Pia

Privacy Impact Assessment Update
for the

Advance Passenger Information System
(APIS)
DHS/CBP/PIA-001(g)
June 5, 2015
Contact Point
Robert Neumann
Office of Field Operations
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
(202) 344-2605
Reviewing Official
Karen L. Neuman
Chief Privacy Officer
Department of Homeland Security
(202) 343-1717

Privacy Impact Assessment Update
DHS/CBP/PIA-001(g) APIS
Page 1

Abstract
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Customs and Border Protection
(CBP) is updating the Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) for the Advance Passenger Information
System (APIS) in order to provide notice of an Intelligence Community (IC) pilot leveraging
APIS data shared under the terms of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between DHS and
the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), and in further support of the Department’s
mission to protect the United States from potential terrorist activities.

Introduction
The Aviation and Transportation Security Act of 20011 and the Enhanced Border
Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 20022 together mandated the collection of certain
information on all passengers and crew members who arrive in or depart from (and, in the case
of crew members, overfly) the United States on a commercial air or sea carrier. The information
required to be collected and submitted to APIS can generally be found on routine entry
documents that passengers and crew members must provide when being processed into or out of
the United States. APIS information includes, but is not limited to, full name, date of birth,
citizenship, passport/alien registration card number, travel document type, passport number,
expiration date and country of issuance (if passport required), alien registration number, country
of residence, passenger name record locator number, and U.S. destination address (when
applicable). APIS information is collected in advance of a passenger’s departure from or arrival
to (and in many cases, prior to departure for) the United States. APIS information is also
collected for each individual aboard a private aircraft arriving in or departing from the United
States.
The purpose of this collection is to identify high-risk passengers and crew members who
may pose a risk or threat to vessel or aircraft safety or to national security, while simultaneously
facilitating the travel of legitimate passengers and crew members. This information collection
also assists in expediting processing of travelers at ports of entry, resulting in a significant time
savings. This IC pilot is consistent with the original purpose for the collection of APIS data.
Pursuant to the National Security Act of 1947, as amended,3 NCTC “serve[s] as the
central and shared knowledge bank on known and suspected terrorists and international terror
groups, as well as their goals, strategies, capabilities, and networks of contacts and support.” In
1

Pub. L. No. 107-71.
Pub. L. No. 107-173.
3
50 U.S.C. § 404o.
2

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order to enhance information sharing, the President issued Executive Order 13388, Further
Strengthening the Sharing of Terrorism Information to Protect Americans,4 which provides that
the Head of each agency that possesses or acquires terrorism information shall promptly give
access to that information to the Head of each other agency that has counterterrorism functions.
The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act (IRTPA) of 2004 5, as amended, places an
obligation on U.S. Government agencies to share terrorism information with the IC, including
NCTC. In certain instances, DHS shares the entire dataset with an IC member in order to support
the counterterrorism activities of the IC and to identify terrorism information within DHS data.
In 2011, DHS began sharing the entire APIS dataset with NCTC under a Memorandum
of Agreement (MOA). In 2013, DHS and NCTC entered into a new APIS MOA that supersedes
the 2011 MOA and documents an increase in the temporary retention period NCTC was granted
under its then newly expanded authority to hold and analyze U.S. Person information.6 The APIS
MOA permits NCTC to use APIS information to facilitate NCTC’s counterterrorism efforts and
aligns with DHS’s mission to prevent and deter terrorist attacks. The APIS MOA includes a
number of safeguards, detailed below in the Privacy Impact Analysis section under “External
Sharing and Disclosure,” to ensure the data is only used for the purposes explicitly permitted
under the APIS MOA, APIS PIA NCTC Update,7 and the DHS/CBP-005 Advance Passenger
Information System System of Records Notice (SORN).8
The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) in the Office of the
Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) collaborates across the IC to research and develop
programs in four research areas: 1) “Anticipating Surprise” develops technologies that provide
decision makers with timely and accurate forecasts for a range of events; 2) “Incisive Analysis”
seeks to maximize insight from collected information in a timely fashion; 3) “Safe & Secure
Operations” endeavors to counter new capabilities implemented by our adversaries that could
threaten our ability to operate freely and effectively in a networked world; and 4) “Smart
Collection” strives to dramatically improve the value of collected data from all sources. As part
of its research, IARPA developed the Security and Privacy Assurance Research (SPAR)
4

Exec. Order No. 13888 Further Strengthening the Sharing of Terrorism Information To Protect Americans
(October 25, 2005), available at http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/WCPD-2005-10-31/pdf/WCPD-2005-10-31Pg1592.pdf.
5
Pub. L. No. 108-458.
6
GUIDELINES FOR NCTC ACCESS, RETENTION, USE, AND DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION IN DATASETS CONTAINING
NON-TERRORISM INFORMATION (March 2012), available at
http://www.dni.gov/files/documents/CLPO/NCTC%20AG%20Guidelines.pdf.
7
DHS/CBP/PIA-001(f) APIS NCTC Update (June 5, 2013), available at http://www.dhs.gov/privacy-documentsus-customs-and-border-protection.
8
DHS/CBP-005 Advance Passenger Information System System of Records Notice (SORN), 80 FR 13407 (March
13, 2015), available at https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2015/03/13/2015-05798/privacy-act-of-1974department-of-homeland-securityunited-states-customs-and-border-protection.

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program, which allows an information sharing exchange that minimizes the risk of disclosure of
private information while also facilitating lawful access to threat information needed to protect
the nation.
During the pilot, the Parties will test SPAR’s ability to both encrypt DHS’s APIS data in
a DHS-controlled enclave, and encrypt NCTC’s queries against the data, while producing
analytically useful encrypted results. This should enhance privacy by preventing one participant
from seeing the information furnished by the other, whether as raw data, query terms, or query
results, before they are associated together as a match to a valid counterterrorism query. During
the pilot, query results will be validated by DHS, NCTC, and IARPA. If successful, this pilot
may be an important step in reducing the need for DHS or others to engage in multiple bilateral
bulk sharing arrangements.
DHS and NCTC will leverage a subset of data already shared under the APIS MOA in a
pilot arrangement to test SPAR’s ability to maintain or enhance security and privacy protections
in information sharing efforts. Under the pilot, and as outlined in a Letter of Intent (LOI)
between DHS, NCTC, and IARPA, DHS will make this subset of APIS data available to IARPA
for the sole purpose of testing the SPAR technology. This PIA does not alter the protections
covered in APIS NCTC Update PIA.9

Reason for the PIA Update
CBP is updating the existing APIS10 PIA to account for the short-term, limited sharing of
APIS data with IARPA and routine sharing enhancements: specifically, the appropriate hosting
and controlled use of APIS data in a DHS-controlled classified environment via encryption and
policy-based access rules. These enhancements will not alter the information sharing principles
expressed in the APIS MOA or APIS NCTC PIA Update.11 DHS has entered into a LOI with
NCTC and IARPA in order to ensure that APIS data can be appropriately hosted and controlled
in the classified cloud environment. DHS, NCTC, and IARPA have placed specific safeguards in
the LOI to ensure that the data is used appropriately and in accordance with the existing SORN,
DHS/CBP-005 Advance Passenger Information System System of Records.12

9

DHS/CBP/PIA-001(f) (June 23, 2011).
The existing DHS/CBP/PIA-001 APIS was first published on March 21, 2005, and updated subsequently on
August 9, 2007, September 11, 2007, November 18, 2008, February 19, 2009, and June 23, 2011.
11
DHS/CBP/PIA-001(f) (June 23, 2011).
12
DHS/CBP-005 Advance Passenger Information System System of Records Notice (SORN), 80 FR 13407 (March
13, 2015), available at https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2015/03/13/2015-05798/privacy-act-of-1974department-of-homeland-securityunited-states-customs-and-border-protection.
10

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DHS/CBP/PIA-001(g) APIS
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Privacy Impact Analysis
The System and the Information Collected and Stored within the System
There is no change in the collection of APIS records.
Uses of the System and the Information
There are no changes to the uses of the information.
Retention
The DHS retention period for APIS has not changed. The information initially collected
by APIS is used for traveler processing purposes and is retained in APIS for no more than twelve
months.
Pursuant to the LOI, IARPA will retain APIS records for up to one year in order to test
SPAR in support of the mission of DHS. The one year temporary retention period commences
when DHS delivers the APIS information to IARPA. DHS will mark records with a “time-tolive” date, which will specify when the APIS information will be deleted from IARPA servers.
NCTC will purge all APIS records queried from IARPA servers not determined to constitute
terrorism information no later than the time-to-live date. This process will be audited as required
under the LOI.
Internal Sharing and Disclosure
There are no changes for internal sharing and disclosure.
External Sharing and Disclosure
DHS entered into an LOI with NCTC and IARPA in order to test appropriate hosting and
controlled use of APIS data in a DHS-controlled classified environment that would facilitate use
as described in the APIS MOA. DHS entered into the APIS MOA with NCTC in order to
facilitate NCTC’s counterterrorism efforts and to identify terrorism information within APIS.
This sharing is conducted pursuant to routine use H of the APIS SORN,13 which states that DHS
may share APIS information with “a federal, state, or local agency, or other appropriate entity or
individual, or through established liaison channels to selected foreign governments, in order to
provide intelligence, counterintelligence, or other information for the purposes of intelligence,
counterintelligence, or antiterrorism activities authorized by U.S. law, Executive Order, or other
applicable national security directive,” and routine use P of the APIS SORN, which states that
DHS may share APIS information with “appropriate federal, state, local, tribal, or foreign
13

DHS/CBP-005 Advance Passenger Information System System of Records Notice (SORN), 80 FR 13407 (March
13, 2015), available at https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2015/03/13/2015-05798/privacy-act-of-1974department-of-homeland-securityunited-states-customs-and-border-protection.

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governmental agencies or multilateral governmental organizations when CBP is aware of a need
to utilize relevant data for purposes of testing new technology and systems designed to enhance
border security or identify other violations of law.”
IARPA participants will not disclose APIS information nor remove it from a DHScontrolled environment. NCTC analysts may run queries against APIS information held in the
IARPA servers hosted in a DHS-controlled Virtual Private Cloud (VPC). When APIS
information is determined to constitute terrorism information, NCTC will include DHS on the
distribution of the lead or finished intelligence product, so that DHS may use this information to
support its mission to prevent and deter terrorist attacks. NCTC will review, retain, and
disseminate APIS records it has determined to constitute terrorism information in accordance
with procedures approved for NCTC by the Attorney General in accordance with Section 2.3 of
Executive Order 12333,14 and additional terms specified in the APIS MOA.
The LOI is subject to the strict safeguards in the APIS MOA to protect PII provided to
NCTC. These protections include training to be provided to NCTC users on the appropriate use
of PII. DHS/CBP will provide annual and periodic training to appropriate NCTC personnel on
the proper interpretation of the information contained in APIS and on the proper treatment of
information from certain categories that require special handling, such as asylum and refugee
information. The APIS MOA stipulates that NCTC may not disseminate to third parties
information derived from APIS information, unless that information is identified as terrorism
information.15 NCTC will maintain an electronic copy and accounting of the APIS information
that is disseminated, including to whom the information is disseminated and the purpose for the
dissemination. Additionally, the APIS MOA allows DHS to assign an on-site oversight
representative to NCTC to provide intelligence, data stewardship, privacy, civil rights, and civil
liberties oversight of the handling of DHS information by NCTC.
Notice
The APIS SORN was last published in the Federal Register on March 13, 201516 and
remains accurate and current. Routine Uses H and P cover this sharing.

14

Exec. Order No. 12333 United States Intelligence Activities, 46 Fed. Reg. 59941 (Dec. 4, 1981), available at
http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/codification/executive-order/12333.html.
15
APIS may contain some information controlled by regulations related to asylum information. The MOA
establishes procedures for NCTC’s dissemination of asylum information in APIS that has been identified as
terrorism information.
16
DHS/CBP-005 Advance Passenger Information System System of Records Notice (SORN), 80 FR 13407 (March
13, 2015), available at https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2015/03/13/2015-05798/privacy-act-of-1974department-of-homeland-securityunited-states-customs-and-border-protection.

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Individual Access, Redress, and Correction
There are no changes to APIS access, redress, and correction procedures.
Technical Access and Security
There are no changes to technical access and security procedures for APIS.
Technology
There are no changes to APIS technology.

Responsible Officials
Robert Neumann
Office of Field Operations
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
John Connors
CBP Privacy Officer
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Approval Signature
Original signed copy on file with DHS Privacy Office
________________________________
Karen L. Neuman
Chief Privacy Officer
U.S. Department of Homeland Security