Is a long read but interesting, i found it in another, read it if u get a chance.
[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]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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
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).
[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]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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
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).
