[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 184 (Thursday, September 24, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48767-48771]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-23018]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Office of the Secretary

[Docket No. DHS-2009-0113]


Privacy Act of 1974; Federal Emergency Management Agency--001 
National Emergency Family Registry and Locator System System of Records

AGENCY: Privacy Office, DHS.

[[Page 48768]]


ACTION: Notice of Privacy Act system of records.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act 
of 2006, and the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, the Department of 
Homeland Security is giving notice that the Federal Emergency 
Management Agency, Disaster Assistance Directorate, Individual 
Assistance Branch, Emergency Support Function 6-Mass Care section, is 
establishing a new system of records entitled the Federal Emergency 
Management Agency--001 National Emergency Family Registry and Locator 
System.
    This system of records will enable the Federal Emergency Management 
Agency to provide a nationally accessible electronic system that will 
allow adults displaced from their homes or pre-disaster location after 
a Presidentially-declared emergency or disaster to voluntarily register 
themselves, and to identify up to seven family or household members 
they agree to allow access to their personal identifying information 
that may potentially include their current location or a special 
message to an identified individual. The Federal Emergency Management 
Agency's system will allow two groups of individuals limited 
information for the purpose of reuniting them: (1.) Registrants: 
displaced individuals registered in the system; and (2.) searchers: 
individuals who are searching for family or household members. Those 
registering in the system or those seeking displaced family or 
household members can access the system via the Internet at https://asd.fema.gov/inter/nefrls/home.htm or by telephone via toll-free number 
1-800-588-9822.

DATES: Submit comments on or before October 26, 2009. This new system 
will be effective October 26, 2009.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by DHS-2009-0113 by one 
of the following methods:
    <bullet> Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
    <bullet> Fax: 703-483-2999.
    <bullet> Mail: Mary Ellen Callahan, Chief Privacy Officer, Privacy 
Office, Department of Homeland Security, Washington, DC 20528.
    <bullet> Instructions: All submissions received must include the 
agency name and docket number for this rulemaking. All comments 
received will be posted without change to http://www.regulations.gov, 
including any personal information provided.
    <bullet> Docket: For access to the docket to read background 
documents or comments received go to http://www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general questions please contact: 
Larry Gary, Privacy Officer, Federal Emergency Management Agency, 
Federal Emergency Management Agency, 500 C Street, SW., Washington, DC 
20472. For privacy issues please contact: Mary Ellen Callahan (703-235-
0780), Chief Privacy Officer, Privacy Office, U.S. Department of 
Homeland Security, Washington, DC 20528.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    During Hurricane Katrina, displaced individuals experienced 
numerous difficulties in reuniting with family members after the 
disaster. As a result, Congress mandated in Section 689c of the Post-
Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act (PKEMRA) of 2006, Public Law 
109-295, that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) establish 
the National Emergency Family Registry and Locator System (NEFRLS). 
FEMA has the discretionary authority to activate NEFRLS to help reunify 
families separated after an emergency or disaster declared by the 
President as defined in the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 
Emergency Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C. 5121-5207.
    Pursuant to the savings clause in the Homeland Security Act of 
2002, Public Law 107-296, Section 1512, 116 Stat. 2310 (November 25, 
2002), and in accordance with the Post-Katrina Emergency Management 
Reform Act (PKEMRA) of 2006, Public Law 109-295, and the Privacy Act of 
1974, as amended, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) gives 
notice that FEMA's, Disaster Assistance Directorate, Individual 
Assistance Branch, Emergency Support Function 6-Mass Care section, is 
establishing a new system of records entitled the ``Federal Emergency 
Management Agency National Emergency Family Registry and Locator 
System.''
    This system of records will enable FEMA to provide a nationally 
accessible electronic system that will allow adults, displaced from 
their homes or pre-disaster location after a Presidentially-declared 
emergency or disaster, to voluntarily register themselves, and to 
identify up to seven family or household members they grant, in 
writing, access to their personal identifying information. This 
personal identifying information may potentially include their current 
location or a special message to an identified individual. FEMA's 
system will allow two groups of individuals limited access for the 
purpose of reuniting them: (1.) Registrants: Displaced individuals 
registered in the system; and (2.) searchers: individuals who are 
searching for family or household members who registered in the system. 
This second group may or may not be displaced from their homes and may 
or may not be registered in the system. A displaced individual or 
``registrant'' is one whose pre-disaster primary residence is 
uninhabitable or inaccessible as a direct result of a Presidentially-
declared emergency or disaster. A household member may be any person 
who lived in the registrant's pre-disaster residence immediately 
preceding the disaster.
    As mandated in the statute authorizing this system, medical 
patients who have been displaced due to a disaster or emergency will 
also have access to and may voluntarily register in the system. A 
medical patient includes an individual who receives medical care on a 
daily basis by a licensed medical professional and/or has a pre-
disaster address in a hospital, field hospital, or nursing home. 
Generally, this would not include an assisted living facility but may 
also include on a case-by-case basis. Those registering in the system 
or those seeking displaced family can access the system either 
electronically via the Internet at https://asd.fema.gov/inter/nefrls/home.htm or by telephone via toll-free 1-800-588-9822.

II. Privacy Act

    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 individuals' records. 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 the name of 
an individual or by some identifying number, symbol, or other personal 
identifying information assigned to the individual. In the Privacy Act, 
an individual is defined to encompass United States citizens and legal 
permanent residents. As a matter of policy, DHS extends administrative 
Privacy Act protections to all individuals where systems of records 
maintain information on U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and 
visitors. Individuals may request access to their own records that are 
maintained in a system of records in the possession or under the 
control of DHS by complying with DHS Privacy Act regulations, 6 CFR 
part 5.

[[Page 48769]]

    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 in order to make agency record keeping 
practices transparent, to notify individuals regarding the uses to 
which personally identifiable information is put, and to assist 
individuals to more easily find such files within the agency. Below is 
the description of the ``Federal Emergency Management Agency National 
Emergency Family Registry and Locator System'' system of records.
    In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552a(r), DHS has provided a report of 
this new system of records to the Office of Management and Budget and 
to Congress.

System of Records:
    DHS/FEMA--001.

System name:
    Federal Emergency Management Agency National Emergency Family 
Registry and Locator System.

Security classification:
    Unclassified.

System location:
    Records are maintained at the Federal Emergency Management Agency 
Headquarters in Washington, DC and field offices.

Categories of individuals covered by the system:
    Categories of individuals covered by this system include: 
Registrants (adult individual(s)) who have been displaced by a 
Presidentially-declared disaster or emergency and who voluntarily 
register in the National Emergency Family Registry and Locator System 
system; Family or Household Members who are travelling with the 
registrant, or who lived in the pre-disaster residence immediately 
preceding the disaster; and Searchers who are searching for missing 
family or household members.
    Searchers are permitted to view personal information and/or 
messages of certain registrant(s) upon designation by the 
registrant(s).

Categories of records in the system:
    Categories of records in this system include:
    Information about the individual registering in the National 
Emergency Family Registry and Locator System (``registrant'') consists 
of:
    <bullet> Authenticated Individual's Full Name;
    <bullet> Date of Birth;
    <bullet> Gender;
    <bullet> Current Phone;
    <bullet> Alternate Phone;
    <bullet> Current Address;
    <bullet> Pre-Disaster Address;
    <bullet> Name and Type of Current Location; (i.e. shelter, hotel, 
or family/friend's home);
    <bullet> Traveling with Pets (Yes or No);
    <bullet> Identity Authentication Approval or Nonapproval, the fact 
of the authentication is maintained, but the answers to the questions 
provided to the third party organization are not maintained by DHS/
FEMA;
    <bullet> System specific username and password; and
    <bullet> Personal Message (may consist of up to 300 characters 
intended for designated family or household members to read).
    Information about the family/household members traveling with the 
registrant in the National Emergency Family Registry and Locator System 
consists of:
    <bullet> Family/Household Members Full Name;
    <bullet> Gender;
    <bullet> Current Phone;
    <bullet> Alternate Phone;
    <bullet> Current Address;
    <bullet> Pre-Disaster Address;
    <bullet> Name and Type of Current Location; (i.e. shelter, hotel, 
or family/friend's home);
    <bullet> Traveling with Pets (Yes or No);
    <bullet> Personal Message: (may consist of up to 300 characters for 
listed, designated family, or household members to read.)
    Information about the individual searching the National Emergency 
Family Registry and Locator System for a registrant or family/household 
member (searcher) consists of:
    <bullet> Searching Individual's Full Name;
    <bullet> Permanent Address;
    <bullet> Phone;
    <bullet> Alternate Phone;
    <bullet> E-mail;
    <bullet> Date of Birth;
    <bullet> Identity Authentication Approval or Nonapproval, the fact 
of the authentication is maintained, but the answers to the questions 
provided to the third party organization are not maintained by DHS/
FEMA; and
    <bullet> System specific username and password.

Authority for maintenance of the system:
    The National Emergency Family Registry and Locator System, section 
689c of the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006, 
Public Law 109-295 and the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 
Emergency Assistance Act, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 5121-5207.

Purpose(s):
    The purpose of this system is to reunify families and household 
members following a Presidentially-declared disaster or emergency. To 
families using the National Emergency Family Registry and Locator 
System system of records, the registrant and searcher must acknowledge 
that the information in National Emergency Family Registry and Locator 
System may be disclosed to searchers upon request, to Federal agencies, 
State and local governments as well as law enforcement or voluntary 
agencies.

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 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:
    1. DHS or any component thereof;
    2. Any employee of DHS in his/her official capacity;
    3. Any employee of DHS in his/her individual capacity where DOJ or 
DHS has agreed to represent the employee; or
    4. The United States or any agency thereof, is a party to the 
litigation or has an interest in such litigation, and DHS determines 
that the records are both relevant and necessary to the litigation and 
the use of such records is compatible with the purpose for which DHS 
collected the records.
    B. To a congressional office from 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.
    C. To the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) or 
other Federal Government agencies pursuant to records management 
inspections being conducted under the authority of 44 U.S.C. sections 
2904 and 2906.
    D. To 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. To appropriate agencies, entities, and persons when:

[[Page 48770]]

    1. DHS suspects or has confirmed that the security or 
confidentiality of information in the system of records has been 
compromised;
    2. The Department 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) or harm to the 
individual that rely upon the compromised information; and
    3. The disclosure made to such agencies, entities, and persons is 
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.
    F. To contractors and their agents, grantees, experts, consultants, 
and others performing or working on a contract, service, grant, 
cooperative agreement, or other assignment for DHS, when necessary to 
accomplish an agency function related to this system of records. 
Individuals provided information under this routine use are subject to 
the same Privacy Act requirements and limitations on disclosure as are 
applicable to DHS officers and employees.
    G. To an appropriate Federal, State, tribal, local, international, 
or foreign law enforcement agency or other appropriate authority 
charged with investigating or prosecuting a violation or enforcing or 
implementing a law, rule, regulation, or order, where a record, either 
on its face or in conjunction with other information, indicates a 
violation or potential violation of law, which includes criminal, 
civil, or regulatory violations and such disclosure is proper and 
consistent with the official duties of the person making the 
disclosure.
    H. To Federal agencies; State, tribal and local governments; 
Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies; the National Center 
for Missing and Exploited Children and voluntary organizations as 
defined in 44 CFR 206.2(a)(27) that have an established disaster 
assistance program to address the disaster-related unmet needs of 
disaster victims, are actively involved in the recovery efforts of the 
disaster, and either have a national membership, in good standing, with 
the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, or are 
participating in the disaster's Long-Term Recovery Committee for the 
express purpose of reunifying families. Other agencies may include 
other Federal agencies and non-governmental agencies with which FEMA 
coordinates under the National Response Framework, which is an 
integrated ``plan'' explaining how the Federal Government will interact 
with and support State, local, tribal, and non-governmental entities 
during a Presidentially-declared disaster or emergency. This may 
include: The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 
Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Justice, 
U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation's Crimes Against Children's Unit, 
Department of Justice U.S. Marshals Service, the American Red Cross, 
and the National Emergency Child Locator Center.

Disclosure to consumer reporting agencies:
    None.

Policies and practices for storing, retrieving, accessing, retaining, 
and disposing of records in the system:
Storage:
    Records in this system are stored electronically or on paper in 
secure facilities in a locked drawer behind a locked door. The records 
are stored on magnetic disc, tape, digital media, and CD-ROM.

Retrievability:
    Records may be retrieved by name, address (current and alternate), 
and phone number of the individual registering or searching in the 
National Emergency Family Registry and Locator System.

Safeguards:
    Records in this system are safeguarded in accordance with 
applicable rules and policies, including all applicable DHS automated 
systems security and access policies. Strict controls have been imposed 
to minimize the risk of compromising the information that is being 
stored. Administrative access to the computer system containing the 
records in this system is limited to those individuals who have a need 
to know the information for the performance of their official duties 
and who have appropriate clearances or permissions. The system 
maintains a real-time auditing function of individuals who access the 
system.

Retention and disposal:
    In accordance with the FEMA Records Schedule (FRS), the National 
Archives, and Records Administration (NARA) Disposition Authority 
number N1-311-09-1, records and reports related to and regarding 
registrations and searchers in NEFRLS performed by a displaced person, 
Call Center Operator on behalf of a displaced person, or family and 
friends will be cut off 60 days after the last edit to the record and 
destroyed/deleted 3 years after the cutoff. Additionally, in compliance 
with FRS, NARA Disposition Authority number N1-311-04-5, Item 3, 
records in this system associated with a domestic catastrophic event 
will have permanent value. A catastrophic event may be any natural or 
manmade incident, including terrorism, which results in extraordinary 
levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the 
population, infrastructure, environment, economy, national morale, and/
or government functions. A catastrophic event could result in sustained 
national impacts over a prolonged period of time; almost immediately 
exceeds resources normally available to State, local, tribal, and 
private-sector authorities in the impacted area; and significantly 
interrupts governmental operations and emergency services to such an 
extent that national security could be threatened.

System Manager and address:
    Deputy Director, Individual Assistance, Disaster Assistance 
Directorate, Federal Emergency Management Agency, 500 C Street, SW., 
Washington, DC 20472.

Notification procedure:
    Individuals seeking notification of and access to any record 
contained in this system of records, or seeking to contest its content, 
may submit a request in writing to FEMA's FOIA Officer, 500 C Street, 
SW., Attn: FOIA Coordinator, Washington, DC 20472.
    When seeking records about yourself from this system of records or 
any other FEMA system of records your request must conform with the 
Privacy Act regulations set forth in 6 CFR part 5. You must first 
verify your identity, meaning that you must provide your full name, 
current address and date and place of birth. You must sign your 
request, and your signature must either be notarized or submitted under 
28 U.S.C. 1746, a law that permits Statements to be made under penalty 
of perjury as a substitute for notarization. While no specific form is 
required, you may obtain forms for this purpose from the Director, 
Disclosure and FOIA, http://www.dhs.gov or 1-866-431-0486. In addition 
you should provide the following:
    <bullet> An explanation of why you believe the Department would 
have information on you,
    <bullet> Specify when you believe the records would have been 
created,

[[Page 48771]]

    <bullet> If your request is seeking records pertaining to another 
living individual, you must include a Statement from that individual 
certifying his/her agreement for you to access his/her records.
    Without this bulleted information the FEMA may not be able to 
conduct an effective search, and your request may be denied due to lack 
of specificity or lack of compliance with applicable regulations.

Record access procedures:
    See ``Notification procedure'' above.

Contesting record procedures:
    See ``Notification procedure'' above.

Record source categories:
    Records are obtained by registrants for the National Emergency 
Family Registry and Locator System, individuals searching the National 
Emergency Family Registry and Locator System; and third party 
authentication services indicating an individual has been approved or 
not approved.

Exemptions claimed for the system:
    None.

    Dated: September 14, 2009.
Mary Ellen Callahan,
Chief Privacy Officer, Department of Homeland Security.
[FR Doc. E9-23018 Filed 9-23-09; 8:45 am]
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