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NOTICE: NOTICES

ACTION: Meetings:

DOCUMENT ACTION: Notice of altered and deleted systems of records.

SUBJECT CATEGORY: Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records--Investigatory Material Compiled for Personnel Security, Suitability, Positive Identification Verification and Access Control for the Department of Education Security Tracking and Reporting System (EDSTAR)

DATES: We must receive your comments about the altered and deleted systems of records notice on or before December 27, 2007.

The Department filed a report describing the altered system of records covered by this notice with the Chair of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, the Chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on November 21, 2007. The altered system of records will become effective at the later date of(1) The expiration of the 40day period for OMB review on December 31, 2007 or (2) December 27, 2007, unless the system of records needs to be changed as a result of public comment or OMB review.

DOCUMENT SUMMARY: In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended (Privacy Act), the Department of Education (Department), publishes this notice to amend and rename the system of records entitled
``Investigatory Material Compiled for Personnel Security and Suitability Purposes'' (180517) as ``Investigatory Material Compiled for Personnel Security, Suitability, Positive Identification Verification and Access Control for the Department of Education Security Tracking and Reporting System (EDSTAR)'' (180517) and to delete the system of records entitled ``Identification Media Records'' (180516). The Department is taking these actions because these systems of records have been merged into and consolidated with the EDSTAR system of records.

EDSTAR is designed to implement the requirements of Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD)12. HSPD12 is a Presidential directive that requires the promulgation of a Federal standard to ensure a common, governmentwide standard for secure and reliable forms of Personal Identity Verification (PIV). On February 25, 2005, the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST's) Computer Security Division issued Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 201, entitled ``Personal Identity Verification of Federal Employees and Contractors'', in order to satisfy the requirements of HSPD12 to improve the identification and authentication of Federal employees and contractors for access to Federal facilities and information systems.

The Department maintains records in EDSTAR for the purpose of making individual positive identification verification, adjudication determinations concerning suitability for Federal employment and contract positions, decisions concerning access to the Department's facilities and information systems, and information related to the issuance of PIV and FIPS compliant identification media and access to restricted areas. Because many of these records are currently covered by the systems of records entitled ``Identification Media Records'' (180516) and ``Investigatory Material Compiled for Personnel Security and Suitability Purposes'' (180517), the Department is merging and consolidating these systems of records by amending and renaming the ``Investigatory Material Compiled for Personnel Security and Suitability Purposes'' (180517) system as EDSTAR and deleting the system of records for ``Identification Media Records'' (180516).

SUMMARY: Privacy Act; systems of records,

SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION

The Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a(e)(4)) requires the Department to publish in the Federal Register this notice of an altered system of records maintained by the Department. The Department's regulations implementing the Privacy Act are contained in part 5b of title 34 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).

The Privacy Act applies to information about individuals that is maintained in a system of records from which individually identifying information is retrieved by a unique identifier associated with each individual, such as a name or social security number. The information about each individual is called a ``record,'' and the system, whether manual or computerbased, is called a ``system of records.'' The Privacy Act requires each agency to publish notices of new or altered systems of records in the Federal Register and to submit reports to the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, OMB, the Chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and the Chair of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, whenever the agency publishes a new or altered system of records.

Electronic Access to This Document

You can view this document, as well as all other documents of this Department published in the Federal Register, in text or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) on the Internet at the following site: http://www.ed.gov/news/fedregister.

To use PDF you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free at this site. If you have questions about using PDF, call the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), toll free, at 18882936498; or in the Washington, DC, area at (202) 5121530.

Note: The official version of this document is the document published in the Federal Register. Free Internet access to the official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations is available on GPO Access at: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/nara/index.html .

Dated: November 21, 2007.
Michell C. Clark,

Assistant Secretary for Management.

For the reasons discussed in the preamble, the Assistant Secretary for Management of the Department publishes a notice of altered and deleted systems of records to read as follows:

DELETED SYSTEM OF RECORDS

The Department identifies the system of records entitled Identification Media Records (180516), as published in the Federal Register on December 26, 2002 (67 FR 7879496), to be deleted because it has been merged into and consolidated with the following system of records:
ALTERED SYSTEM OF RECORDS
180517

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT Colette Hawley, Security Services, Office of Management, room 2W312, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 202025345. Telephone number: (202) 4012993. If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), you may call the Federal Relay Service (FRS) at 18008778339.

Individuals with disabilities may obtain this document in an alternative format (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, or computer diskette) on
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request to the contact person listed in the preceding paragraph.