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Privacy

The DHS Privacy Office is responsible for evaluating the Department programs, systems, and initiatives for potential privacy impacts, and providing strategies to reduce the privacy impact.

  • FOIA Compliance Instruction 262-11-002: FOIA Reporting Requirements

    This Instruction implements the Department of Homeland Security (DHS or the Department) Directive 262-11, “Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Compliance," concerning reporting on the FOIA.

  • FOIA Council Charter

    Charter for the DHS FOIA Council.

  • DHS/S&T/PIA-034 Counter Unmanned Aircraft Systems Program

    The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Science & Technology Directorate (S&T) is leading DHS efforts and coordinating across the Federal Government testing and evaluating technologies used to detect, identify, and monitor small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) that may pose a potential threat to covered facilities and assets and other missions authorized to the Department by law. These protective technologies are referred to as Counter-UAS (C-UAS).

  • Whitefish Energy Records

    Records related to Whitefish Energy

  • DHS/USCIS/PIA-075 RAILS

    The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) developed USCIS RAILS (not an acronym) to enable DHS and USCIS authorized personnel to request immigration files; electronically maintain an accurate file inventory; and track the location of paper and electronic immigration record content using a web-based system. RAILS allows DHS users to order, transfer, and receive official paper and electronic immigration records associated with an A-Number or receipt number. USCIS is updating the RAILS Privacy Impact Assessment to identify new uses of the system: Person Centrix Query Service (PCQS) and IMPACT (not an acronym), through Enterprize Citizenship and Immigration Services Centralized Operational Repository (eCISCOR), and the new connections to the following USCIS systems: Person Centric Identity Services (PCIS), USCIS Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Immigration Records System (FIRST), and Content Management Services (CMS). This Privacy Impact Assessment Update also identifies the purpose, use, and sharing information related to A-Files with external connections to the National Archives and Records Administration's (NARA) Archival Records Center Information System (ARCIS) and Iron Mountain's (IRM) Records Manager system. 

  • National Vetting Center Privacy, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties Working Group Charter

    Approved National Vetting Center Privacy, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties Working Group Charter, established pursuant to National Security Presidential Memorandum-9, "Optimizing the Use of Federal Government Information in Support of the National Vetting Enterprise," dated February 6, 2018.

  • Privacy Incident Handling Instruction

    The Privacy Incident Handling Instruction establishes DHS policy for responding to privacy incidents by providing procedures to follow upon the detection or discovery of a suspected or confirmed incident involving PII. 

    This is DHS's breach response plan.

    Revision 00.2

  • DHS/S&T/PIA-033 Coastal Surveillance System (CSS)

    The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) has launched the Coastal Surveillance System (CSS) Pilot program. CSS is a technology demonstration project that establishes a framework (data standards and interfaces) for authorized sharing of data between DHS Components and partners. CSS allows authorized personnel to access information collected by other maritime law enforcement, safety, and security programs.

  • DHS/USCIS/PIA-074 IMPACT

    The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) developed IMPACT, a secure web-based system, to alleviate the need for USCIS adjudicators to perform manual system comparisons when adjudicating an immigration benefit request. IMPACT will perform requisite DHS and USCIS system checks to move a case from one status in an adjudication queue to another.

  • DHS/ALL/PIA-070 DHS Suspension and Debarment Case Management System (SDCMS)

    The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Suspension and Debarment Case Management System (SDCMS) is a secure, web-based workflow management system maintained by the Office of the Under Secretary for Management (USM) in support of the DHS suspension and debarment process. The purpose of SDCMS is to provide an automated mechanism for managing and reporting on all suspension and debarment activities from receipt of referral through the expiration date of the suspension or debarment period.