Jonathan Cantor, the Acting Chief Privacy Officer for the Department of Homeland Security, has presented the department’s 2012 Data Mining Report to the U.S. Congress. This annual report (pdf) is required under the Federal Agency Data Mining Reporting Act of 2007.

For each identified activity, the Act requires DHS to provide (1) a thorough description of the activity; (2) the technology and methodology used; (3) the sources of data used; (4) an analysis of the activity’s efficacy; (5) the legal authorities supporting the activity; and (6) an analysis of the activity’s impact on privacy and the protections in place to protect privacy. This is the sixth comprehensive DHS Data Mining Report, and the fourth report prepared pursuant to the Act.