[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 140 (Friday, July 20, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42796-42797]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-17697]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Office of the Secretary

[DOT-OST-2012-0101]


Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records; Statement of General 
Routine Uses; Notice of Establishment of Three New General Routine Uses

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary of Transportation, Department of 
Transportation.

ACTION: Notice to establish three new Privacy Act general routine uses.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the requirements of the Privacy Act of 
1974, as amended, 5 U.S.C. 552a, the Department of Transportation's 
Office of the Secretary of Transportation (DOT/OST) is publishing three 
new general routine uses for all DOT systems of records. Comment is 
invited on the three new routine uses. The three new routine uses are 
needed to clarify: The Department's authority to make disclosures to 
any person or entity acting on behalf of DOT when the disclosure is 
necessary to accomplish a DOT function; that the Department may make 
disclosures to audit or oversight organizations when necessary and 
relevant to a particular audit or oversight investigation of DOT 
programs or activities; and that the Department may make disclosures to 
other governmental entities when necessary for the detection, 
prevention, disruption, preemption, or mitigation of terrorist 
activities against the United States, as contemplated by the 
Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (Pub. L. 108-
458) and Executive Order 13388 (October 25, 2005).

DATES: Effective August 14, 2012. Written comments should be submitted 
on or before the effective date. If no comments are received, the 
proposal will become effective on the above date. If comments are 
received, the comments will be considered and, where adopted, the 
documents will be republished with changes.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket Number DOT-
OST-2012-0101, by one of the following methods:
     Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
     Fax: (202) 493-2251
     Mail: Claire W. Barrett, Departmental Chief Privacy 
Officer, Office of the Chief Information Officer, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE., Washington, DC 20590.
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name 
and docket number for this notice. 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: Claire W. Barrett, Departmental Chief 
Privacy Officer, Office of the Chief Information Officer, U.S. 
Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE., Washington, DC 
20590 or [email protected] or (202) 527-3284.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, 5 
U.S.C. 552a, governs the means by which the United States Government 
collects, maintains, and uses personally identifiable information (PII) 
in a system of records. A ``system of records'' is a group of any 
records under the control of a Federal agency from which information 
about individuals is retrieved by name or other personal identifier. 
The Privacy Act requires each agency to publish in the Federal 
Register, for public notice and comment, a system of records notice 
(SORN) identifying and describing each system of records the agency 
maintains, including the purposes for which the agency uses PII in the 
system and the routine uses for which the agency discloses such 
information outside the agency. As provided in ``Privacy Act 
Guidelines'' issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on 
July 1, 1975 (see 40 FR 28966), once an agency has published a routine 
use that will apply to all of its systems of records (i.e., a general 
routine use) in the Federal Register for public notice and comment, the 
agency may thereafter incorporate the publication by reference in each 
system's SORN without inviting further public comment on that use. To 
date, DOT has published 12 general routine uses (see 65 FR 19476, 
published April 11, 2000; 68 FR 8647, published February 23, 2003; and 
75 FR 82132, published December 29, 2010).
    The three new general routine uses are compatible with the purposes 
for which the information to be disclosed under these general routine 
uses was originally collected. With respect to the first new general 
routine use, individuals whose PII is in DOT systems expect that DOT 
may engage contractors, experts, consultants, and others to assist it 
in performing the functions and activities that gave rise to the system 
of records. This general use does not contemplate uses that are in 
addition to those already identified in existing DOT SORNs, instead, it 
clarifies that DOT may disclose information to its contractors, 
consultants, experts and others when those individuals or organizations 
are engaged in those uses already described in DOT SORNs on DOT's 
behalf. With respect to the second new general routine use, individuals 
whose PII is in DOT systems expect that their information may be 
disclosed to audit or oversight agencies, like the National 
Transportation Safety Board, when and only to the extent necessary and 
relevant to the audit or oversight of DOT activities. Finally, with 
respect to the third new general routine use, individuals whose 
information is in DOT systems expect that certain information may be 
released as is necessary and relevant to detect, prevent, disrupt, or 
mitigate terrorist activities against the United States.
    For the reasons set forth above, the following three general 
routine uses are established:
    13. DOT may disclose records from this system, as a routine use, to 
contractors and their agents, experts, consultants, and others 
performing or working on a contract, service, cooperative agreement, or 
other assignment for DOT, when necessary to accomplish an agency 
function related to this system of records.
    14. DOT may disclose records from this system, as a routine use, to 
an agency, organization, or individual for the purpose of performing 
audit or oversight operations related to this system of records, but 
only such records as are necessary and relevant to the audit or 
oversight activity. This routine use does not apply to intra-agency 
sharing authorized under Section (b)(1) of the Privacy Act.
    15. DOT may disclose from this system, as a routine use, records 
consisting of, or relating to, terrorism information (6 U.S.C. 
485(a)(5)), homeland security information (6 U.S.C. 482(f)(1)), or Law 
enforcement information (Guideline 2 Report attached to White House 
Memorandum, ``Information Sharing Environment, November 22, 2006) to a 
Federal, State, local, tribal, territorial, foreign government and/or 
multinational

[[Page 42797]]

agency, either in response to its request or upon the initiative of the 
Component, for purposes of sharing such information as is necessary and 
relevant for the agencies to detect, prevent, disrupt, preempt, and 
mitigate the effects of terrorist activities against the territory, 
people, and interests of the United States of America, as contemplated 
by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (Pub. 
L. 108-458) and Executive Order 13388 (October 25, 2005).

    Dated: July 16, 2012.
Claire W. Barrett,
DOT Chief Privacy Officer.
[FR Doc. 2012-17697 Filed 7-19-12; 8:45 am]
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