Hugo Teufel III

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. He left the Department on January 20, 2009, with the change of administrations.^[1] In April 2009, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP announced that Teufel had joined the firm as a director in the firm's advisory practice.

Responsibilities as Privacy Officer

Teufel’s responsibilities as Chief Privacy Officer included 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.^[2] In addition, Teufel also served as the Department’s Chief Freedom Of Information Act Officer. Teufel also has testified before committees of both houses of Congress on privacy issues.

High Level Contact Group

During his tenure, Teufel served as one of two principals from DHS on the joint US/EU High Level Contact Group (HLCG) on information sharing and privacy and personal data protection. The HLCG, which formed in 2006 and completed its efforts in 2009, was composed of senior officials from the European Commission, the European Council Presidency, and the US Departments of Homeland Security, Justice and State. The HLCG negotiated common principals underlying future information sharing between the US and the European Union to fight terrorism and serious transnational crimes.

Cybersecurity

Teufel was involved with the Administration's Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative (CNCI), meeting frequently with Congressional staff and reaching out to the privacy community on the Department's efforts with regard to CNCI. Teufel issued a privacy impact assessment of Einstein 2,^[3] a computer network intrusion detection system designed for deployment within federal executive agencies for the protection of their information technology. As well, Teufel headed the cyber subcommittee, part of the CIO Council’s privacy committee.^[4] The subcommittee focuses on the privacy aspects of CNCI.

International outreach

As part of his office's outreach and education mission, Teufel spoke frequently 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.^[5]

Appointment and prior experience

Some people have questioned Teufel's appointment on the basis of his privacy policy background^[6] Previous to the appointment, Teufel had been responsible for providing advice and counsel about Privacy Act and FOIA issues to two cabinet-level agencies.

Department of Homeland Security

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. In 2005, Teufel was a recipient of a team award from Secretary Michael Chertoff for his work on behalf of the Secretary's Second Stage Review of the Department.

Department of the Interior

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,^[7] and also was involved occasionally on matters involving Native Americans.^[8] Teufel and his staff also provided legal advice to management on personnel issues involving the former Chief of the Park Police, Teresa Chambers.

Colorado Attorney General's Office

Teufel also served as deputy Solicitor General for the state of Colorado under then Colorado Attorney General Gale Norton from 1997 to 1999. Responsibilities included civil and criminal appeals; high-profile litigation, including the state's tobacco litigation; and Colorado Administrative Procedure Act matters. Teufel also was involved with Freedom of Information Act and Colorado Open Records Act and Criminal Justice Records Act issues.

Private practice, clerkship

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 (judge) of the United States Claims Court.

Post-DHS experience

In April 2009, Teufel joined PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as a director in the firm's advisory practice. Teufel's focus at PwC will be on "helping organizations with issues involving the privacy and security of data, cyber crime and corruption."^[9] Matters include privacy compliance, security and identity theft assessment, privacy/security breach investigation and overall risk management strategies.

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. Hugo Teufel Jr.'s father was a German national who had emigrated to the U.S. in 1923. Teufel Jr's mother was a U.S. citizen of German parents. Hugo Teufel Jr.'s first language was German and he grew up in Wichita, Kansas. Teufel Jr. graduated from the University of Kansas and served as an officer in the U.S. Air Force, stationed at Kirtland AFB, 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. Teufel Jr. was a chess champion as a teenager.

Teufel's mother grew up in rural northern New Mexico and Spanish was her first language. She is Hispanic. During the 1950s, she studied anthropology at the University of New Mexico and earned 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 two daughters and currently reside in Alexandria, VA. Teufel is a member of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod.

Teufel has been 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 2008 and 2009, Teufel served as vice president for the American Society for Access Professionals.^[10] Teufel also serves in the Army National Guard, as an officer in the Judge Advocate General's Corps.

Publications

During his tenure as Chief Privacy Officer, Teufel was a frequent contributor to the Department's "Leadership Journal". In the December 2008 issue of Homeland Defense Journal, Teufel published an article entitled, “Privacy and the Future of Cybersecurity”.^[11] 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.^[12] 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 has also written occasionally for the Washington Legal Foundation.^[13]

Bar admissions, certifications

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. Teufel also holds CIPP/G certification from the International Association of Privacy Professionals.

Notes

External links

• DHS Chief Privacy Officer Hugo Teufel III Biography
• FindLaw Lawyer Profile
• NNDB Biography
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Privacy Office of the United States Department of Homeland Security
• Advice to the next Homeland Security CPO