The White House Office of Management and Budget announced Wednesday the creation of a privacy office and a dedicated senior career position for privacy within the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) at the OMB.
The new office and official will develop policies for Federal agencies, work with the Federal Privacy Council to identify privacy trends across the government, and evaluate agency regulations, privacy policies, and information collection.
“As more and more sensitive information is collected and shared in our digital economy, President Obama has made clear that the Federal government needs to ensure that its privacy practices evolve to appropriately reflect the government’s use of emerging technologies,” said Shaun Donovan, director of the OMB, in a blog post.
The office will work to strengthen the government’s existing privacy policies and make privacy a continuous focus of Federal agencies by using the OIRA’s staff, responsibilities, statistical information related to privacy, and by working closely with OMB’s senior adviser for privacy.
This initiative follows the establishment of the Federal Privacy Council in March and the mandate that agencies must release the structure of their privacy policies in September.
“While the role and responsibilities of the new office may evolve to keep pace with ever-changing technologies and advancements in information analytics, the new office–and the career position created to lead it–are here to stay not just in the months ahead, but for years to come,” said Donovan.