- This Website is provided as a public service by the National
Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s Office of Corporate Communications.
- 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.
- If you choose to provide us with personal
information, 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 email 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- If you have any questions or comments about the information presented here, please forward them to us using our Contact Us page.
The Privacy Act of 1974
The Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C., Section 552a, was enacted in 1974 as a
response to the perceived government excesses of the Watergate era. Its
primary intent is to protect individuals from unwarranted invasions of
privacy, while at the same time affording the government necessary
access to needed personal information. The Privacy Act applies to U.S.
citizens and legal aliens with permanent resident status. Only personal
information held by the Executive branch of the federal government is
subject to disclosure under the Privacy Act.
This law guarantees the following rights:
- To see records about oneself, subject to the Privacy Act’s exemptions;
- To amend a no-exempt record if it is inaccurate, irrelevant, untimely or incomplete; and
- 3. To sue the government for violation of the statute, such as allowing unauthorized persons to read your records
The Privacy Act also pertains only to information that is maintained
in a system of records, or SORNs. This is information that is controlled
by an agency that requires a unique identifier, such as a social
security number, date of birth or employee identification number to be
accessed. The Privacy Act also defines as records: information that is
personally identifiable and may cover a variety of areas such as
education, financial transactions, medical history, criminal history,
etc.
The SORN is a legally binding public notification, which identifies
and documents the purpose of a specific system of records, the
individuals covered by the system, the types of records held in the
system and how the information is shared. The Privacy Act requires that
each agency publish its SORNs in the Federal Register for public review
and comment.
Requesting records under the Privacy Act:
Privacy Act requests, where you are seeking information on yourself,
records related to your security clearance or background investigation,
etc., must be submitted in writing, include a social security number
and/or date of birth and be signed by you. Such requests cannot be
submitted through this online system. Under some circumstances, a
notarized copy of your request and signature may be required. Click here for alink to
the Privacy Act request form.
Please mail the form to:
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
FOIA/PA Requester Service Center, Mail Stop #S01-SISCS
7500 GEOINT Drive
Springfield, Virginia 22150
Use of Measurement and Customization Technology
This
website uses measurement and customization technology known as a
"cookies." Cookies are used to remember a user's online interactions
with a website or online application in order to conduct measurement and
analysis of usage or to customize the user's experience.
There are two kinds of cookies used on this website. A single-session
cookie (Tier 1) is a line of text that is stored temporarily on a
user's computer and deleted as soon as the browser is closed. A
persistent or multi-session cookie (Tier 2) is saved to a file on a
user's hard drive and is called up the next time that user visits a
website. Use of these cookies does not involve the collection of a
visitor's personally identifiable information (PII).
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency does not use the
information associated with cookies to track individual user activity on
the Internet outside NGA websites, nor does it share the data obtained
through such technologies, without the user's explicit consent, with
other departments or agencies. The National Geospatial-Intelligence
Agency does not keep a database of information obtained from the use of
cookies.
Cookies are enabled by default to optimize website functionality and
customize user experience. Users can choose not to accept the use of
these cookies by changing the settings on their local computer's web
browser. The USA.gov website, http://www.usa.gov/optout_instructions.shtml,
provides general instructions on how to opt out of cookies and other
commonly used web measurement and customization technologies. Opting out
of cookies still permits users to access comparable information and
services; however, it may take longer to navigate or interact with the
website if a user is required to fill out certain information
repeatedly.
Specific Technologies/Vendors
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 National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency does not gather, request,
record, require, collect or track any Internet users' PII through these
processes.
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 DOD. These capabilities include social networking services,
wikis, photo- and video-hosting services, data mash-ups, and so forth. A
list of all Defense Department official pages across various social
media networks can be found at http://www.defense.gov/registeredsites/socialmediasites.aspx.
Privacy Impact Assessments (PIA)
Click the link below to download the PDF file: