Hope
[Federal Register: December 4, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 232)]
[Notices]
[Page 70413-70416]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr04de06-71]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Office of the Secretary
[Docket No. DHS-2006-0063]
Privacy Act; Background Check Services System of Records
AGENCY: Privacy Office, Department of Homeland Security.
ACTION: Notice of Privacy Act system of records notice.
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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Privacy Act of 1974, the Department of
Homeland
[[Page 70414]]
Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, proposes to add a
new system of records to the Department's inventory, entitled
Background Check Service. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services, Office of Field Operations operates the Background Check
Service. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services conducts background
checks on petitioners and applicants who are seeking immigration
related benefits. To facilitate the background check process and to
improve efficiency, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services developed
the Background Check Service as a centralized repository that contains
the consolidated data on all background check requests and results. The
Background Check Service allows authorized U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services representatives to request background checks and
access the data stored in the Background Check Service during the
adjudication process in order to facilitate informed decision-making.
DATES: The established system of records will be effective January 3,
2007 unless comments are received that result in a contrary
determination.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket Number DHS-
2006-0063 by one of the following methods:
Federal e-Rulemaking Portal:
http://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
Fax: 571-227-4171 (This is not a toll-free number).
Mail: Hugo Teufel III, Chief Privacy Officer, Department
of Homeland Security, 601 S. 12th Street, Arlington, VA 22202-4220
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 20529. For privacy issues please contact: 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 task, USCIS established a new
system of records that will consolidate all background check requests
and results on immigration benefit applicants/petitioners. This new
system of records is called the Background Check Service (BCS). USCIS
conducts three different background checks on applicants/petitioners
applying for USCIS benefits: (1) A Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) Fingerprint Check, (2) a FBI Name Check, and (3) a Customs and
Border Protection (CBP) Treasury Enforcement Communication System/
Interagency Border Inspection System (TECS/IBIS) Name Check. BCS will
maintain the requests and results of all background check activity for
USCIS.
As a centralized repository containing all background check
activity, BCS will provide 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 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 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.
Fingerprint information is collected from the applicant at the time
the fingerprints are taken in order to conduct the FBI Fingerprint
Check. Fingerprints are taken electronically at a USCIS Application
Support Centers (ASC) or taken from hard copy fingerprint cards (FD-
258) that are submitted for those applicants 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 responses to
the FBI Fingerprint Check are collected electronically from the FBI and
stored in 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 is a search of the FBI's Criminal Master File via
the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS).
This search will identify applicants/petitioners who have an arrest
record. The FBI Name Check is a search of the FBI's Universal Index
that consists of administrative, applicant, criminal, personnel, and
other files compiled for law enforcement purposes. The TECS/IBIS Name
Check is 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
people 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 collected in BCS as part of the background check
process provides USCIS with information about an applicant/petitioner
that has National Security or Public Safety implications or indicia of
fraud. Having 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.
The results of these background checks will be used 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, information will be forwarded 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
[[Page 70415]]
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 reading the uses to which personally
identifiable information is put, and to assist the individual to more
easily find 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-2006-0063
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 application support
centers 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 Sec. 101. [8 U.S.C.
1101] (a)(b).
CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
BCS maintains three general categories of records: applicant/
petitioner 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. Background Check Request information contains data necessary to
perform a background check through the FBI Fingerprint Check, FBI 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.
C. Background Check Result information encompasses data received
from the FBI and CBP. 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, and information from the CBP IBIS Database. The CBP IBIS
Database includes data from TECS and NCIC databases.
AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
8 U.S.C. Sections 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. The
applicant/petitioner could not seek the benefits provided by USCIS
without the information collected from the applications/petitions.
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 (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 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. Sections 2904 and
2906.
F. To contractors, grantees, experts, consultants, students, and
others performing or working on a contract, service, grant, cooperative
agreement, or other assignment for the Federal Government, when
necessary to accomplish 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
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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.
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 approached. 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. Background checks are
conducted on individuals/petitioners from the age of 14 and up. The 75
year retention rate comes from the length of time USCIS may interact
with a customer. Further, retaining the data for this period of time
will enable USCIS to fight identity 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
with both Privacy Act notices and a Signature Certification and
Authorization for Release of personally identifiable information on all
USCIS forms, which must be signed. 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
requests 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 of Records; including, CLAIMS3, CLAIMS4, RAPS, and MFAS.
Information contained in the system is also obtained from the Federal
Bureau of Investigation, and the United States Customs and Border
Protection Services. All information contained in BCS is derived from
the above systems.
EXEMPTIONS CLAIMED FOR THE SYSTEM:
None.
Dated: November 22, 2006.
Hugo Teufel III,
Chief Privacy Officer.
[FR Doc. E6-20289 Filed 11-30-06; 8:45 am]
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