Department of Justice September 18, 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), a component of the Department of Justice (Department or DOJ), has published a notice of a modified Privacy Act system of records, ``National Crime Information Center (NCIC),'' JUSTICE/FBI-001. In this notice of proposed rulemaking, the FBI proposes to amend the existing regulations exempting the NCIC from certain provisions of the Privacy Act in order to provide greater clarity on the reasons for the exemptions, including interference with the FBI's mission to detect, deter, and prosecute crimes and to protect the national security. Additionally, the NCIC's current Privacy Act exemption regulations refer to alternative procedures for individuals to access their criminal history record information. However, criminal history record information is maintained in the Next Generation Identification (NGI) System, JUSTICE_FBI 009, (May 5, 2016), and therefore the access provisions for criminal history record information are more appropriately set forth in the Privacy Act exemption regulations for NGI. The alternative process for accessing criminal history record information is set forth in the Code of Federal Regulations. The amendments to the NCIC's Privacy Act exemption regulations do not affect an individual's ability to access his criminal history record information. The Department proposes to amend its Privacy Act regulations by amending the existing Privacy Act exemptions for records in the NCIC, as set forth below. Public comment is invited.