1625-new_PIA-022_Coast Guard Maritime Information eXchange (CGMIX)

Privacy Impact Assessment
for the

Coast Guard Maritime Information
eXchange (CGMIX)
DHS/USCG/PIA-022
July 30, 2015
Contact Point
Gary Chappell
CGMIX Project Officer/U.S. Coast Guard/CG-633
U.S. Coast Guard/CG-6
(202) 372-1280

Reviewing Official
Karen L. Neuman
Chief Privacy Officer
Department of Homeland Security
(202) 343-1717

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Abstract
The United States Coast Guard (USCG or Coast Guard) owns and operates the Coast
Guard Maritime Information eXchange (CGMIX) system. CGMIX provides USCG maritimerelated information to the public and facilitates information sharing to federal, state, and local
governments. This PIA is being conducted because CGMIX maintains personally identifiable
information (PII).

Overview
The purpose of the Coast Guard Maritime Information Exchange (CGMIX) website is to
make Coast Guard maritime information available on the public Internet in the form of
searchable databases. Much of the information on the CGMIX website comes from the Coast
Guard’s Marine Information for Safety and Law Enforcement (MISLE) information system.
CGMIX is owned and funded by the USCG Office of C4 & Sensor Capabilities (CG761). CGMIX supports USCG’s marine safety, security, environmental protection, and law
enforcement program mission areas. CGMIX permits Coast Guard to accomplish the following
statutory requirements: to establish a Marine Safety Information System to collect information
on commercial vessels operating in U.S. waters; 1 to establish the Vessel Identification System to
make available information on the ownership of documented and state registered vessels; 2 and to
make reports of investigations available to the public. 3 CGMIX and its components are listed as
data sources on the Data.gov website as part of the open government initiative.
CGMIX consists of four web-based applications: (1) CGMIX; (2) Vessel Identification
System (VIS); (3) Response Resource Inventory (RRI); and (4) the Common Assessment and
Reporting Tool (CART). The CGMIX Application includes ten sub-applications.
CGMIX Application
The CGMIX application makes non-sensitive pollution incident reports available to the
general public and does not require a login for access. Data in the CGMIX application is derived
from the USCG Marine Information for Safety and Law Enforcement (MISLE) and the National
Response Center’s Incident Reporting Information System (IRIS) 4 and is scrubbed to remove PII
and any sensitive data prior to being posted for public consumption.

1

46 U.S.C. § 3717.
46 U.S.C. §12501.
3
46 U.S.C. Part D.
4
Note that IRIS is documented in a separate, forthcoming PIA.
2

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By making information in the CGMIX sub-applications directly available to the public,
CGMIX reduces the number of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests submitted to the
Coast Guard and expedites delivery of the information to the requestor. CGMIX and subapplications, and the information that they make available, were developed based on the
frequency of requests for information and the ease of extracting that information from the source
database (typically, MISLE).
Vessel Identification System (VIS)
VIS is the USCG repository for U.S. state registered recreation vessels. The data for VIS
consists of registration and ownership data from participating states and USCG National Vessel
Documentation Center. VIS data will only be accessible to Numbering and Titling, Registration
and Law Enforcement personnel of VIS participating states and federal agencies. 5 VIS contains
owner and vessel information on vessels registered or titled by a state or territory government
and requires a user log-in for access. VIS is available to all MISLE users and authorized law
enforcement and vessel registration officials from participating federal and state agencies.
The VIS program collects vessel registration data (i.e., name, address, date of birth,
Social Security number (SSN), and tax identification number (TIN)) 6 of the vessel owner from
vessel registration databases of states that have a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with
USCG.
A typical VIS search begins with the user accessing the VIS website and entering his or
her credentials. The user submits search criteria (i.e., owner first or last name, vessel name,
registration number) to conduct a VIS vessel search. When a match is found, the system will
return the owner’s name, date of birth, SSN, driver license number, address, and TIN. The
system also provides data associated with the vessel (e.g., name, primary use, length), law
enforcement infractions (i.e., date reported stolen, vessel insurance number, insurance company
name), historical registration (i.e., previous title or state number, previous issuing state), and lien
and title information (i.e., title number, effective title date, name and address of each secured
party, lien holder).
Response Resource Inventory (RRI)
The Response Resource Inventory (RRI) is a web-based application Oil Spill Recovery
Organizations (OSRO) use to submit and edit available pollution response equipment
inventories. RRI requires a user log-in for access and is available to USCG personnel assigned to
the National Strike Force Coordination Center (NSFCC) and any OSRO authorized to submit
5

See https://cgmix.uscg.mil/VISInformation.aspx for a list of participating states.
Taxpayer Identification Number is the number used by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to uniquely identify a
taxpayer. If the vessel owner is an individual, the Taxpayer Identification Number is the SSN. If the vessel owner is
a corporation or other organization, the IRS assigns a unique Taxpayer Identification Number to that entity.
6

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pollution response equipment inventories by the NSFCC. OSROs may submit, edit, and review
inventories they have available for disaster response.
Authorized personnel access RRI via a web browser from their computer. After entering
their user name and password, users can enter or search for resources by site name, city, state,
and Captain of the Port (COTP) zone.
Common Assessment and Reporting Tool (CART)
The Common Assessment and Reporting Tool (CART) is an application used to report
and document the Marine Transportation System (MTS) status following a transportation
disruption significantly affecting the MTS that will, or is anticipated to, last greater than 72
hours. CART requires a user log-in and is available only to USCG personnel and MTS
stakeholders (i.e., local, federal, and state personnel) in the COTP zone impacted by a pollution
incident or marine casualty. The system administrator at each COTP manages CART user
accounts, including: account approvals, account deletions, and assignment of roles to accounts.
USCG personnel and stakeholders access CART via a web browser from their computer.
After entering their user name and password, users can perform the following tasks:
a. Provide timely and accurate information on pre-incident conditions in a Sector or
other local unit’s area of responsibility (AOR);
b. Facilitate the comparison of pre-incident (baseline) data and post-incident data to
characterize the extent of the impact on the MTS;
c. Generate MTS Executive Summary Reports to ease information sharing with
local, regional, and national level MTS stakeholders; and
d. Document and share MTS recovery status and impact reports in near real-time at
all organizational levels.
CGMIX also includes ten public-facing, searchable modules to share maritime-related
MISLE data with the public. These ten modules are available for the public to access via
https://cgmix.uscg.mil/:
1) USCG Approved Equipment Listing: The USCG Approved Equipment
(EQList) module contains searchable listings of equipment and materials
approved or certified by the USCG for use on commercial vessels and recreational
boats such as life jackets, fire extinguishers, and navigation systems. EQList does
not maintain PII. Entities interested in having their product included in EQList
must submit an application to the USCG Office of Design Engineering (CGENE). CG-ENE personnel enter data from the approved applications into MISLE.

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2) USCG Accepted Laboratories: The Accepted Independent Material and
Equipment Laboratories Database (EQLabs) is an online searchable database that
contains a listing of USCG Accepted Laboratories for testing of materials and
equipment. It is intended for the use for manufacturers of commercial and
recreational safety equipment and material to locate and contact USCG accepted
independent laboratories for testing purposes for USCG Type Approval.
3) USCG Liferaft Servicing Facilities: An online searchable database containing a
listing of USCG accepted liferaft servicing facilities, which includes the business
contact information of the facilities.
4) Port State Information eXchange (PSIX): Port State Information eXchange
(PSIX) contains detailed information related to the vessel’s length, breadth, depth,
documentation/certifications, vessel deficiency information, and interactions (e.g..
boardings, inspections, investigations, and response actions) with USCG. Only
non-sensitive fields 7 are disseminated to the public. Users may query by vessel
name, vessel number, hull identification number, vessel call sign, vessel flag,
vessel service, or vessel build year.
5) XML Web Services: XML Web Services exposes data 8 provided by the Port
State Information eXchange, USCG Approved Equipment, and MARPOL
Certificates of Adequacy9 modules to provide users the ability to integrate these
searches into their own applications. To access the XML Web Services module,
users click on the XML Web Services link from CGMIX, review the Service
Definitions for that module, then write the code for the operation they wish to
execute.
6) Security Plan Review: Security Plan Review provides vessel and facility
operators the ability to check on the status of their security plans submitted to the
USCG. Users must provide the tracking number they received when they
submitted their security plan to receive results.
7) Incident Investigation Reports (IIR): The Incident Investigation Reports (IIR)
module is an on-line searchable interface for external users to retrieve information
7

Non-sensitive fields means that those are data fields within the system known not to contain PII or other
information that is not releasable to the public (For Official Use Only, Law Enforcement Sensitive, etc.). Those
fields are known not to contain sensitive information because they are either list fields or are field types (such as
date fields) that cannot contain sensitive information. The only exception to this is the Incident Brief, which is a
free form text field. However the text fields are manually reviewed and scrubbed for PII before release.
8
“Exposes data” means that this utility facilitates copying the data to other systems. It is the same data that is
otherwise available from PSIX, however it avoids the need to make individual queries for the data. This service was
requested by members of the public that use PSIX data in their own database applications.
9
See Module 8.

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about reportable marine casualties 10 that were investigated and have a closed
status in the USCG MISLE system. The investigation data may contain
information about involved organizations, vessels, or facilities. This data is
sanitized of any PII or sensitive information prior to being posted to CGMIX. The
user may query IIR by entering an activity number, date range, vessel service,
name of the involved vessel/organization/facility, or keyword. The purpose of the
IIR module is to reduce the number of FOIA requests for general information
about these activities and meet the investigation report publication requirements
of 46 U.S.C. Part D.
8) MARPOL Certificates of Adequacy: MARPOL Certificates of Adequacy: The
MARPOL Certificates of Adequacy module disseminates the name, address,
phone number, and the COTP zone for facilities that comply with the
requirements of Annexes I, II, and V of the 1978 Protocol to the International
Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL). This allows
users to search for certified waste reception facilities and provides the facility
location and types of waste accepted by the facility. The information is entered
into MISLE by Coast Guard personnel when they issue the MARPOL
certifications. Facilities interested in certification as a MARPOL reception facility
should contact the nearest COTP for certification requirements.
9) National Vessel Documentation Center (NVDC) Packet Status: A method for
individuals and organizations of the maritime community to check the status of
applications submitted to the NVDC for services (e.g., Certificate of
Documentation, Abstract of Title, and Renewals). Users enter specific vessel
information and are provided the vessel official number, hull identification
number (HIN), and file date/time, in order to confirm their application was
received. This database module does not contain or disseminate PII.
10) National Response Center/Incident Reporting Information System (IRIS):11
Provides non-sensitive pollution incident reports available to the general public
and does not require a login for access. Data is derived from USCG MISLE and
10

The Coast Guard is required to investigate marine casualties in accordance with 46 U.S.C. § 6301 and prepare
reports of those investigations in accordance with 46 U.S.C. § 6305. The CGMIX Incident Investigation Report
(IIR) meets the mandate in 46 U.S.C. § 6101(i) to publish those reports of investigation in an electronic format. It
states “The Secretary shall, as soon as possible, and no later than January 1, 2005, publish all marine casualty reports
prepared in accordance with this section in an electronic form.” A separate section of that statute, 46 U.S.C. §
6101(b), requires vessel operators to report marine casualties to the Coast Guard. However it is not the vessel
operator reports to the Coast Guard that are published, but instead the investigation reports for each incident
prepared by the Coast Guard.
11
Note that IRIS is documented in a separate forthcoming PIA.

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IRIS and is scrubbed to remove PII and any sensitive data prior to being posted
for public consumption.
CGMIX safeguards PII by user authentication, user access agreements, collecting only
the data elements legally authorized, and ensuring compliance with USCG, DHS, and the Federal
Information Security Management Act (FISMA) system security policies.

Section 1.0 Authorities and Other Requirements
1.1 What specific legal authorities and/or agreements permit and define
the collection of information by the project in question?
44 U.S.C. § 3501 and the Open Government Directive 12 authorizes the USCG to provide
information to the public and reduce paper usage for FOIA requests.
46 U.S.C. § 12501 authorizes the USCG to establish a Vessel Identification System (VIS)
and to make the ownership of documented, numbered, and state titled vessels available to law
enforcement.
46 U.S.C. § 12503 authorizes collection of SSN of vessel owners in VIS.
46 CFR 159.010-5 authorizes the collection of information from applicants seeking to be
identified as USCG Accepted Laboratories.
46 CFR 160.151-41 authorizes the collection of information from applicants seeking to
be identified as USCG “approved servicing facility” for inflatable liferafts.
USCG Approved equipment is authorized under the United States (U.S.)-European
Commission (EC) Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) and the U.S.-European Economic
Area (EEA) European Free Trade Association (EFTA) MRA. 13
46 CFR Part 4, Subpart 4.05 Notice of Marine Casualty and Voyage records authorizes
USCG to collect incident investigation reports; for CGMIX these reports are limited to
reportable marine casualty data as defined in 46 U.S.C. § Subtitle II, Part D Chapter 61 (h). 46
CFR Part 4, Subpart 4.13 Public availability addresses public access to marine casualty and
investigation records.
The National Response Center database module is authorized to collect data under 40
CFR 300.125(a), which establishes USCG as the single point of contact for all pollution incident

12

OFFICE OF MGMT. & BUDGET, EXEC. OFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, OMB M-10-06, OPEN GOVERNMENT DIRECTIVE
(2010), available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/assets/memoranda_2010/m10-06.pdf.
13
For more information see http://www.uscg.mil/hq/cg5/cg5214/mra.asp.

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reporting and 40 CFR 300.125(c), which authorizes USCG to collect information as notification
of oil or hazardous substance will be made to the NRC Duty Officer, HQ USCG.
Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA) of 2002 and the Security and
Accountability for Every Port Act (SAFE Port Act) of 2006 authorizes the collection and
dissemination of information to federal, state, and USCG partners approved to access the
Common Assessment Reporting Tool (CART).

1.2 What Privacy Act System of Records Notice(s) (SORN(s)) apply
to the information?
The DHS/USCG-013 Marine Information for Safety and Law Enforcement (MISLE)
SORN covers the information retained by CGMIX.

1.3

Has a system security plan been completed for the information
system(s) supporting the project?

Yes, CGMIX received its current Authority to Operate on April 14, 2014.

1.4

Does a records retention schedule approved by the National
Archives and Records Administration (NARA) exist?

Yes, the NARA approved records retention schedule for the Marine Information for
Safety and Law Enforcement (MISLE) is N1-026-05-15; it provides that the records are
permanent except for certain notifications that are not associated with a Case or Activity. These
notifications will be destroyed or deleted 5 years after the calendar year in which they were
received. USCG found broad consensus within its legal, oversight, and mission personnel, as
well as NARA, for determining to retain its records of business processes supporting Marine
Safety, Maritime Security, Environmental Protection, Law Enforcement, Search and Rescue, and
Bridge Administration, permanently.

1.5

If the information is covered by the Paperwork Reduction Act
(PRA), provide the OMB Control number and the agency number
for the collection. If there are multiple forms, include a list in an
appendix.

CGMIX does not collect information directly from members of the public, therefore the
PRA does not apply.

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Section 2.0 Characterization of the Information
The following questions are intended to define the scope of the information requested and/or collected, as
well as reasons for its collection.

2.1

Identify the information the project collects, uses, disseminates, or
maintains.

CGMIX collects information from individuals with established relationship(s) and/or
associations with vessels and marine transportation facilities and activities regulated by USCG.
Specifically, vessel owners, operators, charterers, masters, crew and/or agents, mortgagees, lien
claimants, vessel builders, facility owners, managers or employees, individuals who own,
operate, or represent marine transportation companies, and other individuals who come in
contact with the USCG through its law enforcement, marine safety, investigation, and
environmental activities.
CGMIX collects the following data elements derived from the USCG Marine Information
for Safety and Law Enforcement (MISLE), and the National Response Center’s Incident
Reporting Information System (IRIS):
Members of the Public
•
•
•
•
•

Full name;
Phone number;
Street address;
Email address; and
City/state/zip code.

Private Sector/Local/State/Federal Government
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Reporting party’s full name;
Reporting party’s company name;
Reporting party’s personal phone numbers;
Reporting party’s business phone numbers;
Reporting party’s personal address;
Reporting party’s business address;
Reporting party’s personal email address;
Reporting party’s business email address;
Reporting party’s city/state/zip code;
Suspected responsible party’s full name;
Suspected responsible party’s company name;
Suspected responsible party’s personal phone numbers;

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•
•
•
•

Suspected responsible party’s business phone numbers;
Suspected responsible party’s personal address;
Suspected responsible party’s business address; and
If a vehicle is involved in the incident report, a license plate number may be
collected.

Although CGMIX does collect PII from MISLE and IRIS, all data is scrubbed to remove
PII and any sensitive data prior to being posted for public consumption (i.e., FOIA). The Incident
Investigation Report (IIR) case information data elements are released to CGMIX as the
investigation activities are closed and included in the file created by MISLE to export data into
CGMIX. Those data elements have been selected because they are known not to include PII or
other sensitive information (because of data field entry restrictions); they would describe things
such as: location, date/time, or type of incident. However, the incident briefs are text fields that
could contain PII. They are manually reviewed and (if necessary) edited to remove any PII by
USCG Office of Investigations and Casualty Analysis, Data Administration, and FOIA division
(CG-INV-3) before the incident report is released to CGMIX.
VIS collects the following PII data elements. The data for VIS consists of registration and
ownership data from participating VIS States and USCG National Vessel Documentation Center.
VIS data will only be accessible to Numbering and Titling, Registration and Law Enforcement
personnel of VIS participating States and Federal Agencies. These attributes are maintained
internally and not shared with the public:

o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o

Owner first and last name;
Address;
SSN;
Individual TIN;
Date of birth;
Driver license number;
Vessel insurance policy number; and
Vessel title number.

RRI collects the following PII data-elements from trained personnel responsible for
pollution response and authorized USCG, federal, state, and local users:
o
o
o
o

Full name;
Business address;
Phone number; and
Email address.

CART collects the following PII from USCG personnel and MTS stakeholders:

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o
o
o
o

Full name;
Business address;
Phone number; and
Email address.

The USCG Approved Equipment database module disseminates the USCG approval
number, issued/expire dates, and equipment manufactures name and address. This database
module does not contain PII.
USCG Accepted Laboratory and USCG Liferaft Servicing Facility:
o
o
o
o

Name of business point of contact;
Business address;
Business phone number; and
Business email address.

The PSIX, XML Web Services, and IIR database modules disseminate vessel
identification data (vessel service, vessel name, and vessel flag), vessel certification, document
data, and vessel dimension data (i.e., length, width, and tonnage) based on USCG investigation
data collected in MISLE. The IIR data also contains vessel role, organization name, and incident
brief data. These database modules do not contain PII.
The Security Plan Review database module provides USCG review status confirmations
from MISLE to facility and vessel operators regulated by 33 CFR parts 104, 105, and 106. This
database module does not contain PII.
The MARPOL Certificates of Adequacy module disseminates the facility’s name,
address, phone number, and the COTP zone to validate their facilities and adheres to the
requirements of Annexes I, II, and V of the 1978 Protocol to the International Convention for the
Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL 73/78). This database module does not contain
PII.
The NVDC Work Packet Status provides individuals and organizations who submit
applications to the NVDC for services (e.g., Certificate of Documentation, Abstract of Title, or
Renewals) a method to confirm NVDC’s receipt of those applications. Users enter specific vessel
information and are provided the vessel official number, HIN, and file date/time, in order to
confirm their application was received. This database module does not contain or disseminate
PII.
The National Response Center/ IRIS provides non-sensitive pollution incident reports to
the general public. National Response Center/IRIS initially collects PII as cited in the CGMIX
database module. However, data is scrubbed to remove PII and any sensitive data prior to being
posted for public consumption (i.e., FOIA).

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2.2

What are the sources of the information and how is the
information collected for the project?

The IRIS collects data from individuals and is the data source for the NRC database
module. Individuals can report information to the NRC through two avenues, verbally and
electronically. Verbal reports are received through the NRC’s established 800 numbers. Those
numbers are 800-424-8802, 800-424-0201, or 877-249-2824. Electronic reports are received
through facsimile. NRC personnel generate a report from IRIS. The report is reviewed by NRC
personnel, cleansed of any PII and sensitive data, and uploaded weekly into CGMIX.
VIS receives recreation vessel owner 14 and registration data from participating states and
USCG documented vessel owner and registration data from MISLE’s subsystem titled, Vessel
Documentation System (VDS). Vessel owner and registration data is collected from VIS
participating states and territories in accordance with 33 CFR § 187.3, which specifies VIS
consists of vessels numbered or titled by a participating state. The data is collected from VDS
because it would place an undue burden on documented vessel owners for USCG to request
vessel and owner data for VIS use when USCG currently collects vessel and vessel owner
information from companies or individuals seeking USCG documented vessel status. USCG
documented vessel information is public information under 46 U.S.C. §12138.
In states that do not provide vessel data to USCG, Coast Guard has contracted a
commercial data aggregator that provides only vessel information (minus owner registration
data) from non-VIS participating states.
Employees of organizations seeking OSRO classification in accordance with the Oil
Pollution Act of 1990 enter information directly into the RRI.
The CART is used for monitoring the MTS within a COTP zone. USCG personnel and
MTS stakeholders enter data directly into CART.
Approved Equipment applications are received and reviewed by CG-ENE. After
approval, the approved equipment data is input into MISLE by the CG-ENE staff, and then the
data becomes available in CGMIX.
The USCG Office of Design and Engineering Standards (CG-ENG) is the data source for
the USCG Accepted Laboratory and USCG Approved Liferaft Servicing Facility modules. CGENG receives, reviews, and approves applications from persons interested in their facilities
14

Pursuant to 33 CFR 187.101, (a) A participating State must collect the following information for a vessel it has
numbered or titled when an individual owns the vessel and make it available to VIS: (1) Names of all owners; (2)
principal residence of one owner; (3) mailing address, if different from the address in paragraph (a)(2) of this
section; (4) owner identifier, which must be the owner’s tax identification number, date of birth together with
driver's license number, or date of birth together with other unique number.

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receiving USCG Accepted Laboratory or Approved USCG Liferaft Servicing Facility
Designation. Authorized CG-ENG personnel input laboratory/facility attributes in CGMIX.
MISLE and MISLE subsystems are the data sources for PSIX, XML web services,
Security Plan Review, IIR, MARPOL Certificates of Adequacy, MARPOL Reception Facility,
and the NVDC Work Packet Status database modules. CGMIX receives weekly updates from
MISLE.

2.3

Does the project use information from commercial sources or
publicly available data? If so, explain why and how this
information is used.

Yes, due to the number of different database systems in use by the various VIS
participating states and territories, the USCG has contracted with a commercial aggregator to
collect and transform vessel registration and owner data provided by VIS participating states into
a standardized format for VIS use. Consistent with applicable agreements between the
commercial aggregator and non-participating states, the aggregator also provides data on vessels
registered in non-participating states but no information on owners is provided.

2.4

Discuss how accuracy of the data is ensured.

CGMIX performs checks to ensure data is imported properly and the import file data
matches the data stored in CGMIX.
Personnel from the individual state registration authorities verify the accuracy of the data
submitted to VIS. The VDS workflow process has several quality assurance reviews to ensure
accuracy of the data in addition to the data accuracy checks performed by the contracting data
aggregator using several proprietary methods, to check the accuracy of certain vessel identifiers.
RRI data is reviewed by NSFCC and OSRO personnel to ensure pollution response
equipment inventories are current and accurate.
USCG field units and the CART Program Manager, Commandant (CG-FAC-1) review
and verify the information in CART to ensure its accuracy.
The USCG Office of Design & Engineering Standards, Lifesaving, and Fire Equipment
Division Commandant (CG-ENG-4) designated personnel review all submitted applications from
those entities seeking to be identified as USCG Accepted Laboratories, and Approved Liferaft
Servicing Facilities. Upon approval CG-ENG-4 personnel manually enter the data into CGMIX.
The database entry screens utilize technical solutions to ensure entry of correct data types.
PSIX data accuracy is the responsibility of the source system MISLE. CGMIX does
perform checks to ensure the data is imported properly and the import file data matches the data
stored in CGMIX. MISLE data accuracy is checked by field units, district offices, USCG

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Headquarters program managers and the Data Administration Division, Commandant (CG-INV3).
XML Web Service data accuracy is the responsibility of the source system MISLE.
CGMIX does perform checks to ensure the data is imported properly and the import file data
matches the data stored in CGMIX. MISLE data accuracy is checked by field units, district
offices, USCG Headquarters program managers, and CG-INV-3.
Security Plan Review data accuracy is the responsibility of the source system MISLE.
CGMIX does perform checks to ensure the data is imported properly and the import file data
matches the data stored in CGMIX. MISLE data accuracy is checked by field units, district
offices, USCG Headquarters program managers, and CG-INV-3.
The USCG Office of Investigations and Casualty Analysis, Data Administration and
FOIA division (CG-INV-3) performs weekly specific data checks to achieve data accuracy of
incident briefs that populate the IIR database module.
MARPOL Certificates of Adequacy data accuracy is the responsibility of the source
system MISLE. CGMIX does perform checks to ensure the data is imported properly and the
import file data matches the data stored in CGMIX. MISLE data accuracy is checked by field
units, district offices, USCG Headquarters program managers and the Data Administration
Division, Commandant (CG-INV-3).
NVDC Packet Status is reviewed and verified in the VDS, a subsystem of MISLE, by the
NVDC staff. The CGMIX staff at the USCG Operations Systems Center in Kearneysville, WV,
performs checks to ensure the data is imported properly and the import file data matches the data
stored in CGMIX.
NRC personnel review IRIS data to ensure accuracy before generating a Microsoft Excel
formatted file cleansed of any PII data and sensitive data.

2.5

Privacy Impact Analysis: Related to Characterization of the
Information

Privacy Risk: There is a risk that CGMIX collects more information than is necessary to
accomplish its mission.
Mitigation: CGMIX’s VIS module collects vessel owner information from participating
States as required by 33 CFR 187.101. However, vessel owners whose states are not VISparticipants do not submit their owner information to the Coast Guard. Participation in VIS is
voluntary, however the Coast Guard encourages participation to comply with their statutory
mandate to establish a nationwide vessel identification system and centralize certain vessel

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documentation functions. 15 The Coast Guard requires owner information from participating
States to prevent the registration of stolen boats in other states. It is also used to identify
responsible owners during investigations, such as in hit and run incidents.
The Coast Guard is required by statute 16 to collect the data elements above about vessel
owners. However, States participation is voluntary. Therefore, States have the option to
determine what information they want to collect as part of their unique vessel registration
systems, which may or may not contain owner name.

Section 3.0 Uses of the Information
The following questions require a clear description of the project’s use of information.

3.1

Describe how and why the project uses the information.

NRC/IRIS uses this data to provide government emergency responders with accurate and
timely information. Incident reports derived from MISLE are manually reviewed and any
privacy information is identified and removed and the remaining data is then posted on the
CGMIX website for public consumption (i.e., Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)).
VIS collects data in order to increase state registration, numbering, and titling
requirements and to increase law enforcement personnel’s ability to correctly identify an
individual during vessel registration and vessel boarding’s.
VIS also assists in preventing illegal registration of vessels by allowing vessel
registration, numbering, and title personnel to check the previous state vessel registration
information before registering the vessel in their state and assists law enforcement in recovering
stolen vessels.
RRI collects data to meet the mandate of the Oil Pollution Act of the 1990, which
obligates the USCG to maintain a national database of response resources.
CART collects data to support post-incident stabilization and short term recovery of the
MTS and to standardize area reporting following a significant transportation disruption or natural
disaster.
The Approved Equipment Listing contains searchable listings of equipment and materials
approved or certified by the USCG. This allows vessel owners and operators to identify
equipment approved by the USCG for use to meet the legal and regulatory requirements for

15
16

46 U.S.C. § 12501.
Id.

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vessel equipment. Releasing this information on the Internet reduces the number of FOIA
requests received by the USCG and makes the information available faster.
USCG compiles company information on Accepted Laboratories and USCG Liferaft
Servicing Facilities in order to provide the public information on entities approved to review new
equipment submissions on behalf of USCG and to service liferafts in compliance with federal
regulations.
The PSIX, XML Web Services, and IIR database modules disseminate vessel
identification data (i.e., vessel service, vessel name, and vessel flag), vessel certification and
document data, and vessel dimension data (i.e., length, width, and tonnage) based on USCG
investigation data collected in MISLE. These modules collect data in order to provide the public
information about USCG contacts with U.S. flag vessels and foreign vessels operating in U.S.
waters including inspections, deficiencies, and enforcements activities. The data in these
modules are also collected to meet statutory reporting requirements and to reduce the number of
FOIA submissions from the public.
The Security Plan Review database module provides USCG review status confirmations
from MISLE to facility and vessel operators regulated by 33 CFR parts 104, 105, and 106.
Security Plan Review collects data to reduce the number of FOIA requests from facility and
vessel operators who would seek the status of their applications during USCG review.
The IIR module contains vessel role, organization name, and incident brief data. IIR
collects data to provide the public with non-major marine casualty data, which meets the
reporting requirement in 46 U.S.C. Subtitle II, Part D: Marine Casualties Section 6101(h).
MARPOL Certificates of Adequacy is released to make it readily available to vessel
operators as required by the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships
(MARPOL). This information is needed by vessel operators so that they can properly dispose of
vessel wastes in accordance with MARPOL.
NRC/IRIS provides non-sensitive pollution incident reports to the general public. Data is
derived from USCG MISLE and IRIS and is scrubbed to remove PII and any sensitive data prior
to being posted for public consumption.

3.2

No.

Does the project use technology to conduct electronic searches,
queries, or analyses in an electronic database to discover or locate
a predictive pattern or an anomaly? If so, state how DHS plans to
use such results.

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3.3

Are there other components
responsibilities within the system?

with

assigned

roles

and

No.

3.4

Privacy Impact Analysis: Related to the Uses of Information

Privacy Risk: Except for VIS, there are no privacy risks related to use of information.
The public either is authorized to access the data, or, as in the case of USCG Accepted
Laboratories and USCG Approved Liferaft Servicing facilities database modules, the PII data
available are the type typically found on business cards, or the data does not contain PII.
Mitigation: VIS implements access controls to limit access to authorized users of those
systems (i.e., state registries containing vessel identification and owner information). VIS data
use is also documented through Memorandum of Agreement with participating VIS states,
International Justice and Public Safety Network (Nlets), and the commercial aggregator. VIS
implements audit controls by keeping audit logs of all records accessed by the users.
All USCG personnel must annually complete DHS Protecting Personal Information and
DHS Records Management For Everyone training.

Section 4.0 Notice
The following questions seek information about the project’s notice to the individual about the information
collected, the right to consent to uses of said information, and the right to decline to provide information.

4.1

How does the project provide individuals notice prior to the
collection of information? If notice is not provided, explain why
not.

USCG provides notice through the publication of this PIA and DHS/USCG-013 Marine
Information for Safety and Law Enforcement (MISLE) SORN.

4.2

What opportunities are available for individuals to consent to
uses, decline to provide information, or opt out of the project?

Vessel owners consent to the use of their information in VIS when they apply to
document or register their vessel. They may not opt out because vessel documentation and
registration are required by federal and state laws.
The only individual information in RRI is related to user accounts and contact
information. Users consent to the entry of their user account information into RRI when they
apply for user accounts. OSRO participation in RRI is voluntary, although organizations that do

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not participate may lose business opportunities. Organizations may require their employees to
either get a RRI account or be listed as a contact as a condition of employment, in which case the
individual may need to find new employment to avoid participation in RRI.
The only individual information in CART is related to user accounts and contact
information. Users consent to the entry of their user account information into CART when they
apply for user accounts. Organization participation in CART is voluntary, but participating
organizations may require their employees to either get a CART account or be listed as a contact
as a condition of employment, in which case the individual may need to find new employment to
avoid participation in CART.
There is no need for individuals to consent to uses, decline to provide information, or opt
out of the following applications because they contain no information on individuals: Approved
Equipment Listing, Accepted Laboratories, Liferaft Servicing Facilities, PSIX, XML Web
Services, Security Plan Review, Incident Investigation Reports, MARPOL Certificates of
Adequacy, and NVDC Packet Status.
Individuals may file an anonymous report to NRC/IRIS for incidents. NRC will still
document the incident details without the complete contact information.

4.3

Privacy Impact Analysis: Related to Notice

Privacy Risk: Individuals may not be aware or understand that information they
submitted as part of customer-facing USCG programs will be shared with CGMIX and the
public.
Mitigation: CGMIX data and records are a compilation of information entered into
MISLE and IRIS by USCG program offices. Since, CGMIX and its supporting personnel do not
interact directly with individuals to collect PII, it relies upon the public facing systems within
MISLE and IRIS to provide notice of use. NRC/IRIS mitigates this risk by explaining to the
reporting source (i.e., member of the public or local/state/federal government entity) at the time
of collection how the data is being used. Most reports come to the NRC via phone call. The NRC
watchstander takes the information from the caller and enters it into IRIS. While collecting the
information from the caller, the watchstander explains how it would be used in the form of a
spoken Privacy Act Statement. However, some reports come in via email and fax and
watchstanders do not have an opportunity to explain how the information would be used in those
cases.
VIS, as part of MISLE, provides a set of frequently asked questions outlining the process
on the CGMIX website. Notice is also provided through the publication of this PIA and
DHS/USCG-013, Marine Information for Safety and Law Enforcement (MISLE) SORN.

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The CGMIX homepage also provides the contact information for the USCG Management
Programs and Policy Division, the main point of contact for the USCG FOIA request program.

Section 5.0 Data Retention by the project
The following questions are intended to outline how long the project retains the information after the initial
collection.

5.1

Explain how long and for what reason the information is retained.

The NARA approved records retention schedule for the Marine Information for Safety
and Law Enforcement (MISLE), is N1-026-05-15, provides that the records are permanent
except for certain notifications that are not associated with a Case or Activity. These
notifications will be destroyed or deleted 5 years after the calendar year in which they were
received. USCG found broad consensus within its legal, oversight, and mission personnel, as
well as with NARA, for determining to retain its records of business processes supporting
Marine Safety, Maritime Security, Environmental Protection, Law Enforcement, Search and
Rescue, and Bridge Administration, permanently. This retention supports not only historical
research, but also investigations and litigation associated with law enforcement activities arising
from the USCG mission.

5.2

Privacy Impact Analysis: Related to Retention

Privacy Risk: There is a security risk that permanent records may become lost or
misplaced. Where these records also contain PII, this is a privacy risk.
Mitigation: CGMIX records are retained permanently pursuant to MISLE’s NARA
approved record retention schedule. USCG maintains strong configuration management, access
controls, audit controls, and training. Data backups and security controls are used during data
transfer and the use of data encryption reduces the risk of data loss of sensitive fields. Access to
secure applications/modules is limited to authorized users who must input user names and
passwords for access.
To mitigate data misuse, all USCG personnel must complete annual mandated DHS
Protecting Personal Information and Records Management For Everyone privacy training.

Section 6.0 Information Sharing
The following questions are intended to describe the scope of the project information sharing external to
the Department. External sharing encompasses sharing with other federal, state and local government, and private
sector entities.

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6.1 Is information shared outside of DHS as part of the normal
agency operations? If so, identify the organization(s) and how the
information is accessed and how it is to be used.
Yes, VIS data is shared with numbering and titling, registration, and law enforcement
officials of VIS participating states and territories. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
accesses VIS for law enforcement purposes, and the operations center of the Federal
Communication Commission (FCC) accesses VIS in order to coordinate USCG search and
rescue missions involving the maritime community.
RRI data is shared with organizations responding to oil and hazardous materials spills;
however, only equipment information is shared. The information is shared by extracts from RRI
produced by the National Strike Force. Since no PII is shared, there are no special protections for
the information.
CART data is only shared with system users. Some system users are not DHS employees
or contractors. They access the data by logging into RRI using accounts provided by USCG. All
RRI users are screened by the USCG Sector commander for a need to access the system, sign a
non-disclosure agreement, and receive training on protection of privacy information.
NRC shares IRIS data with Department of Transportation (DOT) and Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA). These agencies utilize the NRC as a communication center for
pollution incidents that impact their regulatory responsibilities. As such, the NRC is obligated to
send them all information regarding the events that impact their operation.
The remaining database modules are open to the public and no login is required:
Approved Equipment Listing, Accepted Laboratories, Liferaft Servicing Facilities, PSIX, XML
Web Services, Security Plan Review, IIR, MARPOL Certificates of Adequacy, NVDC Packet
Status.

6.2

Describe how the external sharing noted in 6.1 is compatible with
the SORN noted in 1.2.

CGMIX external data sharing is consistent with the routine uses K and O, cited in the
DHS/USCG-013 Marine Information for Safety and Law Enforcement (MISLE) SORN. These
routine uses permit USCG to share vessel ownership, registration, and titling information with
participating state compliance and law enforcement officials, as well as, federal enforcement and
compliance agencies related to the USCG mission.

6.3

Does the project place limitations on re-dissemination?

Yes, re-dissemination of information is restricted and covered in Memorandum of
Agreements (MOA) between the USCG and Nlets and each VIS participating state. USCG

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personnel and MTS stakeholders must also abide by the terms cited in the MOAs. There are no
restrictions on the re-dissemination of data available to the public through the Approved
Equipment Listing, Accepted Laboratories, Liferaft Servicing Facilities, PSIX, XML Web
Services, Security Plan Review, IIR, MARPOL Certificates of Adequacy, and NVDC Packet
Status modules of CGMIX

6.4

Describe how the project maintains a record of any disclosures
outside of the Department.

VIS Records that require release through FOIA are tracked by the USCG Management
Programs and Policy Division, Commandant (CG-611) STOP 7710, 2703 Martin Luther King Jr.
Avenue SE, Washington D.C. 20593-7101.
NRC/IRIS maintains written correspondence with any agency (federal, state, or local)
that requests NRC information. That correspondence is in the form of a signed application
detailing the type of information requested. NRC’s system, IRIS, tracks each transmission of this
data. Each NRC report is stamped with the name of the agency that received the information and
how that agency received the information.
Records released through FOIA are tracked by the USCG Management Programs and
Policy Division, Commandant (CG-611) STOP 7710, 2703 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE,
Washington DC 20593-7101.

6.5

Privacy Impact Analysis: Related to Information Sharing

Privacy Risk: CGMIX users may release inaccurate information, spillage may occur
during data transmission, and data could be altered when re-disseminated by the recipient.
Transmission release could occur if the information was improperly protected during
transmission, such as unencrypted email.
Mitigation: These risks are minimized by: removing sensitive information when
possible; providing training to Coast Guard personnel to recognize sensitive information and
how to handle it; utilizing encryption or other secure delivery methods to protect information
during data transfer; and establishing MOUs/MOAs with recipients that specify their
responsibilities including data handling requirements.
Privacy Risk: Data could be inaccurate because of errors in the data source.
Mitigation: This risk is not mitigated. CGMIX does not collect information directly from
the individual and must rely upon the state and commercial providers of the data to vet and
ensure the accuracy of their holdings prior to submitting the data to CGMIX. USCG encourages
its state partners and vendors to provide as accurate data as possible.

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Privacy Risk: There are no controls preventing the re-dissemination of publicly available
information and it is possible for a recipient to change data before re-dissemination.
Mitigation: CGMIX public users are encouraged to use data from that site rather than
relying on data from other sites that could contain re-dissemination errors.

Section 7.0 Redress
The following questions seek information about processes in place for individuals to seek redress which
may include access to records about themselves, ensuring the accuracy of the information collected about them,
and/or filing complaints.

7.1

What are the procedures that allow individuals to access their
information?

Individuals seeking access to their data may submit a Privacy Act request in writing to
USCG, Commandant (CG-611), 2703 Martin Luther King Jr Avenue SE, STOP 7710, Attn:
FOIA Coordinator, Washington, D.C. 20593-7710. A request may also be submitted to
[email protected].
VIS participation is voluntary, and VIS data is not considered the official record; states
maintain the official record. VIS is accessible by federal and state law enforcement, number and
titling officials, and vessel registration personnel. Individuals must follow state vessel
registration office FOIA policies for access to their information.

7.2

What procedures are in place to allow the subject individual to
correct inaccurate or erroneous information?

Individuals may seek to correct their information through a Privacy Act request as cited
in Section 7.1 above.

7.3

How does the project notify individuals about the procedures for
correcting their information?

Individuals are provided notification through this PIA and DHS/USCG-013, Marine
Information for Safety and Law Enforcement.

7.4

Privacy Impact Analysis: Related to Redress

Privacy Risk: An individual may not obtain access or have the opportunity to correct or
amend his or her record.
Mitigation: Records displayed by CGMIX have been scrubbed to remove PII wherever
possible. By publicly posting this information online, USCG enhances an individual’s

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opportunity to discover erroneous information. Individuals are offered redress opportunities via
the procedures cited above. Individuals may be able to obtain access, correct, or amend their
records; however, FOIA or Privacy Act exemptions for law enforcement purposes may preclude
this action.

Section 8.0 Auditing and Accountability
The following questions are intended to describe technical and policy based safeguards and security
measures.

8.1

How does the project ensure that the information is used in
accordance with stated practices in this PIA?

User agreements, MOAs, and auditing ensure CGMIX data is used for the specified
purpose.
VIS transactions are tracked using audit logs of each user’s login and the individual
records accessed by those users. This allows the oversight and audit capabilities to ensure the
data is handled in a manner consistent with applicable laws and regulations.
USCG conducts periodic reviews of CGMIX user accounts to ensure compliance with
DHS and USCG inactive user account policies.

8.2

Describe what privacy training is provided to users either
generally or specifically relevant to the project.

All USCG personnel must complete annual mandated trainings titled, DHS Protecting
Personal Information and DHS Records Management for Everyone.

8.3

What procedures are in place to determine which users may
access the information and how does the project determine who
has access?

CART and VIS access is limited to USCG personnel and maritime stakeholders that
required entry to perform official duties. The remaining USCG web applications/modules do not
have access limitations.

8.4

How does the project review and approve information sharing
agreements, MOUs, new uses of the information, new access to the
system by organizations within DHS and outside?

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Current CGMIX information sharing MOUs have been reviewed by the program
manager, system owner, counsel, and authorizing official. Any revised MOUs will be sent to the
USCG Privacy Officer for review.

8.5

Privacy Impact Analysis: Related to Auditing and Accountability

Privacy Risk: There is a risk CGMIX information may be mishandled by various
stakeholders.
Mitigation: USCG has incorporated data security procedures and requires all USCG
personnel to complete annual privacy and cyber awareness training. VIS mitigates this risk by
only collecting the data elements required and specified in 33 CFR 187 and by utilizing audit
logs of each users, batch processing to limit the amount of data transferred, and secure transfer
protocols to ensure the data is properly protected. Additionally, NRC/IRIS watchstanders
participate in quarterly on the job training (OJT) that includes privacy awareness and reiterates
the appropriate classification of information. Lastly, industries self-regulate the validity of their
data by ensuring accurate information is submitted on the USCG Accepted Laboratories and
USCG Liferaft Servicing Facilities applications.

Responsible Officials
Gary Chappell
CGMIX Project Officer (CG-633)
U.S. Coast Guard
Department of Homeland Security

Approval Signature
Original signed copy on file with DHS Privacy Office.
________________________________
Karen L. Neuman
Chief Privacy Officer
Department of Homeland Security