Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records, 68225-68227 [2014-26930]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
• Department of the Navy

[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 220 (Friday, November 14, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68225-68227]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-26930]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Navy

[Docket ID: USN-2014-0023]


Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records

AGENCY: Department of the Navy, DoD.

ACTION: Notice to alter a System of Records.

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SUMMARY: The Department of the Navy proposes to alter the system of 
records, N06150-5, entitled ``Millennium Cohort Study'' in its 
inventory of record systems subject to the Privacy Act of 1974, as 
amended. This system will create a probability-based database of 
service members and veterans who have, or have not, deployed overseas 
so that various longitudinal health and research studies may be 
conducted over a 67-year period. The database will be used:
    a. To systematically collect population-based demographic and 
health data to evaluate the health of Armed Forces personnel throughout 
their careers and after leaving the service.
    b. To evaluate the impact of operational deployments on various

[[Page 68226]]

measures of health over time including medically unexplained symptoms 
and chronic diseases to include cancer, heart disease and diabetes.
    c. To serve as a foundation upon which other routinely captured 
medical and deployment data may be added to answer future questions 
regarding the health risks of operational deployment, occupations, and 
general service in the Armed Forces.
    d. To examine characteristics of service in the Armed Forces 
associated with common clinician-diagnosed diseases and with scores on 
several standardized self-reported health inventories for physical and 
psychological functional status.
    e. To provide a data repository and available representative Armed 
Forces cohort that future investigators and policy makers might use to 
study important aspects of service in the Armed Forces including 
disease outcomes among an Armed Forces cohort. In addition to revealing 
changes in veterans' health status over time, the Millennium Cohort 
Study will serve as a data repository, providing a solid foundation 
upon which additional epidemiological studies may be constructed.
    f. To access the associations of military service on the health and 
well-being of military families, and to compare the adjusted 
probabilities of new onset diseases and conditions among military 
spouses.''

DATES: Comments will be accepted on or before December 15, 2014. This 
proposed action will be effective the day following the end of the 
comment period unless comments are received which result in a contrary 
determination.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by docket number and 
title, by any of the following methods:
    * Federal Rulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments.
    * Mail: Federal Docket Management System Office, 4800 Mark Center 
Drive, East Tower, 2nd Floor, Suite 02G09, Alexandria, VA 22350-3100.
Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name and 
docket number for this Federal Register document. The general policy 
for comments and other submissions from members of the public is to 
make these submissions available for public viewing on the Internet at 
https://www.regulations.gov as they are received without change, 
including any personal identifiers or contact information.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Robin Patterson, Head, PA/FOIA 
Office (DNS-36), Department of the Navy, 2000 Navy Pentagon, 
Washington, DC 20350-2000, or by phone at (202) 685-6545.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department of the Navy's notices for 
systems of records subject to the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a), 
as amended, have been published in the Federal Register and are 
available from the address in FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT or from 
the Defense Privacy and Civil Liberties Office Web site at https://dpclo.defense.gov/.
    The proposed system report, as required by 5 U.S.C. 552a(r) of the 
Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, was submitted on October 22, 2014, to 
the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, the Senate 
Committee on Governmental Affairs, and the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) pursuant to paragraph 4c of Appendix I to OMB Circular No. 
A-130, ``Federal Agency Responsibilities for Maintaining Records About 
Individuals,'' dated February 8, 1996 (February 20, 1996, 61 FR 6427).

    Dated: November 7, 2014.
Aaron Siegel,
Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison Officer, Department of Defense.
N06150-5

System name:
    Millennium Cohort Study (June 16, 2003, 68 FR 35657).

Changes:
System identifier:
    Delete entry and replace with ``N06500-1.''
* * * * *

System location:
    Delete entry and replace with ``Naval Health Research Center, 
Deployment Health Research, Department 164, 140 Sylvester Road, San 
Diego, CA 92106-3521.''

Categories of individuals covered by the system:
    Delete entry and replace with ``An initial probability-based, 
cross-sectional sample of U.S. Armed Forces personnel (active duty 
Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Air Force, and Reserve/National 
Guard, and veterans), as of October 2000, that will be followed 
prospectively by postal or web surveys every 3 years over at least a 
67-year period. The initial sample was comprised of 77,047 service 
members including individuals who have been deployed to Southwest Asia, 
Bosnia, or Kosovo since August 1997. In October 2004 and October 2007, 
samples of 31,110 and 43,440, respectively, of new Armed Forces 
personnel were added to the Cohort. In May 2011, a random sample of 
approximately 50,000 new Armed Forces personnel was added to the 
Cohort. The individuals will be followed until at least the year 2068, 
even if they retire or separate. The Millennium Cohort Study will also 
evaluate families of service members by adding a spouse assessment 
component to the Cohort, called the Millennium Cohort Family Study, 
where spouses complete a survey about themselves and their children. 
Beginning in May 2011, a sample of approximately 10,000 spouses of 
Armed Forces personnel were added to the Family Cohort and will be 
followed until at least 2022.''

Categories of records in the system:
    Delete entry and replace with ``Demographic data: Name, last four 
of Social Security Number (SSN), subject identification number, rank, 
grade, gender, military occupational specialty; health data: self-
reported medical conditions and symptoms, smoking and drinking 
behaviors wellness, life experiences, and relationship with family. 
Validated instruments are incorporated to capture self-assessed 
physical and mental functional status (Short Form-36 Veterans), 
psychosocial assessment (Patient Health Questionnaire), and post-
traumatic stress disorder (Patient Checklist-17). These records include 
all data elements previously mentioned.
    Information obtained from the survey responses will be supplemented 
with deployment, occupational, vaccination, and healthcare utilization 
data related to individual health status.''

Authority for maintenance of the system:
    Delete entry and replace with ``5 U.S.C. 301, Departmental 
Regulations; 10 U.S.C. 5031, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations: 
Function, composition; 10 U.S.C. 5032, Office of the Chief of Naval 
Operations: general duties; DoDD 5124.02, Under Secretary of Defense 
for Personnel and Readiness (USD(P&R)); 10 U.S.C. 136, Under Secretary 
of Defense for Personnel and Readiness (USD(P&R)); OPNAVINST 5300.8C, 
Coordination and Control of Personnel Surveys; DoD 6025.18-R, DoD 
Health Information Privacy Regulation; and E.O. 9397 (SSN), as 
amended.''

Purpose(s):
    Delete entry and replace with ``To create a probability-based 
database of service members and veterans who

[[Page 68227]]

have, or have not, deployed overseas so that various longitudinal 
health and research studies may be conducted over a 67-year period. The 
database will be used:
    a. To systematically collect population-based demographic and 
health data to evaluate the health of Armed Forces personnel throughout 
their careers and after leaving the service.
    b. To evaluate the impact of operational deployments on various 
measures of health over time including medically unexplained symptoms 
and chronic diseases to include cancer, heart disease and diabetes.
    c. To serve as a foundation upon which other routinely captured 
medical and deployment data may be added to answer future questions 
regarding the health risks of operational deployment, occupations, and 
general service in the Armed Forces.
    d. To examine characteristics of service in the Armed Forces 
associated with common clinician-diagnosed diseases and with scores on 
several standardized self-reported health inventories for physical and 
psychological functional status.
    e. To provide a data repository and available representative Armed 
Forces cohort that future investigators and policy makers might use to 
study important aspects of service in the Armed Forces including 
disease outcomes among an Armed Forces cohort.
    In addition to revealing changes in veterans' health status over 
time, the Millennium Cohort Study will serve as a data repository, 
providing a solid foundation upon which additional epidemiological 
studies may be constructed.
    f. To access the associations of military service on the health and 
well-being of military families, and to compare the adjusted 
probabilities of new onset diseases and conditions among military 
spouses.''
* * * * *

Storage:
    Delete entry and replace with ``Paper and electronic storage 
media.''

Retrievability:
    Delete entry and replace with ``Records are retrieved by 
individual's name and/or randomly generated subject identification 
number.''

Safeguards:
    Delete entry and replace with ``Access to areas where records are 
maintained is limited to authorized personnel. Access control devices 
protect areas during working hours and intrusion alarm devices during 
non-duty hours. Access to data is provided on a need-to-know basis 
only. Paper records are kept in locked file cabinets. Data is stored on 
a secure server. All supplied sensitive information is transmitted via 
encrypted Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology. Randomly generated 
subject identification numbers are used as the primary identifier 
instead of the individual's names. Electronic records can only be 
accessed by authorized personnel with Common Access Cards (CAC) in 
conjunction with a personal identification number.''

Retention and disposal:
    Delete entry and replace with ``Electronic records and signed 
original paper consent forms are permanent and transferred to the 
nearest Federal Records Center (FRC) when 5 years old and then 
transferred to NARA when 20 years old. Temporary supporting records (to 
include paper records) are transferred to the nearest FRC when 5 years 
old and destroyed when 10 years old. Temporary non-record files (to 
include paper records or to include paper copies of the surveys) will 
be destroyed when 5 years old or on completion/termination of 
project.''

System manager(s) and address:
    Delete entry and replace with ``Policy Official: Commanding 
Officer, Naval Health Research Center, 140 Sylvester Rd, San Diego, CA 
92106-3521.
    Record Holder: Senior Investigator, The Millennium Cohort Study, 
Naval Health Research Center, Deployment Health Research Department, 
140 Sylvester Rd, San Diego, CA 92106-3521.''

Notification procedure:
    Delete entry and replace with ``Individuals seeking to determine 
whether information about themselves is contained in this system should 
address written inquiries to the Senior Investigator, The Millennium 
Cohort Study, Naval Health Research Center, Deployment Health Research 
Department, 140 Sylvester Rd, San Diego, CA 92106-3521.
    The request should contain the individual's name and last four of 
SSN, subject identification number (if known) and must be signed by the 
individual requesting the information.
    The system manager may require an original signature or a notarized 
signature as a means of proving the identity of the individual.''

Record access procedures:
    Delete entry and replace with ``Individuals seeking access to 
information about themselves contained in this system should address 
written inquiries to the Senior Investigator, The Millennium Cohort 
Study, Naval Health Research Center, Deployment Health Research 
Department, 140 Sylvester Rd, San Diego, CA 92106-3521.
    The request should contain the individual's name and last four of 
SSN, subject identification number (if known) and must be signed by the 
individual requesting the information.
    The system manager may require an original signature or a notarized 
signature as a means of proving the identity of the individual 
requesting access to the records.''
* * * * *

Record source categories:
    Delete entry and replace with ``Individual participant survey 
instruments; Composite Health Care System (CHCS); Corporate Executive 
Information Systems; Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC); Defense 
Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS); Civilian Health and 
Medical Program of the Uniformed Services; MHS Data Repository (MDR); 
Armed Forces Health Longitudinal Technology Application (AHLTA); Armed 
Forces Medical Examiner System (AFMES); National Data Index (NDI); Army 
Medical Surveillance Activity (AMSA); Joint Theater Trauma Registry 
(JTTR); Department of Veterans Affairs Computerized Patient Record 
System (CPRS); survey research instruments and health research records 
at Naval Medical Center, San Diego; and individual physical exams and 
biological specimens.''
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 2014-26930 Filed 11-13-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 5001-06-P