The Department of Homeland Security named former DoubleClick privacy executive Nuala O’Connor Kelly as its chief privacy officer Wednesday, making her the first Bush administration official to take on such a role.
“With her background in business at DoubleClick, I think she’ll be able to [convey] the industry and consumer sides of the privacy issue,” said online marketing consultant Ben Isaacson. “I think this will be good for her to train other people in the department about the issues.”
According to news reports, O’Connor Kelly will be responsible for ensuring that domestic-security efforts do not run afoul of privacy laws at a time when the government is increasingly sifting through citizens’ personal information to track suspected terrorists.
Among other duties, she will be expected to assess a controversial airline-security measure that would subject each passenger to a background check and oversee other programs that track foreign students in the U.S.
She will report directly to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge.
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