[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 102 (Friday, May 26, 1995)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 27946-27948]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-12833]



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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Office of the Secretary

49 CFR Part 10

RIN: 2105-AC05
[Docket No. 48438; Notice 95-6 ]


Privacy Act; Implementation

AGENCY: Department of Transportation (DOT), Office of the Secretary.

ACTION: Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.

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SUMMARY: DOT proposes to amend its rules implementing the Privacy Act 
of 1974 to exempt from certain provisions of the Act the Coast Guard's 
Joint Maritime Information Element Support System. Public comment is 
invited.

DATES: Comments are due June 26, 1995.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be addressed to Documentary Services 
Division, Attention: Docket Section, Room PL401, Docket No. 48438, 
Department of Transportation, C-55, Washington, DC 20590. Any person 
wishing acknowledgment that his/her comments have been received should 
include a self-addressed stamped postcard. Comments received will be 
available for public inspection and copying in the Documentary Services 
Division, Room PL401, Department of Transportation Building, 400 
Seventh Street, SW, Washington, DC, from 9 am to 5 pm et Monday through 
Friday except Federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert I. Ross, Office of the General 
Counsel, C10, Department of Transportation, Washington, DC 
20590, telephone (202) 366-9154, FAX (202) 366-9170.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 1. What is JMIE? The Joint Maritime 
Information Element (JMIE) Support System is a multi-agency database of 
vessel movements around the world that can assist in virtually any 
maritime support mission, including petroleum traffic 
movement, sea and defense zone surveillance, fisheries operations, and 
emergency sealift management, as well as prevention of illegal 
technology transfer, general cargo/commodity smuggling, and illegal 
immigration. DOTs Coast Guard is one of the 
[[Page 27947]] participating agencies and the agency that has been 
selected by the others asthe Executive Agent to manage the database. 
All participating agencies will have access to data in the system.
    Each record in the database will consist of two parts. The first 
will cover the vessel; every participating agency will have access to 
that. That record will refer to a record about the individuals (e.g., 
owner, master, crew) associated with that vessel. Only the law 
enforcement agencies will be able to access that second record. This 
part of each record comes within the Privacy Act, although the entire 
record does not. The computer that houses the database has been 
programmed to grant access only to the law enforcement 
agencies that are members of JMIE.
    2. What agencies are members of JMIE? The following are the members 
of JMIE; each is designated below by whether it is a law enforcement 
agency (L), member of the intelligence community (I), or other (O), 
only those designated '(L)' having direct access to Privacy Act 
information:

1. Office of National Drug Control Policy--Executive Office of the 
President (I)
2. Bureau of International Narcotics Matters--Department of State (I)
3. Customs Service--Department of the Treasury (L)
4. Office of Naval Intelligence--Department of Defense (I)
5. Military Sealift Command--Department of Defense (O)
6. Defense Intelligence Agency--Department of Defense (I)
7. National Security Agency--Department of Defense (I)
8. Drug Enforcement Administration--Department of Justice (L)
9. Immigration and Naturalization Service--Department of Justice (L)
10. US National Central Bureau--INTERPOL--Department of Justice (O)
11. Bureau of the Census--Department of Commerce (O)
12. Coast Guard--Department of Transportation (L)
13. Maritime Administration--Department of Transportation (O)
14. Office of Intelligence and Port Security--Department of Energy (I)
15. Central Intelligence Agency (I)

    The only members of JMIE that will have direct access to the 
Privacy Act information that will be maintained as part of JMIE are the 
following, all of which are criminal law enforcement agencies; shown 
with each is its principal criminal law enforcement authority:

(1) Customs Service--19 USC 1589a;\1\

    \1\Enforcement authority of customs officers.
    Subject to the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, an 
officer of the customs may--
    (1) carry a firearm;
    (2) execute and serve any order, warrant, subpoena, summons, or 
other process issued under the authority of the United States;
    (3) make an arrest without a warrant for any offense against the 
United States committed in the officer's presence or for a felony, 
cognizable under the laws of the United States committed outside the 
officer's presence if the officer has reasonable grounds to believe 
that the person to be arrested has committed or is committing a 
felony;
    (4) perform any other law enforcement duty that the Secretary of 
the Treasury may designate.
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(2) Immigration and Naturalization Service--8 USC 1324;\2\

    \2\Bringing in and harboring certain aliens.
    (c) Authority to arrest. No officer or person shall have 
authority to make any arrest for a violation of any provision of 
this section except officers and employees of the [Immigration and 
Naturalization] Service designated by the Attorney General, either 
individually or as a member of a class, and all other officers whose 
duty it is to enforce criminal laws.
(3) Drug Enforcement Administration--21 USC 878;\3\

    \3\Powers of enforcement personnel.
    (a) Officers or employees of the Drug Enforcement Administration 
or any State or local law enforcement officer.
    Any officer or employee of the Drug Enforcement Administration 
or any State or local law enforcement officer designated by the 
Attorney General may--
    (1) carry firearms;
    (2) execute and serve search warrants, arrest warrants, 
administrative inspection warrants, subpoenas, and summonses issued 
under the authority of the United States;
    (3) make arrests without warrant (A) for any offense against the 
United States committed in his presence, or (B) for any felony, 
cognizable under the laws of the United States, if he has probable 
cause to believe that the person to be arrested has committed or is 
committing a felony;
    (4) make seizures of property pursuant to the provisions of this 
subchapter; and
    (5) perform such other law enforcement duties as the Attorney 
General may designate.
    *    *    *    *    *
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(4) Coast Guard--14 USC 89\4\

    \4\Law enforcement.
    (a) The Coast Guard may make inquiries, examinations, 
inspections, searches, seizures, and arrests upon the high seas and 
waters over which the United States has jurisdiction, for the 
prevention, detection, and suppression of violations of laws of the 
United States. * * * When * * * it appears that a breach of the laws 
of the United States rendering a person liable to arrest is being, 
or has been committed, by any person, such person shall be arrested 
or, if escaping to shore, shall be immediately pursued and arrested 
on shore, or other lawful and appropriate action shall be taken * * 
* .
    *    *    *    *    *

    1. General exemption. Under subsection (j)(2) of the Privacy Act (5 
USC 552a(j)(2)), a system of records may be exempted from almost all 
provisions of the Act, so long as the system: (1) Is maintained by an 
agency, or a component of an agency, that performs as its principal 
function any activity pertaining to the enforcement of criminal laws; 
and (2) contains: (A) Information compiled for the purpose of 
identifying individual criminal offenders and alleged offenders and 
consisting only of identifying data and notations of arrests, the 
nature and disposition of criminal charges, sentencing, confinement, 
release, and parole and probation status; (B) information compiled for 
the purpose of a criminal investigation, including reports of 
informants and investigators, and associated with an identifiable 
individual; or (C) reports identifiable to an individual compiled at 
any stage of the process of enforcement of the criminal laws from 
arrest or indictment through release from supervision. Those provisions 
of the Act from which such a system may not be exempted are subsections 
(b) (Conditions of Disclosure); (c)(1) and (2) (Accounting of Certain 
Disclosures); (e)(4)(A) through (F) (Publication of Existence and 
Character of System); (e)(6) (Ensure Records are Accurate, Relevant, 
Timely, and Complete), (7) (Restrict Recordkeeping on First Amendment 
Rights), (9) (Rules of Conduct), (10) (Safeguards), and (11) (Routine 
Use Publication); and (i) (Criminal Penalties).
    DOT proposes to exempt JMIE accordingly.
    2. Specific exemptions. Under subsection (k) of the Privacy Act (5 
USC 552a(k)), qualifying records may be exempted from various 
provisions of the Act. Among these provisions are the requirement in 
subsection (c)(3) to maintain an accounting of disclosures of 
information from a system of records and make that accounting available 
on request to the record subject; in subsection (d) to grant to a 
record subject access to information maintained on him/her under the 
Act; in subsection (e)(1) to maintain only such information as is 
relevant and necessary to accomplish a purpose of the agency under 
statute or Executive Order; in subsection (e)(4)(G), (H), and (I) to 
advise record subjects of the agency procedures to request if a system 
of records contains records pertaining to them, how they can gain 
access to such records and contest their content, and the categories of 
sources of such records; and in subsection (f) to establish rules 
governing the procedures above.
    a. Under subsection (k)(1) of the Privacy Act (5 USC 552a(k)(1)), 
portions of a system of records that are subject to 5 USC 552(b)(1), in 
that they contain information that is properly classified in the 
interest of national security, may be exempted from these provisions, 
and DOT proposes to exempt JMIE accordingly.

[[Page 27948]]

    b. Under subsection (k)(2) of the Privacy Act (5 USC 552a(k)(2)), 
investigatory material compiled for law enforcement purposes, other 
than material encompassed within subsection (j)(2), may be exempted 
from these provisions, and DOT proposes to exempt JMIE accordingly.
    Analysis of regulatory impacts. This amendment is not a 
``significant regulatory action'' within the meaning of Executive Order 
12866. It is also not significant within the definition in DOT's 
Regulatory Policies and Procedures, 49 FR 11034 (1979), in part because 
it does not involve any change in important Departmental policies. 
Because the economic impact should be minimal, further regulatory 
evaluation is not necessary. Moreover, I certify that this proposal 
will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of 
small entities.
    This proposal does not significantly affect the environment, and 
therefore an environmental impact statement is not required under the 
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. It has also been reviewed 
under Executive Order 12612, Federalism, and it has been determined 
that it does not have sufficient implications for federalism to warrant 
preparation of a Federalism Assessment.
    Finally, the proposal does not contain any collection of 
information requirements, requiring review under the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1980.

List of Subjects in 49 CFR Part 10:

    Penalties; Privacy.

    In accordance with the above, DOT proposes to amend 49 CFR part 10 
as follows:

PART 10--[AMENDED]

    1. The authority citation to part 10 would remain as follows:

    Authority: 5 USC 552a; 49 USC 322.

    2. Part I of Appendix A would be amended by republishing the 
introductory text and by adding a new paragraph F; Part II.A would be 
amended by adding a new paragraph 14; and Part II.F would be amended by 
adding a new paragraph 4, all to read as follows:

Appendix A to Part 10--Exemptions

    Part I. General exemptions. Those portions of the following 
systems of records that consist of (a) information compiled for the 
purpose of identifying individual criminal offenders and alleged 
offenders and consisting only of identifying data and notations of 
arrests, the nature and disposition of criminal charges, sentencing, 
confinement, release, and parole and probation status; (b) 
information compiled for the purpose of a criminal investigation, 
including reports of informants and investigators, and associated 
with an identifiable individual; or (c) reports identifiable to an 
individual compiled at any stage of the process of enforcement of 
the criminal laws from arrest or indictment through release from 
supervision, are exempt from all parts of 5 USC 552a except 
subsections (b) (Conditions of disclosure); (c)(1) and (2) 
(Accounting of certain disclosures); (e)(4)(A) through (F) 
(Publication of existence and character of system); (e)(6) (Ensure 
records are accurate, relevant, timely, and complete before 
disclosure to person other than an agency and other than pursuant to 
a Freedom of Information Act request), (7) (Restrict recordkeeping 
on First Amendment rights), (9) (Rules of conduct), (10) 
(Safeguards), and (11) (Routine use publication); and (i) (Criminal 
penalties):
* * * * *
    F. Joint Maritime Intelligence Element (JMIE) Support System, 
maintained by the Operations Systems Center, U.S. Coast Guard (DOT/
CG 642).
    Part II. Specific exemptions.
    A. The following systems of records are exempt from subsection 
(c)(3) (Accounting of Certain Disclosures), (d) (Access to Records), 
(e)(4)(G), (H), and (I) (Agency Requirements), and (f) (Agency 
Rules) of 5 USC 552a, to the extent that they contain investigatory 
material compiled for law enforcement purposes in accordance with 5 
USC 552a(k)(2):
* * * * *
    14. Joint Maritime Intelligence Element (JMIE) Support System, 
maintained by the Operations Systems Center, U.S. Coast Guard (DOT/
CG 642).
* * * * *
    F. Those portions of the following systems of records that 
consist of information properly classified in the interest of 
national defense or foreign policy in accordance with 5 USC 
552(b)(1) are exempt from sections (c)(3) (Accounting of Certain 
Disclosures), (d) (Access to Records), (e)(4)(G), (H), and (I) 
(Agency Requirements), and (f) (Agency Rules) of 5 USC 552a, to the 
extent that they contain investigatory material compiled for law 
enforcement purposes in accordance with 5 USC 552a(k)(1):
* * * * *
    4. Joint Maritime Intelligence Element (JMIE) Support System, 
maintained by the Operations Systems Center, U. S. Coast Guard (DOT/
CG 642).

    Issued in Washington, DC, on May 19, 1995.
Federico Pena,
Secretary of Transportation.
[FR Doc. 95-12833 Filed 5-25-95; 8:45 am]
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