[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 21 (Tuesday, February 1, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5603-5606]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-2198]


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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.

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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: http://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 http://www.regulations.gov, 
including any personal information provided.
     Docket: For access to the docket to read background 
documents or comments received go to http://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 http://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, http://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