December 18, 2007 10:24PM # DHS: And We Even Obey the Law! By [Jim Harper](https://www.cato.org/people/jim-harper) --- SHARE The Department of Homeland Security’s Officer for Civil Rights & Civil Liberties, Daniel W. Sutherland, explains [here](http://www.dhs.gov/journal/leadership/2007/12/security-and-freedom-honoring-our.html) the great pains DHS is taking … well, not to embarrass itself as American Muslims return from [the Hajj](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hajj). Well and good. But he goes a little far in touting the department’s efforts: “For the first time in the federal government, a Cabinet-level Secretary has placed two civil libertarians in senior leadership positions — Hugo Teufel, our Chief Privacy Officer, and me.” The Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and the Privacy Officer are [statutory](http://www.dhs.gov/xabout/structure/editorial_0481.shtm) [positions](http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/privacy/privacy_hsa2002_222.pdf). I’m not sure self-congratulation is in order for following the law. ##### Related Tags [Defense and Foreign Policy](https://www.cato.org/defense-foreign-policy), [Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).