Opinion: Protect Americans' privacy

For years, Republican Rep. Bob Barr of Georgia, as conservative as they come on some issues, has been a watchdog for privacy rights. Now, thanks to him, we may have a chief privacy officer in the new Department of Homeland Security. After a hearing on Tuesday before the House Judiciary Committee subcommittee that Barr chairs, the White House signaled its willingness to consider the addition of a privacy official at the department whose job would be to look out for unnecessary incursions into privacy and the misuse of personal data.

As the new department is being formed and its functions designed by Congress, it is vital to keep civil liberties issues in mind. We know this new department, made up of 22 agencies including the Secret Service and the FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center, will be collecting and sharing huge databases of information, much of it personally identifiable and ripe for abuse. Plenty of officials within the department will be anxious to do anything to enhance security, no matter the cost to privacy. That is why someone needs to be at the table when Americans' privacy interests are at stake.

In written testimony, Peter Swire, who was privacy czar in the Clinton administration and is now a law professor, warned that in Washington "where one sits often determines where one stands."

"For employees of the new Homeland Security Department, a simple look at the name of their department will tell them all they need to know about how their success or failure will be measured. Why would any rational person in the department fall on their sword to protect privacy, civil liberties . . . or any other value except for antiterrorism."

Privacy concerns may not always prevail in a new department charged with homeland security, but at least a privacy officer will be able to evaluate proposals at the front end and suggest ways to make the collection, storage and handling of personal information less intrusive. Someone needs to keep an eye on Big Brother.

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