5 FAH-3 H-200
PERSONAL NAMES
5 FAH-3 H-210
NOTE ON THE PRIVACY ACT OF 1974
(CT:TAGS-49; 06-20-2012)
(Office of Origin: A/GIS/IPS)
(Updated only to revise Office of Origin)
The Privacy Act of 1974 restricts the manner in which
Federal agencies collect, maintain, use, and disseminate personal information
and mandates access to the personal information by the individual in most
instances. Outlined below are three provisions of the Privacy Act which
address the manner in which agencies may collect and use personal information,
and guidance on use of names on the TAGS or Subject lines of airgrams,
telegrams and memoranda.
1. Relevant and Necessary.
Subsection (e)(1) of the Act requires agencies to collect and maintain only
that information about individuals that is both relevant and necessary to
accomplish an agency function in order to reduce the intentional or inadvertent
misuse of personal data. In simplest terms, information not collected cannot be
misused.
2. Accurate, Relevant, Timely,
Complete. The Act recognizes, however, that agencies need to collect
information about individuals in order to carry out their responsibilities.
Such information has to be accurate, relevant and as timely and complete as is
reasonably necessary to assure fairness to the individual. The objective of
this provision is to minimize, if not eliminate, the risk that an agency will
make an adverse determination about an individual on the basis of inaccurate,
incomplete, irrelevant, or out-of-date records.
3. First Amendment Rights.
Under subsection (e)(7) of the Act, Congress established special restrictions
on the reporting of First Amendment rights. All Federal agencies should:
maintain no record describing how any individual exercises
rights guaranteed by the First Amendment unless expressly authorized by statute
or by the individual about whom the record is maintained or unless pertinent to
and within the scope of an authorized law enforcement activity...
Although there is no universal agreement on how an
individual exercises First Amendment rights, most agencies have applied the
interpretation broadly, as directed by the OMB Guidelines for Privacy Act
interpretation. However, the question which so often arises from the
Department is how to interpret this directive when reporting on the activities
of U.S. citizens residing abroad.
As a general rule, names of individuals who exercise First
Amendment rights should be reported only when they would be of significant
interest to the Departments conduct of foreign affairs. When an individual
residing abroad expresses personal opinions on U.S. policies, such activity on
their part ordinarily does not warrant the reporting of their name and views.
Also, officers should try to avoid drafting cables that characterize First
Amendment activities of U.S. citizens abroad.
Some instances will arise where the reporting will be
essential to the Departments mandate. Actions, as opposed to beliefs, of
individuals and organized groups may be reported where there is a question of
possible violation of law. Similarly, any involvement of a third country to
influence a U.S. citizen should also be reported.
The Privacy Act Guidelines and 80 State 76597 offer more
detailed explanations of the reporting restrictions of the Privacy Act. Should
questions arise about the Privacy Act, officers should refer to these sources
or should contact the Departments Information and Privacy Coordinator, (202)
261-8300, Room 5073 SA-2.
Use of Personal Names on TAGS and Subject
Lines
Whenever an individuals name is entered on either the
TAGS or subject line of a telegram or memorandum, that document automatically
becomes name retrievable and therefore probably becomes subject to the access
provisions of the Privacy Act. Personal names should not be included on the
TAGS line or subject line unless the text of the document concerns itself with
personal information about the individual which will be used by the Department
in making a decision about the individual or when the personal information is
relevant and necessary to accomplish an agency function.
PERSONAL NAMES
(TL:TAGS-13; 10-30-1996)
Personal names are put on the TAGS line so they can be
used to retrieve documents from the Central Foreign Affairs file. The accuracy
with which drafters put the names on the TAGS line will determine their
retrieval value.
Each name placed on the TAGS line should be written in
capital letters and must be enclosed in parentheses. The last name must appear
first, followed by a comma, then by the first name and middle initial. The
computer is programmed to automatically select the first entry within the
parentheses as the filing key. For example, the format (JEFFERSON, THOMAS)
would allow the computer to properly index the name. If it were formatted as
(THOMAS JEFFERSON) it would be filed under THOMAS rather than JEFFERSON. The
key to filing defines the search and its results. In the case of a well-known
person, a researcher might conceivably search both given and surnames but might
very well not be able to search both parts of less well-known names, with the
result that the search would be incomplete. The retrieval of incorrectly
formatted messages concerning these individuals would be virtually impossible.
Also, the computer cannot correct errors in spelling. If misspelled names are
put on the TAGS line the computer will create separate entries for those
mistakes as well as entries for the correct spelling format. Therefore,
separate indexes will be created for (JEFERSON, THOMAS) distinguishing these
from the correct version, (JEFFERSON, THOMAS). Whenever the name of an
individual is entered on either the TAGS or Subject line of a document, that
document automatically becomes name retrievable from the Departments central
files and, if an American citizens name is used the provision of the Privacy
Act apply to it. For more information concerning the Privacy Act, see the
previous page.
Transliteration of names (except Chinese and Korean, see
below) from non-Latin alphabets, or by transcription from other writing
systems, should follow the standards given in the Romanization Guide, published
by the US Board of Geographic Names (BGN) in 1972, as amended. Copies of the
Guide can be obtained from the Office of the Geographer in the Bureau of
Intelligence and Research (INR/GE). The BGN system should be used. Drafters
should contact the appropriate country desk in the Department for problems that
cannot be resolved by using the BGN Guide. Specifically, rules for transliterating
Chinese names were changed in 1979, and are available from the country desk.
From past policy, the acronym M-R will appear prior to the M-R spelling. For
example: LEW BYONG HION (M-R: YU PYONG-HYON). In cases where the preferred
spelling is unknown, only the M-R spelling will be used.
Some foreign names (e.g., generally Burmese, Cambodian,
Chinese, Ethiopian, Korean, Lao, Malaysian, Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian, and
Samoan) should not follow the above noted format: Surname, given name, middle
initial, as described in paragraph 2 of this section. This will occur where a
family name does not exist separately and all parts of the name are considered
inseparable, or where only a single name exists. In these cases no
transposition of the names will be required, and a comma will not be used.
EXAMPLES OF FORMATTING PERSONAL NAMES ON TAGS LINES
Standard Name Form: As entered on the
TAGS line:
John Smith (SMITH, JOHN)
Robert J. Jones (JONES, ROBERT
J)
Patrick OConnor (OCONNOR,
PATRICK)
Amos Mac Donald (MAC DONALD, AMOS)
Thomas McCarthy III (MCCARTHY, THOMAS
III)
Paul Armstrong-Jones (ARMSTRONG-JONES,
PAUL)
John Smith (SMITH, JOHN)
Robert J. Jones (JONES, ROBERT J)
Patrick OConnor (OCONNOR, PATRICK)
Amos Mac Donald (MAC DONALD, AMOS)
Thomas McCarthy III (MCCARTHY, THOMAS III)
Paul Armstrong-Jones (ARMSTRONG-JONES, PAUL)
FOREIGN NAMES THAT DO NOT USE THE NORMAL
SEQUENCE
Standard Name Form: As entered on the
TAGS line:
Maung Wing (MAUNG WING)
Sutami (SUTAMI)
Savang Vatthana (SAVANG VATTHANA)
MULTIPLE NAMES
Standard Name Form: As
entered on the TAGS line:
Thomas E. Jones, John C. Smith (JONES, THOMAS
E) (SMITH, JOHN C)
ROYALTY NAMES
Standard Name Form: As entered on the
TAGS line:
Prince Charles (PRINCE CHARLES)
DESIGNATIONS
Standard Name Form: As entered on the
TAGS line:
George A. Jones 2nd (JONES, GEORGE A
II)
John M. Smith III (SMITH, JOHN M
III)
William B. Anderson, Jr. (ANDERSON, WILLIAM
B JR)
RELIGIOUS TITLES
Standard Name Form: As entered on the
TAGS line:
Mother Theresa (MOTHER THERESA)
Pope John Paul II (POPE JOHN PAUL
II)
COMPOUND SURNAMES
Standard Name Form: As entered on the
TAGS line:
Theodore Watts-Sutton (WATTS-SUTTON,
THEODORE)
John C. Van Dorn (VAN DORN, JOHN C)
SPANISH NAMES
Standard Name Form: As entered on the
TAGS line:
Jose Perez y Gonzales (PEREZ Y GONZALES,
JOSE)
Luis Gonzales Arago (GONZALES ARAGO,
LUIS)
Juan Rodriguez i Acosta (RODRIGUEZ I ACOSTA, JUAN)
PORTUGESE AND BRAZILIAN NAMES
Standard Name Form: As entered on the
TAGS line:
Marcio Pereira Crespo (CRESPO, MARCIO
PEREIRA)
Joaquim Moreira Do Silva (SILVA, JOAQUIM
MOREIRA DO)
ARABIC NAMES
Standard Name Form: As entered on the
TAGS line:
Ahmed Anwar (ANWAR, AHMED)
Ibrahim Ibn Hamdi Mursi (MURSI, IBRAHIM IBN
HAMDI)
Ali Ibn Shakal EI-Zayyat (EL-ZAYYAT, ALI IBN
SHAKAL)
Abdel Aziz Al-Sayad (AL-SAYAD, ABDEL
AZIZ)
Saad Ali Ibn Hakim (IBN HAKIM, SAAD
ALI)
Abdel Al-Razzaq Ba Dhib (BA DHIB, ABDEL
AL-RAZZAQ)
Ahmad Abd Al-Karim (ABD AL-KARIM, AHMAD)
Abd-Al Saud Abdul Aziz (ABDUL AZIZ, ABD-AL
SAUD)