Privacy Threshold Analysis - NEFRLS

The Privacy Office
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Washington, DC 20528
703-235-0780, [email protected]
www.dhs.gov/privacy

Privacy Threshold Analysis
Version date: June 10, 2010
Page 1 of 7
PRIVACY THRESHOLD ANALYSIS (PTA)
This form is used to determine whether
a Privacy Impact Assessment is required.

Please use the attached form to determine whether a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) is required under
the E-Government Act of 2002 and the Homeland Security Act of 2002.
Please complete this form and send it to your component Privacy Office. If you do not have a component
Privacy Office, please send the PTA to the DHS Privacy Office:
Rebecca J. Richards
Director of Privacy Compliance
The Privacy Office
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Washington, DC 20528
Tel: 703-235-0780

[email protected]

Upon receipt from the component Privacy Office, the DHS Privacy Office will review this form. If a PIA
is required, the DHS Privacy Office will send you a copy of the Official Privacy Impact Assessment Guide
and accompanying Template to complete and return.
A copy of the Guide and Template is available on the DHS Privacy Office website, www.dhs.gov/privacy,
on DHSConnect and directly from the DHS Privacy Office via email: [email protected], phone: 703-235-0780.

The Privacy Office
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Washington, DC 20528
703-235-0780, [email protected]
www.dhs.gov/privacy

Privacy Threshold Analysis
Version date: June 10, 2010
Page 2 of 7
PRIVACY THRESHOLD ANALYSIS (PTA)
SUMMARY INFORMATION
Date Submitted for Review: May 16, 2012
Name of Project: National Emergency Family Registry and Locator System
System Name in TAFISMA: National Emergency Family Registry and Locator System
Name of Component: Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
Name of Project Manager: Fred Amini
Email for Project Manager: [email protected]
Phone Number for Project Manager: 540-722-8496
Type of Project:
Information Technology and/or System. ∗
A Notice of Proposed Rule Making or a Final Rule.
Form or other Information Collection.
Other:

∗

The E-Government Act of 2002 defines these terms by reference to the definition sections of Titles 40 and
44 of the United States Code. The following is a summary of those definitions:
•“Information Technology” means any equipment or interconnected system or subsystem of
equipment, used in the automatic acquisition, storage, manipulation, management, movement,
control, display, switching, interchange, transmission, or reception of data or information. See 40
U.S.C. § 11101(6).
•“Information System” means a discrete set of information resources organized for the collection,
processing, maintenance, use, sharing, dissemination, or disposition of information. See: 44. U.S.C. §
3502(8).
Note: for purposes of this form, there is no distinction made between national security systems or
technologies/systems managed by contractors. All technologies/systems should be initially reviewed for
potential privacy impact.

The Privacy Office
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Washington, DC 20528
703-235-0780, [email protected]
www.dhs.gov/privacy

Privacy Threshold Analysis
Version date: June 10, 2010
Page 3 of 7
SPECIFIC QUESTIONS
1.

Describe the project and its purpose:

FEMA established the National Emergency Family Registry and Locator System
(NEFRLS) system in compliance with the DHS Appropriations Act of 2007 to help
family members separated after an emergency or major disaster to find and
communicate with one another.
The NEFRLS system is a nationally accessible and recognized system for individuals
who have been displaced by a Presidentially-declared disaster or emergency to
voluntarily enter personal information into an Internet accessible database that their
family can access to help locate one another. The system also allows adults who are
parents or guardians of displaced children to register their child in NEFRLS.
NEFRLS offers a mechanism for voluntary registration of displaced people over the
Internet or phone. After registering in the system, displaced individuals can leave a
message and/or current contact information for family. The NEFRLS system allows
individuals to search for displaced persons via the Internet or phone after they have
completed an identity verification and authentication process. A person searching
the system is only able to view a displaced person’s recorded information if that
displaced person has included the searcher on their list of individuals authorized to
view the record.
FEMA has made several enhancements to the NEFRLS system. This PTA documents
the changes to NEFRLS as of November 2010. Furthermore, the July, 25, 2011
NEFRLS Privacy Impact Assessment update references an update to NEFRLS that
involved sharing information with the FEMA Disaster Assistance Improvement
Program (DAIP) system. This update to the system never occurred.
2.

Status of Project:
This is a new development effort.
This is an existing project.
Date first developed: May 3, 2007
Date last updated: November 2, 2010 (NEFRLS Version 2.0)
The following changes were included in NEFRLS Version 2.0

NEFRLS Version 2.0 adds: 1) a Law Enforcement Officer (LEO) module; and 2) the
ability to send Short Message Service (SMS) text messages.

The Privacy Office
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Washington, DC 20528
703-235-0780, [email protected]
www.dhs.gov/privacy

Privacy Threshold Analysis
Version date: June 10, 2010
Page 4 of 7

The LEO module provides FEMA staff the ability to assist law enforcement in
locating missing/displaced survivors of a Presidentially-declared disaster or
emergency by linking them to information on missing persons who may have
registered in NEFRLS. LEO only requests a survivor’s information within NEFRLS
for the purpose of reuniting family and friends who may have contacted their local
law enforcement office or submitted a Missing Persons Report via email to FEMA.
LEOs do not access or search the system, but rather are provided information on
specific requests by FEMA staff. Prior to executing a LEO-requested search for a
possible registrant, the FEMA representative requests a copy of the Missing Persons
Report and identifying information on the LEO in order to facilitate identity
verification and their status as a member of law enforcement. The report FEMA staff
provides to a law enforcement official contains the registrant’s full name, gender,
address, and disaster incident information (e.g., Hurricane Katrina, Mississippi
Flooding etc). FEMA logs in NEFRLS that they disclosed a particular record to a
specific LEO.
The SMS functionality allows registrants to receive a short SMS text message from
family with whom they have elected to share information in their record in the
NEFRLS system. The collection of SMS information is used exclusively for delivering
SMS messages to registrants. The cellular phone number is collected from the
displaced person during the registration process. An individual initiates the search
for a displaced individual in the NEFRLS system. Once a searcher has gained access
to a displaced person’s profile the searcher can submit a short message to the
displaced individual by typing the text in the designated SMS text box field and
clicking submit. The NEFRLS system then sends the SMS message to the cellular
phone number provided by the displaced person. FEMA does not share the actual
cellular phone number with others.

3.

From whom do you collect, process, or retain information on: (Please check all that apply)
DHS Employees.
Contractors working on behalf of DHS.
The Public.
The System does not contain any such information.

4.

Do you use or collect Social Security Numbers (SSNs)? (This includes truncated SSNs)

The Privacy Office
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Washington, DC 20528
703-235-0780, [email protected]
www.dhs.gov/privacy

Privacy Threshold Analysis
Version date: June 10, 2010
Page 5 of 7
No.
Yes. Why does the program collect SSNs? Provide the function of the SSN and the
legal authority to do so:

5.

What information about individuals could be collected, generated or retained?

NEFRLS Version 2.0 collects three categories of information from each displaced
individual who voluntarily registers in NEFRLS:
1. Registrant Information: Full Name, Suffix, Date of Birth, Gender, Current Phone,
Current Address, Pre-Disaster Address, Name of Current Location, Names of up
to seven friends/family members authorized to view the registrants’ information,
Identity Authentication Approval or Non-approval (Identity verification and
authentication process through ChoicePoint), System specific username and
password, and Personal Message
2. Family/Household Information: Full Names of family/household members
traveling with the registrant, and Personal Message viewable by searchers
3. Searcher Information: Full Name, Permanent Address, Phone, Date of Birth,
Identity Authentication, and System specific user name and password.
NEFRLS version 2.0 collects the following additional information from individuals
requesting to receive information via SMS messages:
• Cell Phone Number, Cell Phone Carrier, and E-mail Address.
NEFRLS version 2.0 collects the following information from Law Enforcement
Officers:
• Law Enforcement Official’s Title, First Name, Last Name, Gender, Badge
Number/Law Enforcement License ID Number, Agency Name, City, County/Parish,
State, Zip Code, Contact Phone, Contact E-mail, Supervisor Name, Supervisor
Contact Number, Supervisor Contact E-mail, Agency City, Agency County/Parish,
Agency State; and Verification Data (The verification process includes a confirmed
box to be checked for successful verification of LEO’s identity and status via
telephone by NEFRLS Administrator).
6.

If this project is a technology/system, does it relate solely to infrastructure? [For example, is
the system a Local Area Network (LAN) or Wide Area Network (WAN)]?

The Privacy Office
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Washington, DC 20528
703-235-0780, [email protected]
www.dhs.gov/privacy

Privacy Threshold Analysis
Version date: June 10, 2010
Page 6 of 7
No. Please continue to the next question.
Yes. Is there a log kept of communication traffic?
No. Please continue to the next question.
Yes. What type of data is recorded in the log? (Please choose all that apply.)
Header.
Payload Please describe the data that is logged.

7.

Does the system connect, receive, or share Personally Identifiable Information with any other
DHS systems 1?
No.
Yes.

8.

Is there a Certification & Accreditation record within OCIO’s FISMA tracking system?
Unknown.
No.
Yes. Please indicate the determinations for each of the following:
Confidentiality:

Low

Moderate

High

Undefined

Integrity:

Low

Moderate

High

Undefined

Availability:

Low

Moderate

High

Undefined

PRIVACY THRESHOLD REVIEW
(TO BE COMPLETED BY THE DHS PRIVACY OFFICE)
Date reviewed by the DHS Privacy Office: May 17, 2012
1

PII may be shared, received, or connected to other DHS systems directly, automatically, or by manual processes.
Often, these systems are listed as “interconnected systems” in TAFISMA.

The Privacy Office
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Washington, DC 20528
703-235-0780, [email protected]
www.dhs.gov/privacy

Privacy Threshold Analysis
Version date: June 10, 2010
Page 7 of 7
Name of the DHS Privacy Office Reviewer: Brian E. Anderson
DESIGNATION
This is NOT a Privacy Sensitive System – the system contains no Personally Identifiable
Information.
This IS a Privacy Sensitive System
Category of System
IT System.
National Security System.
Legacy System.
HR System.
Rule.
Other:
Determination
PTA sufficient at this time.
Privacy compliance documentation determination in progress.
PIA is not required at this time.
PIA is required.
System covered by existing PIA:
New PIA is required.
PIA update is required.
SORN not required at this time.
SORN is required.
System covered by existing SORN: DHS/ALL-004 General Information
Technology Access Account Records System (GITAARS) of Records (September 29,
2009, 74 FR 49882) and DHS/FEMA-001 National Emergency Family Registry and
Locator System (NEFRLS) System of Records
New SORN is required.
DHS PRIVACY OFFICE COMMENTS FEMA WILL UPDATE THE NEFRLS PIA TO REMOVE
LANGUAGE REGARDING AN ASPECT OF NEFRLS THAT WAS NEVER IMPLEMENTED.