[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 192 (Thursday, October 4, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56793-56795]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-19461]



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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

[AAG/A Order No. 033-2007]


Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records

AGENCY: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Justice.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a) and Office 
of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-130, notice is hereby given 
that the Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), 
proposes to establish a new system of records entitled ``Law 
Enforcement National Data Exchange (N-DEx),'' DOJ/FBI-020.

DATES: The Privacy Act requires that the public be given 30 days in 
which to comment on any new or amended uses of information in a system 
of records. In addition, OMB, which has oversight responsibilities 
under the Act, and the Congress must be given 40 days in which to 
review major changes to Privacy Act systems. Therefore, the public, 
OMB, and the Congress are invited to submit written comments on this 
new Privacy Act system of records. Comments must be received by 
November 13, 2007. The system of records will be effective November 13, 
2007 unless comments are received that result in a contrary 
determination.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be sent to Joo Chung, Counsel, Privacy and 
Civil Liberties Office, Office of the Deputy Attorney General, 950 
Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20530, or facsimile 202-616-
9627.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Elizabeth Withnell, Assistant General 
Counsel, Privacy and Civil Liberties Unit, Office of the General 
Counsel, Federal Bureau of Investigation, 202-324-3396.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department of Justice (DOJ) and its 
component agency, the FBI, have identified improved information sharing 
with the entire law enforcement community as a key goal and the focus 
of the Department's Law Enforcement Information Sharing Program 
(LEISP). The Law Enforcement National Data Exchange (N-DEx) Program is 
at the heart of the LEISP and will improve information sharing for law 
enforcement purposes. The N-DEx, operated under the aegis of the FBI's 
Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division, is a scalable 
information sharing network that will provide the capability to make 
potential linkages between crime incidents, criminal investigations, 
arrests, bookings, incarcerations, and parole and/or probation 
information in order to help solve, deter and prevent crimes and, in 
the process, enhance homeland security.
    The N-DEx will be populated by data that is already collected by 
law enforcement agencies at the Federal, State, local and tribal levels 
in fulfilling their functions, such as incident, offense and case 
reports. The N-DEx, however, will facilitate the combination of this 
data in one secure repository in order to be reviewed for connections, 
trends or similarities that will help facilitate the deterrence, 
prevention and resolution of crimes. Each data contributor will provide 
information subject to conditions elaborated in a memorandum of 
understanding or based on Federal law that are expected to reserve 
ultimate control and disposition of the data to the contributing 
agencies. Although the N-DEx will facilitate comparisons of seemingly 
disparate data, the information may not be used as a basis for action 
or disseminated beyond the recipient without that recipient first 
obtaining permission of the record owner/contributor. This permission 
policy, which may be waived only where there is an actual or potential 
threat of terrorism, immediate danger of death or serious physical 
injury to any person or imminent harm to national security, will help 
ensure that information maintained in the system is verified and 
updated as necessary. These rules will be enforced through strong and 
consistent audit procedures.
    All data contributors will be responsible for ensuring that 
information they share is relevant, timely, complete, and accurate and 
periodic updates will be required in order to enhance data and system 
integrity.
    System access will be based on a user's job function in his or her 
respective agency and will also be conditioned on access limits 
prescribed by the data contributor, which can range from unrestricted 
sharing to highly restricted access.
    Because the N-DEx contains criminal law enforcement information, 
the Attorney General is proposing to exempt this system from certain 
portions of the Privacy Act, as permitted by law, to protect sensitive 
information contained in this system and to prevent the compromise of 
ongoing law enforcement investigations and sources and methods. As 
required by the Privacy Act, a proposed rule is being published 
concurrently with this notice to seek public comment on the proposal to 
exempt this system.
    In addition, in accordance with Privacy Act requirements (5 U.S.C. 
552a(r)), the Department of Justice has provided a report on this new 
system of records to OMB and the Congress. A description of the N-DEx 
system of records appears below.

    Dated: September 25, 2007.
Lee J. Lofthus,
Assistant Attorney General for Administration.
JUSTICE/FBI-020

System Name:
    Law Enforcement National Data Exchange (N-DEx).

Security Classification:
    Sensitive But Unclassified.

System Location:
    Records will be located at the Federal Bureau of Investigation 
(FBI), Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division, 1000 
Custer Hollow Road, Clarksburg, WV 26306, and at appropriate locations 
for system back-up and continuity of operations purposes.

Categories of Individuals Covered by the System:
    The N-DEx will cover any individual who is identified in a law 
enforcement report concerning a crime incident or criminal 
investigation. These individuals include, but are not limited to: 
Subjects; suspects; associates; victims; persons of interest; 
witnesses; and/or any individual named in an arrest, booking, parole 
and/or probation report.

Categories of Records in the System:
    The N-DEx will contain information collected by criminal justice 
agencies that is needed for the performance of their legally 
authorized, required function. The records in the system consist of 
incident, offense and case reports as well as arrest, booking, 
incarceration, and parole and/or probation information from Federal, 
State, local and tribal law enforcement entities. Identifying 
information in this system will include, but not be limited to: 
Name(s); sex; race; citizenship; date and place of birth; address(es); 
telephone number(s); social security number(s) or other unique 
identifiers; physical description (including height, weight, hair 
color, eye color, gender); occupation and vehicle identifiers. Data 
from the FBI's CJIS Division, including the National Crime Information 
Center (NCIC), the Interstate Identification Index (III), and 
Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS), will be 
made available to the system for queries, but the N-DEx will not 
contain copies of these databases.

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The information contributed by Federal, State, local and tribal law 
enforcement entities will be formatted using the National Information 
Exchange Model (NIEM), a single standard Extensible Markup Language 
(XML) foundation for exchanging information between agencies, in order 
to facilitate information sharing.

Authority for Maintenance of the System:
    The system is established and maintained in accordance with 28 
U.S.C. 533, 534; 28 CFR 0.85 and 28 CFR part 20.

Purpose(s):
    The purpose of the N-DEx system is to enhance the interconnectivity 
of criminal justice databases in order to improve the sharing of 
multiple levels of criminal justice data to further criminal justice 
objectives for crime analysis, law enforcement administration, and 
strategic/tactical operations in investigating, reporting, solving, and 
preventing crime, and, thereby, improving homeland security. The N-DEx 
system will allow Federal, State, local and tribal law enforcement 
agencies to compare and/or link criminal incidents and/or 
investigations occurring in their own jurisdictions with those in other 
jurisdictions throughout the country.

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 the FBI 
as a routine use pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(b)(3), to the extent such 
disclosures are compatible with the purpose for which the information 
was collected, in accordance with any blanket routine uses established 
for FBI record systems. For current blanket routine uses, see Blanket 
Routine Uses (BRU) Applicable to More Than One FBI Privacy Act System 
of Records, Justice/FBI-BRU, published in the Federal Register at 66 FR 
33558 (June 22, 2001) and amended at 70 FR 7513 (Feb. 14, 2005). 
Routine uses are not meant to be mutually exclusive and may overlap in 
some cases. In addition, the FBI may disclose relevant system records 
as follows:
    A. To any criminal, civil, or regulatory law enforcement authority 
(whether Federal, State, local, territorial, tribal, or foreign) where 
the information is relevant to the recipient entity's law enforcement 
or homeland security responsibilities.
    B. To a Federal, State, local, joint, tribal, foreign, 
international, or other public agency/organization, or to any person or 
entity in either the public or private sector, domestic or foreign, 
where such disclosure may facilitate the apprehension of fugitives, the 
location of missing persons, the location and/or return of stolen 
property or similar criminal justice objectives.
    C. To any person or entity in either the public or private sector, 
domestic or foreign, if deemed by the FBI to be reasonably necessary to 
elicit information or cooperation from the recipient for use in 
furthering the purposes of the system.
    D. To appropriate agencies, entities, and persons when (1) The 
Department of Justice suspects or has confirmed that the security or 
confidentiality of information in the system of records has been 
compromised; (2) the Department of Justice 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 the Department or another agency or entity) 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 the Department of Justice's efforts to respond to 
the suspected or confirmed compromise and prevent, minimize, or remedy 
such harm.
    E. To those agencies, entities and persons the FBI may consider 
necessary or appropriate incident to the ensuring the continuity of 
government functions in the event of any actual or potential 
significant disruption of normal operations.

DISCLOSURE TO CONSUMER REPORTING AGENCIES:
    Not Applicable.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORING, RETRIEVING, ACCESSING, RETAINING, 
AND DISPOSING OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
STORAGE:
    Most information is maintained in electronic form and stored in 
computer memory, on disk storage, on computer tape, or other computer 
media. However, some information may also be maintained by the 
contributing agency in hard copy (paper) or other form.

RETRIEVABILITY:
    Information will be retrieved by linkages based on identifying data 
collected on involved persons, places and things, and other non-
specific descriptions of circumstances to identify events with a common 
modus operandi. This could include individual names or other personal 
identifiers.

SAFEGUARDS:
    System records are maintained in limited access space in FBI 
controlled facilities and offices. Computerized data is password 
protected. All FBI personnel are required to pass an extensive 
background investigation. The information is accessed only by 
authorized DOJ personnel or by non-DOJ personnel properly authorized to 
assist in the conduct of an agency function related to these records. 
Authorized system users will have adequate physical security and built 
in controls to protect against unauthorized personnel gaining access to 
the equipment and/or the information stored in it.

RETENTION AND DISPOSAL:
    The information within the N-DEx system will be contributed by 
Federal, State, local, and tribal law enforcement entities. All 
entities will be responsible for ensuring the relevance and currency of 
the information they contribute to the system and will have control and 
responsibility for the disposition of their own records through a 
process that will be documented by a memorandum of understanding or 
based upon Federal law. Those portions of the N-DEx that constitute 
Federal records will be subject to retention schedules for those 
documents that have been approved by the National Archives and Records 
Administration (NARA). In addition, N-DEx, itself, will result in the 
creation of metadata or an audit log that reflects any correlation 
between any of the submitted records, as well as information about user 
activity. A schedule for disposition of this metadata will be submitted 
to NARA for approval.

SYSTEM MANAGER(S) AND ADDRESS:
    Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation, 935 Pennsylvania Ave., 
NW., Washington, DC 20535-0001.

NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES:
    Same as Record Access Procedures.

RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURES:
    Because this system contains law enforcement records, the records 
in this system have been exempted from notification, access, and 
amendment to the extent permitted by subsection (j) of the Privacy Act. 
An individual who is the subject of one or more records in this system 
may be notified of records that are not exempt from notification and, 
accordingly, may access those

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records that are not exempt from disclosure. A request for access to a 
non-exempt record shall be made in writing with the envelope and the 
letter clearly marked ``Privacy Act Request.'' Requests should include 
full name and complete address and be signed. To verify the signature 
it must 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. Other identifying data that will assist in making a 
proper search of the system may also be submitted. Requests for access 
must be addressed to the Record/Information Dissemination Section, 
Federal Bureau of Investigation, 935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., 
Washington, DC 20535-0001.
    A determination on notification and access, in the sole prerogative 
of the FBI, will be made at the time a request is received.

CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURES:
    To contest or amend information maintained in the system, an 
individual should direct his/her request to the address provided above, 
stating clearly and concisely what information is being contested, the 
reasons for contesting it, and the proposed amendment to the 
information sought.
    Some information may be exempt from contesting record procedures as 
described in the section titled ``Exemptions Claimed for the System.'' 
An individual who is the subject of one or more records in this system 
may contest and pursue amendment of those records that are not exempt. 
A determination whether a record may be subject to amendment will be 
made at the time a request is received.

RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
    Information contained in the N-DEx system is obtained from Federal, 
State, local, and tribal criminal justice agencies.

EXEMPTIONS CLAIMED FOR THE SYSTEM:
    The Attorney General has exempted this system from subsection 
(c)(3) and (4); (d)(1), (2), (3) and (4); (e)(1), (2), (3), (5) and 
(8); and (g) of the Privacy Act pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(j)(2). Rules 
have been promulgated in accordance with the requirements of 5 U.S.C. 
553(b), (c), and (e), and are published in today's Federal Register.

[FR Doc. E7-19461 Filed 10-3-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-02-P