Privacy Act
The purpose of the Privacy Act of 1974, 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 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.
If you are a current employee and wish to obtain records pertaining to yourself, you may submit a request under the Privacy Act. Follow the same filing procedures as for FOIA requests, except that no fees are assessed for search/retrival and review. Only reproduction costs may be assessed under the Privacy Act.
If you are a former Defense Commissary Agency employee seeking records pertaining to you, please visit the National Personnel Records Center website for instructions on how to obtain this information.
Civil Liberties
Civil Liberties are:
Fundamental rights and freedoms protected by the Constitution of the United States.
DeCA will:
Protect the civil liberties of its personnel and the public to the greatest extent possible, consistent with its operational requirements.
Appropriately consider civil liberties in the review, development, and implementation of new or existing laws, regulations, policies, and initiatives related to homeland defense, intelligence collection, and law enforcement activities.
Maintain no information on how an individual exercises rights protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, including the freedoms of speech, assembly, press and religion, except as follows:
- When specifically authorized by statute
- When expressly authorized by the individual, group of individuals, or association on whom the record is maintained
- When the record is pertinent to and within the scope of an authorized law enforcement activity.
How to File a Complaint:
To report a civil liberties violation to the DeCA Civil Liberties Officer (CLO), please mail (no e-mail, faxes, or phone complaints) your complaint letter to:
- Civil Liberties Officer
- Office of General Counsel
- Defense Commissary Agency
- 1300 E Avenue
- Fort Lee, VA 23801-1800
Your letter will help the DeCA CLO determine if your complaint raises a civil liberties concern. Your letter will also help the CLO decide whether your complaint should be referred to a DeCA organization or another DoD component for investigation. If your letter does not include all of the information below, the CLO may be unable to process your complaint. The following information must be included in your letter:
- Name
- Address (indicate if home or work address
- Phone number(s) (indicate if home, work or cell and if CLO may leave a message)
- Email address
- Preferred method of contact
- Preferred time of contact (must be between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., Eastern Time, Monday through Friday)
- Information about your complaint:
- Date and location of the alleged violation. Please state if ongoing
- Information about the person, program, policy, or procedure you are complaining about
- Describe which civil liberty was violated
- Whether the violation was reported to any other authorities and what action, if any, was taken
- Any other relevant information you believe will help the CLO assist with your complaint.
- Your signature and date
What then:
The CLO will mail you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint letter. The CLO will review your letter to make a preliminary determination if your letter raises civil liberty concerns. After thoroughly reviewing your letter, the CLO will notify you by mail of any action taken with regard to your letter. Complaint letters that do not contain civil liberties concerns will be returned to you.
Accessibility
The Defense Commissary Agency makes every effort to ensure that commissaries.com is accessible to all patrons. Commissaries.com follows 508 Compliancy standards set forth by GSA. If you would like to learn more about 508 Compliance, click here.
DeCA cannot guarantee the accessibility of any site not owned by DeCA that is linked to from this website.