"Transportation Security Threat Assessment System (T-STAS)"

Monday, September 27, 2004

Privacy Act of 1974/ Systems of Records; Transportation Security Threat
Assessment System (T-STAS); Transportation Worker 
The Federal Register


DATES: Comments due on October 25, 2004.

ADDRESSES: Address your comments to the Docket Management System, U.S.
Department of Transportation (DOT), Room Plaza 401, 400 Seventh Street, SW.,
Washington, DC 20590-0001. You must identify the docket number
TSA-2004-19166 at the beginning of your comments, and you should submit two
copies of your comments. If you wish to receive confirmation that TSA
received your comments, include a self-addressed, stamped postcard.

You may also submit comments through the Internet at http://dms.dot.gov.
Please be aware that anyone is able to search the electronic form of all
comments received into any of these dockets by the name of the individual
submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf of an
association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review DOT's
complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register published on April
11, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 70; Pages 19477-78) or you may visit
http://dms.dot.gov. You may also review the public docket containing
comments in person at the Dockets Office between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday
through Friday, except Federal holidays. The Dockets Office is on the plaza
level of the NASSIF Building at the Department of Transportation at the
above address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Conrad Huygen, Privacy Act Officer, Office
of Information Management Programs, TSA Headquarters, TSA-17, 601 S. 12th
Street, Arlington, VA 22202-4220; telephone (571) 227-1954; facsimile (571)
227-2906.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: TSA is altering two existing systems of records
under the Privacy Act of 1974. The first system, the Transportation Security
Threat Assessment System (DHS/TSA 002), facilitates the performance of
threat assessments and employment investigations on individuals who require
special access to the transportation system and was published in the Federal
Register on August 18, 2003, as the Transportation Workers Employment
Investigations System. See 68 FR 49496, 49498. The system name has been
changed and the categories of individuals, categories of records, and
purposes of the system expanded to cover threat assessments performed on
individuals seeking flight training, temporary flight restriction waivers,
and access to cargo-related infrastructure and other transportation-related
activities. The routine uses have also been amended to allow for the
disclosure of records related to these new activities, to include state and
local transportation agencies, when compatible with the purposes for which
the information was collected. TSA may now also share information with the
appropriate agency when individuals pose or are suspected of posing a risk
to transportation or national security. Records may also be retrieved using
biometric identifiers.

The second system, the Transportation Worker Identification Credentialing
(TWIC) System (DHS/TSA 012), facilitates the testing and evaluation of
certain technologies and business processes associated with access control
for transportation workers requiring unescorted access to secure areas of
transportation facilities and was first published in the Federal Register on
August 18, 2003. See 68 FR 49496, 49507. The system notice is being changed
to reflect the expanded location of the records in the TWIC Prototype Phase
and the routine uses have been amended to allow for the disclosure of
records to state and local transportation agencies when compatible with the
purposes for which the information was collected. TSA may now also share
information with the appropriate agency when individuals pose or are
suspected of posing a risk to transportation or national security. The
complete revised notices of both systems of records follow.

TRANSPORTATION AND SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

DHS/TSA 002

System name:

Transportation Security Threat Assessment System (T-STAS).

Security classification:

Classified, Sensitive.

System location:

Records are maintained at the offices of the Transportation Security
Administration (TSA) Headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. Some records may
also be maintained at the offices of TSA contractors, or in TSA field
offices.

Categories of individuals covered by the system:

Individuals who are required to undergo a security threat assessment or
employment investigation in order to obtain access to the following:
Transportation infrastructure or assets, such as terminals, facilities,
pipelines, railways, mass transit, vessels, aircraft, or vehicles;
restricted airspace; passenger baggage; cargo; or transportation-related
instruction or training (such as flight training). This includes but is not
limited to the following individuals:

(a) Individuals who require or seek access to airport secured, sterile, or a
Security Identification Display Area (SIDA); have or seek unescorted access
authority to these areas; have or seek authority to grant others unescorted
access to these areas; have or seek regular escorted access to these areas;
or are seeking identification that is evidence of employment at the airport.

(b) Individuals who have or are seeking responsibility for screening
passengers or carry-on baggage, and those persons serving as immediate
supervisors and the next supervisory level to those individuals, other than
employees of the TSA who perform or seek to perform these functions.

(c) Individuals who have or are seeking responsibility for screening checked
baggage or cargo, and their immediate supervisors, and the next supervisory
level to those individuals, other than employees of the TSA who perform or
seek to perform these functions.

(d) Individuals who have or are seeking the authority to accept checked
baggage for transport on behalf of an aircraft operator that is required to
screen passengers.

(e) Pilots, copilots, flight engineers, flight navigators, airline personnel
authorized to fly in the cockpit, relief or deadheading crewmembers, cabin
crew, and other flight crew for an aircraft operator or foreign air carrier
that is required to adopt and carry out a security program.

(f) Flight crews and passengers who request waivers of temporary flight
restrictions (TFRs) or other restrictions pertaining to airspace.

(g) Other individuals who are connected to the transportation industry for
whom TSA conducts security threat assessments to ensure transportation
security.

(h) Individuals who have or are seeking unescorted access to cargo in the
transportation system.

(i) Individuals who are owners, officers, or directors of an indirect air
carrier or a business seeking to become an indirect air carrier.

(j) Aliens or other individuals designated by TSA who apply for flight
training or recurrent training.

(k) Individuals transported on all-cargo aircraft, including aircraft
operator or foreign air carrier employees and their family members and
persons transported for the flight.

Categories of records in the system:

TSA's system may contain any or all of the following information
regarding individuals covered by this system: (a) Full name (including
aliases or variations of spelling); (b) gender; (c) current and historical
contact information (including but not limited to address information,
telephone number, e-mail); (d) government issued licensing or identification
information (including but not limited to social security number, pilot
certificate information, including number and country of issuance, and other
licensing information for modes of transportation); (e) date and place of
birth; (f) name and information including contact information and
identifying number (if any) of the airport, aircraft operator, indirect air
carrier, maritime or land transportation operator, or other employer or
entity that is employing the individual or submitting the individual's
information or sponsoring the individual's background check/threat
assessment; (g) physical description, fingerprint and/or other biometric
identifier and photograph; (h) date, place, and type of flight training or
other instruction; (i) control number or other unique identification number
assigned to an individual or credential; (j) information necessary to assist
in tracking submissions, payments, and transmission of records; (k) results
of any analysis performed for security threat assessments and adjudications;
(l) other data as required by Form FD 258 (fingerprint card) or other
standard fingerprint cards used by the Federal government; (m) information
provided by individuals covered by this system in support of their
application for an appeal or waiver; (n) flight information, including crew
status on board; (o) travel document information (including but not limited
to passport information, including number and country of issuance, and
current and past citizenship information and immigration status, any alien
registration numbers, and any visa information); (p) identification records
obtained from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which are
compilations of criminal history record information pertaining to
individuals who have criminal fingerprints maintained in the FBI's
Fingerprint Identification Records System (FIRS); (q) data gathered from
foreign governments or entities that is necessary to address security
concerns in the aviation, maritime, or land transportation systems; (r)
other information provided by Federal, State, and local government agencies
or private entities; (s) the individual's level of access at an
airport.

Authority for maintenance of the system:

49 U.S.C. 114, 5103a, 40103(b)(3), 40113(a), 44903(b), 44936, 44939, 46105.

Purpose(s):

(a) Performance of security threat assessments and employment investigations
that Federal statutes and/or TSA regulations authorize for the individuals
identified in "Categories of individuals covered by the system," above.

(b) To assist in the management and tracking of the status of security
threat assessments and employment investigations.

(c) To permit the retrieval of the results of security threat assessments
and employment investigations, including criminal history records checks and
searches in other governmental, commercial, and private data systems,
performed on the individuals covered by this system.

(d) To permit the retrieval of information from other terrorist-related, law
enforcement and Intelligence databases on the individuals covered by this
system.

(e) To track the fees incurred and payment of those fees by the airport
operators, aircraft operators, maritime and land transportation operators,
flight students, and others where appropriate for services related to
security threat assessments and employment investigations.

(f) To facilitate the performance of security threat assessments and other
investigations that TSA may conduct to ensure transportation security.

Routine uses of records maintained in the system, including categories of
users and the purposes of such uses:

(1) To the United States Department of Transportation, its operating
administrations, or the appropriate state or local agency when relevant or
necessary to: (a) Ensure safety and security in any mode of transportation;
(b) enforce safety- and security-related regulations and requirements; (c)
assess and distribute intelligence or law enforcement information related to
transportation security; (d) assess and respond to threats to
transportation; (e) oversee the implementation and ensure the adequacy of
security measures at airports and other transportation facilities; (f) plan
and coordinate any actions or activities that may affect transportation
safety and security or the operations of transportation operators; or (g)
the issuance, maintenance, or renewal of a license, endorsement,
certificate, contract, grant, or other benefit.

(2) To the appropriate Federal, State, local, tribal, territorial, foreign,
or international agency responsible for investigating, prosecuting,
enforcing, or implementing a statute, rule, regulation, or order, where TSA
becomes aware of an indication of a violation or potential violation of
civil or criminal law or regulation.

(3) To the appropriate Federal, State, local, tribal, territorial, foreign,
or international agency regarding individuals who pose or are suspected of
posing a risk to transportation or national security.

(4) To contractors, grantees, experts, consultants, volunteers, or other
like persons when necessary to perform a function or service related to this
system of records for which they have been engaged. Such recipients are
required to comply with the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. 552a, as amended.

(5) To a Federal, State, local, tribal, territorial, foreign, or
international agency, where such agency has requested information relevant
or necessary for the hiring or retention of an individual, or the issuance
of a security clearance, license, endorsement, contract, grant, waiver,
credential, or other benefit.

(6) To a Federal, State, local, tribal, territorial, foreign, or
international agency, if necessary to obtain information relevant to a TSA
decision concerning the hiring or retention of an employee, the issuance of
a security clearance, license, endorsement, contract, grant, waiver,
credential, or other benefit.

(7) To international and foreign governmental authorities in accordance with
law and formal or informal international agreement.

(8) To third parties during the course of a security threat assessment,
employment investigation, or adjudication of a waiver or appeal request, to
the extent necessary to obtain information pertinent to the assessment,
investigation, or adjudication.

(9) To airport operators, indirect air carriers, aircraft operators, flight
school operators, and maritime and land transportation operators or
contractors about individuals who are their employees, job applicants, or
contractors, or persons to whom they issue identification credentials or
grant clearances to secured areas in transportation facilities, or provide
flight training, when relevant to such employment, application, contract, or
the issuance of such credentials, clearances, or acceptance for flight
training.

(10) To a Federal, State, local, tribal, territorial, foreign, or
international agency so that TSA may obtain information to conduct security
threat assessments or employment investigations and to facilitate any
associated payment and accounting.


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