PRIVACY ACT RECORDS SYSTEM REPORTING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP87-00058R000400040003-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 5, 2012
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: March 28, 1986
• Content Type: MEMO

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/03/05: CIA-RDP87-00058R000400040003-5
ROUTING AND RECORD SHEET
SUBJECT: (Optional)
Priva Act Records and tem rting
FROM:
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EXTENSION
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No.
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Director for Administration
DATE OIS 86-096
8 March 1986 S
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building)
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1.79 FORM
610 EDITIOMs
AT
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01S 86-096
28 March 1986
MEMORANDUM FOR: Records Management Officer, DCI
Records Management Officer, DDA
Records Management Officer, DDI
Records Management Officer, DDO
Records Management Officer, DDS&T
Director ot nformation Services
STAT
SUBJECT: Privacy Act Records System Reporting
REFERENCE: DDA 85-3425 of 11 October 1985, Same Subject
1. At a meeting on 7 February 1986, you were advised by the OIS
Legal Advisor and the Information and Privacy Coordinator of a number of
problems which had become apparent as a result of the your earlier review
of the Agency Privacy Act Records Systems Listing for the Federal
Register. You were promised a paper setting forth details of some
additional work that would be required. That paper is attached.
2. Please be reminded that the requirement to list in the Federal
Register all systems of records that fall within the provisions of the
Privacy Act is mandatory not optional; further, that the penalty for
failing to comply falls on the individual responsible, see 5 U.S.C.
552a(i)(2).
3. Please complete the necessary additional work and forward it to
OIS/IRMD by 14 April 1986. Do not hesitate to call the briefing officers
if additional questions arise during your review.
Attachment:
As Stated
STAT
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PRIVACY ACT RECORDS SYSTEMS REPORTING
The referent memorandum instructed that a review be conducted,
throughout the Agency and the Intelligence Community Staff, of all
records systems falling within the province of the Privacy Act. A copy
of that memorandum is attached. The purpose of the review was to ensure
an accurate updating of the listing of Agency files carried in the
Federal Register. That listing had changed little in the last decade.
I. The Problem
1. The results of the review have now been collected. Several
facts have become evident which strongly suggest some further action.
For example:
A. A number of records systems which appear to meet the
statutory criteria, for listing in the Federal Register, are
not so listed. This is particularly true with many files
listed in the Records Control Schedules which are not listed in
the Privacy Act Lists in the Federal Register.
B. Several groups of records systems listings appear to be
redundant entries except for being in different Directorates or
Offices.
C. Some entries currently shown in the Federal Register
Listing disclose information which would, under other
circumstances, be regarded as exempt from public disclosure.
2. The circumstances described above suggest anomalies that are
likely to invite questions to be dealt with in congressional hearings, in
litigation, and in responding to public questions provoked by publication
of the list in the Federal Register. The circumstance described in
paragraph A above seems likely to be the most troublesome. The expected
trouble may be illustrated by predictable questions, such as:
Where are your files on Narcotics traffickers?
Where are your files on Technology Transfer problems?
Where are your files on National Security "Leaks"?
Where are your files on "terrorists"?
Where are your files on Americans used in Intelligence
Operations?
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Where are your files on Americans used in Covert Action
Operations?
Where are your files on Americans used in Counterintelligence
Operations?
3. The answer to such questions is clearly that to acknowledge the
existence of such files, and consequently such activities, is to
acknowledge information which is exempt from disclosure under provisions
of the Privacy Act, principally information which is classified or which
discloses intelligence sources and methods.
4. Providing that answer, however, is not likely to remove the
suspicion that there are files that we are not acknowledging and, more
importantly, not searching. We must be prepared to show that there are
files which we cannot acknowledge but which are searched for non-exempt
information in response to Privacy Act requests. In that way we can deal
with the ultimate suspicion that this Agency might be secretly spying on
Americans.
ii. Remedies
1. To remove the suspicion created by the circumstances described
in paragraph A above, each Directorate and Independent office should
create and maintain a classified listing of the actual files, by title,
which are searched in response to Privacy Act requests. Records holdings
which have not been titled may be identified on the basis of their
purpose. These must be all files from which information about an
individual U.S. citizen or Permanent Resident Alien is retrieved by the
name or personal identifier of the individual, regardless of the prime
purpose for which the files were created.
2. The classified lists will be used as a working guide by
employees responsible for conducting Privacy Act searches. The lists
will also be used to deal with questions from appropriate congressional
oversight committees concerning the Agency's compliance with the
provisions of the Privacy Act. The lists should also prove their value
in any Privacy Act litigation in which the thoroughness of the search is
contested.
3. After preparing its classified list, the originating component
should compare it with the Component's current listing in the Federal
Register. The unclassified listing in the Federal Register should be
stated in terms that are broad enough and general enough to encompass the
specific files on the classified list without disclosing information
which is exempt from disclosure. If that is not the case the Federal
Register listing should be amended to accomplish that purpose.
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4. The problem identified in paragraph B will be dealt with by OIS
as set forth in the Action section below.
5. With regard to the problem mentioned in paragraph C above, each
component should review its unclassified list entries currently in the
Federal Register and any proposed additions or amendments to ensure that
the file descriptions do not unintentionally disclose exempt
information. Particular attention should be given to the section
concerned with, "Policies and practices for storing, retrieving,
accessing, retaining and disposing of records in the system." Some
entries in the sub-categories of "Safeguards" and "Retention and
disposal" appear to be particularly detailed and revealing concerning
Agency records methods. Additionally, 60 of the current 69 Records
System listings show the means of storage as "Paper," which does not seem
consistent with the marked increase in automation in Agency records
systems in the last decade. Any amendments resulting from this review
should be included in the revised unclassified listings.
III. Action
1. Each Directorate and Independent office is requested to prepare
the classified listing of its Privacy Act files and any related
amendments to its unclassified Federal Register listing as described
above. The action responsibility for assembling this list should rest
with the office Records Management Officer (RMO) in consultation with the
office FOIA/PA officers. The office lists should be forwarded to the
Directorate IRO/RMO for review and verification. Both lists should be
forwarded to Director, Office of Information Services, Attn Chief,
IR[ID/OIS. The classified list will be reviewed by the Information and
Privacy Coordinator, certified and returned to the component to be kept
in the custody of the component. The unclassified list will be used in
drafting the submission for the Federal Register.
2. Component RMOs are reminded that the individual items in their
Records Control Schedules should be annotated to identify the related
Privacy Act file listing in the Federal Register. If the Records Control
Schedule does not contain an item which covers the content of specific
Privacy Act listings, a new item for the Records Control Schedule must be
prepared by the office RMO, forwarded to the Directorate RMO for review
and verification, and then forwarded to OIS/IRMD for submission to the
National Archives.
3. OIS will draft for coordination some consolidated listings to
deal with the second general problem, mentioned in paragraph B above.
The objective of that effort will be to identify and consolidate
redundant entries in the listings, e.g. "Personnel Soft Files."
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DA:D/OIS:
Distribution:
1 - DCI/RMO
1 - DDA/PMO
1 - DDI/RMO
1 - DDI/IRO
1 - DDO/RMO
1 - DDO/IRO
1 -_
1 - DDS&T/RMO
2 - D/OIS
1 - LA/OIS
1 - C/OIS/IRMD
1 - C/OIS/CRD
STAT
STAT
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 STAT
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STAT
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DDA 85-3425
11 October 1985
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director, Intelligence Community Staff
Deputy Director for Intelligence
Deputy Director for Operations
Deputy Director for Science and Technology
Chairman, E Career Service
FROM: Harry E. Fitzwater
Deputy Director for Administration
SUBJECT: Records System Reporting
1. The Privacy Act of 1976 requires that each federal agency which
maintains a system of records as defined by the Privacy Act -/Must
publish, at least annually, a notice in the Federal Register of the
existence and character of such system of records. CIA initially listed
67 such systems. The decade since the first listing, several amendments
have increased the total system listed to 69. A copy of the current
system listing is attached.
Freedom of Information Act, Privacy Act and Executive Order 12356
STAT
Chapter VIII, page 53 et seq. further defines the
responsibilities of pertinent Agency components and describes procedures
to use in satisfying those responsibilities. Additionally, all com-
ponents have been periodically reminded of the need to keep the Agency
listing of Privacy A systems of records current. The most recent
.reminder was dated 18 July 1984, titled Records Systems
Reporting.
3. Like much of the rest of our society, the Agency has not escaped
the effects of the dramatic advances in information processing in the
last decade. On its face, it would seem unlikely that there have been no
revisions in the Agency's systems of records that would require a revision
of the Agency's published listing.
1/'The term 'system of records' means a group of any records under
the control of any agency from which information is retrieved by the
name of the individual or by some identifying number, symbol, or
other identifying particular assigned to the individual,' 552a(a)(5).
STAT
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4. I ask that each addressee review their records systems to ensure
that all proper systems of records are identified. To ensure that no one
mistakes the seriousness of this requirement, I would remind you of the
following provision of the Privacy Act;
?Any officer or employee of any agency who willfully main-
tains a system of records without meeting the notice requirements
of subsection (e)(4) of this section shall be guilty of a mis-
demeanor and fined not more than $5,000.'
5. The record system reviews must be done expeditiously. Each
Directorate is expected to report its findings resulting from the review
to the Deputy Director for Administration no later than 31 October 1985.
The report should indicate which record system listings remain the same,
which systems should be deleted from the listing, which systems listings
should be modified and which new systems should be added. The DDA Office
of Information Services is prepared to assist your components in dealing
with questions which may arise in the process of your review.
STAT
H r E. Fitz r
Attachment:
As stated
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SUBJECT: Records System Reporting
Distribution: w/attachment
2 - DDCI
1 - EXREG
1 - Director, ICS
1-DDO
1 - DDI
1 - DDA
1 - DDS&T
1-OGC
D/OIS
LAOIS
1 - C/IPD/OIS
1 - C/IRMD/OIS
1 - C/CRD/OIS
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