Washington – A Colorado lawyer has been chosen to guard Americans’ privacy from the anti-terrorism efforts of the Department of Homeland Security, but privacy advocates are questioning his experience and aggressiveness.
Hugo Teufel III, a former Colorado deputy solicitor general who previously was the department’s associate general counsel, was chosen by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to be the new chief privacy officer. He started Friday.
The position is the first congressionally mandated privacy officer, written into Homeland Security’s mission to serve as a bulwark against the prying nature of the fledgling department’s war on terrorism.
But privacy advocates complain Teufel has little experience with privacy issues and may be too close to the top policymakers he’s supposed to monitor.
“This is the single most important privacy job in this administration. To have someone without privacy experience in this field makes us nervous,” said Tim Sparapani, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union. “You have to have someone in this role who’s tough, independent and knows how to say ‘No,’ even to the secretary.”
Chertoff has rejected the criticism and continues to back Teufel.
Teufel, in an interview, said he will work to limit the information the department gathers to what is necessary and to safeguard that data. He said he plans to contact privacy groups to assure them of his commitment.
“Law enforcement officers at this department are not going to violate the Constitution,” Teufel said. “The Constitution is an enduring document, and we are not going to say it means whatever we want it to.”
He said he does have experience with privacy issues from his previous Homeland Security job and working as a top lawyer at the Interior Department.
Teufel, 45, worked in private practice in Denver before and after serving under then-Colorado Attorney General Gale Norton.
He came to Washington when Norton took over the Interior Department, where he advised officials on the dismissal of Park Police Chief Theresa Chambers, who’d complained about lack of staffing and funding. He moved to the Department of Homeland Security in 2004.
Teufel is a member of the Federalist Society and the National Rifle Association. He represented the NRA in Colorado in 2000 when it unsuccessfully tried to block a background-check initiative from getting on the state ballot.
Teufel wrote an article in 2000 for Soldier of Fortune magazine detailing the movements of Columbine High gunmen Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold and defending the police response to the massacre. The article was quoted in The Denver Post.
Staff writer Mike Soraghan can be reached at 202-662-8730 or msoraghan@denverpost.com.
