OPM hiring chief privacy officer
Editor’s Note: This article was updated to reflect comment from former privacy officer Chris Brannigan.
The Office of Personnel Management is hiring for a chief privacy officer, according to a job listing.
OPM is looking for a privacy officer to advise the director and other senior officials on the disclosure of public information and all matters related to the U.S. Privacy Act. According to the listing, the new hire would serve as “OPM’s principal point of contact with other Federal agencies, private organizations, and other stakeholders on privacy matters.”
The hunt for a chief privacy officer to handle the impact of private information collected by OPM comes after the agency announced last year that its systems were breached, putting the personally identifiable information of 22.1 million former and current federal employees, as well as security clearance applicants and those close to them, at risk.
The agency previously employed a privacy officer, Chris Brannigan, from June 2013 until June 2015, when he retired, according to his LinkedIn profile. During his tenure, Brannigan served as the “sole OPM employee assigned full-time to privacy-related duties,” as he described his role on LinkedIn, reporting directly to the chief information security officer who reported to Chief Information Officer Donna Seymour.
Despite Brannigan’s full-time privacy focus, he said the roles and responsibilities of the chief privacy officer has in the past been rolled into the CIO’s responsibilities. This is the first time OPM has hired for a full-time chief privacy officer, he said.
The new chief privacy officer will work closely with OPM’s Office of the CIO, currently headed by Seymour, to “evaluate the risk of existing systems and prioritization of remediation efforts with respect to available resources available,” the listing says.
Applicants must be able to obtain and maintain a top secret/sensitive compartmented information clearance. The position earns a salary of up to $170,400. OPM is accepting application through the USAJobs.gov portal until Feb. 11.
OPM did not respond to FedScoop’s request for comment prior to publication.
