OMB director announces new privacy panel

A new Federal Privacy Council will be formed in early 2016 to tackle privacy issues, the White House Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan announced Dec 2. The overarching goal is the protection of data the government collects on citizens. The new council is looking to develop policy to prevent data breaches, mitigate their effects when they do occur, improving the productivity and eliminating duplication of effort in privacy protection, while building and retaining trust in government, Donovan said.

The formation of the council, modeled on other federal communities of practice such as the Chief Information Officers Council, will begin at the beginning of 2016. It builds on the the work of a privacy committee and eight working groups that are up and running. A top priority for the council will be to "professionalize the privacy profession," Donovan said. A big impetus for the new body is to shift from a reactive to proactive posture when it comes to data breaches and other failures that put privacy at risks. Priorities for the Privacy Council include expanding education, training professional development for privacy professionals, and building a community within the privacy government professionals.