[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 107 (Tuesday, June 5, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 31082-31085]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 07-2782]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Office of the Secretary
[Docket No. DHS-2007-0039]
Privacy Act; Background Check Services System of Records
AGENCY: Privacy Office, Office of the Secretary, Department of Homeland
Security.
ACTION: Notice of Updated Privacy Act system of records notice.
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SUMMARY: Pursuant to Updated Privacy Act of 1974, the Department of
Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, is
updating the Background Check Service system of records to include a
new category of
[[Page 31083]]
individuals, which is other individuals over the age of 18 residing in
a prospective adoptive parent's household pursuant to 8 CFR 204.3
(herein referred to as ``other individuals''). Additionally, DHS is
adding a new routine use consistent with Office of Management and
Budget Memorandum M-07-16, Attachment 2 that permits DHS to be in the
best position to respond in a timely and effective manner in the event
of a data breach. This republished system of records notice will
replace the previously published system of records notice for the
Background Check System, Federal Register on December 4, 2006 (71 FR
070413).
DATES: The established system of records will be effective July 5,
2007.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket Number DHS-
2007-0039 by one of the following methods:
Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
Fax: 1-866-466-5370.
Mail: Hugo Teufel III, Chief Privacy Officer, Privacy
Office, Department of Homeland Security, Washington, DC 20528.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For system related questions please
contact: Greg Collett, Branch Chief of Application Support for Office
of Field Operations, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services,
Department of Homeland Security, 20 Massachusetts Avenue, NW.,
Washington, DC 20520. For privacy issues please contract: Hugo Teufel
III, Chief Privacy Officer, Privacy Office, U.S. Department of Homeland
Security, Washington, DC 20528.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS),
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is congressionally
tasked with processing all immigration benefit applications and
petitions. In order to assist in this tasks, USCIS established a system
of records that consolidates all background check requests and results
on immigration benefit applicants/petitioners. This system of records
is called the Background Check Service (BCS). At this time, USCIS is
updating this system of records notice to add the following category of
individuals to the Background Check System: Other individuals over the
age of 18 residing in a prospective adoptive parent's household
pursuant to 8 CFR 204.3 (herein referred to as ``other individuals'').
Additionally, USCIS is adding a new routine use consistent with Office
of Management and Budget Memorandum M-07-16, Attachment 2 that permits
DHS to be in the best position to respond in a timely and effective
manner in the event of a data breach.
USCIS conducts four different background checks on applicants/
petitioners applying for USCIS benefits: (1) A Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) fingerprint check, (2) a FBI name check, (3) a
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Treasury Enforcement Communication
System/Interagency Border Inspection System (TECS/IBIS) name check, and
(4) US-VISIT IDENT fingerprint check. BCS will maintain the requests
and results of all background check activity for USCIC.
As a centralized repository containing all background check
activity, BCS provides the status and results of background checks
required for completion of immigration eligibility petitions and
application determinations from one web-based system to geographically
dispersed field offices. This system supports USCIS's initiatives to
reduce immigration benefit/petition case backlog and provide
significant efficiencies in vetting and resolving the background checks
that are required for USCIS benefits. Prior to BCS, information
relating to the US-VISIT IDENT fingerprint checks, FBI fingerprint
checks and the FBI name checks were stored in the FD-258 system and FBI
Query system respectively. Information relating to the TECS/IBIS name
checks was not stored in any system.
The information maintained in BCS is initially collected and
maintained in one of the following USCIS case management systems and
then it is transferred to BCS:
Computer-Linked Application Information Management System
(CLAIMS) 3, which is used to process applications including, but not
limited to, an Adjustment of Status (Green Card) and Temporary
Protective Status (TPS);
CLAIMS 4, which is used to process applications for
Naturalization;
Refugee Asylum Parole System (RAPS), which is used to
process Asylum applications; and
Marriage Fraud Assurance System (MFAS), which is used for
processing information relating to investigations of marriage fraud.
The benefit applicant/petitioner and other individuals do not have
direct interaction with BCS.
The above systems will send necessary and relevant information to
BCS in order to generate a Name Check Request for both the FBI name
check and TECS/IBIS name check. Both the requests and results will be
stored in BCS.
Applicants and other individuals submit information at the time the
fingerprints are taken in order to conduct the FBI fingerprint check
and the US-VISIT IDENT fingerprint check. Fingerprints are taken
electronically at USCIS Application Support Centers (ASC) or taken from
hard copy fingerprint cards (FD-258) that are submitted for those
applicants and other individuals who are unable to go to an ASC. The
fingerprints are currently stored in the Benefit Biometric Support
System (BBSS), which interfaces directly with FBI's Integrated
Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS). The FBI provides
responses to the FBI fingerprint check electronically and responses are
stored in BCS. US-VISIT IDENT fingerprint check provides responses to
BCS.
All information is currently collected as part of the established
USCIS application/petition process and is required to verify the
applicant/petitioner's eligibility for the benefit being sought. The
FBI fingerprint check consists of a search of the FBI's Criminal Master
File via IAFIS. This search will identify applicants/petitioners and
other individuals who have an arrest record. The FBI Name Check
consists of a search of the FBI's Universal Index that includes
administrative, applicant, criminal, personnel, and other files
compiled for law enforcement purposes. The TECS/IBIS Name Check
consists of a search of a multi-agency database containing information
from 26 different agencies. The information in TECS/IBIS includes
records of known and suspected terrorists, sex offenders, and other
individuals that may be of interest to the law enforcement community.
USCIS will use TECS/IBIS to access National Crime Information Center
(NCIC) records on wanted persons, criminal histories, and previous
federal inspections. The information in US-VISIT IDENT links
information on individuals with their encounters, biometrics, records,
and other data elements.
The information collected in BCS as part of the background check
process provides USCIS with information about an applicant/petitioner
and other individuals that have national security or public safety
implications or indicia of fraud. Collecting this information and
taking action to prevent potentially undesirable and often dangerous
people from staying in this country clearly supports two primary
missions of DHS: Preventing terrorist attacks within the United States
and reducing America's vulnerability to terrorism, while facilitating
the adjudication of lawful benefit applications.
[[Page 31084]]
USCIS will use the results of these background checks to make
eligibility determinations, which will result in the approval or denial
of a benefit. If fraudulent or criminal activity is detected as a
result of the background check, USCIS will forward the information to
appropriate law enforcement agencies including Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE), FBI, CBP, and/or local law enforcement.
The Privacy Act embodies fair information principles in a statutory
framework governing the means by which the United States Government
collects, maintains, uses and disseminates personally identifiable
information. The Privacy Act applies to information that is maintained
in a ``system of records.'' A ``system of records'' is a group of any
records under the control of an agency 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.
The Privacy Act requires each agency to publish in the Federal
Register a description denoting the type and character of each system
of records that the agency maintains, and the routine uses that are
contained in each system to make agency recordkeeping practices
transparent, to notify individuals of the uses to which personally
identifiable information is put, and to assist the individual in more
easily finding such files within the agency.
In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552a(r), a report on this system has
been sent to Congress and to the Office of Management and Budget.
DHS-USCIS-002
System name:
Background Check Service (BCS). Security Classification: Sensitive
but Unclassified.
System location:
The primary BCS system is located at a Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) approved data center in the Washington, DC, metropolitan
area. Backups are maintained offsite. BCS will be accessible world-wide
from all USCIS field offices, service centers, and ASC that are part of
the DHS Network.
Categories of individuals covered by the system:
Categories of individuals covered by this notice consist of:
A. All individuals who are applying for benefits and or who are
petitioning on behalf of individuals applying/petitioning for benefits
pursuant to the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, as amended,
101 [8 U.S.C. 1101] (a)(b).
B. All individuals over the age of 18 residing in a prospective
adoptive parent's household whose principal or only residence is the
home of the prospective adoptive parents pursuant to 8 CFR 204.3
(herein referred to as ``other individuals'').
Categories of records in the system:
BCS maintains four general categories of records: Applicant/
petitioner identification information, other individual identification
information, Background Check Request information, and Background Check
Result information.
A. Applicant/Petitioner information includes biographic information
associated with each applicant/petitioner including, but not limited
to: Name, date of birth, country of birth, address, and employment
status. The applicant/petitioner information also includes uniquely
identifiable numbers, including but not limited to: Alien number, z-
number, receipt number, social security number, armed forces
identification number, etc. This information would be derived from
newly created benefit applications in USCIS Systems of Records or an
update to previously submitted benefit applications.
B. Information related to other individuals over the age of 18
residing in a prospective adoptive parent's household would be derived
from newly created inter-country adoption applications pursuant to 8
CFR 204.3. The information collected about these individuals includes:
Full name and date of birth.
C. Background Check Request information contains data necessary to
perform a background check through the US-VISIT IDENT fingerprint
check, FBI fingerprint check, FI name check, and CBP IBIS name check
services. This data may include: Transaction control numbers associated
with FBI fingerprint checks, receipt numbers, date/time of submission,
physical description of subject, and a reason for the submission of the
application (i.e. USCIS form code). This category also covers logs
associated with the requests of background checks, which may include:
Requesting location and requesting person.
D. Background Check Result information encompasses data received
from FBI and DHS. This data may include: Identifying transactional
information (i.e. transaction control number), biographical
information, a subject's FBI information sheet (informally known as a
RAP Sheet) as a result of an FBI fingerprint check, an FBI name check
report, information from the CBP IBIS database, and information from
US-VISIT IDENT fingerprint check. The CBP IBIS database includes data
from TECS and NCIC databases.
Authority for maintenance of the system:
8 U.S.C. 1103(a).
Purpose(s):
BCS is a single, centralized system that records, reconciles, and
stores Background Check Requests and Results of applicants and
petitioners seeking USCIS benefits. The following types of background
checks will be recorded by BCS: FBI Name Checks, TECS/IBIS Name Checks,
and FBI Fingerprint Checks. The collection of information is required
to verify the applicant/petitioner's eligibility for USCIS benefits. A
background check of varying degree, determined by the benefit/petition,
is required for any individual applying for USCIS benefits. In order to
seek USCIS benefits, the applicant/petitioner must provide USCIS with
all requested information.
In the case of other individuals over the age of 18 residing in a
prospective adoptive parent's household, USCIS collects their
information to facilitate the appropriate USVISIT IDENT, FBI Name
Checks, TECS/IBIS Name Checks, and FBI Fingerprint Checks. This check
is conducted in order to assess whether the child will be placed in a
safe environment.
Routine uses of records maintained in the system, including categories
of users and the purposes of such uses:
In addition to those disclosures generally permitted under 5 U.S.C.
552a(b) of the Privacy Act, all or a portion of the records or
information contained in this system may be disclosed outside DHS as a
routine use pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(b)(3) as follows:
A. To the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) (including
United States Attorney offices) or other Federal agency conducting
litigation or in proceedings before any court, adjudicative or
administrative body, when it is necessary to the litigation and one of
the following is a party to the litigation or has an interest in such
litigation: (a) DHS, or (b) any employee of DHS in his/her official
capacity, or (c) any employee of DHS in his/her individual capacity
where DOJ or DHS has agreed to represent said employee, or (d) the
United States or any agency thereof;
B. To another Federal agency (including the Merit Systems
Protection
[[Page 31085]]
Board and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission), or to a court,
or a party in litigation before a court or in an administrative
proceeding being conducted by a Federal agency, when the Government is
a party to the judicial or administrative proceeding.
C. To an agency, organization, or individual for the purpose of
performing audit or oversight operations as authorized by law.
D. To a Congressional office, for the record of an individual in
response to an inquiry from that Congressional office made at the
request of the individual to whom the record pertains.
E. To the National Archives and Records Administration or other
Federal government agencies pursuant to records management inspections
being conducted under the authority of 44 U.S.C. 2904 and 2906.
F. To contractors, grantees, experts, consultants, and others
performing or working on a contract, service, grant, cooperative
agreement, or other assignment for the Federal Government, when
necessary to accomplish a DHS mission function related to this system
of records, in compliance with the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended.
G. To appropriate Federal, state, local, tribal, or foreign
governmental agencies or multilateral governmental organizations
responsible for investigating or prosecuting the violations of, or for
enforcing or implementing, a statute, rule, regulation, order, or
license, where USCIS believes the information would assist enforcement
of civil or criminal laws;
H. To Federal and foreign government intelligence or
counterterrorism agencies or components where USCIS becomes aware of an
indication of a threat or potential threat to national or international
security, or where such use is to assist in anti-terrorism efforts and
disclosure is appropriate to the proper performance of the official
duties of the person making the disclosure;
I. To a Federal, state, local, tribal, territorial, foreign, or
international agency, if necessary to obtain information relevant to a
Department of Homeland Security decision concerning the hiring or
retention of an employee, the issuance of a security clearance, the
reporting of an investigation of an employee, the letting of a
contract, or the issuance of a license, grant or other benefit.
J. To appropriate agencies, entities, and persons when (1) it is
suspected or confirmed that the security or confidentiality of
information in the system of records has been compromised; (2) DHS has
determined that as a result of the suspected or confirmed compromise
there is a risk of harm to economic or property interests, identity
theft or fraud, or harm to the security or integrity of this system or
other systems or programs (whether maintained by DHS or another agency
or entity) that rely upon the compromised information; and (3) the
disclosure is made to such agencies, entities, and persons when
reasonably necessary to assist in connection with DHS's efforts to
respond to the suspected or confirmed compromise and prevent, minimize,
or remedy such harm.
Policies and practices for storing, retrieving, accessing, retaining,
and disposing of records in the system:
Storage:
Records in the system will be stored in a central computer
database.
Retrievability:
A combination of the following BCS data elements may be used to
initiate a query in order to retrieve data from the BCS User Interface.
These data elements include, an individual's alien file number, name
and date of birth; and receipt number.
Safeguards:
Information in this system is safeguarded in accordance with
applicable laws and policies, including the DHS Information Technology
Security Program Handbook. All records are protected from unauthorized
access through appropriate administrative, physical, and technical
safeguards. These safeguards include restricting access to authorized
personnel who have a need-to-know, using locks, and password protection
identification features. The system is also protected through a multi-
layer security approach. The protective strategies are physical,
technical, administrative and environmental in nature and provide
access control to sensitive data, physical access control to DHS
facilities, confidentiality of communications, authentication of
sending parties, and personnel screening to ensure that all personnel
with access to data are screened through background investigations
commensurate with the level of access required to perform their duties.
Retention and disposal:
The following USCIS proposal for retention and disposal is pending
approval by the National Archives and Records Administration. Records
are stored and retained in the BCS Repository for 75 years, during
which time the records will be archived. The 75-year retention rate is
based on the length of time USCIS may interact with a customer. For
example, background checks are conducted on individuals/petitioners
from the age of 14 and up. Retaining the data for this period of time
also will enable USCIS to fight identify fraud and misappropriated
benefits.
System manager(s) and address:
Greg Collett, Branch Chief of Application Support for Office of
Field Operations, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department
of Homeland Security, 20 Massachusetts Avenue, NW., Washington, DC
20529.
Notification procedure:
All individuals applying for immigration benefits are presented on
the USCIS form, a Privacy Act Statements and a Signature and
Authorization for Release of personally identifiable information. All
forms must be signed by the individual. These two notices supply
individuals with information regarding uses of the data.
Record access procedures:
To determine whether this system contains records relating to you,
write the USCIS Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act officer. Mail
request to: Elizabeth S. Gaffin, Privacy Officer, Department of
Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, 20
Massachusetts Avenue, NW., Room 4210, Washington, DC 20529.
Contesting record procedures:
See the ``Notification Procedure'' above.
Record source categories:
Information contained in this system of records is obtained from
USCIS systems including: CLAIMS3, CLAIMS4, RAPS, and MFAS. Information
contained in the system is also obtained from the FBI and DHS. All
information contained in BCS is derived from the above systems.
Exemptions claimed for the system:
None.
Dated: May 25, 2007.
Hugo Teufel, III,
Chief Privacy Officer.
[FR Doc. 07-2782 Filed 5-31-07; 1:24 pm]
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