Privacy Act of 1974, as amended; System of Records

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Privacy Act of 1974, as amended; System of Records

AGENCY: Internal Revenue Service, Treasury.

[[Page 7092]]

ACTION: Notice of Proposed Amendment to a Privacy Act System of

Records.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: In accordance with the requirements of the Privacy Act of

1974, 5 U.S.C. 552a, the Treasury Department, Internal Revenue Service

(Service), gives notice of a proposed amendment to the system of

records entitled ``Assault and Threat Investigation Files--Treasury/IRS

60.001.'' This system notice was last published in its entirety in the

Federal Register, Vol. 60, No. 217, page 56834, November 9, 1995.

DATES: Comments must be received no later than March 17, 1997. The

alteration to the system of records will be effective March 26, 1997,

unless comments are received which result in a contrary determination.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Brian C. Dwyer, Office of the

Chief Inspector, 1401 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 800, Arlington, VA 22209,

Telephone: (703) 235-0625. This is not a toll--free number.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The Potentially Dangerous Taxpayer (PDT) program was established in

1984 as a tool to identify individuals and groups espousing violence

against the Service employees engaged in the performance of their

official duties. The purpose of this amendment is to clarify certain

existing criteria and add additional criteria by which taxpayers are

designated as potentially dangerous.

This system of records includes individuals who attempt to

interfere with the administration of internal revenue laws through

assaults, threats, or forcible interference of any officer or employee

while discharging the official duties of his/her position. Among such

individuals are those designated as potentially dangerous, based on

verifiable evidence or information which falls within any of the

revised five criteria.

The Service is authorized to investigate attempts to interfere with

the administration of internal revenue laws through assaults, threats,

or forcible interference. The Service is permitted to collect and

maintain information that concerns individuals involved in efforts to

disrupt tax administration, by various means, including actual as well

as potential assaults and threats directed against Service employees.

The addition of new criteria by which taxpayers are designated as

potentially dangerous can be expected to increase the number of

individuals who are covered by this system of records. The new criteria

will permit designation as potentially dangerous for those individuals

who attempt to interfere with the administration of the internal

revenue laws by threatening, assaulting, or intimidating members of

Service employees' immediate families, and those individuals who are

active members of groups that advocate violence against Federal

employees where advocating such violence could reasonably be understood

to threaten the safety of Service employees and impede the performance

of their official duties. The system of record notice is also revised

to add a reference to the Manager's Security Handbook, IRM 1(16)12,

with respect to the safeguard requirements for paper storage of

records.

Because the changes can be expected to increase the number of

individuals covered by the PDT program and therefore the number of

individuals included within this system, a report has been submitted to

Congress and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), pursuant to OMB

Circular A-130.

The system of records identified as Assault and Threat

Investigation Files--Treasury/IRS 60.001, as set forth in the Federal

Register, 60 FR 56834 dated November 9, 1995, is amended as follows:

Treasury/IRS--60.001

System Name:

Assault and Threat Investigation Files--Treasury/IRS.

* * * * *

Categories of Individuals Covered by the System:

Individuals attempting to interfere with the administration of

internal revenue laws through assaults, threats, or forcible

interference of any officer or employee while discharging the official

duties of his/her position, including individuals designated as

potentially dangerous taxpayers (PDTs), based on verifiable evidence or

information that fit any of the following five criteria: (1)

Individuals who assault employees or members of their immediate

families; (2) Individuals who attempt to intimidate or threaten

employees or members of their immediate families through specific

threats of bodily harm, a show of weapons, the use of animals, or

through other specific threatening or intimidating behavior; (3)

Individuals who are active members of groups that advocate violence

against Internal Revenue Service employees specifically, or against

Federal employees generally where advocating such violence could

reasonably be understood to threaten the safety of Service employees

and impede the performance of their official duties; (4) Individuals

who have committed the acts set forth in any of the above criteria, but

whose acts have been directed against employees of other governmental

agencies at Federal, state, county, or local levels; and (5)

Individuals who are not designated as potentially dangerous taxpayers

through application of the above criteria, but who have demonstrated a

clear propensity toward violence through act (s) of violent behavior

within the five--year period immediately preceding the time of

designation as potentially dangerous.

* * * * *

Safeguards:

Access controls will not be less than those provided by the

Manager's Security Handbook, IRM 1(16)12. The records are accessible to

Inspection personnel on a need--to--know basis, all of whom have been

the subject of a background investigation. Disclosure of information

through remote terminals is restricted through the use of passwords and

sign--on protocols which are periodically changed; these terminals are

accessible only to authorized persons.

* * * * *

Dated: February 3, 1997.

Alex Rodriguez,

Deputy Assistant Secretary (Administration).

[FR Doc. 97-3689 Filed 2-13-97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE: 4810-30-F