Chief among the czar's duties would be to vet all government data gathering and security initiatives for potential privacy problems, according to a draft of the plan.

The draft plan, obtained by eWeek, also calls for the government to find a "flexible, nonregulatory" approach to encourage enterprises to improve their privacy protections and policies.

The chief privacy officer would work in the proposed Department of Homeland Security and would oversee a privacy advocate at each federal agency. The advocates would be responsible for facilitating an annual review of each agency's compliance.

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