The Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) of the Department of Homeland Security has issued a report concluding that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (“FEMA”) continues to experience challenges in protecting personally identifiable information (“PII”) at disaster recovery centers – an issue, the OIG said, that requires FEMA's “immediate attention.”
The OIG said that, during its audit of FEMA's initial response to the 2015 wildfires in Northern California, it observed personnel mishandling PII at disaster relief sites. The OIG said that FEMA officials “need to take quick action to ensure the protection of PII in future disasters.”
The OIG observed that that FEMA personnel at disaster recovery centers did not properly safeguard PII, as federal guidelines require, adding that the mishandling of PII “increases the risk of identity theft and can result in substantial harm, embarrassment, inconvenience, or unfairness to individuals.”
The OIG said that it also determined that some FEMA officials are “not fully aware” of federal privacy standards. Moreover, according to the OIG, “FEMA management and trainers lack an effective method to track employee compliance with privacy training or to promote privacy awareness at disaster relief sites.”
In May 2013, the OIG reported similar deficiencies. As a result, FEMA officials stated that they would implement corrective actions, including conducting privacy compliance inspections at all disaster relief sites. However, according to the OIG, FEMA officials at disaster recovery centers for the 2015 California wildfire disaster were not aware of any privacy compliance inspections conducted at this disaster.
The OIG said that although FEMA has made “significant progress in developing a culture of privacy protection, it clearly needs to do more to safeguard private information at these sites.”
Learn more: OIG Report.
Steven A. Meyerowitz
Steven A. Meyerowitz, a Harvard Law School graduate, is the founder and president of Meyerowitz Communications Inc., a law firm marketing communications consulting company. He may be contacted at [email protected].