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Privacy Office

The Department's Privacy Office within the Office of the Secretary, Chief Financial Officer and Assistant Secretary for Administration, Office of Privacy and Open Government.

Senior Agency Official for Privacy/Chief Privacy Officer & Director of Open Government

The United States Department of Commerce's (DOC) Privacy Program is led by DOC's Senior Agency Official for Privacy (SAOP) and is managed by the SAOP/Chief Privacy Officer (CPO) & Director of Open Government, located in DOC's Office of the Chief Financial Officer and Assistant Secretary for Administration (CFO/ASA) and reports to the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Administration (DASA).

Charlie Cutshall is the Director of the Office of Privacy and Open Government (OPOG) and the CPO at DOC. He performs as the SAOP within DOC. In this capacity, Charlie serves as the key policy advisor on implementing the Privacy Act of 1974; the privacy provisions of the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) and of the E-Government Act of 2002; the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA); the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA); the principles of transparency and open government; and leads the Department's Directives Management Program.

 

Deputy Director

Dr. Jennifer Goode serves as the Chief Privacy Compliance Officer and is the key advisor on compliance with the Privacy Act and privacy requirements of the E-Government Act, including the FISMA and the FOIA.

Deputy Program Director for Privacy, Office Operations and Privacy Act Compliance

Tahira Murphy serves as the Deputy Program Director for Departmental Privacy and Office Operations and Acting Deputy Program Director for Privacy Compliance. The Deputy Program Director for Privacy and Office Operations serves as the Department Privacy Program Coordinator for the review, coordination, and analysis of personally identifiable information (PII) incidents, PIAs and Privacy Act Operation.

Deputy Program Director for FOIA,Directives, FACA and Open Government Operations

Nicholas Cormier serves as the Deputy Chief FOIA Officer & Deputy Program Director of Departmental FOIA, Directives, FACA and Open Government Operations. The Deputy Chief FOIA Officer & Deputy Director of Departmental FOIA, FACA and Open Government Operations provides operational oversight of the Department's FOIA, Directives, FACA and Open Government Programs and processes to ensure bureau compliance with the FOIA regulations.

Commerce Privacy Mission Statement

The Department of Commerce (DOC) is committed to safeguarding personal privacy. Individual trust in the privacy and security of PII is a foundation of trust in government and commerce in the 21st Century. As an employer, a collector of data on millions of individuals and companies, the developer of information-management standards and a federal advisor on information policy, the Department strives to be a leader in best privacy practices and privacy policy. To further this goal, the Department assigns a high priority to privacy considerations in all systems, programs, and policies.

Authority & Responsibility

OMB Memorandum 05-08, Designation of Senior Agency Officials for Privacy, required agencies to designate a senior agency official who would have overall responsibility for ensuring the agency's implementation of information privacy protections, including compliance with federal laws, regulations, and policies relating to information privacy. In addition, the senior agency official would have a central role in overseeing, coordinating, and facilitating the agency's compliance efforts, as well as a central policy-making role in the agency's development and evaluation of legislative, regulatory, and other policy proposals which implicate information privacy issues.

Privacy Council

The Privacy Council is chaired by the Chief Privacy Officer and is comprised of one designated Privacy Officer representative from each bureau/ operating unit. The Executive Council members include the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Administration, the Chief Information Officer, and the Assistant General Counsel for Administration from the Office of General Counsel.

The Privacy Council works to strengthen Department privacy policies to ensure that they reflect the goals, values, and policies that the Department advocates. The Privacy Council reviews Department privacy policies and identifies opportunities for strengthening, clarifying, and otherwise improving them, as well as identifies and recommends privacy training opportunities for Department employees, as appropriate.

Department of Commerce (DOC) PII Breach Response Task Force

The DOC PII Breach Response Task Force is chaired by the Chief Privacy Officer. Members include the General Counsel, Chief Information Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Assistant Secretary for Administration, Assistant Secretary for Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs, Chief of Staff in the Office of the Secretary, Director for the Office of Public Affairs, Director for the Office of Policy and Strategic Planning, Director for the Office of Human Resources Management, Office of Security (as needed), and Office of Inspector General (advisory role).

The DOC PII Breach Response Task Force is responsible for providing in-depth analysis and recommendations for an appropriate response to PII breaches that may cause significant harm to individuals or the Department. The Chief Privacy Officer determines when to convene Task Force meetings for moderate and high risk PII breach incidents.

Contact Information

  • By Mail

    Correspondence to the Office of Privacy and Open Government at the U.S. Department of Commerce may be sent to:

          U.S. Department of Commerce
          Office of Privacy and Open Government
          1401 Constitution Avenue, NW
          Mail Stop 61025
          Washington, DC 20230

  • By E-mail

    Correspondences by e-mail may be sent to [email protected].

  • By Facsimile

    Correspondence may be faxed to (202) 482-0827.

  • By Telephone

    (202) 482-1190