Court Opinion

ID: 9476342
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 05:53:27.166828+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:45:15.620745
License: Public Domain

WALD, Chief Judge,
dissenting:
I write separately because of my deep concern about the implications of today’s majority decision for the future of the Privacy Act. By allowing agencies to retain in files maintained on individuals accusations of alleged damaging admissions by the subjects of the files without any need to determine the accuracy of such accusations or their fairness to the individuals, the court writes out of the Act’s protections a significant source of unevaluated yet potentially ruinous material, with critical consequences to the future of the individuals involved. The majority’s rationale, unless cabined in some principled way I cannot find in its opinion, could pave the way for the return of the old-style government dossier replete with unfiltered and unproved charges.
I. The Facts
In this case, the State Department's file on appellant Jane Doe includes a report submitted by a State Department agent named Billy N. Hughes. Hughes’ report states that during his interview with Doe she admitted that she had faked an illness in order to get government disability benefits. Doe denies ever making such an admission during the interview and requested the State Department to amend its file on her by deleting the statement about the admission from the agent’s report. The State Department responded:
It is possible that when Agent Hughes asked her about the VA benefits ... she did, in fact, tell Agent Hughes what he wrote in the [report]____
... [T]hose areas in contention (what she said or did not say) [shall] be made part of the record without affirming or denying her allegations where it is patently impossible to do so. The record should also indicate that there is no reason to question the integrity of Agent Hughes____
Joint Appendix (J.A.) at 59, 64.
Doe then sued the State Department, asking the District Court to order the State Department to delete the statement from its record. On the State Department’s motion for summary judgment, the District Court dismissed Doe’s claim. In its memorandum opinion, the District Court explained its decision: “[A] determination of truth or falsity was not possible since only two people were present at the interview and their recollection of what was said is so contradictory.” J.A. at 17 (footnote omitted).
II. What the Privacy Act Requires
The Privacy Act grants an individual the right to request an agency to amend a record pertaining to her when “the individual believes” that “any portion” of the record “is not accurate.” 5 U.S.C. § 552a(d)(2). If the agency refuses the amendment request, the individual may bring a civil action against the agency in a federal district court. Id. § 552a(g)(l)(A). “In such a case the court shall determine the matter de novo.” Id. § 552a(g)(2)(A).
Section (d) does not itself state any standard of proof that an agency must use in deciding whether to grant a request to amend. Section (e), however, states that an agency must “maintain all records which are used by the agency in making any determination about an individual with such accuracy ... as is reasonably neces*703sary to assure fairness to the individual in the determination.” Id. § 552a(e)(5). In the context of a request to amend an allegedly inaccurate record, this standard obviously requires that there be a sufficient likelihood that the contents of the record are accurate enough so that denying the amendment request is “fair” to the individual involved.
In many cases, perhaps most, fairness to the individual will require that the disputed material be more likely accurate than not.1 But fairness may not always demand proof of accuracy by a preponderance of the evidence. In some instances, a lesser burden — like substantial evidence — might suffice. The crucial point, however, is before an agency may deny an amendment request, it must determine that the material in its records is sufficiently likely to be accurate that keeping the material in the record is fair to the individual. If the agency cannot determine that keeping the information in the file is fair, then it must grant the amendment request, either by correcting the material or by deleting it from the record. Otherwise, the agency fails to fulfill its statutory duty to “maintain all records ... with such accuracy ... as is reasonably necessary to assure fairness to the individual.”2
The majority, however, refuses to apply this statutory standard to the present case. Instead, the majority allows the State Department to keep in its records Agent Hughes’ assertion that Doe admitted to faking an illness to receive government benefits as long as the State Department also includes in its record Doe’s denial that she made this admission to Hughes. According to today’s decision, neither the State Department nor the District Court needs to evaluate the accuracy of Hughes’ statement or determine whether keeping it in the file is fair to Doe.3
Certainly lawyers and judges who read the majority’s decision must ask themselves: “Just what is the rule of the case? On what principle, if any, is it based?” I frankly cannot answer these questions. The majority, at one point, protests emphatically that its holding would not apply to different circumstances in which one person claims that another admitted something damaging in an unrecorded and unwitnessed conversation. See Maj. op. at 701 n. 20. The majority tells us that its “decision ... is securely cabined by [the following] facts: an experienced agent whose actions and integrity the Department found no tenable reason to question; an agency that diligently investigated all facets of the matter susceptible of objective verification.” Id. But this language does little, if anything, to delineate just when the agency can invoke the “no decision” rule in contrast to when it must make a decision that the disputed admission is or *704is not accurate enough to be fair. Does the majority’s holding depend upon the fact that the statement about Doe was made by one of the State Department’s own agents, as opposed to an “outside” individual like one of Doe’s neighbors? Or would today’s decision be the same if a neighbor had made the statement about Doe, as long as the State Department had no reason to question the neighbor’s integrity and had “diligently investigated all facets of the matter susceptible of objective verification”?
In addition to being fuzzy, the majority’s reasoning is untenable. First, the fact that the agency has no reason to doubt the integrity of Doe’s accuser does not justify an exception from the statutory standard, although it might be relevant to the agency’s evaluation of the likelihood that the person’s statement about Doe is accurate. Indeed, in some cases the agency’s confidence in the integrity of its own agent (or even a highly reputable private citizen) might itself provide a basis for the conclusion that the disputed assertion is sufficiently accurate to be fair. The critical difference between the majority and myself is that I can find no warrant in the Act for dispensing with the duty to decide if the statement is accurate enough to be fair. Suppose, for a moment, that the statement about Doe in the State Department’s file was that she had admitted to past Communist associations, homosexual relations, or child abuse. If Doe claimed that the statement was inaccurate and requested its deletion from the State Department’s records, it certainly would not be fair under the Privacy Act for the State Department or the District Court to deny this request, without judging the accuracy of the statement, because the State Department had no reason to “question” the integrity of Doe’s accuser.4
Next, the majority draws a distinction between those cases in which an agency has done all that it can to verify “objective[ly]” whether the subject of its file did what she allegedly admitted to doing, and those cases in which the agency has not conducted an objective investigation. See Maj. op. at 701 n. 20. But, again, I do not understand why this distinction should ever allow an agency to evade its duty under the Privacy Act to judge the accuracy of its records when faced with a claim that a record is inaccurate.
In some cases, an agency may be able to find objective evidence that an individual did what she allegedly admitted to doing. For example, if the assertion in the agency’s record is that Doe admitted to membership in the Communist Party, an examination of the Party’s membership list would reveal whether her name was on the list. This evidence would be relevant to whether she told someone that she was a member of the Party and the agency certainly could consider this evidence in judging the accuracy of that assertion, if she continued to dispute its accuracy.
In other cases, however, no such “objective” evidence may exist. For example, proof of the act of child abuse, sexual harassment, or a homosexual relationship itself often turns on one person’s word against another’s, in the very same way as proof of an admission to engaging in these kinds of activities does. To use the Communist associations example, what if the only “objective” evidence were that Doe was seen attending several meetings of a Communist-front organization? An agency investigator asserts that, when asked why she participated in these meetings, Doe said that she was a Communist. Doe, how*705ever, denies making such a statement and claims she had no idea that the organization was Communist-controlled. According to today’s decision, the investigator’s assertion could presumably remain in the agency’s file without either the agency or the court evaluating its accuracy. I hope I am wrong, but I find no logical distinction at all in the majority’s rationale to distinguish this example from the case decided today.5
In the end, the majority bases its holding in large measure on the grounds that what one person told another in a conversation attended only by the two is “unknowable”, by third persons. See Maj. op. at 700. But this reasoning cannot justify the exemption of alleged admissions, whatever the circumstances, from the statutory standard. It is obviously true that the agency cannot “know” with absolute certainty whether the individual in fact made the alleged admission. But the Privacy Act does not require absolute certainty about the accuracy of agency records. The Act demands only a sufficient likelihood that a disputed assertion about an individual is accurate to meet the standard of fairness. Agencies and courts are entirely capable of making this kind of judgment about alleged admissions. There is no basis in the text or legislative history of the statute for adopting a different rule for determining the accuracy of alleged admissions than the rule which governs other kinds of assertions about individuals.6
Thus, I have no sense at all about the scope of today’s decision, or on what principle it is based that may or may not have application in future cases. Perhaps it is a ticket good for one ride only. Perhaps we now have “the trusted agent” exception to the statutory requirement that the agency and the court assess the accuracy of disputed statements about individuals in the agency’s records. Read most hospitably, the majority’s exception must at least extend to any case in which the agency has no reason to “question” the “integrity” of the person who assertedly heard the damaging admission and in which the agency has completed a search for “objective” evidence to back up one or the other’s story. If the last description is accurate, then I fear today's decision covers a host of disturbing situations, because many alleged admissions involve matters that are not “susceptible to objective verification.”7 But regardless of the intended or actual scope of today’s decision, it is an unjustified aberration from the legal rule mandated by § (e)(5) of the Privacy Act. There is no principled reason for deviating from the statutory requirement that the agency make an accuracy and fairness determination.
III. The Proper Disposition op This Case
I would hold that the standard set forth in § (e)(5) applies in this case as in any *706other. The proper inquiry under this section, when an individual disputes the accuracy of material in a record pertaining to her, is whether the material is sufficiently likely to be accurate to assure fairness to the individual. The District Court is under the same obligation to conduct this inquiry as is the agency. See, supra, n. 2.
In this case, neither the agency nor the court conducted this inquiry. Instead, both claimed that it is “impossible” to determine whether Doe, in fact, had admitted to Hughes that she faked an illness to get government funds. But, as I have explained, the Privacy Act does not require either the agency or the court to judge the accuracy of the agent’s statement about Doe in any absolute sense; and if, after conducting the proper inquiry, it remains “impossible” to say that the statement is sufficiently likely to be accurate to assure fairness to Doe, then the State Department may not keep the allegation in its record.
Since both the agency and the District Court fajled to apply the correct legal standard, there remains the question of “how far” to remand this case for proper proceedings. Normally, one would send the case back to the agency; but because under the Privacy Act the District Court must determine the matter de novo, even if the agency had applied the correct legal standard, its decision would not be entitled to any deference. Therefore, it seems pointless to remand this case to the agency for an initial decision. Consequently, I would remand the case to the District Court for its de novo determination.8
I respectfully dissent.
MIKVA, Circuit Judge, with whom Circuit Judges SPOTTSWOOD W. ROBINSON, III, and HARRY T. EDWARDS join, dissenting: The court today creates a framework for judicial review of a government agency’s management of responsibilities assigned to the agency under the Privacy Act of 1974, 5 U.S.C. § 522a (1982). It is a reasonable framework, one that might well have commended itself to the policymakers who wrote the Act. It is not, however, the judicial review procedure that the 93rd Congress provided. This reconstruction of what Congress wrote into a different statutory scheme may appear more sensible to the majority, but it is not faithful to our responsibilities of legislative interpretation. I dissent from the majority’s revisionism.
I
The Privacy Act creates a panoply of duties and remedies for a broad range of situations in which the government might have caused harm to an individual by collecting or disseminating false or misleading information. The central command of the Act at issue here requires agencies to keep accurate records. Specifically, it provides that each agency must maintain all records pertaining to any individual with such accuracy as is reasonably necessary to assure fairness to the individual in any determination based on the records. 5 U.S.C. § 552a(e)(5).
To supplement the requirements placed on the agencies, Congress also provided for *707a system of petition and review. Pursuant to the Act, an individual can gain access to and review agency records that pertain to her. Furthermore, the Act permits the individual to request agency correction of any portion of a record that she believes is not accurate. The Act offers an agency two choices when faced with such a request: promptly, either make the requested correction or explain to the individual why it has refused to do so. Alternatively, of course, the agency is free to remove the challenged material altogether. The Act grants the individual the right to administrative review of the agency’s refusal to make the amendments requested and the right to file a statement of disagreement with the agency setting out her side of the story. According to the Privacy Act Guidelines promulgated by the Office of Management and Budget, the individual’s statement of disagreement may be included separately or made an integral part of the record to which it pertains. See Legislative History of the Privacy Act of 1974, 1055 [hereinafter “Source Book”]. Pursuant to the Act, whenever the agency discloses the disputed records, it must include this statement and clearly mark the records to indicate the portions in dispute.
The Act also provides civil remedies, two of which are relevant to this case. First, the Act provides for judicial review whenever an agency decides not to amend an individual’s record as requested (an “amendment” action). In an amendment action, the Act provides that the reviewing court shall “determine the matter de novo” and grants the court the authority to order the agency to amend its records regarding the plaintiff. 5 U.S.C. § 552a(g)(l)(A) & (g)(2)(A). Second, the Act grants a cause of action to an individual whenever she is harmed as a result of the agency’s failure to maintain its records with the accuracy required by the Act (a “redress” action). The Act renders the government liable for damages, costs, and attorney fees in such cases when its failure to maintain accurate records was “intentional or willful.” Id. § 552a(g)(l)(C) & (g)(4). Unlike amendment actions, the Act does not stipulate the court’s standard of review in redress actions.
The majority correctly portrays Doe’s Privacy Act request for access to and amendment of the security record maintained by the Department in connection with Doe’s application for employment in the Foreign Service. Doe’s request centered on a Department “Report of Investigation” (the “March ROI”) concerning an unwitnessed interview between Doe and a State Department agent. The majority, however, mischaracterizes the agency’s response to Doe’s request. The majority asserts that the Department fashioned some novel resolution, whereas in fact the agency responded exactly as contemplated by the Act. As to certain matters, the Department made corrections in the March ROI; as to others, particularly the agent’s account of admissions made by Doe during the interview, the agency determined that the information met the accuracy requirements of the Act and refused to amend the March ROI as Doe requested, retaining the disputed information in Doe’s file. In informing Doe of the reason for its refusal, the Department advised Doe that it had no reason to question the integrity of its agent. As obliged under the Act, the Department then included in the ROI Doe’s counterstatements to the disputed, unamended portions. The Department also notified Doe of her statutory right to seek judicial review of her request for amendment.
Doe’s subsequent lawsuit sought relief from the State Department pursuant to the Act’s civil remedy provisions. The district court construed Doe’s complaint as stating two claims under the Act — one under the amendment provisions and one under the redress provisions. See Doe v. United States, Civ. Action No. 83-00951, slip op. at 6 (D.D.C. July 1, 1984). Relevant to her amendment action, Doe contested the Department’s decision not to expunge portions of the March ROI as she requested. Doe contended that the agency should have granted her request because the March ROI’s account of Doe’s statements made during her interview with the agent is inaccurate. Relevant to her redress action, *708Doe argued that the agency had willfully failed to maintain its record concerning her with such accuracy as is necessary to assure her fairness and that as a result of this failure, security clearance for her present position had been delayed and she had not been considered for certain other government positions. Doe rested her second claim entirely on the agency’s failure to conduct an extensive investigation into the accuracy of the agent’s version of the interview. She asserted that this failure entitled her to expungement of the ROI and to damages. The district court granted summary judgment for the State Department on both claims. Doe does not challenge the district court’s determination that the procedural arguments of her redress claim are meritless. See Majority Opinion (Maj.Op.) at 695 n. 3. Thus, as the State Department observed at oral argument before the en banc court, the only issue before this court is the district court’s resolution of Doe’s amendment claim.
II
The majority pitches Doe’s appeal by using a most selective statutory analysis. The majority couches its opinion in terms of reviewing Doe’s redress claim, an issue not before the court, and ignores the issue that is before the court, Doe’s amendment claim. In deciding the wrong question, the majority denies Doe her statutory right to judicial consideration of her amendment request and recasts the Act’s provisions for judicial review.
My disagreement with the majority is over “the matter” that the Act calls upon the court to determine in this case. Doe’s amendment claim required the district court to review de novo the State Department’s decision not to amend the March ROI as Doe requested. Doe’s amendment request challenged the truth of the March ROI. Thus, whereas the majority claims the court need only ascertain the reasonableness or fairness of the Department’s response to Doe’s request, the court in fact must determine the accuracy of the March ROI. In avoiding this inquiry, the majority renders meaningless the de novo review provided by Congress. Once the court’s duty under the Act is properly understood, the impropriety of the district court’s dismissal of Doe’s claim on summary judgment is plain.
A
The term “de novo” is hardly vague — to a court of law. De novo review calls upon the court to “make an independent determination of the issues.” United States v. First City National Bank, 386 U.S. 361, 368, 87 S.Ct. 1088, 1093, 18 L.Ed.2d 151 (1967); accord Chandler v. Roudebush, 425 U.S. 840, 861-64 & n. 39, 96 S.Ct. 1949, 1959-61 & n. 39, 48 L.Ed.2d 416 (1984). The court should determine the matter “anew,” Black’s Law Dictionary 392 (5th ed. 1979), without deference to the prior administrative proceedings and decision. See, e.g., Weahkee v. Perry, 587 F.2d 1256, 1265 (D.C.Cir.1978). Thus, the court must “determine for itself whether the [amendment] request should have been granted” on the basis of the evidence that was available to the agency and any supplemental evidence presented to the court. White v. Office of Personnel Management, 787 F.2d 660, 663 (D.C.Cir.), cert. denied, - U.S. -, 107 S.Ct. 276, 93 L.Ed.2d 252 (1986); see Doe v. United States Civil Service Commission, 483 F.Supp. 539, 578-79 (S.D.N.Y.1980).
Since the court’s task is to render anew the decision earlier entrusted to the agency, the court’s charge is shaped by the agency’s charge under the Act — establish that the disputed record is accurate. See OMB Guidelines at 40, Source Book at 1053. The agency's responsibility when faced with an amendment request corresponds to the individual’s right to seek access to agency records. The legislative history shows that the Act provides individuals access to records pertaining to them so that they can detect misinformation and seek corrective amendments to inaccurate documentation; the provision is aimed, in part, at improving the accuracy of governmental records. See S.Rep. No. 93-1183, 93d Cong., 2d Sess. 20 (1974), Source Book *709at 173; H.R.Rep. No. 93-1416, 93d Cong., 2d Sess. 2 (1974), Source Book at 295.
Although the statute does not instruct the agency on the standard it must use in judging an amendment request, the standard of accuracy is best understood as that independently required of the agency under the Act. The legislative history of the Act makes clear that the individual’s right to correction under the access provision complements the agency’s duty to maintain accurate records. See S.Rep. No. 93-1183 at 50, Source Book at 203; ELR.Rep. No. 93-1416 at 15, Source Book at 308. Accordingly, when considering an amendment request, the proper inquiry for the agency is whether the challenged record is as accurate “as is reasonably necessary to assure fairness to the individual in [any] determination” which may be made about the individual on the basis of the record. 5 U.S.C. § 552a(e)(5); see OMB Guidelines at 40, Source Book at 1053.
This statutory standard of accuracy is directed to ensuring that agency decisions affecting the individual will be based on accurate information. The overall objective of the standard is fairness to the individual. In order to assure such fairness, it is not “reasonably necessary” that all information contained in agency records be accurate. Only material and potentially injurious information need be accurate to assure fairness to the subject individual in any determination based on the information. That much, at least, is reasonably necessary. Thus, if the agency is likely to rely on the disputed information in making a determination about the subject individual and if the information is likely to be injurious to the individual if relied upon by the agency in making this determination, then the statutory standard demands that the agency, faced with an amendment request, determine that the information is accurate.
The burden is on the individual to establish the inaccuracy of the challenged record. See OMB Guidlines at 38, Source Book at 1051 (advising agencies to place the burden of going forward in an amendment request on the individual); Mervin v. F.T.C., 591 F.2d 821, 827 (D.C.Cir.1978) (holding that the reviewing court correctly places the burden of proof on the plaintiff seeking amendment). The OMB Guidelines suggest that the agency should grant an amendment request if it determines by a preponderance of the evidence that the record is inaccurate. OMB Guidelines at 38, Source Book at 1051. The few courts that have addressed amendment claims have not articulated the standard of proof they applied. Nevertheless, they appear to have adopted the ordinary rule applicable in civil actions, imposing a preponderance of the evidence standard on the plaintiff. See, e.g., Thompson v. Department of Transportation United States Coast Guard, 547 F.Supp. 274, 281, 282-83 (S.D. Fla.1982) (holding that based on evidence before the court, plaintiff had failed to establish inaccuracy warranting amendment); Zeller v. United States, 467 F.Supp. 487, 502-03 (E.D.N.Y.1979) (denying plaintiff’s request for amendment because “there is no question that the statements contained within [the records] are factually accurate in all material respects”). In the absence of contrary indications from Congress, this traditional preponderance of the evidence standard is appropriate.
In sum, in an amendment case, the court, like the agency, must determine for itself whether the disputed agency record is as accurate as is reasonably necessary to assure fairness to the plaintiff in any determination based on the record. Assuming the disputed information is both likely to be relied upon in agency determinations and likely to injure the individual in those determinations if inaccurate, this inquiry requires the court to decide if the plaintiff has shown by a preponderance of the evidence that the record is inaccurate.
Such a de novo review standard makes amendment cases unlikely prospects for disposal on summary judgment. See Savarese v. United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare, 479 F.Supp. 304, 307 (N.D.Ga.1979), aff'd mem. 620 F.2d 298 (5th Cir.1980), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 1078, 101 S.Ct. 858, 66 L.Ed.2d 801 (1981). The only material issue in such cases is whether the disputed record is *710accurate. Whether the agency record is accurate is a factual matter about which the parties vehemently disagree, and where issues of material fact are in dispute summary judgment is inappropriate. Fed.R. Civ.P. 56; see, e.g., Doe v. United States Civil Service Commission, 483 F.Supp. at 556 (denying motion for summary judgment because accuracy of challenged record is in dispute); Savarese, 479 F.Supp. at 307 (same). It may be that when a plaintiff presents virtually no evidence regarding the inaccuracy of the disputed report, the court may resolve the case on summary judgment. See, e.g., R.R. v. Department of the Army, 482 F.Supp. 770, 775 (D.D.C.1980) (resolving amendment action on summary judgment where “[n]o matters of material fact [were] in dispute”). But when the individual proffers evidence tending to show that the report is inaccurate, the case is not ripe for summary judgment. There has to be something resembling a trial on the fact issues in dispute.
The majority doubts that de novo review obliges the court to accord a “trial-type hearing” on an issue that the agency was not required to hear in the first instance and in fact did not hear. See Maj.Op. at 698 n. 10. De novo review requires the court to assess the issues “as it does in any civil matter tried to the court.” Weahkee, 587 F.2d at 1265. The court determines the accuracy of a factual matter in a civil action in only one way — by hearing and considering the conflicting evidence. When the court’s judgment on the credibility of witnesses could be determinative, then the court should hear their testimony. See id. at 1266 (holding that the trial court inappropriately resolved the case containing “hotly disputed” material facts “without hearing any testimony from the parties most directly involved”). Other courts addressing amendment actions have so understood the Act’s de novo review commands. For example, in Thompson, supra, the trial court reached the conclusion that the agency need not “correct” the challenged information only after “having considered the pleadings, the testimony of the witnesses, the exhibits, stipulations and argument of counsel, and the applicable law.” 547 F.Supp. at 274. Even as a matter of first impression, it is not clear that the majority’s seeming preference for limited judicial review is correct. The judiciary is an institution uniquely devoted and suited to determining factual controversies. In carrying out a task as sensitive as ensuring the accuracy of the government’s records, it is not at all odd that Congress should employ this finely-honed, truth-divining mechanism as a check on the inclusion of inaccurate or questionable information in the government’s records — particularly since individuals may not be provided procedural protections before the agency.
The Privacy Act is not unusual in providing for the first hearing on a factual issue before the court on de novo review of an agency’s determination. See, e.g., First City National Bank, supra, 386 U.S. at 368-69, 87 S.Ct. at 1093-94 (interpreting the de novo review provisions of the Bank Merger Act and envisioning a judicial proceeding that includes a hearing); United States v. Idaho First National Bank, 315 F.Supp. 261 (D.Idaho 1970) (following First City and conducting a trial on de novo review). In the cases cited by the majority, there is no material factual issue in dispute; the courts in these cases are conducting de novo review of an agency’s or trial court’s determination of legal issues. See Maj.Op. at 698 n. 10. Obviously, in such instances de novo review, like review in any civil action, does not entail a trial-type hearing.
B
Applying these principles to Doe’s amendment claim, the court must determine whether those sections of the March ROI that the State Department refused to amend, as they existed at the time Doe requested expungement, are as accurate as is reasonably necessary to assure fairness to Doe. The March ROI states that Doe admitted to dishonesty and to scheming to defraud the government; Doe denies having made such admissions. The Department compiled the information for its use in deciding whether to employ Doe for a *711high level government job and whether to grant her security clearance should she be hired. In addition, the Department gave access to the report to other government agencies, including Doe’s present employer, for similar uses. Given the nature of the disputed information and the use for which the Department maintained the record, the information is clearly material to agency determinations about Doe and likely to be injurious to her if inaccurate. Any agency considering Doe for employment might well doubt her suitability for a high level position based on her alleged admissions. The March ROI cannot “reasonably” assure fairness to Doe if the disputed information is inaccurate. Accordingly, Doe’s amendment action calls upon the court to examine the accuracy of the disputed information.
The court must decide whether Doe has proven by a preponderance of the evidence that the agent’s account of her admissions during the interview is inaccurate. Presumably, this determination will require the court to hear testimony from both Doe and the agent and judge the credibility of the two sharply conflicting versions of Doe’s interview remarks. This task is admittedly difficult; ultimately, what transpired in the agent’s interview with Doe is unknowable. But this is a task that courts regularly perform in other contexts — hearing the witnesses and deciding which one is telling the truth. No procedure will guarantee perfect accuracy in the records. To err in decision is unfortunately unavoidable even for judges. But the judge must reach a decision. It is the task set upon the court by Congress. The Privacy Act specifically directs the court to make a de novo determination of Doe’s amendment request, and the factual issue of the accuracy of the March ROI is part of that determination.
Properly, this court should remand the case to the district court. The only material issue of fact — whether the March ROI’s account of Doe’s statements is inaccurate— is genuinely, and fundamentally, in dispute. The court itself recognized that if it was required to determine what was said during the interview, “there no doubt would be disputed issues of material fact.” See Doe v. United States, supra, slip op. at 10. Given that the court was required to make this factual determination, the court erred in granting the Department’s motion for summary judgment.
C
The district court and the majority both achieve their result by distorting the statute which governs this case. The district court stated that agency “[rjeview of a record’s accuracy is required when an individual seeks amendment of the record.” Doe, slip op. at 6. But the court then inexplicably punted this task on review and concluded that in this case, the court is “not required by the statute to make a de novo determination of the ROI’s accuracy.” Id. at 10. The court thought it need only determine the “reasonableness” of the State Department’s actions in response to Doe’s amendment request. The majority affirms this approach. It sees the matter to be determined by the court as whether “the ROI, as currently composed,” meets the Act’s standard of accuracy and then sustains the agency’s refusal to expunge the March ROI based on the “steps and checks undertaken by the Department” in adjusting Doe’s file after her amendment request. See Maj.Op. at 699, 700.
What the majority ignores is that the focus of an amendment claim is not the agency’s actions in response to the individual’s request, but rather the merit of the request. See White, 787 F.2d at 663. Congress has mandated that the reviewing court determine de novo whether the challenged agency record should be corrected as requested. That mandate requires the court to consider the accuracy of the record, regardless of the reasonableness of the agency’s record-keeping procedures. The proper subject of this inquiry is the agency record as it existed at the time of the request, not as it exists after the agency has fulfilled its statutory duty to insert the individual’s statement of disagreement. Thus, whether the State Department acted reasonably in responding to Doe’s request is irrelevant to the issue before the court.
*712The majority’s construction of judicial review may be an appropriate approach to a redress action (although even in that context, I do not endorse the majority’s application of the approach to this case). In a redress action, Congress has not provided for de novo review. See White, 787 F.2d at 663. Indeed, de novo review would be meaningless, since there is no agency determination to do anew; the Act contemplates that the individual will bring her complaint directly to the court. In a redress action, the court must determine whether the agency has “fail[ed] to maintain [the] record concerning [the] individual with such accuracy ... as is necessary to assure fairness in any determination relating to the qualifications, character, rights, or opportunities of, or benefits to the individual that may be made on the basis of such record.” 5 U.S.C. § 552a(g)(l)(C); see White, 787 F.2d at 663. This inquiry properly focuses on the agency’s record-keeping actions. Thus, it may be that “[i]f the court determines that the agency has done what is reasonable in assuring the accuracy of the information, no more is required.” Edison v. Department of the Army, 672 F.2d 840, 843 (11th Cir.1982) (inquiring whether agency “acted reasonably” in the context of a redress action). This approach is wholly inappropriate for an amendment case, and therefore, not surprisingly, the majority can cite no amendment case that has followed the course it charts here.
Despite the majority’s deliberate obfuscation, the Act itself plainly articulates two discrete civil remedies. See 5 U.S.C. § 552a(g)(l)(A) (amendment) and (g)(1)(C) (redress). Until the majority’s opinion in this case, courts, including a prior panel of this court and the district court below, have consistently recognized the distinction. See, e.g., White, 787 F.2d at 663, and Doe, supra, slip op. 6-7. The two actions are not interchangeable.
Nor is there any inconsistency, as the majority intimates, stemming from the fact that both actions relate to the Act’s requirement that each agency “maintain all records ... with such accuracy as is reasonably necessary to assure fairness to the [subject] individual.” See Maj.Op. at 701 n. 19. The import of the language for each is markedly different. The Act’s independent record maintenance requirement directs the agency to do what is reasonable in assuring the accuracy of the information included in its files. It speaks to the agency’s system of record maintenance, collection, use and dissemination. See 5 U.S.C. § 552a(a)(3) (definition of “maintain”). The reasonableness standard permits the agency when operating this system to consider such factors as its own resources, the availability and scope of dissemination of the records, the value and relevancy of the record, the methods used in collecting the information, the sources employed, as well as the nature of the information and the likelihood that inaccurate records will cause injury to the subject individual.
A system of record maintenance that conforms with this statutory mandate may nevertheless result in inaccurate records. In this regard, the majority is incorrect in asserting that “[i]f a record is maintained with the requisite accuracy, then it needs no amendment.” Maj.Op. at 701 n. 19. Recognizing that the statutory duty imposed on agencies may not be enough to ensure accuracy, Congress provided a “way for an individual to correct or amend an inaccurate record.” H.R. No. 93-1416 at 9, Source Book at 302. The Act’s access and amendment provisions are not simply policing devices; they are aimed at improving the accuracy of government records. See Smiertka v. Department of the Treasury, 447 F.Supp. 221, 226 (D.D.C.1978), remanded on other grounds, 604 F.2d 698 (D.C.Cir.1979). In this sense, they serve as necessary and desirable adjuncts to the agency’s independent statutory duty. As the Senate Report notes, the provisions “promise to be the most viable of all the methods to guarantee the accuracy of data systems. Unlike more complex internal mechanisms, they are triggered by the most powerful and consistent of motives, individual self-interest.” S.Rep. No. 93-1183 at 20-21, Source. Book at 173-74, U.S. Code Cong. & Admin.News 1974, p. 6936. The provisions allow the agency to obtain the views of the individual with the greatest interest and ability to contribute *713to the accuracy of the records. Congress respected the importance of this source of information to the accuracy of federal data gathering. Indeed, the Act requires agencies to “collect information to the greatest extent practicable directly from the subject individual when the information may result in adverse determinations.” 5 U.S.C. § 552a(e)(2).
Once the individual presents evidence that contradicts the agency’s information, the assessment of whether the agency’s records are as accurate as is reasonably necessary to assure fairness begins anew, quite apart from the reasonableness of the agency’s independent record maintenance system. In an amendment action, the individual is not challenging the agency’s record maintenance system; she is challenging the accuracy of the records that the system has produced. Not surprisingly, the Act requires the individual to go to the agency in the first instance to seek correction. Since it is in the agency’s best interest to have accurate records on which to rely and since no determination has yet been made based on the records, the agency should be given the first shot at assessing the necessity for correction in light of the subject individual’s challenge and contradicting evidence.
By contrast, in a redress action, an individual directly challenges the agency’s system of record keeping. The action presumes that the agency has failed to comply with the Act’s accuracy requirements in that regard. When an agency has failed to maintain its records regarding an individual with the requisite accuracy and that failure has resulted in some adversity to the individual, the Act provides that the individual may repair to the court in the first instance for redress. An individual’s success in a redress action is predicated on a finding that the agency has not taken reasonable steps to maintain the accuracy of its files. This determination is not necessarily measured by the degree to which the record may eventually be proven to correspond to the truth. See Edison, 672 F.2d at 843-44; Fagot v. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., 584 F.Supp. 1168, 1176 (D.P.R.1984). In a redress action, the individual is not challenging the accuracy of the agency record per se; she is challenging the reasonableness and fairness of the agency’s record maintenance system that has produced the inaccurate record.
The two actions serve two very different, yet complimentary, purposes. One, the amendment action, is designed to prevent injury: the Act permits the subject individual to seek correction of inaccuracies that would be injurious to her if relied upon. The right of action accrues before a determination based on the record has taken place. The second, the redress action, is designed to compensate injury: the Act permits the subject individual to sue the agency for reparations when the agency’s failure to maintain accurate records has injured her. The right of action accrues after an adverse determination based on the record has occurred. Both actions, in unique ways, encourage improvement of the informational quality of government records. But only the amendment action has the added salutary effects of protecting the individual from injury and providing the government with more accurate information before it acts. These are among the basic primary principles underlying the Act. In stripping Doe’s amendment action of its force, therefore, the majority twice offends. Congress’ intent in fashioning the Act’s remedial provisions.
Conclusion
The majority seems unsettled by the possibility that Congress meant “de novo” when it said “de novo.” The legislative history suggests that the congressional concerns prompting the Privacy Act’s enactment were such that only a “new trial” in court on the accuracy of the disputed material would meet those concerns. Whatever the concerns, Congress said “de novo.” Such judicial responsibility cannot be carried out in a summary judgment proceeding in which the trial judge abjures the accuracy question and substitutes examination of the fairness of the agency’s procedures for the statutory command.

I dissent.

. In a case, like this one, in which an individual seeks government employment, the fairness of keeping material in a personnel file depends upon how injurious it is likely to be to future job possibilities for the individual. The more injurious a statement is, the greater the agency’s confidence in the accuracy of the statement must be in order for the agency to deny an amendment request.

. If the case reaches court, the trial judge must make the same determination. Should the District Court fail to undertake this inquiry, it would stand in breach of its statutory obligation to "determine the matter de novo.”

. Whenever an agency refuses an amendment request, it "must permit the individual to file with the agency a concise statement setting forth the reasons for his disagreement with the refusal of the agency.” 5 U.S.C. § 552a(d)(3). This requirement is independent of the agency’s duty under § (e)(5). The majority nevertheless states that there is a difference between a case in which the agency determines that the individual, more probably than not, made the alleged admission but permits the individual to register her denial, as mandated under § (d)(3), and a case in which the agency simply includes in the record both the allegation and the denial without deciding which is more accurate. See Maj. op. at 700.
I agree that there is a crucial difference between the two cases. In the first case, the agency has determined that the allegation is sufficiently likely to be accurate that keeping it in the record is fair to the individual. In the second case, the agency has effectively stated, “No matter what is the likelihood that the allegation is inaccurate, it will stay in the record.” This second decision, unlike the first, contradicts the statutory requirement that the agency "maintain [its] records ... with such accuracy ... as is reasonably necessary to assure fairness to the individual.”

. I raise these examples of potentially damaging admissions to test the logical limits of the majority's holding. The majority nowhere includes in its calculus the extent of the damage to the individual that the alleged admission may cause. As I have indicated, see, supra n. 1 and accompanying text, I believe that fairness may not require the same degree of accuracy for all possible assertions about an individual. If the disputed statement about Doe were that she admitted to fixing a good stiff drink once in a while, fairness might only require that the accuracy of this statement be "reasonably likely.” But in all cases under the Privacy Act the agency and the court must determine that the disputed assertion is sufficiently likely to be accurate to assure fairness to the individual involved. In no case, may the agency or the court conclude that it is "impossible" to make a judg.ment about the accuracy of the disputed assertion, but the assertion may remain in the agency’s file anyway.

. Consider another example. Suppose the only "objective" evidence that Doe had a sexual relationship with another woman was that they shared the same apartment and took their vacations together. The State Department’s file contains a statement that Doe admitted (either to a neighbor or a State Department agent) to having a sexual relationship with this other woman. Doe denies ever making such a statement and claims that the two women were just roommates (and the other woman corroborates Doe’s claim). May the statement that Doe admitted to the sexual relationship remain in the State Department’s file, without an evaluation of its accuracy either by the agency or the District Court, as long as the agency includes in the file Doe’s denial?

. The majority’s deviation from the statutory standard in this case is, I believe, caused by its misguided premise that the Privacy Act requires the agency or the court to judge the accuracy of a disputed assertion only when it can do so with certainty, by "objective verification.” This premise, of course, applies to any statement about what one person admitted to another in an unrecorded, unwitnessed conversation, and thus would lead to a conclusion that today’s "no decision” rule governs all such alleged admissions. The majority rightly recoils at the implications of this rationale for the future of the Privacy Act, and consequently endeavors to limit its holding in some manner, although it fails to do so in any discernibly principled way. Rather than backtracking on the extent of its exception to the statutory standard, the majority should acknowledge that it went down the wrong road in the first place.

. Indeed, whenever the alleged admission concerns not conduct itself but motives, intentions, or just plain thoughts, what the individual has allegedly admitted to is never "susceptible of objective verification."

. On remand, the District Court would first decide what degree of accuracy fairness requires in this case: e.g., preponderance of the evidence or substantial evidence. The court would then judge whether Hughes’ statement about Doe met the appropriate measure of accuracy. In either case, the ultimate burden of proof remains with the plaintiff. See Mervin v. FTC, 591 F.2d 821 (D.C.Cir.1978). Thus, if fairness in this case turns on whether Hughes’ statement is more likely accurate or inaccurate, then Doe would have to prove inaccuracy by a preponderance of the evidence. If, however, fairness demands only substantial evidence for the statement’s accuracy, then Doe would have to prove that the agency lacked this substantial evidence.
I acknowledge that this two-tiered inquiry is not as simple as the rule adopted by my dissenting colleagues, according to whom fairness always requires that a material and potentially injurious statement about an individual be more likely accurate than not. See opinion of Mikva, J., at 709 - 710. Nevertheless, the flexible approach adopted here seems more in keeping with the statutory language. Section (e)(5) does not say that an agency's record must be "accurate,” pure and simple. It says "such accuracy ... as is reasonably necessary to assure fairness.” Given this language, I have trouble reading the District Court’s duty as being, in all cases, one of deciding whether the record is either accurate or inaccurate by a preponderance of the evidence.