The purpose of the Privacy Act of 1974, Title 5, United States Code, Section 552a, is to balance the U.S. Government's need to maintain information about individuals with the rights of individuals to be protected against unwarranted invasions of their privacy stemming from federal agencies' collection, maintenance, use and disclosure of personal information about them.

The Privacy Act grants rights to United States citizens and legal permanent residents. Under the Privacy Act, you:

-- Have the right to see records about yourself

-- Can correct a record that is inaccurate, irrelevant, untimely or incomplete

The Privacy Act mandates that the U.S. Government:

-- Informs you why information is being collected and how it is going to be used

-- Assures that information is accurate, relevant, complete and up-to-date before disclosing it to others

-- Allows you to find out about disclosures of your records to other agencies or persons

-- Provides you with the opportunity to correct inaccuracies in your records

The Privacy Act applies only to records about individuals maintained by agencies in the executive branch of the government. It applies to these records only if they are kept in a "system of records."

A system of records is a group of records from which the information was retrieved by an individual's name, social security number, date of birth or some other personal identifier.

The Freedom of Information and Privacy Act Office is responsible for the management oversight of the Air Force-wide implementation of the FOIA, PA and QIP programs in accordance with 5 U.S.C., and Public Law 106-554. This office serves as the Air Force central clearinghouse for Air Force records submitted by non-government requestors; PA reviews of records requested by executive, judicial or legislative branch activities; and claims for correction of information maintained and disseminated to the public by the Department of Air Force. This office also maintains the Air Force FOIA Reading Room and the Electronic Reading Room, and is responsible for compiling and validating the Air Force's annual FOIA report submission as required by 5 U.S.C.

The Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act provide balance between the right of the public to obtain information from military service records, and the right of the veteran to protect their privacy.

If you are a member of the general public, limited amounts of information can be released to you from an individual's record. If you are the next of kin of a deceased veteran, you may, under certain circumstances, be entitled to greater access to the deceased veteran's record than may a member of the public. Specify your relationship to the veteran. You must sufficiently identify the person whose record is requested so that the record can be located with a reasonable amount of effort.

You can send a Privacy Act request to:

Department of the Air Force
Freedom of Information and Privacy Act Office
1000 Air Force Pentagon
Washington, DC 20330-1000

Requests can also be faxed to (703) 696-7273. Privacy Act requests submitted by fax should be marked to the attention of the FOIA/Privacy Act Office.

Since Privacy Act requests must be signed, we cannot accept e-mail requests.

Please include your full name, date and place of birth, and as much detail as possible to identify the information requested or amended.