[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 177 (Thursday, September 12, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 74200-74202]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-20694]


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 Notices
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  Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 177 / Thursday, September 12, 2024 / 
Notices  

[[Page 74200]]



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of a modified system of records.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, and Office of 
Management and Budget Circular No. A-108 Federal Agency 
Responsibilities for Review, Reporting, and Publication, the U.S. 
Department of Agriculture (USDA or Department) is issuing a public 
notice of its intent to modify the current system of records titled 
``Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, FS-33 Law Enforcement and 
Investigative Records.'' This system allows Law Enforcement and 
Investigations to record all criminal and civil investigations that 
take place or are related to crimes committed on National Forest System 
lands, which includes verified violations of criminal statutes and 
Forest Service (Agency) policy, as well as situations that may result 
in civil claims for or against the government. This information helps 
the Agency meet its objective of contributing to the safety of law 
enforcement officers, Forest Service employees, and national forest 
visitors.

DATES: This notice is applicable upon publication, subject to a 30-day 
period in which to comment on the routine uses described below. 
Comments must be submitted by October 15, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Comments, identified by docket number FS-2021-0002, may be 
submitted via one of the following methods:
    1. Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and 
follow the instructions for submitting comments.
    2. Email: Curtis Davis, [email protected].
    3. Mail: Director, Law Enforcement and Investigations (Mail Stop 
1140), USDA Forest Service, P.O. Box 96090, Washington, DC 20250.
    Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name and 
docket number [FS-2021-0002]. All comments received, including any 
personal information provided, will be posted without change to https://www.regulations.gov.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background information or 
comments received go to https://www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general questions please contact 
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Law Enforcement and 
Investigations Staff, 1400 Independence Avenue SW (Mail Stop 1140), 
Washington, DC 20250; phone 703-605-4730, email [email protected]. 
For privacy questions, please contact Chief Privacy Officer, Office of 
the Chief Information Officer, Department of Agriculture, Washington, 
DC 20250. Cynthia Ebersohn by email at [email protected] or by 
phone at 703-282-5413.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The purposes for changes to this system of 
records are:
    1. To provide the procedures that allow individuals to gain access 
to their information maintained in this system of records notice as 
outlined in section 6 (Notice) and section 7 (Access, Redress, and 
Correction) of the Law Enforcement Investigations Reporting System 
(LEIRS), formerly known as Law Enforcement Investigations Management 
Attainment Record System (LEIMARS), and Law Enforcement Investigation 
(LEI) Vault Privacy Impact Assessments. LEIRS is the system of record 
for the LEI information technologies (IT) portfolio, which is comprised 
of LEIRS, the LEI Vault, and any later acquisitions that fall within 
the LEI IT portfolio for these purposes.
    2. To reflect changes in practice and policy that affect the 
personally identifiable information (PII) maintained in this system of 
records. The LEIRS database is not accessible by the public. The 
information is shared on a need-to-know basis with law enforcement 
partners and the Federal, State, and local court systems. Information 
such as statistical crime analysis, including the number of incidents 
and cases, but excluding PII, is shared with Congress and other 
agencies on a need-to-know basis. This change to the routine uses 
section is intended to also meet the requirements of Executive Order 
14074 to ``include within the policies developed pursuant to subsection 
(a)(i) of this section protocols for expedited public release of BWC 
[body-worn camera] video footage following incidents involving serious 
bodily injury or deaths in custody, which shall be consistent with 
applicable law, including 7 CFR, 5 U.S.C., and the Privacy Act of 1974, 
and shall take into account the need to promote transparency and 
accountability, the duty to protect the privacy rights of persons 
depicted in the footage, and any need to protect ongoing law 
enforcement operations.''
    The intended effect of these changes is to show individuals their 
PII information is secure within the LEI IT portfolio.
    The Forest Service proposes to modify a system of records, entitled 
``USDA/FS-33 Law Enforcement and Investigative Records'' that will be 
used to maintain records of activities conducted by the Agency pursuant 
to its mission and responsibilities.
    The Forest Service LEIRS application is primarily a criminal 
database and is used to collect information concerning criminal 
incidents; it is also used to document incidents that may be non-
criminal in nature, primarily pertaining to civil cases that may result 
in a claim for or against the government. LEI Vault contains visual 
imagery and audio recordings of law enforcement and investigation 
events and interviews conducted.
    Consistent with the USDA's information sharing mission, information 
stored within the components of LEIRS may be shared with other USDA 
components, as well as appropriate Federal, State, local, tribal, 
foreign, or international government agencies. This sharing will only 
take place after the USDA determines the receiving component or agency 
has a 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.
    The Privacy Act embodies fair information principles in a statutory

[[Page 74201]]

framework governing the means by which the United States Government 
collects, maintains, uses, and disseminates personally identifiable 
information. 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 using the name of an individual or using 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 legal permanent residents.
    The Privacy Act of 1974, as amended (5 U.S.C. 552a), requires 
agencies to publish in the Federal Register notice of new or revised 
systems of records maintained by the agency. In accordance with 5 
U.S.C. 552a(r), the Department has provided a report of this system 
change to the Office of Management and Budget and to Congress.

SYSTEM NAME AND NUMBER:
    USDA/FS-33 Law Enforcement and Investigative Records is the title 
given to the Law Enforcement Investigations IT (LEI IT) portfolio, 
consisting of the Law Enforcement Investigations Reporting System 
(LEIRS) and Law Enforcement Investigation (LEI) Vault.

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION:
    Unclassified.

SYSTEM LOCATION:
    LEIRS is a FedRAMP recognized centralized cloud-based database and 
is hosted within the Tyler Federal cloud-based hosting environment, 
which is housed within an Equinix provided data center physically 
located at 44470 Chilum Place, DC3--Bldg. 1, in Ashburn, VA.
    LEI Vault is hosted in a FedRAMP recognized cloud-based environment 
hosted in Microsoft Azure. The address of the third-party service 
provider is Microsoft, 1 Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052-6399.

SYSTEM MANAGER(S):
    The Director, Law Enforcement and Investigations, U.S. Department 
of Agriculture, Forest Service, 1400 Independence Avenue SW (Mail Stop 
1140), Washington, DC 20250.

PURPOSE(S) OF THE SYSTEM:
    LEIRS is a national database used by USDA Forest Service Law 
Enforcement and Investigations, consisting of approximately 600 to 700 
users dispersed throughout the nine Forest Service regions. The 
information is collected to document all criminal and civil 
investigations that take place or are related to crimes committed on 
National Forest System lands.
    LEI Vault is the USDA-Forest Service implementation of technology 
to meet the data storage requirements that support the Law Enforcement 
and Investigations Directorate fielding of body-worn cameras. Body-worn 
cameras are widely used by law enforcement agencies in the United 
States. They are worn principally by sworn officers in the performance 
of duties that require open and direct contact with the public. Body-
worn cameras are cameras with a microphone and internal data storage. 
They allow audio-video footage, known as digital media evidence, to be 
stored and analyzed with compatible software. Cameras are typically 
designed to be located on an officer's chest or head but may also be 
configured to deploy with a weapon or to be triggered when a weapon is 
deployed.
    The LEI Vault and the underlying, supporting Axon Evidence(dot)com 
systems are not used by, nor are they available for access by the 
public. LEI Vault leverages the FedRAMP-accredited cloud resources 
provided by Axon Evidence(dot)com to store and manage law enforcement 
officers' digital evidence (such as camera footage and audio recordings 
of interviews) and to provide a central management console for 
associated products and devices. All data originate with and is 
consumed by authorized USDA Forest Service LEI personnel and staff. All 
data is subject to the USDA Forest Service LEI organization policies in 
place to govern this data, to include privacy and organization-level 
security.

RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
    LEIRS is primarily a criminal and civil investigation database and 
is used to collect information concerning criminal incidents that 
includes the PII related to suspects, witnesses, and victims in 
addition to information pertaining to the investigation of criminal 
activity. LEIRS collects the following information: first name, last 
name, middle initial, date of birth, home or mailing address, work 
address, driver's license, fishing license, hunting license, military 
issued ID, school issued ID, social security ID, state issued ID, 
height, weight, race, sex, hair color, eye color, adult/juvenile, and 
occupation, handwriting or an image of the signature. LEIRS is also 
used to document incidents that may be non-criminal in the nature, 
primarily pertaining to civil cases which may result in a claim for or 
against the government.
    LEI Vault consists of video and audio evidence gathered by federal 
officers while in direct contact with subjects. The footage is not 
searchable by keyword.

ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES 
OF USERS AND PURPOSES OF SUCH USES:
    In addition to those disclosures generally permitted under 5 U.S.C. 
552a(b) of the Privacy Act, routine uses are defined as disclosures 
where information is routinely shared whether internally or externally. 
Below are routine uses applicable to Law Enforcement and Investigative 
Records:
    A. Sharing information with the Department of Justice when (a) USDA 
or any component thereof, (b) any employee of USDA in his or her 
official capacity where the Department of Justice has agreed to 
represent the employee, or (c) the United States Government is a party 
to litigation or has an interest in such litigation, and, by careful 
review, USDA determines that the records are both relevant and 
necessary to the litigation and the use of such records by the 
Department of Justice is therefore deemed by USDA to be for a purpose 
that is compatible with the purpose for which USDA collected the 
records.
    B. Sharing information with a congressional office in response to 
an inquiry from that congressional office made at the written request 
of the individual to whom the record pertains.
    C. Sharing information with 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. Sharing information with 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. Sharing information with appropriate agencies, entities, and 
persons when (1) the USDA suspects or has confirmed that the security 
or confidentiality of information in the system of records has been 
compromised; (2) the USDA has determined that as a result of the 
suspected or confirmed breach, there is a risk of harm to individuals, 
the USDA (including its information systems, programs, and operations), 
the Federal Government, or national security; and (3) the disclosure 
made to such agencies, entities, and persons is reasonably necessary to 
assist in

[[Page 74202]]

connection with USDA's efforts to respond to the suspected or confirmed 
compromise and prevent, minimize, or remedy such harm.
    F. Sharing information when a record on its face, or in conjunction 
with other records, indicates a violation or potential violation of 
law, whether civil, criminal, or regulatory in nature, and whether 
arising by general statute or particular program statute, or by 
regulation, rule, or order issued pursuant thereto, disclosure may be 
made to the appropriate agency, whether Federal, foreign, State, local, 
or tribal, or other public authority responsible for enforcing, 
investigating, or prosecuting such violation or charged with enforcing 
or implementing the statute, or rule, regulation, or order issued 
pursuant thereto, if the information disclosed is relevant to any 
enforcement, regulatory, investigative, or prosecutorial responsibility 
of the receiving entity. Referral to the appropriate agency, whether 
Federal, State, local, or foreign, charged with the responsibility of 
investigating or prosecuting violation of law, or of enforcing or 
implementing a statute, rule, regulation, or order issued pursuant 
thereto, of any record within the system when information available 
indicates a violation or potential violation of law, whether civil, 
criminal, or regulatory in nature.
    G. Sharing information with another Federal agency or Federal 
entity when information from this system of records is reasonably 
necessary to assist the recipient agency or entity in (a) responding to 
a suspected or confirmed breach, or (b) preventing, minimizing, or 
remedying the risk of harm to individuals, the recipient agency or 
entity (including its information systems, programs, and operations), 
the Federal Government, or national security, resulting from a 
suspected or confirmed breach.
    H. Sharing information with a court or adjudicative body in a 
proceeding when (a) the USDA or any component thereof, (b) any employee 
of the USDA in his or her official capacity, or (c) any employee of the 
USDA in his or her individual capacity where the USDA has agreed to 
represent the employee or the United States Government, is a party to 
litigation or has an interest in such litigation, and by careful 
review, the USDA determines that the records are both relevant and 
necessary to the litigation and the use of such records is therefore 
deemed by the USDA to be for a purpose that is compatible with the 
purpose for which the USDA collected the records.
    I. Sharing information with the news media and the public, with the 
approval of the Director of Law Enforcement and Investigations in 
consultation with the Chief Privacy Officer and the Office of the 
General Counsel, in support of law enforcement activities, including 
obtaining public assistance with identifying and locating criminal 
suspects and lost or missing individuals, and providing the public with 
alerts about dangerous individuals, unless the Chief Privacy Officer 
determines that release of the specific information in the context of a 
particular case would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of 
personal privacy.
    J. Sharing information with the news media and the public, with the 
approval of the Director of Law Enforcement and Investigations in 
consultation with the Chief Privacy Officer and the Office of the 
General Counsel, of body-worn camera video footage following incidents 
involving serious bodily injury or death occurring while an individual 
is in the custody of a law enforcement officer, when a legitimate 
public interest exists in the disclosure of the information; when 
disclosure is necessary to preserve confidence in the integrity of the 
USDA; and when disclosure is necessary to demonstrate the 
accountability of the USDA's law enforcement officers, employees, or 
individuals covered by the system, unless the Chief Privacy Officer 
determines that release of the body-worn camera video footage in the 
context of a particular case would constitute a clearly unwarranted 
invasion of personal privacy. The public release of such video footage 
will be consistent with applicable law, including the Privacy Act of 
1974, and shall take into account the duty to protect the privacy 
rights of the persons depicted in the footage and any need to protect 
ongoing law enforcement operations. The release will also comply with 
all applicable Department and Agency regulations and policies.

NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES:
    LEIRS contains information about individuals that is recorded on a 
violation notice. Individuals who receive a violation notice are 
provided with a copy at the time of the incident. The notification 
provides a copy of all recorded information to individuals.
    Information to individuals is provided via:
     LEIRS Privacy Impact Analysis on the Department Privacy 
Impact Analysis website at https://www.usda.gov/home/privacy-policy/privacyimpact-assessments.
     The Federal Register for system of records notices and 
legal authorities.
     Forest Service-specific system of records notices are also 
published on the Forest Service website at https://www.fs.fed.us/im/foia/pasystems.htm.
     Forms associated with Privacy Act systems are approved 
through the Office of Management and Budget under the Paperwork 
Reduction Act (also cited in the Federal Register); the forms cite the 
Privacy Act.
    Any individual may request general information regarding this 
system of records or information as to whether the system contains 
records pertaining to him or her. All inquiries pertaining to this 
system should be in writing, must name the system of records as set 
forth in the system notice, and must contain the individual's name, 
telephone number, address, and email address (see specific instructions 
above).

    Dated: September 5, 2024.
Randy Moore,
Chief, USDA Forest Service.
[FR Doc. 2024-20694 Filed 9-11-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3411-15-P