A former privacy official for a controversial Internet advertising firm was named yesterday as chief privacy officer of the Department of Homeland Security, the government's most significant position at the center of the debate over how to balance individual privacy with expanded anti-terrorism efforts.
Nuala O'Connor Kelly, a 34-year-old lawyer, will review whether the department's collection and use of personal information about U.S. citizens is legal and appropriate. Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the government is stepping up surveillance of several activities, including computer communications and financial transactions. The government is also proposing to create large integrated databases of personal data with which to better track suspected terrorists.
Nuala O'Connor Kelly, chief privacy officer of
the Dept. of Homeland Security.
(Dept. of Commerce)
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"There's conventional wisdom that privacy and security are antithetical," said Kelly, who is now chief counsel to the Technology Administration at the Commerce Department. "I think that's not true."
Privacy advocates have harshly criticized the Bush administration's domestic security efforts as eroding civil liberties without increasing safety, and yesterday they were wary in their assessment of Kelly's appointment.
In February 2000, Kelly went to work for Internet advertising giant DoubleClick Inc., a company that earlier had infuriated some computer users when it was revealed that the company planned to capture information identifying individuals who viewed particular ads.
The firestorm, and threatened legal action by the Federal Trade Commission, led DoubleClick to backtrack and hire a team of people, including Kelly, to develop more stringent privacy policies and compliance procedures.
"She may do an excellent job, but the choice of someone who was doing PR cleanup for one of privacy's greatest monsters may be a bad sign," said Jason Catlett, head of Junkbusters Corp., a privacy and anti-spam organization.
Catlett called Kelly smart, someone who can "talk the talk" of the privacy issue but said he could not tell how much the changes DoubleClick made could be attributed to her.
Marc Rotenberg, head of the Electronic Information Privacy Center, agreed, adding that "the challenges that she confronts as the Department of Homeland Security tries to safeguard privacy are going to be enormous."
Ari Schwartz, associate director for the Center for Democracy and Technology, said it was too soon to say how much influence Kelly will have in protecting privacy rights.
"One of the things we liked" about her time at DoubleClick was that "she worked hard to build relationships with the privacy community and to vet their new policies with these groups," Schwartz said. "There is still some question as to what level of access will she have, and whether she will be able to speak her mind internally and publicly on privacy issues or will she simply be giving the agency line on everything."
Kelly said it was too soon for her to have formed opinions on some of the administration's most controversial security initiatives, including a huge database linking financial and other personal records, and an air travel-screening system that would attempt to assess whether someone making an airline reservation poses a security risk.
The Department of Homeland Security "is charged with securing liberty and lifestyle," she said. "Part of that is protecting privacy."
Kelly brings a unique perspective to questions of individual freedom during times of heightened security threats.
She was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and came to the United States as a 1-year-old. Most of her family is still in Belfast, and she has spent extensive time there.
Before joining DoubleClick, Kelly was a privacy and financial services lawyer. She is a graduate of Princeton University and holds a master's degree in education from Harvard University and a law degree from Georgetown University.
Brian Krebs of washingtonpost.com contributed to this report.
