Notice2023-07973
Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
April 17, 2023
Issuing agencies
State Department
Abstract
Information in Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs and Related Records is used to support diplomatic and consular efforts to secure the recovery of and provide assistance and support services to individuals taken hostage or wrongfully detained abroad.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 73 (Monday, April 17, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 73 (Monday, April 17, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23487-23490]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-07973]
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DEPARTMENT OF STATE
[Public Notice: 12000]
Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records
AGENCY: Department of State.
ACTION: Notice of a new system of records.
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SUMMARY: Information in Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs
and Related Records is used to support diplomatic and consular efforts
to secure the recovery of and provide assistance and support services
to individuals taken hostage or wrongfully detained abroad.
DATES: In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552a(e)(4) and (11), this system of
records notice is effective upon publication, with the exception of the
routine uses that are subject to a 30-day period during which
interested persons may submit comments to the Department. Please submit
any comments by May 17, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Questions can be submitted by mail, email, or by calling
Eric F. Stein, the Senior Agency Official for Privacy, on (202) 485-
2051. If mail, please write to: U.S. Department of State; Office of
Global Information Systems, A/GIS; Room 1417, 2201 C St. NW;
Washington, DC 20520. If email, please address the email to the Senior
Agency Official for Privacy, Eric F. Stein, at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#a5f5d7ccd3c4c6dce5d6d1c4d1c08bc2cad3"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="29795b405f484a50695a5d485d4c074e465f">[email protected]</span></a>.
Please write ``Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs and
Related Records, State-60'' on the envelope or the subject line of your
email.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Eric F. Stein, Senior Agency Official
for Privacy; U.S. Department of State; Office of Global Information
Services, A/GIS; Room 1417, 2201 C St. NW; Washington, DC 20520 or by
calling (202) 485-2051.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: None.
SYSTEM NAME AND NUMBER:
Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs and Related Records,
STATE-60.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION:
Unclassified and Classified.
SYSTEM LOCATION:
Department of State, including overseas at U.S. embassies, U.S.
consulates, and U.S. consular agencies and within a government cloud
provided, implemented, and overseen by the Department's Enterprise
Server Operations Center (ESOC), 2201 C Street NW, Washington, DC
20520.
SYSTEM MANAGER(S):
The Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs (SPEHA), Special
Assistant, Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage
Affairs; U.S. Department of State, 2201 C Street NW, Washington, DC
20520, phone: 202-647-4611.
AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
(a) 22 U.S.C. 3904 (Functions of the Foreign Service, including
protection of U.S. citizens in foreign countries under the Vienna
Convention on Consular Relations and providing assistance to other
agencies);
(b) 22 U.S.C. 1731 (Protection of naturalized U.S. citizens in
foreign countries);
(c) 22 U.S.C. 1732 (Release of citizens imprisoned by foreign
governments);
(d) 22 U.S.C. 2670(j) (Provision of emergency medical, dietary and
other assistance);
(e) 22 U.S.C. 2715a (Responsibility to inform victims and their
families regarding crimes against U.S. citizens abroad);
(f) 22 U.S.C. 2715b (Notification of next of kin of death of U.S.
citizens in foreign countries);
(g) Sec. 599C of Public Law 101-513, 104 Stat. 1979, as amended
(Claims to benefits by virtue of hostage status) (Benefits ended, but
applicable to past records);
(h) Presidential Executive Order 13698 (Hostage Recovery
Activities) (June 29, 2015);
(i) Presidential Policy Directive 30 (U.S. Nationals Taken Hostage
Abroad and Personnel Recovery Efforts) (June 24, 2015);
(j) Section 302(c) of the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and
Hostage-taking Accountability Act (Div. FF, Title III, Subtitle A of
the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, P.L. 116-260) (Hostage and
Wrongful Detention Recovery Efforts and Codifying the Special
Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs) (December 27, 2020); and
(k) Presidential Executive Order 14078 (Bolstering Efforts to Bring
Hostages and Wrongfully Detained United States Nationals Home) (July
19, 2022).
PURPOSE(S) OF THE SYSTEM:
The information in the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage
Affairs and Related Records system of records is used to support
diplomatic and consular efforts to secure the recovery of and provide
assistance and support services to individuals taken hostage or
wrongfully detained abroad.
CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
Individuals who are, may be, or were previously taken hostage,
detained but unacknowledged by a foreign government, subject to
coercive travel restrictions, or detained unlawfully or wrongfully by a
foreign government (hereinafter, for purposes of this notice,
``individuals taken hostage or wrongfully detained abroad'') and such
individuals and offices involved in or engaging on their cases,
including family members, congresspersons, third party intermediaries,
and attorneys, who receive assistance or engage with the Office of the
Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs (SPEHA) or other offices
or bureaus in the Department of State. The Privacy Act defines an
individual at 5 U.S.C. 552a(a)(2) as a United States citizen or lawful
permanent resident.
CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
Records related to individuals who are taken hostage or wrongfully
detained abroad. These records may include biographic and contact
information, such as name, place of birth, current mailing address, zip
code,
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email address, phone number, Social Security number, title, date of
birth, gender, passport information, photographs, video recordings,
health information, and employment information; information related to
the individual's detention or treatment by a foreign government or non-
state actor and actions by the United States government and other
actors in relation to their case; information about foreign, personal,
family, emergency contacts; and information about third party
intermediaries and their engagement. These records may also include
communications to and from U.S. embassies, U.S. consulates, and
consular agencies; foreign, federal, state, and local government
agencies, including law enforcement agencies; members of Congress; U.S.
and foreign courts; U.S. and foreign nongovernmental organizations; the
United Nations and other international organizations; and the
subject(s) of the records, their family members, and other interested
parties. Certain records in this system are consular records that are
also maintained pursuant to the Office of Overseas Citizen Services
(OCS) System of Records Notice (State-05) (81 FR 62235), available at
<a href="https://www.state.gov/system-of-records-notices-privacy-office/">https://www.state.gov/system-of-records-notices-privacy-office/</a>.
RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
These records contain information that is obtained from the
individual who is the subject of the records, their family members,
their attorneys, and third-party intermediaries. Information may also
be obtained from federal, state, local and foreign government
authorities and nongovernmental entities.
ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES
OF USERS AND PURPOSES OF SUCH USES:
The information in the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage
Affairs and Related Records may be disclosed to:
(a.) Federal agencies and federal interagency bodies in connection
with the recovery of and investigation and prosecution of cases
involving individuals taken hostage or wrongfully detained abroad;
(b.) Domestic, international, and foreign law enforcement agencies
in connection with law enforcement issues and health, safety, welfare
and related matters involving individuals taken hostage, or wrongfully
detained abroad;
(c.) Foreign governments and international organizations to
facilitate resolution of cases involving individuals taken hostage or
wrongfully detained abroad;
(d.) Federal, state, and local agencies in connection with the
administration of U.S. federal, state, or local benefits or foreign
benefits for individuals taken hostage or wrongfully detained abroad;
(e.) Federal, state, foreign, and local agencies responsible for
investigating and/or prosecuting hostage and wrongful detention cases
or assisting those who have been taken hostage or wrongfully detained
abroad and/or their family members;
(f.) Federal, state, and foreign courts where the information is
relevant and necessary to litigation involving an individual who has
been taken hostage or wrongfully detained abroad;
(g.) Family members of an individual who has been taken hostage or
wrongfully detained abroad;
(h.) The individual's employer when the disclosure is for the
benefit of an individual who has been taken hostage or wrongfully
detained abroad;
(i.) Congressional offices and Congressional committees when the
disclosure is for the benefit of an individual who has been taken
hostage or wrongfully detained abroad;
(j.) Third parties designated by a family member of an individual
taken hostage or wrongfully detained abroad when the disclosure is for
the benefit of an individual who has been taken hostage or unlawfully
or wrongfully detained abroad;
(k.) Attorneys when the individual to whom the information pertains
has been taken hostage or wrongfully detained abroad, and that
individual is the client of the attorney making the request, or when
the attorney is acting on behalf of some other individual to whom
access is authorized under this notice;
(l.) The news media or the public where such disclosure is in
furtherance of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs'
mission, and where disclosure could not reasonably be expected to
constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy or to have an
undue adverse effect on either the subject or individuals associated
with the subject, and where there is a legitimate public interest in
the information disclosed.
(m.) To appropriate agencies, entities, and persons when (1) the
Department of State suspects or has confirmed that there has been a
breach of the system of records; (2) the Department of State has
determined that as a result of the suspected or confirmed breach there
is a risk of harm to individuals, the Department of State (including
its information systems, programs, and operations), the Federal
Government, or national security; and (3) the disclosure made to such
agencies, entities, and persons is reasonably necessary to assist in
connection with the Department of State efforts to respond to the
suspected or confirmed breach or to prevent, minimize, or remedy such
harm.
(n.) To another Federal agency or Federal entity, when the
Department of State determines that information from this system of
records is reasonably necessary to assist the recipient agency or
entity in (1) responding to a suspected or confirmed breach or (2)
preventing, minimizing, or remedying the risk of harm to individuals,
the recipient agency or entity (including its information systems,
programs, and operations), the Federal Government, or national
security, resulting from a suspected or confirmed breach.
The Department of State periodically publishes in the Federal
Register its standard routine uses that apply to all its Privacy Act
systems of records. These notices appear in the form of a Prefatory
Statement (published in Volume 73, Number 136, Public Notice 6290, on
July 15, 2008). All these standard routine uses apply to Special
Presidential Envoy for Hostages Affairs and Related Records system,
State-60. Records in this system that are also consular records are
subject to the routine uses identified in the Overseas Citizen Services
Records and Other Overseas Records system of records notice STATE-05,
as well as those in this notice.
POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORAGE OF RECORDS:
Records are stored both in hard copy and on electronic media. A
description of standard Department of State policies concerning storage
of electronic records is found here <a href="https://fam.state.gov/FAM/05FAM/05FAM0440.html">https://fam.state.gov/FAM/05FAM/05FAM0440.html</a>. All hard copies of records containing personal
information are maintained in secured file cabinets in restricted
areas, access to which is limited to authorized personnel only.
POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR RETRIEVAL OF RECORDS:
By individual name, birth date, passport number, or other personal
identifier, such as country/location of detention, if available.
POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR RETENTION AND DISPOSAL OF RECORDS:
Records are retired and destroyed in accordance with published
Department of State Records Disposition Schedules as approved by the
National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and outlined here
<a href="https://foia.state.gov/Learn/RecordsDisposition.aspx">https://foia.state.gov/Learn/RecordsDisposition.aspx</a>. The range of
disposition for records maintained in the system is one to
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twenty years. More specific information may be obtained by writing to
the following address: U.S. Department of State; Director, Office of
Information Programs and Services; A/GIS/IPS; 2201 C Street NW, Room B-
266; Washington, DC 20520.
ADMINISTRATIVE, TECHNICAL, AND PHYSICAL SAFEGUARDS:
All users are given cyber security awareness training which covers
the procedures for handling Sensitive but Unclassified (SBU)
information, including personally identifiable information (PII).
Annual refresher training is mandatory. In addition, all Department
OpenNet users are required to take the Foreign Service Institute
distance learning course instructing employees on privacy and security
requirements, including the rules of behavior for handling PII and the
potential consequences if it is handled improperly. Before being
granted access to Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs and
Related Records, a user must first be granted access to the Department
of State computer system.
Department of State employees and contractors may remotely access
this system of records using non-Department owned information
technology. Such access is subject to approval by the Department's
access program and is limited to information maintained in unclassified
information systems. Remote access to the Department's information
systems is configured in compliance with OMB Circular A-130 multifactor
authentication requirements and includes a time-out function.
All Department of State employees and contractors with authorized
access to records maintained in this system of records have undergone a
thorough background security investigation. Access to the Department of
State, its annexes and posts abroad is controlled by security guards
and admission is limited to those individuals possessing a valid
identification card or individuals under proper escort. Access to
computerized files is password-protected and under the direct
supervision of the system manager. The system manager has the
capability of printing audit trails of access from the computer media,
thereby permitting regular and ad hoc monitoring of computer usage.
When it is determined that a user no longer needs access, the user
account is disabled.
The safeguards in the following paragraphs apply only to records
that are maintained in government-certified cloud systems. All cloud
systems that provide IT services and process Department of State
information must be specifically authorized by the Department of State
Authorizing Official and Senior Agency Official for Privacy.
Information that conforms with Department-specific definitions for
Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) low, moderate, or
high categorization are permissible for cloud usage and must
specifically be authorized by the Department's Cloud Program Management
Office and the Department of State Authorizing Official. Specific
security measures and safeguards will depend on the FISMA
categorization of the information in a given cloud system. In
accordance with Department policy, systems that process more sensitive
information will require more stringent controls and review by
Department cybersecurity experts prior to approval. Prior to operation,
all Cloud systems must comply with applicable security measures that
are outlined in FISMA, The Federal Risk and Authorization Management
Program (FedRAMP), OMB regulations, National Institute of Standards and
Technology's (NIST) Special Publications (SP) and Federal Information
Processing Standards (FIPS) and Department of State policies and
standards.
All data stored in cloud environments categorized above a low FISMA
impact risk level must be encrypted at rest and in-transit using a
federally-approved encryption mechanism. The encryption keys shall be
generated, maintained, and controlled in a Department data center by
the Department key management authority. Deviations from these
encryption requirements must be approved in writing by the Department
of State Authorizing Official. High FISMA impact risk level systems
will additionally be subject to continual auditing and monitoring,
multifactor authentication mechanism utilizing Public Key
Infrastructure (PKI) and NIST 800 53 controls concerning
virtualization, servers, storage and networking, as well as stringent
measures to sanitize data from the cloud service once the contract is
terminated.
RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURES:
Individuals who wish to gain access to or amend records pertaining
to themselves should write to U.S. Department of State; Director,
Office of Information Programs and Services; A/GIS/IPS; 2201 C Street
NW, Room B-266; Washington, DC 20520. The individual must specify that
they wish Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs and Related
Records to be checked. At a minimum, the individual must include: full
name and any other names used; current mailing address and zip code;
date and place of birth; notarized signature or statement under penalty
of perjury; a brief description of the circumstances that caused the
creation of the record (including the city and/or country and the
approximate dates) which gives the individual cause to believe that
Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs and Related Records
includes records pertaining to them. Detailed instructions on
Department of State procedures for accessing and amending records can
be found on the Department's FOIA website at <a href="https://foia.state.gov/Request/Guide.aspx">https://foia.state.gov/Request/Guide.aspx</a>.
CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURES:
Individuals who wish to contest record procedures should write to
U.S. Department of State; Director, Office of Information Programs and
Services; A/GIS/IPS; 2201 C Street, NW, Room B-266; Washington, DC
20520.
NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES:
Individuals who have reason to believe that this system of records
may contain information pertaining to them may write to U.S. Department
of State; Director, Office of Information Programs and Services; A/GIS/
IPS; 2201 C Street NW, Room B-266; Washington, DC 20520. The individual
must specify that the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs
and Related Records should be checked. At a minimum, the individual
must include: full name and any other names used; current mailing
address and zip code; date and place of birth; notarized signature or
statement under penalty of perjury; a brief description of the
circumstances that caused the creation of the record (including the
city and/or country and the approximate dates) which gives the
individual cause to believe that Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage
Affairs and Related Records include records pertaining to them.
EXEMPTIONS PROMULGATED FOR THE SYSTEM:
Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(k)(1), records subject to the provisions
of section 552(b)(1) are exempted from 5 U.S.C. 552a(c)(3), (d),
(e)(1), (e)(4)(G), (H) and (I), and (f). Pursuant to 5 U.S.C.
552a(k)(2), records that consist of investigatory material compiled for
law enforcement purposes are exempted from 5 U.S.C. 552a(c)(3), (d),
(e)(1), (e)(4)(G), (H) and (I), and (f).
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HISTORY:
None.
Eric F. Stein,
Deputy Assistant Secretary, Global Information Services (A/GIS),
Department of State.
[FR Doc. 2023-07973 Filed 4-14-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4710-AD-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on April 17, 2023.
This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.