Homeland Security Department secretary Michael Chertoff has filled one of the vacancies in the department?s ranks of permanent senior officials by appointing Hugo Teufel III chief privacy officer. Teufel?s appointment prompted immediate criticism from privacy advocates at the Electronic Privacy Information Center and the American Civil Liberties Association. Teufel moved to the chief privacy officer job from his position as associate general counsel for DHS, where he focused on acquisition issues. Teufel previously was associate solicitor for the Department of the Interior. He formerly worked as deputy solicitor general for the state of Colorado and as an attorney in private practice. Teufel succeeds acting chief privacy officer Maureen Cooney, who had taken over the work from Nuala O?Connor Kelly in Sept.