2011-18397. Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records

AGENCY:

Office of the Secretary of Defense, DoD.

ACTION:

Notice to Alter a System of Records.

SUMMARY:

The Office of the Secretary of Defense proposes to alter a system of records in its inventory of record systems subject to the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a), as amended.

DATES:

This proposed action would be effective without further notice on August 22, 2011 unless comments are received which result in a contrary determination.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments, identified by docket number and/Regulatory Information Number (RIN) and title, by any of the following methods:

* Federal Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.

* Mail: Federal Docket Management System Office, 1160 Defense Pentagon, Washington, DC 20301-1160.

Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name and docket number or Regulatory Information Number (RIN) for this Federal Register document. The general policy for comments and other submissions from members of the public is to make these submissions available for public viewing on the Internet at http://www.regulations.gov as they are received without change, including any personal identifiers or contact information.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Ms. Cindy Allard, Chief, OSD/JS Privacy Office, Freedom of Information Directorate, Washington Headquarters Services, 1155 Defense Pentagon, Washington, DC 20301-1155, or by phone at [phone].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The Office of the Secretary of Defense notices for systems of records subject to the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a), as amended, have been published in the Federal Register and are available from the address in FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.

The proposed system report, as required by 5 U.S.C. 552a(r) of the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, was submitted on July 15, 2011, to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) pursuant to paragraph 4c of Appendix I to OMB Circular No. A-130, “Federal Agency Responsibilities for Maintaining Records About Individuals,” dated February 8, 1996 (February 20, 1996, 61 FR 6427).

Dated: July 18, 2011.

Aaron Siegel,

Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison Officer, Department of Defense.

DMDC 02 DoD

System name:

Defense Enrollment Eligibility Recording System (DEERS) (August 7, 2009, 74 FR 39657).

Changes:

* * * * *

Categories of records in the system:

Delete entry and replace with “Beneficiary's name; Service or Social Security Number (SSN); DoD ID number, enrollment number; relationship of beneficiary to sponsor; residence address of beneficiary or sponsor; date of birth of beneficiary; gender of beneficiary; branch of Service of sponsor; dates of beginning and ending eligibility; number of family members of sponsor; primary unit duty location of sponsor; race and ethnic origin of beneficiary; occupation of sponsor; rank/pay grade of sponsor; disability documentation; wounded, ill and injured identification information; other health information, i.e. tumor/reportable disease registry; Medicare eligibility and enrollment data; primary and secondary fingerprints and photographs of beneficiaries; blood test results; Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA); dental care eligibility codes and dental x-rays.

Patient registration data for shared DoD/VA beneficiary populations, including VA Integration Control Number (ICN), VA patient type, patient category code and patient category name of sponsor and beneficiary, patient location Defense Medical Information System, patient location date, identity and relationship data, command interest code and name, command security code and name, medical fly status code.

Catastrophic Cap and Deductible (CCD) transactions, including monetary amounts; CHAMPUS/TRICARE claim records containing enrollee, participant and health care facility, provider data such as cause of treatment, amount of payment, name and Social Security or tax identification number of providers or potential providers of care; citizenship data/country of birth; civil service employee employment information (agency and bureau, pay plan and grade, nature of action code and nature of action effective date, occupation series, dates of promotion and expected return from overseas, service computation date); claims data; compensation data; contractor fee payment data; date of separation of former enlisted and officer personnel; third party health insurance information on dependents; demographic data (kept on others beyond beneficiaries) date of birth, home of record state, sex, race, education level; VA disability payment records; digital signatures where appropriate to assert validity of data; e-mail (home/work); emergency contact person information; care giver information; immunization data; Information Assurance (IA) Work Force information; language data; military personnel information (rank, assignment/deployment, length of service, military occupation, education, and benefit usage); pharmacy benefits; reason leaving military service or DoD civilian service; Reserve member's civilian occupation and employment information; education benefit eligibility and usage; special military pay information; SGLI/FGLI; stored documents for proofing identity and association; workforces information (e.g. acquisition, first responders); Privacy Act audit logs.”

* * * * *

Delete entry and replace with “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 of 1974, as amended, these records may specifically be disclosed outside the DoD as a routine use pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(b)(3) as follows:

1. To the Social Security Administration (SSA) to perform computer data matching against the SSA Wage and Earnings Record file for the purpose of identifying employers of Department of Defense (DoD) beneficiaries eligible for health care. This employer data will in turn be used to identify those employed beneficiaries who have employment-related group health insurance, to coordinate insurance benefits provided by DoD with those provided by the other insurance. This information will also be used to perform computer data matching against the SSA Master Beneficiary Record file for the purpose of identifying DoD beneficiaries eligible for health care who are enrolled in the Medicare program, to coordinate insurance benefits provided by DoD with those provided by Medicare.

2. To the Office of Disability and Insurance Security Programs, for the purpose of expediting disability processing of wounded military service members and veterans.

3. To other Federal agencies and state, local and territorial governments to identify fraud and abuse of the Federal agency's programs and to identify debtors and collect debts and overpayment in the DoD health care programs.

4. To each of the fifty states and the District of Columbia for the purpose of conducting an on-going computer matching program with state Medicaid agencies to determine the extent to which state Medicaid beneficiaries may be eligible for Uniformed Services health care benefits, including CHAMPUS, TRICARE, and to recover Medicaid monies from the CHAMPUS program.

5. To provide dental care providers assurance of treatment.

6. To Federal agencies and/or their contractors, the Transportation Security Administration and other Federal transportation agencies, for purposes of authenticating the identity of individuals who, incident to the conduct of official business, present the Common Access Card or similar identification as proof of identity to gain physical or logical access to government and contractor facilities, locations, networks, or systems.

7. To State and local child support enforcement agencies for purposes of providing information, consistent with the requirements of 29 U.S.C. 1169(a), 42 U.S.C. 666(a)(19), and E.O. 12953 and in response to a National Medical Support Notice (NMSN) (or equivalent notice if based upon the statutory authority for the NMSN), regarding the military status of identified individuals and whether, and for what period of time, the children of such individuals are or were eligible for DoD health care coverage. NOTE: Information requested by the States is not disclosed when it would contravene U.S. national policy or security interests (42 U.S.C. 653(e)).

8. To the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS):

a. For purposes of providing information, consistent with the requirements of 42 U.S.C. 653 and in response to an HHS request, regarding the military status of identified individuals and whether, and for what period of time, the children of such individuals are or were eligible for DoD healthcare coverage. NOTE: Information requested by HHS is not disclosed when it would contravene U.S. national policy or security interests (42 U.S.C. 653(e)).

b. For purposes of providing information so that specified Medicare determinations, specifically late enrollment and waiver of penalty, can be made for eligible (1) DoD military retirees and (2) spouses (or former spouses) and/or dependents of either military retirees or active duty military personnel, pursuant to section 625 of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2002 (as codified at 42 U.S.C. 1395p and 1395r).

c. To the Office of Child Support Enforcement, Federal Parent Locator Service, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 653 and 653a; to assist in locating individuals for the purpose of establishing parentage; establishing, setting the amount of, modifying, or enforcing child support obligations; or enforcing child custody or visitation orders; the relationship to a child receiving benefits provided by a third party and the name and SSN of those third party providers who have a legal responsibility. Identifying delinquent obligors will allow state child support enforcement agencies to commence wage withholding or other enforcement actions against the obligors.

d. For purposes of providing information to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to account for the impact of DoD healthcare on local reimbursement rates for the Medicare Advantage program as required in 42 CFR 422.306.

9. To the American Red Cross for purposes of providing emergency notification and assistance to members of the Armed Forces, retirees, family members or survivors.

10. To the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA):

a. To provide military personnel, pay and wounded, ill and injured identification data for present and former military personnel for the purpose of evaluating use of veterans' benefits, validating benefit eligibility and maintaining the health and well being of veterans and their family members.

b. To provide identifying military personnel data to the DVA and its insurance program contractor for the purpose of notifying separating eligible Reservists of their right to apply for Veteran's Group Life Insurance coverage under the Veterans Benefits Improvement Act of 1996 (38 U.S.C. 1968) and for DVA to administer the Traumatic Servicemember's Group Life Insurance (TSGLI) (Traumatic Injury Protection Rider to Servicemember's Group Life Insurance (TSGLI), 38 CFR part 9.20).

c. To register eligible veterans and their dependents for DVA programs.

d. Providing identification of former military personnel and survivor's financial benefit data to DVA for the purpose of identifying military retired pay and survivor benefit payments for use in the administration of the DVA's Compensation and Pension Program (38 U.S.C. 5106). The information is to be used to process all DVA award actions more efficiently, reduce subsequent overpayment collection actions, and minimize erroneous payments.

e. To conduct computer matching programs regulated by the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended (5 U.S.C. 552a), for the purposes of:

(1) Providing full identification of active duty military personnel, including full time National Guard/Reserve support personnel, for use in the administration of DVA's Compensation and Pension benefit program. The information is used to determine continued eligibility for DVA disability compensation to recipients who have returned to active duty so that benefits can be adjusted or terminated as required and steps taken by DVA to collect any resulting over payment (38 U.S.C. 5304(c)).

(2) Providing military personnel and financial data to the Veterans Benefits Administration, DVA for the purpose of determining initial eligibility and any changes in eligibility status to insure proper payment of benefits for GI Bill education and training benefits by the DVA under the Montgomery GI Bill (10 U.S.C., Chapter 1606—Selected Reserve and 38 U.S.C., Chapter 30—Active Duty), the REAP educational benefit (Title 10 U.S.C, Chapter 1607), and the National Call to Service enlistment educational benefit (10, Chapter 510), the Post 9/11 GI Bill (38 U.S.C., Chapter 33) and The Transferability of Education Assistance to Family Members. The administrative responsibilities designated to both agencies by the law require that data be exchanged in administering the programs.

(3) Providing identification of reserve duty, including full time support National Guard/Reserve military personnel, to the DVA, for the purpose of deducting reserve time served from any DVA disability compensation paid or waiver of VA benefit. The law (10 U.S.C. 12316) prohibits receipt of reserve pay and DVA compensation for the same time period, however, it does permit waiver of DVA compensation to draw reserve pay.

(4) Providing identification of former active duty military personnel who received separation payments to the DVA for the purpose of deducting such repayment from any DVA disability compensation paid. The law requires recoupment of severance payments before DVA disability compensation can be paid (10 U.S.C. 1174).

f. To provide identifying military personnel data to the DVA for the purpose of notifying such personnel of information relating to educational assistance as required by the Veterans Programs Enhancement Act of 1998 (38 U.S.C. 3011 and 3034).

11. To DoD Civilian Contractors and grantees for the purpose of performing research on manpower problems for statistical analyses.

12. To consumer reporting agencies to obtain current addresses of separated military personnel to notify them of potential benefits eligibility.

13. To Defense contractors to monitor the employment of former DoD employees and military members subject to the provisions of 41 U.S.C. 423.

14. To Federal and quasi Federal agencies, territorial, state, and local governments to support personnel functions requiring data on prior military service credit for their employees or for job applications. To determine continued eligibility and help eliminate fraud and abuse in benefit programs and to collect debts and over payments owed to these programs. Information released includes name, SSN, and military or civilian address of individuals. To detect fraud, waste and abuse pursuant to the authority contained in the Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended (Pub. L. 95-452) for the purpose of determining eligibility for, and/or continued compliance with, any Federal benefit program requirements.

15. To Federal and quasi Federal agencies, territorial, state and local governments, and contractors and grantees for the purpose of supporting research studies concerned with the health and well being of active duty, reserve, and retired personnel or veterans, to include family members. DMDC will disclose information from this system of records for research purposes when DMDC:

a. Has determined that the use or disclosure does not violate legal or policy limitations under which the record was provided, collected, or obtained;

b. Has determined that the research purpose (1) cannot be reasonably accomplished unless the record is provided in individually identifiable form, and (2) warrants the risk to the privacy of the individual that additional exposure of the record might bring;

c. Has required the recipient to (1) establish reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to prevent unauthorized use or disclosure of the record, and (2) remove or destroy the information that identifies the individual at the earliest time at which removal or destruction can be accomplished consistent with the purpose of the research project, unless the recipient has presented adequate justification of a research or health nature for retaining such information, and (3) make no further use or disclosure of the record except (A) in emergency circumstances affecting the health or safety of any individual, (B) for use in another research project, under these same conditions, and with written authorization of the Department, (C) for disclosure to a properly identified person for the purpose of an audit related to the research project, if information that would enable research subjects to be identified is removed or destroyed at the earliest opportunity consistent with the purpose of the audit, or (D) when required by law;

d. Has secured a written statement attesting to the recipients' understanding of, and willingness to abide by these provisions.

16. To Federal and State agencies for purposes of obtaining socioeconomic information on Armed Forces personnel so that analytical studies can be conducted with a view to assessing the present needs and future requirements of such personnel.

17. To Federal and State agencies to validate demographic data (e.g., SSN, citizenship status, date and place of birth, etc.) for individuals in DoD personnel and pay files so that accurate information is available in support of DoD requirements.

18. To the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department of Homeland Security, for purposes of facilitating the verification of individuals who may be eligible for expedited naturalization (Pub. L. 108-136, Section 1701, and E.O. 13269, Expedited Naturalization).

19. To the Federal voting program to provide unit and e-mail addresses for the purpose of notifying the military members where to obtain absentee ballots.

20. To the Department of Homeland Security for the conduct of studies related to the health and well-being of Coast Guard members and to authenticate and identify Coast Guard personnel.

21. To Coast Guard recruiters in the performance of their assigned duties.

22. To Federal Agencies, to include OPM, Postal Service, Executive Office of the President and Administrative Office of the Courts; to conduct computer matching programs regulated by the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended (5 U.S.C. 552a), for the purpose of:

a. Providing all reserve military members who could be eligible for TRICARE Premium Based programs, such as TRICARE Reserve Select (TRS) and TRICARE Retired Reserve (TRR) to be matched against the Federal agencies for providing those reserve military members that are also Federal civil service employees. This disclosure by the Federal agencies will provide the DoD with the FEHB eligibility and Federal employment information necessary to determine continuing eligibility for the TRS program. Only those reservists not eligible for FEHB are eligible for TRS (10 U.S.C. 1076d).

b. Providing all reserve military members to be matched against the Federal agencies for the purpose of identifying the Reserve Forces who are also employed by the Federal Government in a civilian position, so that reserve status can be terminated if necessary. To accomplish an emergency mobilization, individuals occupying critical civilian positions cannot be mobilized as Reservists.

c. To the Department of Education for the purpose of identifying dependent children of those military members killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom (OIF/OEF), Afghanistan Only, for possible benefits.

23. To Federal and contractor medical personnel at joint DoD/VA health care clinics, for purposes of authenticating the identity of individuals who are registered as patients at the clinic and maintaining, through the correlation of DoD ID number and Integration Control Number (ICN), a shared population of DoD and VA beneficiaries who are users of the clinic.

The DoD “Blanket Routine Uses” published at the beginning of the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) compilation of systems of records notices apply to this system.”

* * * * *

Retention and disposal:

Delete entry and replace with “Hardcopy version of DD Form 1172: Destroy once written to optical disk. Optical disks: Destroy primary and backup copies after 5 years.

The DEERS database is Permanent: Cut off (take a snapshot) at end of Fiscal Year and transfer to the National Archives and Records Administration in accordance with 36 CFR 1228.270 and 36 CFR 1234. (N1-330-03-01)

Output records (electronic or paper summary reports) are deleted or destroyed when no longer needed for operational purposes. Note: This disposition instruction applies only to recordkeeping copies of the reports retained by DMDC. The DoD office requiring creation of the report should maintain its record keeping copy in accordance with NARA approved disposition instructions for such reports.”

* * * * *

DMDC 02 DoD

System name:

Defense Enrollment Eligibility Recording System (DEERS).

System location:

EDS—Service Management Center, 1075 West Entrance Drive, Auburn Hills, MI 48326-2723.

Categories of individuals covered by the system:

Members, former members, retirees, civilian employees (includes non-appropriated fund) and contractor employees of all of the Uniformed Services; Presidential appointees of all Federal Government agencies; Medal of Honor recipients; U.S. Military Academy students; non-Federal agency civilian associates (e.g., American Red Cross paid employees, non-DoD contract employees); DoD local national hires; DoD beneficiaries; dependents; civilian retirees; prior military eligible for Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits; and members of the public treated for a medical emergency in a DoD or joint DoD/VA medical facility.

Categories of records in the system:

Beneficiary's name; Service or Social Security Number (SSN); DoD ID number, enrollment number; relationship of beneficiary to sponsor; residence address of beneficiary or sponsor; date of birth of beneficiary; gender of beneficiary; branch of Service of sponsor; dates of beginning and ending eligibility; number of family members of sponsor; primary unit duty location of sponsor; race and ethnic origin of beneficiary; occupation of sponsor; rank/pay grade of sponsor; disability documentation; wounded, ill and injured identification information; other health information, i.e. tumor/reportable disease registry; Medicare eligibility and enrollment data; primary and secondary fingerprints and photographs of beneficiaries; blood test results; Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA); dental care eligibility codes and dental x-rays.

Patient registration data for shared DoD/VA beneficiary populations, including VA Integration Control Number (ICN), VA patient type, patient category code and patient category name of sponsor and beneficiary, patient location Defense Medical Information System, patient location date, identity and relationship data, command interest code and name, command security code and name, medical fly status code.

Catastrophic Cap and Deductible (CCD) transactions, including monetary amounts; CHAMPUS/TRICARE claim records containing enrollee, participant and health care facility, provider data such as cause of treatment, amount of payment, name and Social Security or tax identification number of providers or potential providers of care; citizenship data/country of birth; civil service employee employment information (agency and bureau, pay plan and grade, nature of action code and nature of action effective date, occupation series, dates of promotion and expected return from overseas, service computation date); claims data; compensation data; contractor fee payment data; date of separation of former enlisted and officer personnel; third party health insurance information on dependents; demographic data (kept on others beyond beneficiaries) date of birth, home of record state, sex, race, education level; VA disability payment records; digital signatures where appropriate to assert validity of data; e-mail (home/work); emergency contact person information; care giver information; immunization data; Information Assurance (IA) Work Force information; language data; military personnel information (rank, assignment/deployment, length of service, military occupation, education, and benefit usage); pharmacy benefits; reason leaving military service or DoD civilian service; Reserve member's civilian occupation and employment information; education benefit eligibility and usage; special military pay information; SGLI/FGLI; stored documents for proofing identity and association; workforces information (e.g. acquisition, first responders); Privacy Act audit logs.

Authority for maintenance of the system:

5 U.S.C. App. 3, Inspector General Act of 1978; 5 U.S.C. Chapter 90, Federal Long-Term Care Insurance; 10 U.S.C. 136, Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness; 10 U.S.C. Chapter 53, Miscellaneous Rights and Benefits; 10 U.S.C. Chapter 54, Commissary and Exchange Benefits; 10 U.S.C. Chapter 55 Medical and Dental Care; 10 U.S.C. Chapter 58, Benefits and Services for Members being Separated or Recently Separated; 10 U.S.C. Chapter 75, Deceased Personnel; 10 U.S.C. § 2358, Research and Development Projects; 20 U.S.C. 1070a (f)(4), Higher Education Opportunity Act; 31 U.S.C. 3512(c), Executive Agency Accounting and Other Financial Management; 42 U.S.C. 1973ff, Federal Responsibilities; 50 U.S.C. Chapter 23, Internal Security; DoD Directive 1000.4, Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP); DoD Directive 1341.1, Defense Enrollment/Eligibility Reporting System; DoD Instruction 1341.2, DEERS Procedures; Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12, Policy for a common Identification Standard for Federal Employees and Contractors; 38 CFR part 9.20, Traumatic injury protection; and E.O. 9397 (SSN), as amended.

Purpose(s):

To provide a database for determining eligibility for DoD entitlements and privileges; to support DoD health care management programs; to provide identification of deceased members; to record the issuance of DoD badges and identification cards, i.e. Common Access Cards (CAC) or beneficiary identification cards; and to detect fraud and abuse of the benefit programs by claimants and providers to include appropriate collection actions arising out of any debts incurred as a consequence of such programs.

To authenticate and identify DoD affiliated personnel (e.g., contractors); to assess manpower, support personnel and readiness functions; to perform statistical analyses; identify current DoD civilian and military personnel for purposes of detecting fraud and abuse of benefit programs; to register current DoD civilian and military personnel and their authorized dependents for purposes of obtaining medical examination, treatment or other benefits to which they are entitled; to ensure benefit eligibility is retained after separation from the military; information will be used by agency officials and employees, or authorized contractors, and other DoD Components for personnel and manpower studies; and to assist in recruiting prior-service personnel.

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 of 1974, as amended, these records may specifically be disclosed outside the DoD as a routine use pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(b)(3) as follows:

1. To the Social Security Administration (SSA) to perform computer data matching against the SSA Wage and Earnings Record file for the purpose of identifying employers of Department of Defense (DoD) beneficiaries eligible for health care. This employer data will in turn be used to identify those employed beneficiaries who have employment-related group health insurance, to coordinate insurance benefits provided by DoD with those provided by the other insurance. This information will also be used to perform computer data matching against the SSA Master Beneficiary Record file for the purpose of identifying DoD beneficiaries eligible for health care who are enrolled in the Medicare program, to coordinate insurance benefits provided by DoD with those provided by Medicare.

2. To the Office of Disability and Insurance Security Programs, for the purpose of expediting disability processing of wounded military service members and veterans.

3. To other Federal agencies and state, local and territorial governments to identify fraud and abuse of the Federal agency's programs and to identify debtors and collect debts and overpayment in the DoD health care programs.

4. To each of the fifty states and the District of Columbia for the purpose of conducting an on-going computer matching program with state Medicaid agencies to determine the extent to which state Medicaid beneficiaries may be eligible for Uniformed Services health care benefits, including CHAMPUS, TRICARE, and to recover Medicaid monies from the CHAMPUS program.

5. To provide dental care providers assurance of treatment.

6. To Federal agencies and/or their contractors, the Transportation Security Administration and other Federal transportation agencies, for purposes of authenticating the identity of individuals who, incident to the conduct of official business, present the Common Access Card or similar identification as proof of identity to gain physical or logical access to government and contractor facilities, locations, networks, or systems.

7. To State and local child support enforcement agencies for purposes of providing information, consistent with the requirements of 29 U.S.C. 1169(a), 42 U.S.C. 666(a)(19), and E.O. 12953 and in response to a National Medical Support Notice (NMSN) (or equivalent notice if based upon the statutory authority for the NMSN), regarding the military status of identified individuals and whether, and for what period of time, the children of such individuals are or were eligible for DoD health care coverage. Note: Information requested by the States is not disclosed when it would contravene U.S. national policy or security interests (42 U.S.C. 653(e)).

8. To the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS):

a. For purposes of providing information, consistent with the requirements of 42 U.S.C. 653 and in response to an HHS request, regarding the military status of identified individuals and whether, and for what period of time, the children of such individuals are or were eligible for DoD healthcare coverage. Note: Information requested by HHS is not disclosed when it would contravene U.S. national policy or security interests (42 U.S.C. 653(e)).

b. For purposes of providing information so that specified Medicare determinations, specifically late enrollment and waiver of penalty, can be made for eligible (1) DoD military retirees and (2) spouses (or former spouses) and/or dependents of either military retirees or active duty military personnel, pursuant to section 625 of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2002 (as codified at 42 U.S.C. 1395p and 1395r).

c. To the Office of Child Support Enforcement, Federal Parent Locator Service, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 653 and 653a; to assist in locating individuals for the purpose of establishing parentage; establishing, setting the amount of, modifying, or enforcing child support obligations; or enforcing child custody or visitation orders; the relationship to a child receiving benefits provided by a third party and the name and SSN of those third party providers who have a legal responsibility. Identifying delinquent obligors will allow state child support enforcement agencies to commence wage withholding or other enforcement actions against the obligors.

d. For purposes of providing information to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to account for the impact of DoD healthcare on local reimbursement rates for the Medicare Advantage program as required in 42 CFR 422.306.

9. To the American Red Cross for purposes of providing emergency notification and assistance to members of the Armed Forces, retirees, family members or survivors.

10. To the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA):

a. To provide military personnel, pay and wounded, ill and injured identification data for present and former military personnel for the purpose of evaluating use of veterans' benefits, validating benefit eligibility and maintaining the health and well being of veterans and their family members.

b. To provide identifying military personnel data to the DVA and its insurance program contractor for the purpose of notifying separating eligible Reservists of their right to apply for Veteran's Group Life Insurance coverage under the Veterans Benefits Improvement Act of 1996 (38 U.S.C. 1968) and for DVA to administer the Traumatic Servicemember's Group Life Insurance (TSGLI) (Traumatic Injury Protection Rider to Servicemember's Group Life Insurance (TSGLI), 38 CFR part 9.20).

c. To register eligible veterans and their dependents for DVA programs.

d. Providing identification of former military personnel and survivor's financial benefit data to DVA for the purpose of identifying military retired pay and survivor benefit payments for use in the administration of the DVA's Compensation and Pension Program (38 U.S.C. 5106). The information is to be used to process all DVA award actions more efficiently, reduce subsequent overpayment collection actions, and minimize erroneous payments.

e. To conduct computer matching programs regulated by the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended (5 U.S.C. 552a), for the purposes of:

(1) Providing full identification of active duty military personnel, including full time National Guard/Reserve support personnel, for use in the administration of DVA's Compensation and Pension benefit program. The information is used to determine continued eligibility for DVA disability compensation to recipients who have returned to active duty so that benefits can be adjusted or terminated as required and steps taken by DVA to collect any resulting over payment (38 U.S.C. 5304(c)).

(2) Providing military personnel and financial data to the Veterans Benefits Administration, DVA for the purpose of determining initial eligibility and any changes in eligibility status to insure proper payment of benefits for GI Bill education and training benefits by the DVA under the Montgomery GI Bill (10 U.S.C., Chapter 1606—Selected Reserve and 38 U.S.C., Chapter 30—Active Duty), the REAP educational benefit (Title 10 U.S.C, Chapter 1607), and the National Call to Service enlistment educational benefit (10, Chapter 510), the Post 9/11 GI Bill (38 U.S.C., Chapter 33) and The Transferability of Education Assistance to Family Members. The administrative responsibilities designated to both agencies by the law require that data be exchanged in administering the programs.

(3) Providing identification of reserve duty, including full time support National Guard/Reserve military personnel, to the DVA, for the purpose of deducting reserve time served from any DVA disability compensation paid or waiver of VA benefit. The law (10 U.S.C. 12316) prohibits receipt of reserve pay and DVA compensation for the same time period, however, it does permit waiver of DVA compensation to draw reserve pay.

(4) Providing identification of former active duty military personnel who received separation payments to the DVA for the purpose of deducting such repayment from any DVA disability compensation paid. The law requires recoupment of severance payments before DVA disability compensation can be paid (10 U.S.C. 1174).

f. To provide identifying military personnel data to the DVA for the purpose of notifying such personnel of information relating to educational assistance as required by the Veterans Programs Enhancement Act of 1998 (38 U.S.C. 3011 and 3034).

11. To DoD Civilian Contractors and grantees for the purpose of performing research on manpower problems for statistical analyses.

12. To consumer reporting agencies to obtain current addresses of separated military personnel to notify them of potential benefits eligibility.

13. To Defense contractors to monitor the employment of former DoD employees and military members subject to the provisions of 41 U.S.C. 423.

14. To Federal and quasi Federal agencies, territorial, state, and local governments to support personnel functions requiring data on prior military service credit for their employees or for job applications. To determine continued eligibility and help eliminate fraud and abuse in benefit programs and to collect debts and over payments owed to these programs. Information released includes name, SSN, and military or civilian address of individuals. To detect fraud, waste and abuse pursuant to the authority contained in the Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended (Pub. L. 95-452) for the purpose of determining eligibility for, and/or continued compliance with, any Federal benefit program requirements.

15. To Federal and quasi Federal agencies, territorial, state and local governments, and contractors and grantees for the purpose of supporting research studies concerned with the health and well being of active duty, reserve, and retired personnel or veterans, to include family members. DMDC will disclose information from this system of records for research purposes when DMDC:

a. Has determined that the use or disclosure does not violate legal or policy limitations under which the record was provided, collected, or obtained;

b. Has determined that the research purpose (1) cannot be reasonably accomplished unless the record is provided in individually identifiable form, and (2) warrants the risk to the privacy of the individual that additional exposure of the record might bring;

c. Has required the recipient to (1) establish reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to prevent unauthorized use or disclosure of the record, and (2) remove or destroy the information that identifies the individual at the earliest time at which removal or destruction can be accomplished consistent with the purpose of the research project, unless the recipient has presented adequate justification of a research or health nature for retaining such information, and (3) make no further use or disclosure of the record except (A) in emergency circumstances affecting the health or safety of any individual, (B) for use in another research project, under these same conditions, and with written authorization of the Department, (C) for disclosure to a properly identified person for the purpose of an audit related to the research project, if information that would enable research subjects to be identified is removed or destroyed at the earliest opportunity consistent with the purpose of the audit, or (D) when required by law;

d. Has secured a written statement attesting to the recipients' understanding of, and willingness to abide by these provisions.

16. To Federal and State agencies for purposes of obtaining socioeconomic information on Armed Forces personnel so that analytical studies can be conducted with a view to assessing the present needs and future requirements of such personnel.

17. To Federal and State agencies to validate demographic data (e.g., SSN, citizenship status, date and place of birth, etc.) for individuals in DoD personnel and pay files so that accurate information is available in support of DoD requirements.

18. To the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department of Homeland Security, for purposes of facilitating the verification of individuals who may be eligible for expedited naturalization (Pub. L. 108-136, Section 1701, and E.O. 13269, Expedited Naturalization).

19. To the Federal voting program to provide unit and e-mail addresses for the purpose of notifying the military members where to obtain absentee ballots.

20. To the Department of Homeland Security for the conduct of studies related to the health and well-being of Coast Guard members and to authenticate and identify Coast Guard personnel.

21. To Coast Guard recruiters in the performance of their assigned duties.

22. To Federal Agencies, to include OPM, Postal Service, Executive Office of the President and Administrative Office of the Courts; to conduct computer matching programs regulated by the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended (5 U.S.C. 552a), for the purpose of:

a. Providing all reserve military members who could be eligible for TRICARE Premium Based programs, such as TRICARE Reserve Select (TRS) and TRICARE Retired Reserve (TRR) to be matched against the Federal agencies for providing those reserve military members that are also Federal civil service employees. This disclosure by the Federal agencies will provide the DoD with the FEHB eligibility and Federal employment information necessary to determine continuing eligibility for the TRS program. Only those reservists not eligible for FEHB are eligible for TRS (10 U.S.C. 1076d).

b. Providing all reserve military members to be matched against the Federal agencies for the purpose of identifying the Reserve Forces who are also employed by the Federal Government in a civilian position, so that reserve status can be terminated if necessary. To accomplish an emergency mobilization, individuals occupying critical civilian positions cannot be mobilized as Reservists.

c. To the Department of Education for the purpose of identifying dependent children of those military members killed in Operation Iraq Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom (OIF/OEF), Afghanistan Only, for possible benefits.

23. To Federal and contractor medical personnel at joint DoD/VA health care clinics, for purposes of authenticating the identity of individuals who are registered as patients at the clinic and maintaining, through the correlation of DoD ID number and Integration Control Number (ICN), a shared population of DoD and VA beneficiaries who are users of the clinic.

The DoD “Blanket Routine Uses” published at the beginning of the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) compilation of systems of records notices apply to this system.

Policies and practices for storing, retrieving, accessing, retaining, and disposing of records in the system:

Storage:

Electronic storage media.

Retrievability:

Records about individuals are retrieved by an algorithm which uses name, SSN, date of birth, rank, and duty location as possible inputs. Retrievals are made on summary basis by geographic characteristics and location and demographic characteristics. Information about individuals will not be distinguishable in summary retrievals. Retrievals for the purposes of generating address lists for direct mail distribution may be made using selection criteria based on geographic and demographic keys.

Safeguards:

Computerized records are maintained in a controlled area accessible only to authorized personnel. Entry to these areas is restricted to those personnel with a valid requirement and authorization to enter. Physical entry is restricted by the use of locks, guards, and administrative procedures (e.g., fire protection regulations).

Access to personal information is restricted to those who require the records in the performance of their official duties, and to the individuals who are the subjects of the record or their authorized representatives. Access to personal information is further restricted by the use of passwords, which are changed periodically. All individuals granted access to this system of records are to have received Information Assurance and Privacy Act training.

Retention and disposal:

Hardcopy version of DD Form 1172: Destroy once written to optical disk. Optical disks: Destroy primary and backup copies after 5 years.

The DEERS database is Permanent: Cut off (take a snapshot) at end of Fiscal Year and transfer to the National Archives and Record Administration in accordance with 36 CFR 1228.270 and 36 CFR 1234. (N1-330-03-01)

Output records (electronic or paper summary reports) are deleted or destroyed when no longer needed for operational purposes. Note: This disposition instruction applies only to recordkeeping copies of the reports retained by DMDC. The DoD office requiring creation of the report should maintain its record keeping copy in accordance with NARA approved disposition instructions for such reports.

System manager(s) and address:

Deputy Director, Defense Manpower Data Center, DoD Center Monterey Bay, 400 Gigling Road, Seaside, CA 93955-6771.

Notification procedure:

Individuals seeking to determine whether information about themselves is contained in this system should address written inquiries to the Deputy Director, Defense Manpower Data Center, DoD Center Monterey Bay, 400 Gigling Road, Seaside, CA 93955-6771.

Written requests should contain the full name, SSN, date of birth, and current address and telephone number of the individual.

Record access procedures:

Individuals seeking access to information about themselves contained in this system should address written inquiries to the Office of the Secretary of Defense/Joint Staff Freedom of Information Act Requester Service Center, 1155 Defense Pentagon, Washington, DC 20301-1155.

Written requests should contain the name and number of this system of records notice along with the full name, SSN, date of birth, and current address and telephone number of the individual and be signed.

Contesting record procedures:

The OSD rules for accessing records, for contesting contents and appealing initial agency determinations are published in OSD Administrative Instruction 81; 32 CFR part 311; or may be obtained from the system manager.

Record source categories:

Individuals and the personnel, pay, and benefit systems of the military and civilian departments and agencies of the Uniformed Services, VA, and other Federal agencies.

Exemptions claimed for the system:

None.