[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 6, Volume 1]
[Revised as of January 1, 2007]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 6CFR5.21]

[Page 18-20]
 
                       TITLE 6--HOMELAND SECURITY
 
   CHAPTER I--DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY
 
PART 5_DISCLOSURE OF RECORDS AND INFORMATION--Table of Contents
 
                          Subpart B_Privacy Act
 
Sec.  5.21  Requests for access to records.

    (a) How made and addressed. You may make a request for access to a 
Department of Homeland Security record about yourself by appearing in 
person or by writing directly to the Department component that maintains 
the record. Your request should be sent or delivered to the component's 
Privacy Act office at the address listed in appendix A to this part. In 
most cases, a component's central Privacy Act office is the place to 
send a Privacy Act request. For records held by a field office

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of the U.S. Customs Service, U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Coast Guard, or 
any other Department component with field offices, however, you must 
write directly to that Customs, Secret Service, Coast Guard, or other 
field office address, which can be found in most telephone books or by 
calling the component's central Privacy Act office. (The functions of 
each component are summarized elsewhere in this title and in the 
description of the Department and its components in the ``United States 
Government Manual,'' which is issued annually and is available in most 
libraries, as well as for sale from the Government Printing Office's 
Superintendent of Documents. This manual also can be accessed 
electronically at the Government Printing Office's World Wide Web site 
(which can be found at http://www.access.gpo.gov/su--docs). Some records 
are maintained under a government-wide systems of records notice, for 
example, Official Personnel Files are maintained under the authority of 
the Office of Personnel Management. In order to access records 
maintained under a government-wide notice, please send your request to 
the Privacy Act office of the original department or agency from which 
the component was transferred to the Department. If you cannot determine 
where within the Department to send your request, you may send it to the 
Departmental Disclosure Officer, Department of Homeland Security, 
Washington, DC 20528, and that office will forward it to the 
component(s) it believes most likely to have the records that you seek. 
For the quickest possible handling, you should mark both your request 
letter and the envelope ``Privacy Act Request.''
    (b) Description of records sought. You must describe the records 
that you want in enough detail to enable Department personnel to locate 
the system of records containing them with a reasonable amount of 
effort. Whenever possible, your request should describe the records 
sought, the time periods in which you believe they were compiled, and 
the name or identifying number of each system of records in which you 
believe they are kept. The Department publishes notices in the Federal 
Register that describe its components' systems of records. A description 
of the Department's systems of records also may be found as part of the 
``Privacy Act Compilation'' published by the National Archives and 
Records Administration's Office of the Federal Register. This 
compilation is available in most large reference and university 
libraries. This compilation also can be accessed electronically at the 
Government Printing Office's World Wide Web site (which can be found at 
http://www.access.gpo.gov/su--docs).
    (c) Agreement to pay fees. If you make a Privacy Act request for 
access to records, it shall be considered an agreement by you to pay all 
applicable fees charged under Sec.  5.29, up to $25.00. The component 
responsible for responding to your request ordinarily shall confirm this 
agreement in an acknowledgement letter. When making a request, you may 
specify a willingness to pay a greater or lesser amount.
    (d) Verification of identity. When you make a request for access to 
records about yourself, you must verify your identity. You must state 
your full name, current address, and date and place of birth. You must 
sign your request and your signature must either be notarized or 
submitted by you under 28 U.S.C. 1746, a law that permits statements to 
be made under penalty of perjury as a substitute for notarization. While 
no specific form is required, you may obtain forms for this purpose from 
the Departmental Disclosure Officer, Department of Homeland Security, 
Washington, DC 20528. In order to help the identification and location 
of requested records, you may also, at your option, include your social 
security number.
    (e) Verification of guardianship. When making a request as the 
parent or guardian of a minor or as the guardian of someone determined 
by a court to be incompetent, for access to records about that 
individual, you must establish:
    (1) The identity of the individual who is the subject of the record, 
by stating the name, current address, date and place of birth, and, at 
your option, the social security number of the individual;
    (2) Your own identity, as required in paragraph (d) of this section;

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    (3) That you are the parent or guardian of that individual, which 
you may prove by providing a copy of the individual's birth certificate 
showing your parentage or by providing a court order establishing your 
guardianship; and
    (4) That you are acting on behalf of that individual in making the 
request.
    (f) Verification in the case of third party information requests. If 
you are making a request for records concerning an individual on behalf 
of that individual, you must provide a statement from the individual 
verifying the identity of the individual as provided in paragraph (d) of 
this section. You must also provide a statement from the individual 
certifying the individual's agreement that records concerning the 
individual may be released to you.