Hugo Teufel III

Infobox Officeholder
name = Hugo Teufel III


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order = Chief Privacy Officer
Chief Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Officer
Department of Homeland Security
term_start = Jul 21, 2006
term_end = present
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predecessor = Nuala O'Connor Kelly
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birth_date = birth date and age|1961|7|25|mf=y
birth_place = Albuquerque, New Mexico USA
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nationality =
party =
spouse = Maritza
relations =
children = Daughter
residence = Alexandria, Virginia
alma_mater = Washington College of Law of the American University
Metropolitan State College of Denver

Naval War College
occupation =
profession = Attorney
religion = Lutheran


website = [http://www.dhs.gov/xabout/structure/bio_1166549785058.shtm DHS Hugo Teufel III]
footnotes =

Hugo Teufel III (born July 25, 1961 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and raised in Wichita, Kansas and Denver, Colorado) was appointed as Chief Privacy Officer for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security by Secretary Michael Chertoff on 21 July 2006, after a ten-month vacancy that was filled by acting Chief Privacy Officer, Maureen C. Cooney. Teufel is the second chief privacy officer for the DHS, after Nuala O'Connor Kelly, appointed by Secretary Tom Ridge.

Responsibilities as Privacy Officer

Teufel’s responsibilities as Chief Privacy Officer include assuring that the technologies used by the Department to protect the United States sustain, and do not erode, privacy protections relating to the use, collection, and disclosure of personal information; assuring that the Department complies with fair information practices as set out in the Privacy Act of 1974; conducting privacy impact assessments of proposed rules at the Department; evaluating legislative and regulatory proposals involving collection, use, and disclosure of personal information by the Federal Government; and preparing an annual report to Congress on the activities of the Department that affect privacy. [cite web|title=Homeland Security Act of 2002|author=Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress|publisher=United States Department of Homeland Security|url=http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/privacy/privacy_hsa2002_222.pdf|format=PDF|accessdate=2007-11-05] In addition, Teufel also serves as the Department’s Chief Freedom Of Information Act Officer.

Further, Teufel serves as one of two principals from DHS on the joint US/EU High Level Contact Group, which has been negotiating common principals underlying future data sharing between the US and the European Union. As well, Teufel heads the cyber subcommittee, part of the CIO Council’s privacy committee. [cite web|title=CIO Council sets up privacy committee|author=Jason Miller|publisher=Federal News Radio|url=http://www.federalnewsradio.com/index.php?nid=169&sid=1408667] The subcommittee focuses on the privacy aspects of the Administration's comprehensive national cybersecurity initiative.

As part of his office's outreach and education mission, Teufel speaks about the department and privacy at conferences at home and abroad, including the 2008 Iberoamerican Data Protection Network meeting in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, and the November 2007 EU Conference on Public Security, Privacy and Technology in Brussels. [ [http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/news/events/conference_public_security_privacy_technology/docs/programme_en.pdf Conference On International Transfers Of Personal Data ] ] Teufel also has testified before committees of both houses of Congress on privacy issues.

Appointment and Prior Experience

Teufel's appointment was not without detractors; some questioned Teufel's privacy policy background [cite web|title=Privacy czar lacks experience|author=David Lazarus|publisher=San Francisco Chronicle|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/07/26/BUGT9K5DIE1.DTL] Previous to the appointment, Teufel had been responsible for providing advice and counsel about Privacy Act and FOIA issues to two cabinet-level agencies.

While serving as associate solicitor at the U.S. Department of the Interior (July 2001 to January 2004), Teufel had responsibility for the provision of legal advice on privacy and FOIA issues, employment and labor issues, government contracts matters, and matters involving territories and possessions of the United States. Teufel also was involved with continuity of operations issues at the Interior Department, [cite web|title=Secretary's Order No. 3237, Amd. 2|author=Hon. Gale Norton|publisher=U.S. Department of the Interior|url=http://elips.doi.gov/elips/SO_word/so3237A2.doc] and also was involved occasionally on matters involving Native Americans. [cite web|title=Indian employees to lose preference under Bush plan|publisher=Indianz.com|date=November 4, 2003|url=http://www.indianz.com/News/archives/002353.asp]

As DHS' associate general counsel (January 2004 to July 2006), Teufel was responsible for the provision of legal advice on privacy and FOIA issues, employment and labor issues, government contracts matters, and oversaw the staff of the USCG Board for Correction of Military Records. Teufel also served as deputy Solicitor General for the state of Colorado under then Colorado Attorney General Gale Norton from 1997 to 1999.

From 1999 until 2001 he was a special counsel with the Rocky Mountain regional firm of Hall & Evans, focusing on public policy and government contracts. During this time, he also served as a special assistant attorney general for the State of Colorado, briefing and arguing criminal appeals before the Colorado Court of Appeals and Colorado Supreme Court. From 1991 until 1996, he was an associate with McKenna & Cuneo, LLP, focusing on government contracts and litigation against the United States. From 1990 to 1991, he clerked for then Chief Judge Loren Smith of the United States Claims Court.

Education

Teufel attended Denver Lutheran High School in Denver, Colorado, graduating in 1979. In 1984, Teufel participated in Georgetown University's Summer Program in Trier, Germany. In 1985, he graduated from Metropolitan State College of Denver with a degree in Economics and a minor in German. In 1990, he graduated from the Washington College of Law at the American University, where he was an editor of The Administrative Law Journal (which has since merged with the American Bar Association's Administrative Law Review).

In 1998-1999, while working at the Colorado Attorney General's Office, Teufel underwent law enforcement training at Arapahoe Community College in Littleton, Colorado and received a certificate in law enforcement studies. He was P.O.S.T. certified (Peace Officer Standards and Training) in the state of Colorado.

In June 2008, Teufel received a Master's degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College. Teufel also attended the University of Virginia's 16th National Security Law Institute in June 2008.

Personal

Teufel was born in 1961 to Hugo Teufel, Jr. and the former Carmen Margarita Trujillo. Teufel's father, Dr. Hugo Teufel, Jr., was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Wichita, Kansas, before receiving a master's and a doctorate in mathematics from the University of New Mexico and becoming a mathematics professor at Wichita State University. His mother studied anthropology at the University of New Mexico and she has a bachelor's degree in that field.

Teufel spent much of his childhood in Wichita, KS, but also lived in Santa Fe, NM, before moving to Colorado. He attended Denver Lutheran High School and graduated in 1979. Teufel and his wife, Maritza, have a daughter and currently reside in Alexandria, VA. Teufel is a member of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod.

Teufel previously was a member of the American and Colorado Bar Associations and has been a regular speaker at ABA events. He is also a member of the Federalist Society and the National Rifle Association.

In 2002, the Independent Institute published "Liberty for Women", a collection of pieces on individualist feminism. Teufel co-authored chapter 14, "Disarming Women: Comparing “Gun Control” to Self-Defense as Protection for Victims of Domestic Abuse and Violent Crime", with Richard Stevens and Matthew Y. Biscan. [cite web|title=Liberty for Women|editor=Wendy McElroy|publisher=Independent Institute|url=http://www.independent.org/store/book_detail.asp?bookID=43] In 2000, Teufel wrote two articles on the Columbine High School massacre for Soldier of Fortune Magazine, one of which he co-authored with Harry Humphries. A number of Teufel's instructors from the law enforcement academy were police officers who responded to the situation at Columbine. Both Denver papers, the Rocky Mountain News and the Denver Post, referred to Teufel's writing on Columbine favorably.

Teufel also serves in the Army National Guard, as an officer in the Judge Advocate General's Corps.

Bar Admissions

He is a member of the Bars of Colorado and Maryland (inactive); United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit; United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit; United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit; United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit; the United States District Court for the District of Colorado; and the United States Court of Federal Claims.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.dhs.gov/xabout/structure/bio_1166549785058.shtm DHS Chief Privacy Officer Hugo Teufel III Biography]
* [http://pview.findlaw.com/view/2569531_1 FindLaw Lawyer Profile]
* [http://www.nndb.com/people/562/000118208/ NNDB Biography]
* [http://www.dhs.gov/xabout/structure/editorial_0338.shtm Privacy Office of the United States Department of Homeland Security]