[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 162 (Wednesday, August 22, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47057-47060]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-16473]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Office of the Secretary, US-VISIT
[DHS-2007-0049]
Privacy Act of 1974; US-VISIT; Arrival and Departure Information
System (ADIS) System of Records
AGENCY: Privacy Office; Department of Homeland Security.
ACTION: Privacy Act system of records notice.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is republishing the
Privacy Act system of records notice (SORN) for the Arrival and
Departure Information System (ADIS) in order to expand its authority
and capability to serve additional programs that require information on
individuals throughout the immigrant and non-immigrant pre-entry,
entry, status management, and exit processes. These changes include the
addition of a routine use to allow for sharing of information with the
intelligence community in support of the DHS mission to protect the
United States from potential terrorist activities; the addition of a
routine use for cases of identity theft; clarification on the sources
of data in ADIS, potentially including foreign governments; and a
reduction of the retention period for ADIS data.
DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before September 21,
2007
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket Number DHS-
2007-0049, by one of the following methods:
Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
Fax: 1-866-466-5370.
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Mail: Hugo Teufel, III, DHS Chief Privacy Officer,
Department of Homeland Security, Washington, DC 20528.
Instructions: All submissions received must include the
agency name and docket number for this system of records notice. All
comments received will be posted without change to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided.
Docket: For access to the docket to read background
documents or comments received go to http://www.regulations.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Claire Miller, Acting US-VISIT Privacy
Officer, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Washington, DC 20538, by
telephone (202) 298-5200 or by facsimile (202) 298-5201. For privacy
issues, please contact: Hugo Teufel III (703-235-0780), Chief Privacy
Officer, Privacy Office, U.S. Department of Homeland Security,
Washington, DC 20528; telephone (703) 235-0780.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974,
5 U.S.C. 552a, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is publishing
a revision to existing Privacy Act system of records known as the
Arrival and Departure Information System (ADIS). The notice for this
system of records was last published in the Federal Register on
December 12, 2003 (68 FR 69412).
ADIS is a system for the storage and use of biographic, biometric
indicator, and encounter data on aliens who have applied for entry,
entered, or departed the United States. ADIS consolidates information
from various systems in order to provide a repository of data held by
DHS for pre-entry, entry, status management, and exit tracking of
immigrants and non-immigrants. Its primary use is to facilitate the
investigation of subjects of interest who may have violated their
immigration status by remaining in the United States beyond their
authorized stay. The information is collected by, on behalf of, in
support of, or in cooperation with DHS and its components and may
contain personally identifiable information collected by other Federal,
state, local, tribal, foreign, or international government agencies.
Information stored in ADIS may be shared with other DHS components,
as well as appropriate Federal, state, local, tribal, foreign, or
international government agencies. Internal and external agencies
(including intelligence agencies) will have access to the full range of
ADIS data once they have established that they will use the information
for a purpose which is compatible with the purpose of the original
collection.
This system of records notice (SORN) is primarily being revised to
add a routine use to cover sharing of ADIS data with intelligence
agencies in support of the DHS mission to identify and prevent acts of
terrorism against the United States. Additionally, a routine use is
being added to address identity theft issues. The category and sources
of records sections were revised to clearly indicate that some data may
come from foreign governments. Finally, the retention period is
proposed to be reduced from 100 to 75 years in order to conform with
other immigration-related SORNs.
Elsewhere in today's Federal Register, DHS has published a notice
of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to exempt portions of this system of
records from one or more provisions of the Privacy Act because of
criminal, civil, and administrative enforcement requirements pursuant
to 5 U.S.C. 552a(j)(2) and (k)(2).
The Privacy Act embodies fair information principles in a statutory
framework governing the means by which the United States Government
collects, maintains, uses and disseminates personally identifiable
information. The Privacy Act applies to information that is maintained
in a ``system of records.'' A ``system of records'' is a group of any
records under the control of an agency from which information is
retrieved by the name of an individual or by some identifying number
such as property address, or mailing address symbol, assigned to the
individual. The ADIS is such a ``system of records.''
The Privacy Act requires each agency to publish in the Federal
Register a description denoting the type and character of each system
of records that the agency maintains, and the routine uses that are
contained in each system in order to make agency recordkeeping
practices transparent, to notify individuals regarding the uses to
which personally identifiable information is put, and to assist
individuals to more easily find such files within the agency.
In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552a(r), DHS has provided a report of
this system change to the Office of Management and Budget and to
Congress.
DHS/USVISIT-001
System name:
Arrival and Departure Information System (ADIS).
System location:
Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Categories of individuals covered by the system:
Categories of individuals covered by this notice consist of aliens
who have applied for entry, entered, or departed from the United States
at any time. These individuals may be in records collected by DHS or
other Federal, state, local, tribal, foreign, or international
government organizations. This system primarily consists of records
pertaining to alien immigrants (including lawful permanent residents)
and non-immigrants. Some of these individuals may change status and
become United States citizens.
Categories of records in the system:
ADIS contains biographic data, biometric indicator data, and
encounter data. Biographic data includes, but is not limited to, name,
date of birth, nationality, and other personal descriptive data.
Biometric indicator data includes, but is not limited to, fingerprint
identification numbers. Encounter data provides the context of the
interaction between the immigrant or non-immigrant and the border
management authority. This data includes, but is not limited to,
encounter location, document types, document numbers, document issuance
information, and address while in the United States.
ADIS also sometimes contains commentary from immigration
enforcement officers which includes references to active criminal and
other immigration enforcement investigations and contains other
confidential data fields used for enforcement purposes.
ADIS data may be derived from records related to entry or exit data
of foreign countries collected by foreign governments in support of
their respective entry and exit processes; however, records collected
from foreign governments must relate to individuals who have entered or
exited the United States at any time, i.e., individuals who have an
existing record in ADIS.
Authority for maintenance of the system:
6 U.S.C. 202; 8 U.S.C. 1103, 1158, 1201, 1225, 1324, 1357, 1360,
1365a, 1365b, 1372, 1379, and 1732.
Purpose(s):
This system of records is the primary repository of data held by
DHS for near real-time entry and exit status tracking throughout the
immigrant and non-immigrant pre-entry, entry, status management, and
exit processes, based on data collected by DHS or other
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Federal or foreign government agencies and used in connection with DHS
national security, law enforcement, immigration, intelligence, and
other DHS mission-related functions. Data is also used to provide
associated testing, training, management reporting, planning and
analysis, or other administrative purposes. Similar data may be
collected from multiple sources to verify or supplement existing data
and to ensure a high degree of data accuracy.
Specifically, the ADIS data will be used to identify lawfully
admitted non-immigrants who remain in the United States beyond their
period of authorized stay, which may have a bearing on an individual's
right or authority to remain in the country or to receive governmental
benefits; to assist DHS in supporting immigration inspection at ports
of entry (POEs) by providing quick retrieval of biographic and
biometric indicator data on individuals who may be inadmissible to the
United States; and to facilitate the investigation process of
individuals who may have violated their immigration status or may be
subjects of interest for law enforcement or intelligence purposes.
Routine uses of records maintained in the system, including categories
of users and the purposes of such uses:
In addition to those disclosures generally permitted under 5 U.S.C.
552a(b) of the Privacy Act, all or a portion of the records or
information contained in this system may be disclosed outside DHS as a
routine use pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(b)(3), limited by privacy impact
assessments, data sharing, or other agreements, as follows:
A. To appropriate Federal, state, local, tribal, foreign, or
international governmental agencies seeking information on the subjects
of wants, warrants, or lookouts, or any other subject of interest, for
purposes related to administering or enforcing the law, national
security, or immigration, where consistent with a DHS mission-related
function as determined by DHS.
B. To appropriate Federal, state, local, tribal, foreign, or
international government agencies charged with national security, law
enforcement, immigration, intelligence, or other DHS mission-related
functions in connection with the hiring or retention by such an agency
of an employee, the issuance of a security clearance, the reporting of
an investigation of such an employee, the letting of a contract, or the
issuance of a license, grant, loan, or other benefit by the requesting
agency.
C. To an actual or potential party or to his or her attorney for
the purpose of negotiation or discussion on such matters as settlement
of a case or matter, or discovery proceedings.
D. To a Congressional office from the record of an individual in
response to an inquiry from that Congressional office made at the
request of the individual to whom the record pertains.
E. To the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) or
other Federal government agencies pursuant to records management
inspections being conducted under the authority of 44 U.S.C. 2904 and
2906.
F. To contractors, grantees, experts, consultants, students, and
others performing or working on a contract, service, grant, cooperative
agreement, or other assignment for the Federal government, when
necessary to accomplish a DHS mission function related to this system
of records in compliance with the Privacy Act of 1974.
G. To appropriate agencies, entities, and persons when: (1) It is
suspected or confirmed that the security or confidentiality of
information in the system of records has been compromised; (2) DHS has
determined that, as a result of the suspected or confirmed compromise,
there is a risk of harm to economic or property interests, identity
theft or fraud, or harm to the security or integrity of this system or
other systems or programs (whether maintained by DHS or another agency
or entity) that rely upon the compromised information; and (3) the
disclosure is made to such agencies, entities, and persons who are
reasonably necessary to assist in DHS's efforts to respond to the
suspected or confirmed compromise and prevent, minimize, or remedy such
harm.
H. To Federal, state, local, tribal, foreign or international
government intelligence or counterterrorism agencies or components
where DHS becomes aware of an indication of a threat or potential
threat to national or international security, or where such use is to
assist in anti-terrorism efforts and disclosure is appropriate to the
proper performance of the official duties of the person making the
disclosure.
Policies and practices for storing, retrieving, accessing, retaining,
and disposing of records in the system:
Storage:
Records are stored in a central computer database.
Retrievability:
Records may be retrieved by a variety of data elements including,
but not limited to, name, place and date of arrival or departure,
document number, and fingerprint identification number.
Safeguards:
Information in this system is safeguarded in accordance with
applicable laws, rules, and policies, including the DHS Information
Technology Security Program Handbook. All records are protected from
unauthorized access through appropriate administrative, physical, and
technical safeguards. These safeguards include restricting access to
authorized personnel who have a need to know, using locks, and password
protection identification features. DHS file areas are locked after
normal duty hours, and the facilities are protected from the outside by
security personnel.
Retention and disposal:
The following proposal for retention and disposal is pending
approval with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA):
Testing and training data will be purged when the data is no longer
required. Electronic records for which the statute of limitations has
expired for all criminal violations or that are older than 75 years,
whichever is longer, will be purged.
System manager(s) and address:
ADIS System Manager, US-VISIT Program, U.S. Department of Homeland
Security, Washington, DC 20528.
Notification procedure:
To determine whether this system contains records relating to you,
write to the US-VISIT Privacy Officer, US-VISIT Program, U.S.
Department of Homeland Security, Washington, DC 20528.
Record access procedures:
This system is exempted from this requirement pursuant to 5 U.S.C.
552a(j)(2) and (k)(2). An individual who is the subject of a record in
this system may be provided access. A determination whether a record
may be accessed will be made at the time a request is received. DHS
will review and comply appropriately with information requests on a
case-by-case basis. An individual desiring copies of records maintained
in this system should direct his or her request to the FOIA Officer,
US-VISIT Program, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Washington, DC
20528.
Contesting record procedures:
This system is exempted from this requirement pursuant to 5 U.S.C.
552a(j)(2) and (k)(2). An individual who is the subject of a record in
this system may be provided access. A
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determination whether a record may be accessed will be made at the time
a request is received. DHS will review and comply appropriately with
information requests on a case-by-case basis. Requests for correction
of records in this system may be made through the Traveler Redress
Inquiry Program (TRIP) at http://www.dhs.gov/trip or via mail,
facsimile, or e-mail in accordance with instructions available at
http://www.dhs.gov/trip.
Record source categories:
Basic information contained in this system is supplied by
individuals covered by this system and other Federal, state, local,
tribal, or foreign governments; private citizens; and public and
private organizations.
ADIS data may be derived from records related to entry or exit data
of foreign countries collected by foreign governments in support of
their respective entry and exit processes; however, records collected
from foreign governments must relate to individuals who have entered or
exited the United States at some time, i.e., have an existing record in
ADIS.
Exemptions claimed for the system:
The Secretary of Homeland Security has exempted this system from 5
U.S.C. 552a(c)(3) and (4); (d); (e)(1), (e)(2), (e)(3), (e)(4)(G),
(e)(4)(H), (e)(5), (e)(8); (f); and (g) pursuant to 5 U.S.C.
552a(j)(2). In addition, the Secretary of Homeland Security has
exempted portions of this system from 5 U.S.C. 552a (c)(3); (d);
(e)(1), (e)(4)(G), (e)(4)(H); and (f) pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a (k)(2).
These exemptions apply only to the extent that records in the system
are subject to exemption pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(j)(2) and (k)(2).
Dated: August 15, 2007
John Kropf,
Acting Chief Privacy Officer.
[FR Doc. E7-16473 Filed 8-21-07; 8:45 am]
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