[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 142 (Monday, July 28, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35514-35517]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-14120]
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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Department of the Army
[Docket ID: USA-2025-HQ-0069]
Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records
AGENCY: Department of the Army, Department of Defense (DoD).
ACTION: Notice of a modified system of records.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974 (as amended), the
Department of the Army is modifying and reissuing a current system of
records titled, ``Army Family Advocacy Program Files,'' A0608-18 DASG.
The system of records name is changing from ``Army Family Advocacy
Program Files'' to ``Army Family Advocacy Program Records.'' This
system of records was originally established to maintain records that
identify, monitor, track and provide treatment to alleged offenders,
eligible victims and their families of substantiated spouse/child
abuse, and neglect. The system is being updated to expand coverage to
intimate partners of service members and the intimate partner's
children as it pertains to allegations of domestic abuse and child
abuse/neglect. Additionally, Army is updating the routine use section
to add the DoD standard routine uses (routine uses A through J). The
Army is also modifying various other sections within the system of
records notice (SORN) to improve clarity or update information that has
changed.
DATES: This system of records is effective upon publication; however,
comments on the Routine Uses will be accepted on or before August 27,
2025. The Routine Uses are effective at the close of the comment
period, unless comments have been received from interested members of
the public that require modification and republication of the notice.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by docket number and
title, by either of the following methods:
\*\ Federal Rulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. Follow
the instructions for submitting comments.
\*\ Mail: Department of Defense, Office of the Assistant to the
Secretary of Defense for Privacy, Civil Liberties, and Transparency,
Regulatory Directorate, 4800 Mark Center Drive, Attn: Mailbox 24, Suite
05F16, Alexandria, VA 22350-1700.
Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name
and docket number for this Federal Register document. The general
policy for comments and other submissions from members of the public is
to make these submissions available for public viewing on the internet
at https://www.regulations.gov as they are received without change,
including any personal identifiers or contact information.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Joyce Luton, Department of the
Army,
[[Page 35515]]
Records Management Directorate, Attention: Army Privacy and Civil
Liberties Office, 9301 Chapek Road (Building 1458), Fort Belvoir, VA
22060-5527 or by calling (571) 515-0213.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The Army Family Advocacy Program (FAP) is a program mandated by
Congress to address issues related to child abuse and neglect, domestic
abuse, and problematic sexual behavior in children and youth. The Army
FAP uses a web-based application to create an electronic platform for
managing various aspects of incident response, including child and
adult abuse incident determination, case management for offenders and
victims, background checks for childcare providers, and data collection
for reporting to Congress. The application also hosts and utilizes the
Army Central Registry (ACR), which is a DoD-mandated registry of abuse
incidents, to provide data to authorized agencies within DoD, as well
as Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies and child
protection services. The ACR consults with other Service abuse
registries and furnishes on-demand responses to queries from Congress
and the Executive branch.
Subject to public comment, the DoD is updating the routine use
section to add the standard DoD routine uses (routine uses A through
J). Additionally, the system of records is being renamed from ``Army
Family Advocacy Program Files'' to ``Army Family Advocacy Program
Records.'' The following sections of this SORN are also being modified:
(1) to the Authority for Maintenance of the System section to update
citation(s) and add additional authorities; (2) to the Categories of
Individuals Covered by the System section to expand the individuals
covered and Categories of Records to clarify how the records relate to
the revised Category of Individuals; (3) to the Administrative,
Technical, and Physical Safeguards to update the individual safeguards
protecting the personal information; (4) to the Retention and Disposal
section to reflect the approved disposition; (5) to the Record Access
Procedures section to reflect the need for individuals to identify the
appropriate DoD office or component to which their request should be
directed; (6) to the Notification and Contesting Records Procedures
section to update the appropriate citation for contesting records; and
(7) to the System Manager and System Location sections to update the
addresses and office names. Furthermore, this notice includes non-
substantive changes to simplify the formatting and text of the
previously published notice.
DoD SORNs have been published in the Federal Register and are
available from the address in FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT or at the
Office of the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Privacy, Civil
Liberties, and Transparency (OATSD(PCLT)) website at https://dpcld.defense.gov/privacy.
II. Privacy Act
Under the Privacy Act, a ``system of records'' is a group of
records under the control of an agency from 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 as a U.S. citizen or lawful
permanent resident.
In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552a(r) and Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) Circular No. A-108, OATSD(PCLT) has provided a report of
this system of records to the OMB and to Congress.
Dated: July 23, 2025.
Aaron T. Siegel,
Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison Officer, Department of Defense.
SYSTEM NAME AND NUMBER:
Army Family Advocacy Program Records, A0608-18 DASG.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION:
Unclassified.
SYSTEM LOCATION:
Department of Defense (Department or DoD), located at 1000 Defense
Pentagon, Washington, DC 20301-1000, and other Department
installations, offices, or mission locations. Information may also be
stored within a government-certified cloud, implemented and overseen by
the Department's Chief Information Officer (CIO), 6000 Defense
Pentagon, Washington, DC 20301-6000.
SYSTEM MANAGER:
The system manager is Commander, U.S. Army Medical Command, ATTN:
MCHO-CL-H(ACR), 2450 Connell Road, Fort Sam Houston, TX 78234-6010.
AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
10 U.S.C. 7013, Secretary of the Army; 18 U.S.C. 1512: Tampering
With A Witness, Victim, or An Informant; 18 U.S.C. 1513: Retaliating
Against A Witness, Victim, or An Informant; 18 U.S.C. 1514: Civil
Action to Restrain Harassment of A Victim or Witness; DoD Instruction
(DoDI) 1030.02, Victim and Witness Assistance; DoDI 6025.18, Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) Privacy Rule
Compliance in DoD Health Care Programs; DoDI 6400.01, Family Advocacy
Program; DoDI 6400.06, DoD Coordinated Community Response to Domestic
Abuse Involving DoD Military and Certain Affiliated Personnel; DoDI
6400.07, Standards for Victim Assistance Services in the Military
Community; DoD Manual (DoDM) 6400.01 V2, Family Advocacy Program (FAP):
Child Abuse and Domestic Abuse Incident Reporting System; Army
Regulation (AR) 608-18, The Army Family Advocacy Program; and E.O. 9397
(SSN), as amended.
PURPOSE(S) OF THE SYSTEM:
A. To maintain records that identify, monitor, track and provide
treatment to alleged offenders, eligible victims and their families of
substantiated spouse/intimate partner/child abuse, and neglect. To
manage prevention programs to reduce the incidence of abuse throughout
the Army military communities.
B. To support necessary litigation, use civilian resources for
counseling and treating individuals or families involved in cases, and
provide referrals as appropriate to law enforcement authorities for the
purpose of investigating a suspected case of abuse.
C. To facilitate collaboration and coordination among law
enforcement, medical professionals, community resources, civilian
authorities, and child protection agencies, unit commanders and
preventive services.
D. To enable coordination and collaboration in the implementation
of preventive measures and community education regarding child abuse
and neglect, as well as spouse/intimate partner abuse, and to provide a
platform for victim advocacy management and case management for New
Parent Support services within family services.
F. To perform research studies and compile statistical data.
CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
Eligible military members and their family, intimate partners of
military members, children of intimate partners, and DoD civilians who
participate in the Army Family Advocacy Program.
CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
A. Personal information to include name, social security number
(SSN), DoD ID number, date of birth, race, sex, ethnicity, employment
and home
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address, marital and family status, employment and education
information, supervisor, and unit contacts, personal and employment
work contacts, past legal, dental, and medical care history to include
behavioral health history, childhood history, spiritual, cultural and
religious information, and all information related to allegations of
domestic and family maltreatment. These reporting requirements include
SSN's when identifying sponsors, victims and alleged perpetrators of
child and domestic violence.
B. Other records include Family Advocacy Incident Determination
Committee (IDC) records of established cases of child/spouse/intimate
partner abuse or neglect to include those occurring in Army sanctioned
or operated activities. Files may contain extracts of law enforcement
investigative reports, child welfare reports, medical evaluations,
victim reporting preference statements, impact statements, photographic
documentation of incidents and injuries, correspondence, IDC reports,
IDC determinations, Command actions, risk assessments, biopsychosocial
assessments, treatment plans and documentation of treatment, follow-up
and evaluative reports, supportive data relevant to individual family
advocacy incident files, summary statistical data reports and similar
relevant files.
Note: This system of records may contain individually identifiable
health information. DoDI 6025.18, Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule Compliance in DoD Health Care
Programs may place additional procedural requirements on the uses and
disclosures of such information beyond those found in the Privacy Act
of 1974 or mentioned in this system of records notice.
RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
Records and information stored in this system of records are
obtained from the individual, educational institutions, medical
institutions, police and investigating officers, state and local
government agencies, witnesses, and records and reports prepared on
behalf of the Army by boards, committees, panels, auditors, etc.
Information may also derive from interviews, personal history
statements, and observations of behavior by professional persons (i.e.,
social workers, physicians, including psychiatrists and pediatricians,
psychologists, nurses, and lawyers).
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 of 1974, as amended, all or a portion of the
records or information contained herein may specifically be disclosed
outside the DoD as a routine use pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(b)(3) as
follows:
A. To contractors, grantees, experts, consultants, students, and
others performing or working on a contract, service, grant, cooperative
agreement, or other assignment for the Federal Government when
necessary to accomplish an agency function related to this system of
records.
B. To the appropriate Federal, State, local, territorial, tribal,
foreign, or international law enforcement authority or other
appropriate entity where a record, either alone or in conjunction with
other information, indicates a violation or potential violation of law,
whether criminal, civil, or regulatory in nature.
C. To any component of the Department of Justice for the purpose of
representing the DoD, or its components, officers, employees, or
members in pending or potential litigation to which the record is
pertinent.
D. In an appropriate proceeding before a court, grand jury, or
administrative or adjudicative body or official, when the DoD or other
Agency representing the DoD determines that the records are relevant
and necessary to the proceeding; or in an appropriate proceeding before
an administrative or adjudicative body when the adjudicator determines
the records to be relevant to the proceeding.
E. To the National Archives and Records Administration for the
purpose of records management inspections conducted under the authority
of 44 U.S.C. 2904 and 2906.
F. To a Member of Congress or staff acting upon the Member's behalf
when the Member or staff requests the information on behalf of, and at
the request of, the individual who is the subject of the record.
G. To appropriate agencies, entities, and persons when (1) the DoD
suspects or confirms a breach of the system of records; (2) the DoD
determines as a result of the suspected or confirmed breach there is a
risk of harm to individuals, the DoD (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 connection with the DoD's
efforts to respond to the suspected or confirmed breach or to prevent,
minimize, or remedy such harm.
H. To another Federal agency or Federal entity, when the DoD
determines that information from this system of records is reasonably
necessary to assist the recipient agency or entity in (1) responding to
a suspected or confirmed breach or (2) 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.
I. To another Federal, State or local agency for the purpose of
comparing to the agency's system of records or to non-Federal records,
in coordination with an Office of Inspector General in conducting an
audit, investigation, inspection, evaluation, or some other review as
authorized by the Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended.
J. To such recipients and under such circumstances and procedures
as are mandated by Federal statute or treaty.
K. To departments and agencies of the Executive Branch of
government in performance of their official duties relating to
coordination of family advocacy programs, medical care, and research
concerning child abuse and neglect, and spouse/intimate partner abuse.
L. To Federal, State, or local governmental agencies when it is
deemed appropriate to use civilian resources in counseling and treating
individuals or families involved in child abuse or neglect or spouse
abuse; or when appropriate or necessary to refer a case to civilian
authorities for civil or criminal law enforcement; or when a state,
county, or municipal child protective service agency inquirers about a
prior record of substantiated abuse for the purpose of investigating a
suspected case of abuse.
M. To the National Academy of Sciences, private organizations, and
individuals for health research in the interest of the Federal
government and the public and authorized surveying bodies for
professional certification and accreditation such as Joint Commission
on the Accreditation of Health Care Organizations.
N. To victims and witnesses of a crime for purposes of providing
information consistent with the requirements of the Victim and Witness
Assistance Program, regarding the investigation and disposition of an
offense.
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POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORAGE OF RECORDS:
Records may be stored electronically or on paper in secure
facilities in a locked drawer behind a locked door. Electronic records
may be stored locally on digital media; in agency-owned cloud
environments; or in vendor Cloud Service Offerings certified under the
Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP).
POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR RETRIEVAL OF RECORDS:
Records may be retrieved by name, SSN or DoD ID number.
POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR RETENTION AND DISPOSAL OF RECORDS:
Electronic records are kept indefinitely in archived or active
status. Paper records that are allowed for destruction are shredded.
ADMINISTRATIVE, TECHNICAL, AND PHYSICAL SAFEGUARDS:
The Army reviewed the safeguards established for the system to
ensure they are compliant with DoD requirements. Due to the nature of
the information collected, the impact and potential effect on an
individual's privacy, if compromised, is high. The following
administrative, technical and physical administrative controls are
applied to restrict access to those who require the data in the
performance of their official duties: records are maintained in
controlled areas accessible only to authorized personnel; access to
personal information is further restricted by the use of Common Access
Cards and user ID/passwords; and paper records are maintained in a
controlled facility where physical entry is restricted by the use of
locks, a card access control system, staffed reception areas and
cameras inside and outside which monitor all doors. Other controls in
place include user identification and passwords, an Intrusion Detection
System, encryption, firewalls, Virtual Private Networks and Public Key
Infrastructure Certificates. Additional controls in place include
periodic security audits, ensuring only authorized personnel have
access to personally identifiable information, encryption of backups
containing sensitive data, and securing backups off-site.
RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURES:
Individuals seeking access to their records should address written
inquiries to the commander of the medical center or hospital where
treatment was received, attention Patient Administration Division
Office; or to the Commander, U.S. Army Medical Command, ATTN: MCHO-CL-
H(ACR), Fort Sam Houston, TX 78234-6010; or the FOIA Requester Service
Center, Office of Freedom of Information, Army Records Management
Directorate or email: [email protected].
For verification purposes, the individual should provide the full name,
SSN of the patient's sponsor, and current address, date and location of
treatment, and any details that will assist in locating the record, and
signature. Signed written requests should contain the name and number
of this system of records notice along with full name, current address,
and email address of the individual. In addition, the requester must
provide either a notarized statement or an unsworn declaration made in
accordance with 28 U.S.C. 1746, in the appropriate format:
If executed outside the United States: ``I declare (or certify,
verify, or state) under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United
States of America that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed on
(date). (Signature).''
If executed within the United States, its territories, possessions,
or commonwealths: ``I declare (or certify, verify, or state) under
penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed on
(date). (Signature).''
CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURES:
The DoD rules for accessing records, contesting contents, and
appealing initial Component determinations are contained in 32 CFR part
310, or may be obtained from the system manager.
NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES:
Individuals seeking to determine whether information about
themselves is contained in this system of records should follow the
instructions for Record Access Procedures above.
EXEMPTIONS PROMULGATED FOR THE SYSTEM:
DoD has exempted records maintained in this system from 5 U.S.C.
552a(c)(3); (d)(1), (2), (3) and (4); (e)(1); (e)(4)(G), (H) and (I);
and (f) of the Privacy Act, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(k)(2), and
(k)(5), as applicable. An exemption rule for this system has been
promulgated in accordance with the requirements of 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(1),
(2), and (3), (c), and (e) and published in 32 CFR part 310. In
addition, when exempt records received from other systems of records
become part of this system, DoD also claims the same exemptions for
those records that are claimed for the prior system(s) of records of
which they were a part, and claims any additional exemptions set forth
here.
HISTORY:
August 29, 2003; 68 FR 52009.
[FR Doc. 2025-14120 Filed 7-25-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6001-FR-P