CONTENTS Volume 2 Part I-Department of the Air Force-- Subpart 2-Headquarters USAF Individual Medical Records.. Subpart 3-Headquarters Air Reserve Personnel Center, Denver, Subpart 4-Directorate of Security Police, Headquarters USAF Subpart 10-Headquarters USAF-Personnel Data Systems__ Subpart 11-Miscellaneous Subdivisions of USAF.. Part II-Department of the Army---- Subpart 1-Investigative Data Banks.. Page DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE The Department of Defense is by far the largest agency surveyed in the subcommittee's study of federal data banks containing information about individuals. Accordingly, the number of data banks maintained by the various branches of the Department of Defense is very large: Department of the Air Force_ Department of the Army.. Department of the Navy... Miscellaneous DoD Offices and Agencies. Total Department of Defense.. Each of these branches will be discussed separately. Data banks 73 385 20 19 497 The subcommittee's inquiries regarding Department of Defense data banks on individuals have a long and complicated history which goes beyond the parameters of this survey.' It was in response to the subcommittee's letter dated July 20, 1970, which appears below, that the Department of Defense supplied most of the information which is discussed in this study.2 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, Washington, D.C., July 20, 1970. Hon. MELVIN J. LAIRD, Secretary of Defense, Washington, D.C. DEAR MR. SECRETARY: In connection with our study of computers, privacy and constitutional rights, the Constitutional Rights Subcommittee is conducting a governmentwide survey of the extent to which constitutional rights may be affected by federally-administered or federally-sponsored data banks containing personal information about individuals for statistical, administrative or intelligence purposes. Clearly, the Federal Government's ability to respond to the needs of state and local governments and its capacity to meet its responsibilities to all of the people quickly and efficiently, may well depend on the ease and ingenuity with which it applies the best of the new technology to federal programs. Therefore, this Subcommittee inquiry should not be deemed criticism of Departmental policies in the field of data collection or processing. Rather, the questionnaire is designed to assist Congress in its evaluations and understanding of the current trends and practices in those areas where individual rights and privacy may be affected in some way. Letters to the Subcommittee and other congressional offices show a growing public concern and what is frequently an unnecessary alarm over the extent of government data collection about citizens and the reasons for it. While I believe some of this concern is warranted, much of it could be allayed by clearer definition of official duties and of the rights of citizens and by better communication with the public, the press and Congress about agency programs. 1 See Hearings on Federal Data Banks, Computers and the Bill of Rights Before the Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 92d Cong., 1st Sess., Part II (1971); Staff of the Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 92d Cong., 2d Sess., Army Surveillance of Civilians: A Documentary Analysis (Comm. Print 1972); Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 93d Cong., 1st Sess., Report on Military Surveillance of Civilian Politics (Comm. Print 1973). 2 Additional Subcommittee inquiries to the Department of the Army are noted below in Part II. (261) |