§ 321.7 - Request for correction or amendment.

§ 321.7 Request for correction or amendment.

(a) General. Upon request and proper identification by any individual who has been granted access to DSS records pertaining to himself or herself, that individual may request, either in person or through the mail, that the record be amended. Such a request must be made in writing and addressed to the Defense Security Service, Office of FOI and Privacy, 1340 Braddock Place, Alexandria, VA 22314-1651.

(b) Content. The following information must be included to insure effective action on the request:

(1) Description of the record. Requesters should specify the number of pages and documents, the titles of the documents, form numbers if there are any, dates on the documents and names of individuals who signed them. Any reasonable description of the document is acceptable.

(2) Description of the items to be amended. The description of the passages, pages or documents to be amended should be as clear and specific as possible.

(i) Page, line and paragraph numbers should be cited where they exist.

(ii) A direct quotation of all or a portion of the passage may be made if it isn't otherwise easily identifiable. If the passage is long, a quotation of its beginning and end will suffice.

(iii) In appropriate cases, a simple substantive request may be appropriate, e.g., ‘delete all references to my alleged arrest in July 1970.’

(iv) If the requester has received a copy of the record, he may submit an annotated copy of documents he wishes amended.

(3) Type of amendment. The requester must clearly state the type of amendment he is requesting.

(i) Deletion or expungement, i.e., a complete removal from the record of data, sentences, passages, paragraphs or documents.

(ii) Correction of the information in the record to make it more accurate, e.g., rectify mistaken identities, dates, data pertaining to the individual, etc.

(iii) Additions to make the record more relevant, accurate or timely may be requested.

(iv) Other changes may be requested; they must be specifically and clearly described.

(4) Reason for amendment. Requests for amendment must be based on specific reasons, included in writing. Categories of reasons are as follows:

(i) Accuracy. Amendment may be requested where matters of fact are believed incorrectly recorded, e.g., dates, names, addresses, identification numbers, or any other information concerning the individual. The request, whenever possible, should contain the accurate information, copies of verifying documents, or indication of how the information can be verified.

(ii) Relevance. Amendment may be requested when information in a record is believed not to be relevant or necessary to the purposes of the record system.

(iii) Timeliness. Amendment may be requested when information is thought to be so old as to no longer be pertinent to the stated purposes of the records system. It may also be requested when there is recent information of a pertinent type that is not included in the record.

(iv) Completeness. Amendment may be requested where information in a record is incomplete with respect to its purpose. The data thought to have been omitted should be included or identified with the request.

(v) Fairness. Amendment may be requested when a record is thought to be unfair concerning the subject, in terms of the stated purposes of the record. In such cases, a source of additional information to increase the fairness of the record should be identified where possible.

(vi) Other reasons. Reasons for requesting amendment are not limited to those cited above. The content of the records is authorized in terms of their stated purposes which should be the basis for evaluating them. However, any matter believed appropriate may be submitted as a basis of an amendment request.

(vii) Court orders and statutes may require amendment of a file. While they do not require a Privacy Act request for execution, such may be brought to the attention of DSS by these procedures.

(c) Assistance. Individuals seeking to request amendment of records pertaining to themselves that are maintained by DSS will be assisted as necessary by DSS officials. Where a request is incomplete, it will not be denied, but the requester will be contacted for the additional information necessary to his request.

(d) This section does not permit the alteration of evidence presented to courts, boards and other official proceedings.