Chief Privacy Officer

Aligned to goals:

• 1.1: Provide clarity and guidance on privacy rules and regulations to ensure that information and data can be shared in a timely manner with the public while still protecting individual privacy as required by law.
• 1.2: Make more data and information available to the public.
• 1.3: Improve the timeliness of FOIA processing and document release.

With the Department's goal of increasing the amount of information and data that it makes available to the public, we have recognized the need to ensure that it is done by fulfilling our legal obligations to ensure individual privacy is protected. The Department has thus decided to create a new Chief Privacy Officer (CPO) position and locate it within the Office of Management. The CPO will coordinate work done in other Department offices, such as the Office of the Chief Information Officer, Office of the General Counsel, Federal Student Aid, and other subsets of the Office of Management, such as the Regulatory and Information Management Services office. Among its many responsibilities, the CPO will be the tasked with:

• Serving as senior policy advisor on overall privacy policy, including legislative language, regulations, and other non-regulatory guidance drafted by Department offices on issues related to or including privacy, confidentiality, or data security;
• Advising other Department offices on the inclusion of privacy, confidentiality, and data security requirements in policies and programs;
• Coordinating on the development and delivery of privacy training and orientation for all employees and contractors; and
• Overseeing the Family Policy Compliance Office (FPCO) and its administration of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment, and the Military Recruiter provisions of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

Although the position is still being developed, we hope to have it filled by late summer or early fall 2010.