The government-wide system covered only current and former employees — a new records system for outsiders involved in training
The Justice Department gave notice of a new system of records for training. The existing government-wide system covers only current and former federal employees, leaving contractors, interns, outside lecturers, officers from partner agencies, members of the public and the press outside it.
Document overview (primary data)
- Document typeNotice
- AgencyDepartment of Justice
- Citation91 FR 56476
Key points
- The government-wide personnel records system reaches only current and former federal employees, leaving training participants from outside uncovered.
- The new system covers department personnel, contractors, volunteers, interns and grantees, plus guest lecturers, partner agency officers, the public and the press.
- Records may include enrollment and participation, schedules, programs, names, contact information and feedback about training.
- Much of the information is stated to be supplied by the individuals to whom it pertains.
- Of the 7,023 records this site holds as of 2026-09-04, 93 (1.3%) concern systems of records, yet 27 distinct agencies appear at their head.
1Some people fell outside
When a federal agency holds records about individuals in a form that can be searched, it has to give notice of that system in the Federal Register. Records of the same kind are sometimes gathered into a system shared across the whole government, and personnel records are one such case. What that shared system reaches, though, is current and former federal employees and nobody else.
Training draws in many others: contractors, volunteers, interns, grantees, and beyond them the lecturer invited from outside, the officer from a partner agency, a member of the public, a reporter. Records about those people sat outside the shared system.
2Whose records are included
The new system covers the fact of having taken part in training and what surrounds it: a name and contact details, what was attended and when, what was said about it afterwards. Individually these look light. A record of who attended which training is also a statement about that person's duties and interests. Which is why it is published as a system and made visible from outside.
3Twenty-seven departments follow the same procedure
Records on this subject make up 1.3% of the Federal Register held here. The departments appearing at their head number twenty-seven. Agencies whose fields have nothing in common file the same kind of notice under the same statute. As the round on departments showed, what each department publishes differs sharply; this procedure is the part they share.
4Much of it comes from the person
What stands out in this notice is the statement that much of the information is supplied by the individuals to whom it pertains. Signing up for training, attending it, writing feedback: those acts become the record. Under what system what you supplied is held, for what purpose, and to whom it may be disclosed — a notice in this form is how that can be found. These articles walk through the record systems of eight departments in turn.
Why it matters
A shared framework always leaves a gap beyond the population it was written for. Here, contractors, outside lecturers, members of the public and the press sat beyond a system built for current and former employees. Creating a system to close that gap and publishing it shows how stating the scope of coverage is itself the substance of accountability.
FAQ
Why is a new system needed?
What information is recorded?
Why is such a notice published?
Sources (primary)
Source: Federal Register (federal documents, public domain). Links go to the official site.