[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 32, Volume 6]
[Revised as of July 1, 2005]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 32CFR806b.12]

[Page 41-42]
 
                        TITLE 32-NATIONAL DEFENSE
 
                CHAPTER VII--DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE
 
PART 806b_PRIVACY ACT PROGRAM--Table of Contents
 
                Subpart C_Collecting Personal Information
 
Sec. 806b.12  Requesting the Social Security Number.

    When asking an individual for his or her Social Security Number, 
always give a Privacy Act Statement that tells the person: The legal 
authority for requesting it; the uses that will be made of the Social 
Security Number; and whether providing the Social Security Number is 
voluntary or mandatory. Do not deny anyone a legal right, benefit, or 
privilege for refusing to give their Social Security Number unless the 
law requires disclosure, or a law or regulation adopted before January 
1, 1975 required the Social Security Number and the Air Force uses it to 
verify a person's identity in a system of records established before 
that date.
    (a) The Air Force requests an individual's Social Security Number 
and provides the individual information required by law when anyone 
enters military service or becomes an Air Force civilian employee. The 
Air Force uses the Social Security Number as a service or employment 
number to reference the individual's official records. When you ask 
someone for a Social Security Number as identification to retrieve an 
existing record, you do not have to restate this information.
    (b) Executive Order 9397, Numbering System for Federal Accounts 
Relating to Individual Persons \2\, authorizes using the Social Security 
Number as a personal identifier. This order is not adequate authority to 
collect a Social Security Number to create a record. When law does not 
require disclosing the Social Security Number or when the system of 
records was created after January 1, 1975, you may ask for the Social 
Security Number, but the individual does not have to disclose it. If the 
individual refuses to respond, use alternative means of identifying 
records. (c) Social Security Numbers are personal and unique to each 
individual. Protect them as for official use only (FOUO).
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    \2\ http://resource.lawlinks.com/content/legal--research/Executive--
Orders/1940-1960/executive--order--9397.htm.
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    Within DoD, do not disclose them to anyone without an official need 
to know. Outside DoD, they are not releasable without the person's 
consent,

[[Page 42]]

or unless authorized under one of the 12 exceptions to the Privacy Act 
(see Sec. 806b.47).