Source: http://www.socialsecurity.gov/foia/bluebook/60-0104.htm
Timestamp: 2015-05-28 20:15:05
Document Index: 496856671

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 902', '§\n401', '§ 2904', '§ 552', '§ 401', '§ 401']

Race and Ethnicity Collection System (RECS)
FOIA Home / System of Records Notices (SORNs) / Race and Ethnicity Collection System (RECS)
Effective date:  September 28, 2009 (74 F.R. 162)
of New System of Records
by the Privacy Act of 1974, as Amended
System Number:  60-0104
System name:  Race and Ethnicity Collection System (RECS), Social Security Administration (SSA)
Security classification:  None.
System location:  SSA, Office of Telecommunications and Systems Operations, 6401 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, Maryland 21235.   Categories of
individuals covered by the system: Successfully enumerated applicants for Social
Security number (SSN) cards, other than those who receive cards through the
enumeration-at-birth (EAB) or enumeration-at-entry programs (EAE), when such
persons voluntarily provide race and ethnicity (RE) data. Categories of
records in the system: SSN and RE data collected during contacts with the successfully enumerated
applicants for SSN cards described above. Authority for
maintenance of the system: Sections 702, 704 and 1106 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. §§ 902, 904,
and 1306), and SSA regulations at 20 C.F.R. §
401.165.
Purpose(s): This system of records
will cover RE data collected during contacts with persons who conduct
enumeration business with us, other than those who receive cards through the EAB
or EAE programs. Routine uses of
records covered by the system, including categories of users and the purposes
of such uses: Routine use disclosures are as indicated below:
1. To the Office of the President in
response to an inquiry from that office made at the request of the subject of
the record or a third party on that person’s behalf. 2. To a congressional
office in response to an inquiry from that office made at the request of the
subject of a record or a third party on that person’s behalf. 3. To the Department of Justice
(DOJ), a court, other tribunal, or another party before such court or tribunal
a) SSA or
any of our components; b) any SSA
employee in his or her official capacity; c) any SSA employee in his or her individual
capacity when DOJ (or SSA when we are authorized to do so) has agreed to
or any agency thereof
when we determine that the litigation is likely to affect the operations of SSA
or any of our components,
is party to litigation or has an
interest in such litigation, and we determine that the use of such records by
DOJ, a court, other tribunal, or another party before such court or tribunal is
relevant and necessary to the litigation. In each case, however, we must determine that such disclosure is
compatible with the purpose for which we collected the records.
4. To a Federal, State, or
congressional support agency (e.g., Congressional Budget Office and the
Congressional Research Staff in the Library of Congress) for research,
evaluation, or statistical studies. Such
disclosures include, but are not limited to: a) releasing information to assess
the extent to which one can predict eligibility for Supplemental Security
Income (SSI) payments or Social Security disability insurance benefits or other
programs under the Social Security Act; b) examining the distribution of
benefits under programs of the Social Security Act by economic and demographic groups and how these differences might be affected by
possible changes in policy; c) analyzing the interaction of
economic and non-economic variables affecting entry and exit events and
duration in the Title II Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance and the
Title XVI SSI disability programs; and, d) analyzing retirement decisions
focusing on the role of Social Security benefit amounts, automatic benefit
recomputation, the delayed retirement credit, and the retirement test.
may make these disclosures if we:
1) determine that the routine use
does not violate legal limitations under which the record was provided,
collected, or obtained; 2) determine that the purpose for
which the proposed use is to be made:
i) cannot reasonably be accomplished unless the
record is provided in a form that identifies a person; ii) is of sufficient importance to warrant the
effect on, or risk to, the privacy of the person which such limited additional
exposure of the record might bring; iii) has
a reasonable probability of being accomplished; i) is
of importance to the programs under the Social Security Act and beneficiaries
of such programs or is for an epidemiological research project that relates to
programs under the Social Security Act or beneficiaries of such programs; 3) require the recipient of
information to: i) establish
appropriate administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to prevent
unauthorized use or disclosure of the record and agree to on-site inspection by
our employees, our agents, or by independent agents of the recipient agency of
those safeguards; ii) remove or destroy the information
that enables the person to be identified at the earliest time that the
recipient can do so consistent with the purpose of the project, unless the
recipient receives written authorization from us that it is justified, based on
research objectives, in retaining such information; iii) make no further use of the
records except: (a) under emergency circumstances affecting the
health and safety of a person following written authorization from us; (b) for disclosure to
an identified person approved by us for the purpose of auditing the research
project; iv) keep the data as a system of statistical
records. A statistical record is one
which is maintained only for statistical and research purposes and which is not
used to make any determination about a person; 4) secure a written statement by the
recipient of the information attesting to the recipient’s understanding of, and
willingness to abide by, these provisions. 5. To our contractors and grantees
performing program evaluation, research, and statistical activities directly
relating to this system of records, and to contractors or grantees for another
Federal or State agency performing such activities. 6. To student volunteers, persons working under a
personal services contract, and others who are not technically Federal
employees, when they are
performing work for us as authorized by law, and they
need access to information in our records in order to perform their assigned agency
7. To the General Services
Administration and the National Archives Records Administration (NARA) under 44
U.S.C. §§ 2904 and 2906, as amended by the NARA Act, information that is not
restricted from disclosure by Federal law for their use in conducting records
management studies. 8. To the appropriate Federal, State,
and local agencies, entities, and persons when (1) we suspect or confirm that
the security or confidentiality of information in this system of records has
been compromised; (2) we determine 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
our other systems or programs that rely upon the compromised information; and
(3) we determine that disclosing the information to such agencies, entities,
and persons is necessary to assist in our efforts to respond to the suspected
or confirmed compromise and prevent, minimize, or remedy such harm. We will use this routine use to respond only
to those incidents involving an unintentional release of our records.
9.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; To Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies and private security contractors, as appropriate, information necessary:
a)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; to enable them to assure the safety of our employees and the public, the security of our workplace, and the operation of our facilities; or b) to assist investigations or
activities that disrupt the operation of our facilities.
practices for storing, retrieving, accessing, retaining, and disposing of
Storage: We will store records in
this system in electronic and paper form. Retrievability: We will retrieve records
by SSN. Accessibility: Our researchers and statisticians prepare
micro-data files about persons who are current, recently terminated, or
potential recipients of benefits from Social Security and related programs for
program evaluation, research, and statistical studies. When the product is in the form of
micro-data, we make it available without personal identifiers to our other
components and certain other agencies for data processing and data
Safeguards: We retain electronic and paper files with personal identifiers in secure
storage areas accessible only to our authorized employees and contractors. We limit access to data with personal
identifiers from this system to persons or organizations authorized by our
Office of Research, Evaluation, and Statistics. We furnish specially edited micro-files on request to public and private
organizations for purposes of research and analysis. We include further confidentiality
protections in our data agreements. We provide appropriate security
awareness and training annually to all our employees and contractors that
include reminders about the need to protect personally identifiable information
and the criminal penalties that apply to unauthorized access to, or disclosure
of, personally identifiable information. See 5 U.S.C. § 552a(i)(1). Furthermore, employees and contractors with access to databases
maintaining personally identifiable information must sign a sanction document
annually, acknowledging their accountability for making unauthorized access to,
or disclosure of, such information.
and disposal: For purposes of records management disposition authority, we will follow the
NARA and Department of
Defense (DOD) 5015.2 regulations (DOD Design Criteria Standard for Electronic
Records Management Software Applications). We will permanently maintain RE data covered by the RECS system of
records. We will retain the research and
statistical micro-data extract (stored on the mainframe) for a maximum of 100
and address: Director, Division of Enumeration and Death
Alerts, Office of Earnings, Enumeration, and Administrative Systems, Social
Security Administration, 6401 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, MD 21235.
procedures: Persons can determine if this
system contains a record about them by writing to the system manager at the
above address and providing their
name, SSN, or other information that may be in this system of records that will
identify them. Persons requesting
driver’s license or some other means of identification, such as voter
registration card, etc. Persons lacking
identification documents sufficient to establish their identity must certify in
writing that they are the person they claim to be and that they understand that
the knowing and willful request for, or acquisition of, a record pertaining to
another person under false pretenses is a criminal offense.
Persons requesting notification
by telephone must verify their identity by providing identifying information
that parallels the information in the record to which notification is being
requested. If we determine that the
identifying information the person provides by telephone is insufficient, the
person will be required to submit a request in writing or in person. If a person requests information by telephone
on behalf of another individual, the subject person must be on the telephone
with the requesting person and with us in the same phone call. We will establish the subject person’s
identity (his or her name, SSN, address, date of birth, and place of birth,
along with one other piece of information such as mother’s maiden name), and
ask for his or her consent to provide information to the requesting person.
submitted by mail must include a notarized statement to us to verify their
identity or must certify in the request that they are the person they claim to
be and that they understand that the knowing and willful request for, or acquisition
of, a record pertaining to another person under false pretenses is a criminal
offense. These procedures are in
access procedures: Same as notification
procedures. Requesters should also
reasonably specify the record contents being sought. These procedures are in accordance with SSA
Regulations (20 C.F.R. § 401.40(c)). Contesting record procedures: Same as notification procedures. Requesters should also reasonably identify the record, specify the
is incomplete, untimely, inaccurate, or irrelevant. These procedures are in accordance with SSA
Regulations (20 C.F.R. § 401.65(a)). Record source categories: We
obtain information covered by this system of records from successfully
enumerated applicants for original or replacement SSN cards (or from third
parties acting on their behalf) who are not enumerated through the EAB or EAE
claimed for the system: None.