Impact Assessments, as required by the E-Government Act of 2002 and Section 222 of the Homeland Security Act, (as amended).  Additionally, Ms. Callahan serves as the Department’s Chief Freedom of Information Act Officer where responsibilities include assuring consistent and appropriate agency-wide statutory compliance and harmonized program and policy implementation.

This page was last modified on April 28, 2009