THE PRIVACY ACT

LEARNING OBJECTIVE: Identify the basic provisions of the Privacy Act.

All Navy journalists must have a working knowledge of the Privacy Act (PA) of 1974. The PA is an enclosure to the Department of the Navy Privacy Act (PA) Program, SECNAVINST 5211.5 series.

PRIMARY FEATURES

Under the PA, government agencies may collect, store, disclose, account for and amend required personal information on military and civilian government employees. Additionally, individuals may request access to information about themselves. In the Navy, personal information may be collected and stored in roughly 200 PA record systems. An example of such a system is the Navy Civilian Personnel Data System (NCPDS).

The premise of the PA is simple. Everyone has a constitutional right to privacy. People do not waive that right simply because they are in the military or work for the government. Therefore, when you write a story about a person, there are a limited number of facts that may be released without the permission of that person.

RELEASABLE INFORMATION - MILITARY

In the case of a military person, the following facts may be released:

l Name

* Rank

* Date of rank

l Gross salary

l Present and past duty assignments (subject to limitations addressed in SECNAVINST 5211.5 series)

l Future assignments that are officially established (subject to limitations addressed in SECNAV-INST 5211.5 series)

l Office or duty telephone numbers

l Source of commission

a Promotion sequence number

l Awards and decorations

l Attendance at professional and military schools (major area of study, school, year of education and degree)

l Duty status at any given time

RELEASABLE INFORMATION - CIVILIAN

When releasing information about government civilian employees, you may include the following facts without approval from the individuals concerned: l Name Q Grade or position l Date of grade l Gross salary . Present and past assignments . Future assignments, if officially established l Office telephone number

The point for you to remember is that, without a compelling reason that is usually in connection with the public concern, a person's privacy should not be violated. For you to pry into an individual's home life in connection with a news story is inexcusable unless there is some clear public need for the information. On the other hand a person cannot claim the right of privacy if an important news event has placed an individual, willingly or unwillingly, in public view. Even so, this does not give the news media the right to push human dignity and decency aside.

Additional information on the PA may be found in SECNAVINST 5211.5 series or in PA Regs, Chapter 7.