Fergie's Tech Blog

U.S. Security Official Defends Satellite Surveillance Plan

Andrew Noyes writes on GovExec.com:

The Homeland Security Department has gone "above and beyond what is called for by law" in assessing potential privacy implications of its plan to coordinate the use of satellites for domestic surveillance, a high-ranking official told the agency's privacy advisory committee Wednesday.

John Kropf, Homeland Security's director of international privacy programs, said the department has conducted a full "privacy impact assessment" on the recently unveiled National Applications Office, even though security systems are exempt from the federal rule requiring such action.

His boss, Hugo Teufel, briefed the House Homeland Security Committee on the initiative earlier this month. The committee's chairman, Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and others were outraged that they had not been told about the project before its existence was reported in the media.

Kropf indicated that the agency's 19-member privacy panel was kept in the dark until now. "You may have read about this in the paper," he told committee before briefly describing the plan. No members pressed him for additional details.

posted by Fergie @ 9/19/2007 05:30:00 PM