Privacy Policy

1. This website is provided as a public service by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense-Research and Engineering.
2. Information presented on this website is considered public information and may be distributed or copied unless otherwise specified. Use of appropriate byline/photo/image credits is requested.
3. Privacy Act Statement - If you choose to provide us with personal information - like filling out a Contact Us form with e-mail and/or postal addresses - we only use that information to respond to your message or request. We will only share the information you give us with another government agency if your inquiry relates to that agency, or as otherwise required by law. We never create individual profiles or give it to any private organizations. Defense.gov never collects information for commercial marketing. While you must provide an e-mail address or postal address for a response other than those generated automatically in response to questions or comments that you may submit, we recommend that you NOT include any other personal information, especially Social Security numbers. The Social Security Administration offers additional guidance on sharing your Social Security number.
4. We maintain a variety of physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect your personal information. For site security purposes and to ensure that this service remains available to all users, this government computer system employs software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage.
5. Except for authorized law enforcement investigations, no other attempts are made to identify individual users or their usage habits. Raw data logs are used for no other purposes and are scheduled for regular destruction in accordance with National Archives and Records Administration guidelines.
6. Unauthorized attempts to upload information or change information on this service are strictly prohibited and may be punishable under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act.
7. If you have any questions or comments about the information presented here, please forward them to us using the our Contact Us page.

Use of Measurement and Customization Technology

Tier 1 cookies are used for technical purposes to improve a user experience and to allow users to more easily navigate the website.

Foresee Results software measure user satisfaction and assesses website effectiveness through optional surveys presented to website visitors. The information gathered from these surveys is used to identify and prioritize improvements to functional website elements and content for visitors. Survey users provide ratings and feedback related to a series of questions about website performance, aesthetics, usability, user experience, and so forth; however, users are not required to provide any personal information. Tier 2 cookies are used to remember if the user has already been offered the survey and to ensure that users are prompted only once every 60 days.

Urchin software collects aggregate statistics of website visitor characteristics, traffic, and activity. This information is used to assess what content is of most and least interest, determine technical design specifications, and identify system performance or problem areas. The software records a variety of data, including IP addresses (the locations of computers or networks on the Internet), unique visits, page views, hits, referring websites, and which hyperlinks have been clicked . Tier 2 cookies are used to distinguish between summary statistics for users who have been to the site before and those that are visiting the site the for the first time. The Department of Defense does not gather, request, record, require, collect or track any Internet users' PII through these processes.

Defense.gov uses Tier 2 cookies to remember whether a website visitor prefers to view the default homepage geared toward the general public or the alternative homepage geared toward Defense Department civilians, servicemembers, veterans, and their families.

Specific Technologies/Vendors:

Tier 1 cookies are used for technical purposes to improve a user experience and to allow users to more easily navigate the website.

Foresee Results software measure user satisfaction and assesses website effectiveness through optional surveys presented to website visitors. The information gathered from these surveys is used to identify and prioritize improvements to functional website elements and content for visitors. Survey users provide ratings and feedback related to a series of questions about website performance, aesthetics, usability, user experience, and so forth; however, users are not required to provide any personal information. Tier 2 cookies are used to remember if the user has already been offered the survey and to ensure that users are prompted only once every 60 days.

Urchin software collects aggregate statistics of website visitor characteristics, traffic, and activity. This information is used to assess what content is of most and least interest, determine technical design specifications, and identify system performance or problem areas. The software records a variety of data, including IP addresses (the locations of computers or networks on the Internet), unique visits, page views, hits, referring websites, and which hyperlinks have been clicked . Tier 2 cookies are used to distinguish between summary statistics for users who have been to the site before and those that are visiting the site the for the first time. The Department of Defense does not gather, request, record, require, collect or track any Internet users' PII through these processes.

Defense.gov uses Tier 2 cookies to remember whether a website visitor prefers to view the default homepage geared toward the general public or the alternative homepage geared toward Defense Department civilians, servicemembers, veterans, and their families.

Use of Third-party Websites and Applications

Third-party websites and applications that are not owned, operated, or controlled by the Department of Defense are integral to Internet-based operations across the Department of Defense and used to augment official communication. These capabilities include, but are not limited to, networking services, media sharing services, wikis and data mashups. A list of the Defense Department's authorized pages and uses of these services is listed at www.defense.gov/registeredsites/socialmediasites.aspx. These sites may collect PII and may make it available to the Department of Defense and other users; however, the PII is not collected on behalf of, nor is it provided specifically for, the Department of Defense. The Department of Defense does not harvest and additionally collect, maintain, share or otherwise use such PII for any purpose other than that for which it is made available to all users.