Privacy Service

Contact Information for Senior Agency Official for Privacy (SAOP) and VA Privacy Service:

Who We Are

VA Privacy Service is responsible for overseeing, directing and establishing the long and short-term goals for VA’s Enterprise Privacy Program. As the impact of privacy issues increase, Privacy Service identifies privacy needs and implements strategies to meet those needs. We advise senior officials concerning data management and the feasibility of the Department’s privacy priorities and implementation plans. We work to ensure compliance with Federal and VA-specific privacy requirements. Also, we ensure the attainment of Department-wide privacy objectives in the overall VA planning, programming, and budgeting process.

What We Do

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Privacy Service oversees and directs VA’s privacy program activities including but not limited to conformance to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, Communication Security (COMSEC) regulations, non-disclosure statutes, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance on computer cookies, OMB Circular A-130, Government Paperwork Elimination Act, user authentication, insider threat, and identity theft.

Initiatives

• Appendix J
• Privacy Impact Assessments
• SSN Reduction

Privacy Principles

The Principle of Openness

When VA collects personal data from an individual, VA will inform him or her of the intended uses of the data, the disclosures that will be made, the authorities for the data’s collection, and whether the collection is mandatory or voluntary. VA will collect no data subject to the Privacy Act unless a Privacy Act system notice has been published in the Federal Register and posted on the VA Systems of Records website

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