Privacy Act of 1974; Department of Homeland Security Office of Operations Coordination and Planning-004 Publicly Available Social Media Monitoring and Situational Awareness Initiative System of Records, 5603-5606 [2011-2198]
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Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 21 / Tuesday, February 1, 2011 / Notices
Send comments to Summer King,
SAMHSA Reports Clearance Officer,
Room 7–1044, One Choke Cherry Road,
Rockville, MD 20857 and e-mail a copy
to summer.king@samhsa.hhs.gov.
Written comments should be received
within 60 days of this notice.
Dated: January 24, 2011.
Elaine Parry,
Director, Office of Program Services.
[FR Doc. 2011–2020 Filed 1–31–11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4162–20–P
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND
SECURITY
Office of the Secretary
[Docket No. DHS–2011–0003]
Privacy Act of 1974; Department of
Homeland Security Office of
Operations Coordination and
Planning—004 Publicly Available
Social Media Monitoring and
Situational Awareness Initiative
System of Records
Privacy Office, DHS.
Notice of Privacy Act system of
AGENCY:
ACTION:
records.
In accordance with the
Privacy Act of 1974, the Department of
Homeland Security is giving notice that
it proposes to establish a new
Department of Homeland Security
system of records titled, ‘‘Department of
Homeland Security Office of Operations
Coordination and Planning—004
Publicly Available Social Media
Monitoring and Situational Awareness
Initiative System of Records.’’ The Office
of Operations Coordination and
Planning (OPS) National Operations
Center (NOC), has launched and leads
the Publicly Available Social Media
Monitoring and Situational Awareness
(Initiative) to assist the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) and its
components involved in fulfilling OPS
statutory responsibility to provide
situational awareness. The NOC and
participating components may share
this de-identified information with
international partners and the private
sector where necessary and appropriate
for coordination. While this Initiative is
not designed to actively collect
Personally Identifiable Information (PII),
OPS is publishing this System of
Records Notice (SORN) because the
Initiative may collect PII for certain
narrowly tailored categories. For
example, in the event of an in extremis
situation involving potential life and
death, OPS will share certain PII with
the responding authority in order for
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SUMMARY:
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them to take the necessary actions to
save a life, such as name and location
of a person calling for help buried under
rubble, or hiding in a hotel room when
the hotel is under attack by terrorists. In
the event PII comes into the
Department’s possession under
circumstances other than those itemized
herein, the NOC will redact all PII prior
to further dissemination of any collected
information. This collection is currently
covered under DHS/OPS–003 but in
order to provide more transparency,
DHS is issuing a specific SORN for this
activity. This newly established system
will be included in the Department of
Homeland Security’s inventory of
record systems.
DATES: Submit comments on or before
March 3, 2011. This new system will be
effective March 3, 2011.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments,
identified by docket number DHS–
2011–0003 by one of the following
methods:
• Federal e-Rulemaking Portal:
https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments.
• Fax: 703–483–2999.
• Mail: Mary Ellen Callahan, Chief
Privacy Officer, Privacy Office,
Department of Homeland Security,
Washington, DC 20528.
• Instructions: All submissions
received must include the agency name
and docket number for this rulemaking.
All comments received will be posted
without change to https://
www.regulations.gov, including any
personal information provided.
• Docket: For access to the docket to
read background documents or
comments received go to https://
www.regulations.gov.
For
general questions please contact:
Michael Page (202–357–7626), Privacy
Point of Contact, Office of Operations
Coordination and Planning, Department
of Homeland Security, Washington, DC
20528. For privacy issues please
contact: Mary Ellen Callahan (703–235–
0780), Chief Privacy Officer, Privacy
Office, Department of Homeland
Security, Washington, DC 20528.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
I. Background
In accordance with the Privacy Act of
1974, 5 U.S.C. 552a, the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) Office of
Operations Coordination and Planning
(OPS), including the National
Operations Center (NOC), proposes to
establish a new DHS system of records
titled, ‘‘DHS/OPS—004 Publicly
Available Social Media Monitoring and
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5603
Situational Awareness Initiative System
of Records.’’
This system of records will allow
DHS/OPS, including the NOC, to
provide situational awareness and
establish a common operating picture
for the entire federal government, and
for state, local, and tribal governments
as appropriate, and to ensure that
critical disaster-related information
reaches government decision makers.
See Section 515 of the Homeland
Security Act (6 U.S.C. 321d(b)(1)). The
law defines the term ‘‘situational
awareness’’ as ‘‘information gathered
from a variety of sources that, when
communicated to emergency managers
and decision makers, can form the basis
for incident management decisionmaking.’’ OPS has launched and leads
this Initiative to fulfill its legal mandate
to provide situational awareness and
establish a common operating picture.
In doing so, OPS is working with select
components within the Department to
achieve this statutory mandate. This
collection is currently covered under
DHS/OPS–003 but in order to provide
more transparency, DHS is issuing a
specific SORN for this activity.
The NOC will use Internet-based
platforms that provide a variety of ways
to follow activity related to monitoring
publicly available online forums, blogs,
public websites, and message boards.
Through the use of publicly available
search engines and content aggregators
the NOC will monitor activities on
social media for information that the
NOC can use to provide situational
awareness and establish a common
operating picture. The NOC will gather,
store, analyze, and disseminate relevant
and appropriate de-identified
information to federal, state, local, and
foreign governments, and private sector
partners authorized to receive
situational awareness and a common
operating picture. Under this initiative,
OPS generally will not: (1) Actively seek
personally identifiable information (PII);
(2) post any information; (3) actively
seek to connect with other internal/
external personal users; (4) accept other
internal/external personal users’
invitations to connect; or (5) interact on
social media sites. However, OPS is
permitted to establish user names and
passwords to form profiles and follow
relevant government, media, and subject
matter experts on social media sites in
order to use search tools under
established criteria and search terms for
monitoring that supports providing
situational awareness and establishing a
common operating picture.
Furthermore, PII on the following
categories of individuals may be
collected when it lends credibility to the
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Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 21 / Tuesday, February 1, 2011 / Notices
report or facilitates coordination with
federal, state, local, tribal, territorial,
foreign, or international government
partners: (1) U.S. and foreign
individuals in extremis situations
involving potential life or death
circumstances; (2) Senior U.S. and
foreign government officials who make
public statements or provide public
updates; (3) U.S. and foreign
government spokespersons who make
public statements or provide public
updates; (4) U.S. and foreign private
sector officials and spokespersons who
make public statements or provide
public updates; (5) names of anchors,
newscasters, or on-scene reporters who
are known or identified as reporters in
their post or article or who use
traditional and/or social media in real
time to keep their audience situationally
aware and informed; (6) public officials,
current and former, who are victims of
a transportation accident or attack and;
(7) known terrorists, drug cartel leaders
or other persons known to have been
involved in major crimes or terror of
Homeland Security interest, (e.g., mass
shooters such as those at Virginia Tech
or Ft. Hood) who are killed or found
dead.
The NOC will identify and monitor
only information needed to provide
situational awareness and establish a
common operating picture. The NOC
will use this information to fulfill the
statutory mandate set forth above to
include the sharing of information with
foreign governments and the private
sector as otherwise authorized by law.
DHS is authorized to implement this
program primarily through 6 U.S.C. 121;
44 U.S.C. 3101; Executive Order (E.O.)
13388; OPS Delegation 0104; and
Homeland Security Presidential
Directive 5.
This system has an effect on
individual privacy that is balanced by
the need to collect, plan, coordinate,
report, analyze, and fuse homeland
security information coming into and
going out of OPS, including the NOC.
Routine uses contained in this notice
include sharing with the Department of
Justice (DOJ) for legal advice and
representation; to a congressional office
at the request of an individual; to the
National Archives and Records
Administration (NARA) for records
management; to contractors in support
of their contract assignment to DHS; to
appropriate federal, state, tribal, local,
international, foreign agency, or other
appropriate entity including the privacy
sector in their role aiding OPS in their
mission; to agencies, organizations or
individuals for the purpose of audit; to
agencies, entities, or persons during a
security or information compromise or
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breach; to an agency, organization, or
individual when there could potentially
be a risk of harm to an individual; and
to the news media in the interest of the
public. A review of this system is being
conducted to determine if the system of
records collects information under the
Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA).
Consistent with DHS’s information
sharing mission, information contained
in the DHS/OPS—004 Publicly
Available Social Media Monitoring and
Situational Awareness Initiative System
of Records may be shared with other
DHS components, as well as appropriate
federal, state, local, tribal, territorial,
foreign, or international government
agencies. This sharing will take place
only after DHS determines that the
receiving component or agency has a
verifiable need to know the information
to carry out national security, law
enforcement, immigration, intelligence,
or other functions consistent with the
routine uses set forth in this system of
records notice.
This newly established system will be
included in DHS’s inventory of record
systems.
II. Privacy Act
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 individuals’ records. 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
for which information is retrieved by
the name of an individual or by some
identifying number, symbol, or other
identifying particular assigned to the
individual. In the Privacy Act, an
individual is defined to encompass
United States citizens and lawful
permanent residents. As a matter of
policy, DHS extends administrative
Privacy Act protections to all
individuals where systems of records
maintain information on U.S. citizens,
lawful permanent residents, and
visitors. Individuals may request access
to their own records that are maintained
in a system of records in the possession
or under the control of DHS by
complying with DHS Privacy Act
regulations, 6 CFR Part 5.
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 their
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records are put, and to assist individuals
to more easily find such files within the
agency. Below is the description of the
DHS/OPS—004 Publicly Available
Social Media Monitoring and
Situational Awareness Initiative System
of records. In accordance with 5 U.S.C.
552a(r), DHS has provided a report of
this system of records to the Office of
Management and Budget and to
Congress.
SYSTEM OF RECORDS
DHS/OPS—004
SYSTEM NAME:
Publicly Available Social Media
Monitoring and Situational Awareness
Initiative System of Records.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION:
Unclassified, For Official Use Only,
Law Enforcement Sensitive, and
Classified.
SYSTEM LOCATION:
Records are maintained at the
Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) Office of Operations Coordination
and Planning (OPS) National Operations
Center (NOC) Headquarters in
Washington, DC and field locations.
CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE
SYSTEM:
Categories of individuals covered by
the system may include:
• U.S. and foreign individuals in
extremis situations involving potential
life or death circumstances;
• Senior U.S. and foreign government
officials who make public statements or
provide public updates;
• U.S. and foreign government
spokespersons who make public
statements or provide public updates;
• U.S. and foreign private sector
officials and spokespersons who make
public statements or provide public
updates;
• Names of anchors, newscasters, or
on-scene reporters who are known or
identified as reporters in their post or
article or who use traditional and/or
social media in real time to keep their
audience situationally aware and
informed;
• Current and former public officials
who are victims of incidents or
activities related to Homeland Security;
and
• Known terrorists, drug cartel
leaders or other persons known to have
been involved in major crimes or terror
of Homeland Security interest, (e.g.,
mass shooters such as those at Virginia
Tech or Ft. Hood) who are killed or
found dead.
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CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
Categories of records in the system
may include:
• Full name;
• Affiliation;
• Position or title; and
• Publically available user ID.
AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
6 U.S.C. 121; 44 U.S.C. 3101;
Executive Order (E.O.) 13388; OPS
Delegation 0104; and Homeland
Security Presidential Directive 5.
PURPOSE(S):
The NOC will use this Initiative to
fulfill its statutory responsibility to
provide situational awareness and
establish a common operating picture
for the entire federal government, and
for state, local, and tribal governments
as appropriate, and to ensure that
critical disaster-related information
reaches government decisionmakers.
Information may also be shared with
private sector and international partners
where necessary, appropriate, and
authorized by law.
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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) as
follows:
A. To the Department of Justice
(including United States Attorney
Offices) or other federal agency
conducting litigation or in proceedings
before any court, adjudicative or
administrative body, when it is
necessary to the litigation and one of the
following is a party to the litigation or
has an interest in such litigation:
1. DHS or any component thereof;
2. any employee of DHS in his/her
official capacity;
3. any employee of DHS in his/her
individual capacity where DOJ or DHS
has agreed to represent the employee; or
4. the United States or any agency
thereof, is a party to the litigation or has
an interest in such litigation, and DHS
determines that the records are both
relevant and necessary to the litigation
and the use of such records is
compatible with the purpose for which
DHS collected the records.
B. 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.
C. To the National Archives and
Records Administration or other federal
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government agencies pursuant to
records management inspections being
conducted under the authority of 44
U.S.C. 2904 and 2906.
D. To an agency, organization, or
individual for the purpose of performing
audit or oversight operations as
authorized by law, but only such
information as is necessary and relevant
to such audit or oversight function.
E. To appropriate agencies, entities,
and persons when:
1. DHS suspects or has confirmed that
the security or confidentiality of
information in the system of records has
been compromised;
2. The Department 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) or harm to the individual that
rely upon the compromised
information; and
3. The disclosure made to such
agencies, entities, and persons is
reasonably necessary to assist in
connection with DHS’s efforts to
respond to the suspected or confirmed
compromise and prevent, minimize, or
remedy such harm.
F. To contractors and their agents,
grantees, experts, consultants, and
others performing or working on a
contract, service, grant, cooperative
agreement, or other assignment for DHS,
when necessary to accomplish an
agency function related to this system of
records. Individuals provided
information under this routine use are
subject to the same Privacy Act
requirements and limitations on
disclosure as are applicable to DHS
officers and employees.
G. To appropriate federal, state, local,
tribal, or foreign governmental agencies
or multilateral governmental
organizations for the purpose of
protecting the vital interests of a data
subject or other persons, including to
assist such agencies or organizations in
preventing exposure to or transmission
of a communicable or quarantinable
disease or to combat other significant
public health threats; appropriate notice
will be provided of any identified health
threat or risk.
H. To the entire federal government,
to state, local, and tribal governments,
and to appropriate private sector
individuals within the Critical
Infrastructure Key Resources
Community to provide situational
awareness and establish a common
operating picture and to ensure that
critical disaster-related information
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5605
reaches government decision makers
when the personal identifiable
information (PII) lends credibility to the
report or facilitates coordination with
interagency or international partners.
DISCLOSURE TO CONSUMER REPORTING
AGENCIES:
None.
POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORING,
RETRIEVING, ACCESSING, RETAINING, AND
DISPOSING OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
STORAGE:
Records in this system are stored
electronically or on paper in secure
facilities in a locked drawer behind a
locked door. The records are stored on
magnetic disc, tape, digital media, and
CD–ROM.
RETRIEVABILITY:
Much of the data within this system
does not pertain to an individual; rather,
the information pertains to locations,
geographic areas, facilities, and other
things or objects not related to
individuals. However, some personal
information may be captured. Most
information is stored as free text and
any word, phrase, or number is
searchable.
SAFEGUARDS:
Records in this system are
safeguarded in accordance with
applicable rules and policies, including
all applicable DHS automated systems
security and access policies. Strict
controls have been imposed to minimize
the risk of compromising the
information that is being stored. Access
to the computer system containing the
records in this system is limited to those
individuals who have a need to know
the information for the performance of
their official duties and who have
appropriate clearances or permissions.
RETENTION AND DISPOSAL:
OPS is working with the DHS Records
Officer to develop a NARA approved
retention schedule for 5 years.
SYSTEM MANAGER AND ADDRESS:
Director, Office of Operations
Coordination and Planning, National
Operations Center, Department of
Homeland Security, Washington, DC
20528.
NOTIFICATION PROCEDURE:
Individuals seeking notification of
and access to any record contained in
this system of records, or seeking to
contest its content, may submit a
request in writing to OPS FOIA Officer,
whose contact information can be found
at https://www.dhs.gov/foia under
‘‘contacts.’’
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Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 21 / Tuesday, February 1, 2011 / Notices
When seeking records about yourself
from this system of records or any other
Departmental system of records your
request must conform with the Privacy
Act regulations set forth in 6 CFR Part
5. You must first verify your identity,
meaning that you must provide 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 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 Chief Privacy Officer and Chief
Freedom of Information Act Officer,
https://www.dhs.gov or 1–866–431–0486.
In addition you should provide the
following:
• An explanation of why you believe
the Department would have information
on you;
• Identify which component(s) of the
Department you believe may have the
information about you;
• Specify when you believe the
records would have been created;
• Provide any other information that
will help the FOIA staff determine
which DHS component agency may
have responsive records; and
• If your request is seeking records
pertaining to another living individual,
you must include a statement from that
individual certifying his/her agreement
for you to access his/her records.
Without this bulleted information the
component(s) may not be able to
conduct an effective search, and your
request may be denied due to lack of
specificity or lack of compliance with
applicable regulations.
RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURES:
See ‘‘Notification procedure’’ above.
CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURES:
See ‘‘Notification procedure’’ above.
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RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
Information contained in this system
is obtained from subject individuals,
other federal, state, local and tribal
agencies and organizations, domestic
and foreign media, including
periodicals, newspapers, and broadcast
transcripts, public and classified data
systems, reporting individuals,
intelligence source documents,
investigative reports, and
correspondence.
EXEMPTIONS CLAIMED FOR THE SYSTEM:
None.
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Dated: January 7, 2011.
Mary Ellen Callahan,
Chief Privacy Officer, Department of
Homeland Security.
[FR Doc. 2011–2198 Filed 1–31–11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 9110–9A–P
DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND
URBAN DEVELOPMENT
(toll free). Persons with hearing or
speech impairments may access these
numbers via TTY by calling the Federal
Information Relay Service at 800–877–
8339.
Dated: January 27, 2011
Barbara S. Dorf,
Director, Office of Departmental Grants
Management and Oversight, Office of the
Chief of the Human Capital Officer.
[FR Doc. 2011–2169 Filed 1–31–11; 8:45 am]
[Docket No. FR–5415–N–29]
BILLING CODE 4210–67–P
Notice of Availability: Notice of
Funding Availability (NOFA) for Fiscal
Year (FY) 2010 Service Coordinators in
Multifamily Housing.
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Office of the Chief of the
Human Capital Officer, HUD.
ACTION: Notice.
[FWS–R4–ES–2011–N017; 41910–1112–
0000–F2]
AGENCY:
HUD announces the
availability on its website of the
applicant information, submission
deadlines, funding criteria, and other
requirements for the HUD’s Fiscal Year
(FY) 2010 Service Coordinators in
Multifamily Housing NOFA. This NOFA
announces the availability of $31
million in Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 funding
for the employment and support of
Service Coordinators in insured and
assisted housing properties that were
designed for the elderly or nonelderly
persons with disabilities and continue
to operate as such. Service coordinators
help residents obtain supportive
services from the community that are
needed to enable independent living
and aging in place.
The notice providing information
regarding the application process,
funding criteria and eligibility
requirements can be found using the
Department of Housing and Urban
Development agency link on the
Grants.gov/Find Web site at https://
www.grants.gov/search/agency.do. A
link to Grants.gov is also available on
the HUD Web site at https://
www.hud.gov/offices/adm/grants/
fundsavail.cfm. The Catalogue of
Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA)
number for this program is 14.191.
Applications must be submitted
electronically through Grants.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Questions regarding specific program
requirements should be directed to the
agency contact identified in the program
NOFA. Program staff will not be
available to provide guidance on how to
prepare the application. Questions
regarding the 2010 General Section
should be directed to the Office of
Grants Management and Oversight at
(202) 708–0667 or the NOFA
Information Center at 800–HUD–8929
SUMMARY:
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Fish and Wildlife Service
Endangered and Threatened Wildlife
and Plants; Receipt of Application for
Incidental Take Permit; Availability of
Proposed Low-Effect Habitat
Conservation Plan; Crosspoint
Presbyterian Church, Lake County, FL
Fish and Wildlife Service,
Interior.
ACTION: Notice of receipt; request for
comment/information.
AGENCY:
We, the Fish and Wildlife
Service (Service), have received an
application from the (Applicant) for an
incidental take permit (ITP)
#TE30950A–0 for 5 years under the
Endangered Species Act of 1973, as
amended (Act). We request public
comment on the permit application and
accompanying proposed habitat
conservation plan (plan), as well as on
our preliminary determination that the
plan qualifies as low-effect under the
National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA). To make this determination we
used our environmental action
statement and low-effect screening form,
which are also available for review.
DATES: To ensure consideration, please
send your written comments by March
3, 2011.
ADDRESSES: If you wish to review the
application and HCP, you may request
documents by U.S. mail, e-mail, or
phone (see below). These documents are
also available for public inspection by
appointment during normal business
hours at the office below. Send your
comments or requests by any one of the
following methods.
E-mail: northflorida@fws.gov. Use
‘‘Attn: Permit number TE30950A–0’’ as
your message subject line.
Fax: Field Supervisor, (904) 731–
3045, Attn.: Permit number TE30950A–
0.
U.S. mail: Field Supervisor,
Jacksonville Ecological Services Field
SUMMARY:
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 21 (Tuesday, February 1, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5603-5606]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-2198]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Office of the Secretary
[Docket No. DHS-2011-0003]
Privacy Act of 1974; Department of Homeland Security Office of
Operations Coordination and Planning--004 Publicly Available Social
Media Monitoring and Situational Awareness Initiative System of Records
AGENCY: Privacy Office, DHS.
ACTION: Notice of Privacy Act system of records.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, the Department of
Homeland Security is giving notice that it proposes to establish a new
Department of Homeland Security system of records titled, ``Department
of Homeland Security Office of Operations Coordination and Planning--
004 Publicly Available Social Media Monitoring and Situational
Awareness Initiative System of Records.'' The Office of Operations
Coordination and Planning (OPS) National Operations Center (NOC), has
launched and leads the Publicly Available Social Media Monitoring and
Situational Awareness (Initiative) to assist the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) and its components involved in fulfilling OPS statutory
responsibility to provide situational awareness. The NOC and
participating components may share this de-identified information with
international partners and the private sector where necessary and
appropriate for coordination. While this Initiative is not designed to
actively collect Personally Identifiable Information (PII), OPS is
publishing this System of Records Notice (SORN) because the Initiative
may collect PII for certain narrowly tailored categories. For example,
in the event of an in extremis situation involving potential life and
death, OPS will share certain PII with the responding authority in
order for them to take the necessary actions to save a life, such as
name and location of a person calling for help buried under rubble, or
hiding in a hotel room when the hotel is under attack by terrorists. In
the event PII comes into the Department's possession under
circumstances other than those itemized herein, the NOC will redact all
PII prior to further dissemination of any collected information. This
collection is currently covered under DHS/OPS-003 but in order to
provide more transparency, DHS is issuing a specific SORN for this
activity. This newly established system will be included in the
Department of Homeland Security's inventory of record systems.
DATES: Submit comments on or before March 3, 2011. This new system will
be effective March 3, 2011.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by docket number DHS-
2011-0003 by one of the following methods:
Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
Fax: 703-483-2999.
Mail: Mary Ellen Callahan, Chief Privacy Officer, Privacy
Office, Department of Homeland Security, Washington, DC 20528.
Instructions: All submissions received must include the
agency name and docket number for this rulemaking. All comments
received will be posted without change to https://www.regulations.gov,
including any personal information provided.
Docket: For access to the docket to read background
documents or comments received go to https://www.regulations.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general questions please contact:
Michael Page (202-357-7626), Privacy Point of Contact, Office of
Operations Coordination and Planning, Department of Homeland Security,
Washington, DC 20528. For privacy issues please contact: Mary Ellen
Callahan (703-235-0780), Chief Privacy Officer, Privacy Office,
Department of Homeland Security, Washington, DC 20528.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, 5 U.S.C. 552a, the
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Operations Coordination
and Planning (OPS), including the National Operations Center (NOC),
proposes to establish a new DHS system of records titled, ``DHS/OPS--
004 Publicly Available Social Media Monitoring and Situational
Awareness Initiative System of Records.''
This system of records will allow DHS/OPS, including the NOC, to
provide situational awareness and establish a common operating picture
for the entire federal government, and for state, local, and tribal
governments as appropriate, and to ensure that critical disaster-
related information reaches government decision makers. See Section 515
of the Homeland Security Act (6 U.S.C. 321d(b)(1)). The law defines the
term ``situational awareness'' as ``information gathered from a variety
of sources that, when communicated to emergency managers and decision
makers, can form the basis for incident management decision-making.''
OPS has launched and leads this Initiative to fulfill its legal mandate
to provide situational awareness and establish a common operating
picture. In doing so, OPS is working with select components within the
Department to achieve this statutory mandate. This collection is
currently covered under DHS/OPS-003 but in order to provide more
transparency, DHS is issuing a specific SORN for this activity.
The NOC will use Internet-based platforms that provide a variety of
ways to follow activity related to monitoring publicly available online
forums, blogs, public websites, and message boards. Through the use of
publicly available search engines and content aggregators the NOC will
monitor activities on social media for information that the NOC can use
to provide situational awareness and establish a common operating
picture. The NOC will gather, store, analyze, and disseminate relevant
and appropriate de-identified information to federal, state, local, and
foreign governments, and private sector partners authorized to receive
situational awareness and a common operating picture. Under this
initiative, OPS generally will not: (1) Actively seek personally
identifiable information (PII); (2) post any information; (3) actively
seek to connect with other internal/external personal users; (4) accept
other internal/external personal users' invitations to connect; or (5)
interact on social media sites. However, OPS is permitted to establish
user names and passwords to form profiles and follow relevant
government, media, and subject matter experts on social media sites in
order to use search tools under established criteria and search terms
for monitoring that supports providing situational awareness and
establishing a common operating picture. Furthermore, PII on the
following categories of individuals may be collected when it lends
credibility to the
[[Page 5604]]
report or facilitates coordination with federal, state, local, tribal,
territorial, foreign, or international government partners: (1) U.S.
and foreign individuals in extremis situations involving potential life
or death circumstances; (2) Senior U.S. and foreign government
officials who make public statements or provide public updates; (3)
U.S. and foreign government spokespersons who make public statements or
provide public updates; (4) U.S. and foreign private sector officials
and spokespersons who make public statements or provide public updates;
(5) names of anchors, newscasters, or on-scene reporters who are known
or identified as reporters in their post or article or who use
traditional and/or social media in real time to keep their audience
situationally aware and informed; (6) public officials, current and
former, who are victims of a transportation accident or attack and; (7)
known terrorists, drug cartel leaders or other persons known to have
been involved in major crimes or terror of Homeland Security interest,
(e.g., mass shooters such as those at Virginia Tech or Ft. Hood) who
are killed or found dead.
The NOC will identify and monitor only information needed to
provide situational awareness and establish a common operating picture.
The NOC will use this information to fulfill the statutory mandate set
forth above to include the sharing of information with foreign
governments and the private sector as otherwise authorized by law.
DHS is authorized to implement this program primarily through 6
U.S.C. 121; 44 U.S.C. 3101; Executive Order (E.O.) 13388; OPS
Delegation 0104; and Homeland Security Presidential Directive 5.
This system has an effect on individual privacy that is balanced by
the need to collect, plan, coordinate, report, analyze, and fuse
homeland security information coming into and going out of OPS,
including the NOC. Routine uses contained in this notice include
sharing with the Department of Justice (DOJ) for legal advice and
representation; to a congressional office at the request of an
individual; to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
for records management; to contractors in support of their contract
assignment to DHS; to appropriate federal, state, tribal, local,
international, foreign agency, or other appropriate entity including
the privacy sector in their role aiding OPS in their mission; to
agencies, organizations or individuals for the purpose of audit; to
agencies, entities, or persons during a security or information
compromise or breach; to an agency, organization, or individual when
there could potentially be a risk of harm to an individual; and to the
news media in the interest of the public. A review of this system is
being conducted to determine if the system of records collects
information under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA).
Consistent with DHS's information sharing mission, information
contained in the DHS/OPS--004 Publicly Available Social Media
Monitoring and Situational Awareness Initiative System of Records may
be shared with other DHS components, as well as appropriate federal,
state, local, tribal, territorial, foreign, or international government
agencies. This sharing will take place only after DHS determines that
the receiving component or agency has a verifiable need to know the
information to carry out national security, law enforcement,
immigration, intelligence, or other functions consistent with the
routine uses set forth in this system of records notice.
This newly established system will be included in DHS's inventory
of record systems.
II. Privacy Act
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 individuals' records. 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 for which information is retrieved by the name of
an individual or by some identifying number, symbol, or other
identifying particular assigned to the individual. In the Privacy Act,
an individual is defined to encompass United States citizens and lawful
permanent residents. As a matter of policy, DHS extends administrative
Privacy Act protections to all individuals where systems of records
maintain information on U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and
visitors. Individuals may request access to their own records that are
maintained in a system of records in the possession or under the
control of DHS by complying with DHS Privacy Act regulations, 6 CFR
Part 5.
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
their records are put, and to assist individuals to more easily find
such files within the agency. Below is the description of the DHS/OPS--
004 Publicly Available Social Media Monitoring and Situational
Awareness Initiative System of records. In accordance with 5 U.S.C.
552a(r), DHS has provided a report of this system of records to the
Office of Management and Budget and to Congress.
SYSTEM OF RECORDS
DHS/OPS--004
SYSTEM NAME:
Publicly Available Social Media Monitoring and Situational
Awareness Initiative System of Records.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION:
Unclassified, For Official Use Only, Law Enforcement Sensitive, and
Classified.
SYSTEM LOCATION:
Records are maintained at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
Office of Operations Coordination and Planning (OPS) National
Operations Center (NOC) Headquarters in Washington, DC and field
locations.
CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
Categories of individuals covered by the system may include:
U.S. and foreign individuals in extremis situations
involving potential life or death circumstances;
Senior U.S. and foreign government officials who make
public statements or provide public updates;
U.S. and foreign government spokespersons who make public
statements or provide public updates;
U.S. and foreign private sector officials and
spokespersons who make public statements or provide public updates;
Names of anchors, newscasters, or on-scene reporters who
are known or identified as reporters in their post or article or who
use traditional and/or social media in real time to keep their audience
situationally aware and informed;
Current and former public officials who are victims of
incidents or activities related to Homeland Security; and
Known terrorists, drug cartel leaders or other persons
known to have been involved in major crimes or terror of Homeland
Security interest, (e.g., mass shooters such as those at Virginia Tech
or Ft. Hood) who are killed or found dead.
[[Page 5605]]
CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
Categories of records in the system may include:
Full name;
Affiliation;
Position or title; and
Publically available user ID.
AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
6 U.S.C. 121; 44 U.S.C. 3101; Executive Order (E.O.) 13388; OPS
Delegation 0104; and Homeland Security Presidential Directive 5.
PURPOSE(S):
The NOC will use this Initiative to fulfill its statutory
responsibility to provide situational awareness and establish a common
operating picture for the entire federal government, and for state,
local, and tribal governments as appropriate, and to ensure that
critical disaster-related information reaches government
decisionmakers. Information may also be shared with private sector and
international partners where necessary, appropriate, and authorized by
law.
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) as follows:
A. To the Department of Justice (including United States Attorney
Offices) or other federal agency conducting litigation or in
proceedings before any court, adjudicative or administrative body, when
it is necessary to the litigation and one of the following is a party
to the litigation or has an interest in such litigation:
1. DHS or any component thereof;
2. any employee of DHS in his/her official capacity;
3. any employee of DHS in his/her individual capacity where DOJ or
DHS has agreed to represent the employee; or
4. the United States or any agency thereof, is a party to the
litigation or has an interest in such litigation, and DHS determines
that the records are both relevant and necessary to the litigation and
the use of such records is compatible with the purpose for which DHS
collected the records.
B. 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.
C. To the National Archives and Records Administration or other
federal government agencies pursuant to records management inspections
being conducted under the authority of 44 U.S.C. 2904 and 2906.
D. To an agency, organization, or individual for the purpose of
performing audit or oversight operations as authorized by law, but only
such information as is necessary and relevant to such audit or
oversight function.
E. To appropriate agencies, entities, and persons when:
1. DHS suspects or has confirmed that the security or
confidentiality of information in the system of records has been
compromised;
2. The Department 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) or harm to the
individual that rely upon the compromised information; and
3. The disclosure made to such agencies, entities, and persons is
reasonably necessary to assist in connection with DHS's efforts to
respond to the suspected or confirmed compromise and prevent, minimize,
or remedy such harm.
F. To contractors and their agents, grantees, experts, consultants,
and others performing or working on a contract, service, grant,
cooperative agreement, or other assignment for DHS, when necessary to
accomplish an agency function related to this system of records.
Individuals provided information under this routine use are subject to
the same Privacy Act requirements and limitations on disclosure as are
applicable to DHS officers and employees.
G. To appropriate federal, state, local, tribal, or foreign
governmental agencies or multilateral governmental organizations for
the purpose of protecting the vital interests of a data subject or
other persons, including to assist such agencies or organizations in
preventing exposure to or transmission of a communicable or
quarantinable disease or to combat other significant public health
threats; appropriate notice will be provided of any identified health
threat or risk.
H. To the entire federal government, to state, local, and tribal
governments, and to appropriate private sector individuals within the
Critical Infrastructure Key Resources Community to provide situational
awareness and establish a common operating picture and to ensure that
critical disaster-related information reaches government decision
makers when the personal identifiable information (PII) lends
credibility to the report or facilitates coordination with interagency
or international partners.
DISCLOSURE TO CONSUMER REPORTING AGENCIES:
None.
POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORING, RETRIEVING, ACCESSING, RETAINING,
AND DISPOSING OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
STORAGE:
Records in this system are stored electronically or on paper in
secure facilities in a locked drawer behind a locked door. The records
are stored on magnetic disc, tape, digital media, and CD-ROM.
RETRIEVABILITY:
Much of the data within this system does not pertain to an
individual; rather, the information pertains to locations, geographic
areas, facilities, and other things or objects not related to
individuals. However, some personal information may be captured. Most
information is stored as free text and any word, phrase, or number is
searchable.
SAFEGUARDS:
Records in this system are safeguarded in accordance with
applicable rules and policies, including all applicable DHS automated
systems security and access policies. Strict controls have been imposed
to minimize the risk of compromising the information that is being
stored. Access to the computer system containing the records in this
system is limited to those individuals who have a need to know the
information for the performance of their official duties and who have
appropriate clearances or permissions.
RETENTION AND DISPOSAL:
OPS is working with the DHS Records Officer to develop a NARA
approved retention schedule for 5 years.
SYSTEM MANAGER AND ADDRESS:
Director, Office of Operations Coordination and Planning, National
Operations Center, Department of Homeland Security, Washington, DC
20528.
NOTIFICATION PROCEDURE:
Individuals seeking notification of and access to any record
contained in this system of records, or seeking to contest its content,
may submit a request in writing to OPS FOIA Officer, whose contact
information can be found at https://www.dhs.gov/foia under ``contacts.''
[[Page 5606]]
When seeking records about yourself from this system of records or
any other Departmental system of records your request must conform with
the Privacy Act regulations set forth in 6 CFR Part 5. You must first
verify your identity, meaning that you must provide 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 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 Chief Privacy
Officer and Chief Freedom of Information Act Officer, https://www.dhs.gov or 1-866-431-0486. In addition you should provide the
following:
An explanation of why you believe the Department would
have information on you;
Identify which component(s) of the Department you believe
may have the information about you;
Specify when you believe the records would have been
created;
Provide any other information that will help the FOIA
staff determine which DHS component agency may have responsive records;
and
If your request is seeking records pertaining to another
living individual, you must include a statement from that individual
certifying his/her agreement for you to access his/her records.
Without this bulleted information the component(s) may not be able
to conduct an effective search, and your request may be denied due to
lack of specificity or lack of compliance with applicable regulations.
RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURES:
See ``Notification procedure'' above.
CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURES:
See ``Notification procedure'' above.
RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
Information contained in this system is obtained from subject
individuals, other federal, state, local and tribal agencies and
organizations, domestic and foreign media, including periodicals,
newspapers, and broadcast transcripts, public and classified data
systems, reporting individuals, intelligence source documents,
investigative reports, and correspondence.
EXEMPTIONS CLAIMED FOR THE SYSTEM:
None.
Dated: January 7, 2011.
Mary Ellen Callahan,
Chief Privacy Officer, Department of Homeland Security.
[FR Doc. 2011-2198 Filed 1-31-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 9110-9A-P
