Notice2024-20694
Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records
Primary source
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Published
September 12, 2024
Issuing agencies
Agriculture DepartmentForest Service
Abstract
In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, and Office of Management and Budget Circular No. A-108 Federal Agency Responsibilities for Review, Reporting, and Publication, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA or Department) is issuing a public notice of its intent to modify the current system of records titled "Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, FS-33 Law Enforcement and Investigative Records." This system allows Law Enforcement and Investigations to record all criminal and civil investigations that take place or are related to crimes committed on National Forest System lands, which includes verified violations of criminal statutes and Forest Service (Agency) policy, as well as situations that may result in civil claims for or against the government. This information helps the Agency meet its objective of contributing to the safety of law enforcement officers, Forest Service employees, and national forest visitors.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 177 (Thursday, September 12, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 177 (Thursday, September 12, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 74200-74202]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-20694]
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Notices
Federal Register
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This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules
or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings
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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 177 / Thursday, September 12, 2024 /
Notices
[[Page 74200]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records
AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of a modified system of records.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, and Office of
Management and Budget Circular No. A-108 Federal Agency
Responsibilities for Review, Reporting, and Publication, the U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA or Department) is issuing a public
notice of its intent to modify the current system of records titled
``Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, FS-33 Law Enforcement and
Investigative Records.'' This system allows Law Enforcement and
Investigations to record all criminal and civil investigations that
take place or are related to crimes committed on National Forest System
lands, which includes verified violations of criminal statutes and
Forest Service (Agency) policy, as well as situations that may result
in civil claims for or against the government. This information helps
the Agency meet its objective of contributing to the safety of law
enforcement officers, Forest Service employees, and national forest
visitors.
DATES: This notice is applicable upon publication, subject to a 30-day
period in which to comment on the routine uses described below.
Comments must be submitted by October 15, 2024.
ADDRESSES: Comments, identified by docket number FS-2021-0002, may be
submitted via one of the following methods:
1. Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a> and
follow the instructions for submitting comments.
2. Email: Curtis Davis, <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#dfacb2f1b9acf1aaacb9acb3bab69faaacbbbef1b8b0a9"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="7b0816551d08550e081d08171e123b0e081f1a551c140d">[email protected]</span></a>.
3. Mail: Director, Law Enforcement and Investigations (Mail Stop
1140), USDA Forest Service, P.O. Box 96090, Washington, DC 20250.
Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name and
docket number [FS-2021-0002]. All comments received, including any
personal information provided, will be posted without change to <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>.
Docket: For access to the docket to read background information or
comments received go to <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general questions please contact
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Law Enforcement and
Investigations Staff, 1400 Independence Avenue SW (Mail Stop 1140),
Washington, DC 20250; phone 703-605-4730, email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#82f1eface4f1acf7f1e4f1eee7ebc2f7f1e6e3ace5edf4"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="88fbe5a6eefba6fdfbeefbe4ede1c8fdfbece9a6efe7fe">[email protected]</span></a>.
For privacy questions, please contact Chief Privacy Officer, Office of
the Chief Information Officer, Department of Agriculture, Washington,
DC 20250. Cynthia Ebersohn by email at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#6b0812051f03020a450e090e19180403052b1e180f0a450c041d"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="c9aab0a7bda1a0a8e7acabacbbbaa6a1a789bcbaada8e7aea6bf">[email protected]</span></a> or by
phone at 703-282-5413.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The purposes for changes to this system of
records are:
1. To provide the procedures that allow individuals to gain access
to their information maintained in this system of records notice as
outlined in section 6 (Notice) and section 7 (Access, Redress, and
Correction) of the Law Enforcement Investigations Reporting System
(LEIRS), formerly known as Law Enforcement Investigations Management
Attainment Record System (LEIMARS), and Law Enforcement Investigation
(LEI) Vault Privacy Impact Assessments. LEIRS is the system of record
for the LEI information technologies (IT) portfolio, which is comprised
of LEIRS, the LEI Vault, and any later acquisitions that fall within
the LEI IT portfolio for these purposes.
2. To reflect changes in practice and policy that affect the
personally identifiable information (PII) maintained in this system of
records. The LEIRS database is not accessible by the public. The
information is shared on a need-to-know basis with law enforcement
partners and the Federal, State, and local court systems. Information
such as statistical crime analysis, including the number of incidents
and cases, but excluding PII, is shared with Congress and other
agencies on a need-to-know basis. This change to the routine uses
section is intended to also meet the requirements of Executive Order
14074 to ``include within the policies developed pursuant to subsection
(a)(i) of this section protocols for expedited public release of BWC
[body-worn camera] video footage following incidents involving serious
bodily injury or deaths in custody, which shall be consistent with
applicable law, including 7 CFR, 5 U.S.C., and the Privacy Act of 1974,
and shall take into account the need to promote transparency and
accountability, the duty to protect the privacy rights of persons
depicted in the footage, and any need to protect ongoing law
enforcement operations.''
The intended effect of these changes is to show individuals their
PII information is secure within the LEI IT portfolio.
The Forest Service proposes to modify a system of records, entitled
``USDA/FS-33 Law Enforcement and Investigative Records'' that will be
used to maintain records of activities conducted by the Agency pursuant
to its mission and responsibilities.
The Forest Service LEIRS application is primarily a criminal
database and is used to collect information concerning criminal
incidents; it is also used to document incidents that may be non-
criminal in nature, primarily pertaining to civil cases that may result
in a claim for or against the government. LEI Vault contains visual
imagery and audio recordings of law enforcement and investigation
events and interviews conducted.
Consistent with the USDA's information sharing mission, information
stored within the components of LEIRS may be shared with other USDA
components, as well as appropriate Federal, State, local, tribal,
foreign, or international government agencies. This sharing will only
take place after the USDA determines the receiving component or agency
has a need to know the information to carry out national security, law
enforcement, immigration, intelligence, or other functions consistent
with the routine uses set forth in this system of records notice.
The Privacy Act embodies fair information principles in a statutory
[[Page 74201]]
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 for which information is
retrieved by using the name of an individual or using some identifying
number, symbol, or other identifying particular assigned to the
individual. In the Privacy Act, an individual is defined to encompass
United States citizens and legal permanent residents.
The Privacy Act of 1974, as amended (5 U.S.C. 552a), requires
agencies to publish in the Federal Register notice of new or revised
systems of records maintained by the agency. In accordance with 5
U.S.C. 552a(r), the Department has provided a report of this system
change to the Office of Management and Budget and to Congress.
SYSTEM NAME AND NUMBER:
USDA/FS-33 Law Enforcement and Investigative Records is the title
given to the Law Enforcement Investigations IT (LEI IT) portfolio,
consisting of the Law Enforcement Investigations Reporting System
(LEIRS) and Law Enforcement Investigation (LEI) Vault.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION:
Unclassified.
SYSTEM LOCATION:
LEIRS is a FedRAMP recognized centralized cloud-based database and
is hosted within the Tyler Federal cloud-based hosting environment,
which is housed within an Equinix provided data center physically
located at 44470 Chilum Place, DC3--Bldg. 1, in Ashburn, VA.
LEI Vault is hosted in a FedRAMP recognized cloud-based environment
hosted in Microsoft Azure. The address of the third-party service
provider is Microsoft, 1 Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052-6399.
SYSTEM MANAGER(S):
The Director, Law Enforcement and Investigations, U.S. Department
of Agriculture, Forest Service, 1400 Independence Avenue SW (Mail Stop
1140), Washington, DC 20250.
PURPOSE(S) OF THE SYSTEM:
LEIRS is a national database used by USDA Forest Service Law
Enforcement and Investigations, consisting of approximately 600 to 700
users dispersed throughout the nine Forest Service regions. The
information is collected to document all criminal and civil
investigations that take place or are related to crimes committed on
National Forest System lands.
LEI Vault is the USDA-Forest Service implementation of technology
to meet the data storage requirements that support the Law Enforcement
and Investigations Directorate fielding of body-worn cameras. Body-worn
cameras are widely used by law enforcement agencies in the United
States. They are worn principally by sworn officers in the performance
of duties that require open and direct contact with the public. Body-
worn cameras are cameras with a microphone and internal data storage.
They allow audio-video footage, known as digital media evidence, to be
stored and analyzed with compatible software. Cameras are typically
designed to be located on an officer's chest or head but may also be
configured to deploy with a weapon or to be triggered when a weapon is
deployed.
The LEI Vault and the underlying, supporting Axon Evidence(dot)com
systems are not used by, nor are they available for access by the
public. LEI Vault leverages the FedRAMP-accredited cloud resources
provided by Axon Evidence(dot)com to store and manage law enforcement
officers' digital evidence (such as camera footage and audio recordings
of interviews) and to provide a central management console for
associated products and devices. All data originate with and is
consumed by authorized USDA Forest Service LEI personnel and staff. All
data is subject to the USDA Forest Service LEI organization policies in
place to govern this data, to include privacy and organization-level
security.
RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
LEIRS is primarily a criminal and civil investigation database and
is used to collect information concerning criminal incidents that
includes the PII related to suspects, witnesses, and victims in
addition to information pertaining to the investigation of criminal
activity. LEIRS collects the following information: first name, last
name, middle initial, date of birth, home or mailing address, work
address, driver's license, fishing license, hunting license, military
issued ID, school issued ID, social security ID, state issued ID,
height, weight, race, sex, hair color, eye color, adult/juvenile, and
occupation, handwriting or an image of the signature. LEIRS is also
used to document incidents that may be non-criminal in the nature,
primarily pertaining to civil cases which may result in a claim for or
against the government.
LEI Vault consists of video and audio evidence gathered by federal
officers while in direct contact with subjects. The footage is not
searchable by keyword.
ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES
OF USERS AND PURPOSES OF SUCH USES:
In addition to those disclosures generally permitted under 5 U.S.C.
552a(b) of the Privacy Act, routine uses are defined as disclosures
where information is routinely shared whether internally or externally.
Below are routine uses applicable to Law Enforcement and Investigative
Records:
A. Sharing information with the Department of Justice when (a) USDA
or any component thereof, (b) any employee of USDA in his or her
official capacity where the Department of Justice has agreed to
represent the employee, or (c) the United States Government is a party
to litigation or has an interest in such litigation, and, by careful
review, USDA determines that the records are both relevant and
necessary to the litigation and the use of such records by the
Department of Justice is therefore deemed by USDA to be for a purpose
that is compatible with the purpose for which USDA collected the
records.
B. Sharing information with a congressional office in response to
an inquiry from that congressional office made at the written request
of the individual to whom the record pertains.
C. Sharing information with 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.
D. Sharing information with an agency, organization, or individual
for the purpose of performing audit or oversight operations as
authorized by law but only such information as is necessary and
relevant to such audit or oversight function.
E. Sharing information with appropriate agencies, entities, and
persons when (1) the USDA suspects or has confirmed that the security
or confidentiality of information in the system of records has been
compromised; (2) the USDA has determined that as a result of the
suspected or confirmed breach, there is a risk of harm to individuals,
the USDA (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
[[Page 74202]]
connection with USDA's efforts to respond to the suspected or confirmed
compromise and prevent, minimize, or remedy such harm.
F. Sharing information when a record on its face, or in conjunction
with other records, indicates a violation or potential violation of
law, whether civil, criminal, or regulatory in nature, and whether
arising by general statute or particular program statute, or by
regulation, rule, or order issued pursuant thereto, disclosure may be
made to the appropriate agency, whether Federal, foreign, State, local,
or tribal, or other public authority responsible for enforcing,
investigating, or prosecuting such violation or charged with enforcing
or implementing the statute, or rule, regulation, or order issued
pursuant thereto, if the information disclosed is relevant to any
enforcement, regulatory, investigative, or prosecutorial responsibility
of the receiving entity. Referral to the appropriate agency, whether
Federal, State, local, or foreign, charged with the responsibility of
investigating or prosecuting violation of law, or of enforcing or
implementing a statute, rule, regulation, or order issued pursuant
thereto, of any record within the system when information available
indicates a violation or potential violation of law, whether civil,
criminal, or regulatory in nature.
G. Sharing information with another Federal agency or Federal
entity when information from this system of records is reasonably
necessary to assist the recipient agency or entity in (a) responding to
a suspected or confirmed breach, or (b) 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.
H. Sharing information with a court or adjudicative body in a
proceeding when (a) the USDA or any component thereof, (b) any employee
of the USDA in his or her official capacity, or (c) any employee of the
USDA in his or her individual capacity where the USDA has agreed to
represent the employee or the United States Government, is a party to
litigation or has an interest in such litigation, and by careful
review, the USDA determines that the records are both relevant and
necessary to the litigation and the use of such records is therefore
deemed by the USDA to be for a purpose that is compatible with the
purpose for which the USDA collected the records.
I. Sharing information with the news media and the public, with the
approval of the Director of Law Enforcement and Investigations in
consultation with the Chief Privacy Officer and the Office of the
General Counsel, in support of law enforcement activities, including
obtaining public assistance with identifying and locating criminal
suspects and lost or missing individuals, and providing the public with
alerts about dangerous individuals, unless the Chief Privacy Officer
determines that release of the specific information in the context of a
particular case would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of
personal privacy.
J. Sharing information with the news media and the public, with the
approval of the Director of Law Enforcement and Investigations in
consultation with the Chief Privacy Officer and the Office of the
General Counsel, of body-worn camera video footage following incidents
involving serious bodily injury or death occurring while an individual
is in the custody of a law enforcement officer, when a legitimate
public interest exists in the disclosure of the information; when
disclosure is necessary to preserve confidence in the integrity of the
USDA; and when disclosure is necessary to demonstrate the
accountability of the USDA's law enforcement officers, employees, or
individuals covered by the system, unless the Chief Privacy Officer
determines that release of the body-worn camera video footage in the
context of a particular case would constitute a clearly unwarranted
invasion of personal privacy. The public release of such video footage
will be consistent with applicable law, including the Privacy Act of
1974, and shall take into account the duty to protect the privacy
rights of the persons depicted in the footage and any need to protect
ongoing law enforcement operations. The release will also comply with
all applicable Department and Agency regulations and policies.
NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES:
LEIRS contains information about individuals that is recorded on a
violation notice. Individuals who receive a violation notice are
provided with a copy at the time of the incident. The notification
provides a copy of all recorded information to individuals.
Information to individuals is provided via:
<bullet> LEIRS Privacy Impact Analysis on the Department Privacy
Impact Analysis website at <a href="https://www.usda.gov/home/privacy-policy/privacyimpact-assessments">https://www.usda.gov/home/privacy-policy/privacyimpact-assessments</a>.
<bullet> The Federal Register for system of records notices and
legal authorities.
<bullet> Forest Service-specific system of records notices are also
published on the Forest Service website at <a href="https://www.fs.fed.us/im/foia/pasystems.htm">https://www.fs.fed.us/im/foia/pasystems.htm</a>.
<bullet> Forms associated with Privacy Act systems are approved
through the Office of Management and Budget under the Paperwork
Reduction Act (also cited in the Federal Register); the forms cite the
Privacy Act.
Any individual may request general information regarding this
system of records or information as to whether the system contains
records pertaining to him or her. All inquiries pertaining to this
system should be in writing, must name the system of records as set
forth in the system notice, and must contain the individual's name,
telephone number, address, and email address (see specific instructions
above).
Dated: September 5, 2024.
Randy Moore,
Chief, USDA Forest Service.
[FR Doc. 2024-20694 Filed 9-11-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3411-15-P
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