Last week, the Office of Management and Budget created a new dedicated position for privacy within the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (“OIRA”). The privacy position will streamline the United States Government’s privacy practices, including:
- Leading efforts to develop and implement consistent, comprehensive and forward-looking Federal privacy policies, strategies and practices across agencies;
- Collaborating with the Federal Privacy Council to identify government-wide trends and issues related to privacy that require government-wide solutions; and
- Overseeing and evaluating agency regulatory initiatives, privacy policies, information collection and related policies, and other policy initiatives that impact the privacy of information about people.
TAKEAWAY: The U.S. Government is ramping up its investment in privacy and data collection to help streamline policies and procedures across multiple departments. These directives and recommendations issued will be helpful as the Government attempts to harmonize privacy issues on a government-wide basis.