Comment Submitted by Chloe Maier

The Privacy Act was charged with “protecting individuals by controlling information about them”(Regan 1986, 29). This proposed rule is not only pursuant with the mission of The Privacy Act, but is also pursuant with the very maxim of the agency promulgating this rule. The Department of Homeland Security was established to secure the safety of individuals; an integral part of this mission is the system of record keeping. The DHS/FEMA’s new system of records should be exempt from the public disclosure component of the Privacy Act to further ensure national security and to add a necessary exemption to an act that seeks to protect individuals through information control. From a macro level, the US is facing unique national security threats, most notably terrorism, that were not as prominent in 1974, the year of The Privacy Act’s enactment. The proposed rule can be seen as a modern amendment to this act that reflects the nation’s interest in security against 21st century threats; the very creation of the Department of Homeland Security reflects this national interest in safety. Thus the proposed rule seeks to create a more efficient, tight, and secure system of information that relates to current investigations involving national security. The DHS claims that disclosure to individuals can severely hamper the investigative efforts of the agency and reveal sensitive information that is being used to protect citizens from homeland threats. The exemption of the DHS from disclosing this information will, by that logic, increase national security and the efficiency of the department to actively seek and obliterate threats. This proposed rule shouldn’t be seen as undermining an individual’s right to disclosure of information that involves them, but rather a necessary exemption to ensure national safety. The proposed rule justifiably exempts the DHS from disclosure in order to achieve national security goals that will protect citizens from growing homeland threats.