Ames v. United States Department of Homeland Security
861 F.3d 238
| D.C. Cir. | 2017Background
- Harriett Ames was Chief of the Personnel Security Branch at FEMA (DHS), responsible for adjudicating security clearances.
- A DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) internal investigation concluded Ames granted two improper clearances and made false statements; an OIG report documented those findings.
- Ames left DHS before the OIG report was finalized and took a job in the Personnel Security Division at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (DOD).
- The DHS OIG investigator (K.C. Yi) sent the OIG report to DOD; after reviewing it, DOD terminated Ames.
- Ames sued DHS and DOD under the Privacy Act, alleging DHS unlawfully disclosed her record to another agency without consent.
- The district court rejected Ames’s claim; the D.C. Circuit affirmed, holding the disclosure was permissible under the Privacy Act’s routine-use exception.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whether DHS’s disclosure of the OIG report to DOD violated the Privacy Act | Ames: disclosure of her record to another agency required her consent and was unlawful | DHS: disclosure fits the Privacy Act’s routine-use exception because it was compatible with the original collection purpose and within published routine-use notices | Disclosure was a permissible routine use under the Privacy Act; judgment affirmed |
| Whether DHS’s purpose in disclosing was compatible with purpose for which report was collected | Ames: DHS collected the report for internal purposes; disclosure to another agency is incompatible | DHS: collected to assess suitability for federal employment; disclosing to DOD so it could assess Ames’s suitability there is compatible | Court: purposes were compatible under any reasonable formulation of the compatibility test |
| Whether a DHS routine-use notice authorized disclosure to DOD | Ames: DHS did not have a routine-use basis that covered this disclosure | DHS: disclosure falls within Routine Use G and Routine Use H in DHS’s published system of records | Court: disclosure satisfied requirements of Routine Use G and Routine Use H, so routine-use exception applies |
| Whether agency-to-agency investigative sharing required further limitation | Ames: sharing investigatory findings across agencies exceeded scope of OIG’s role | DHS: OIGs routinely coordinate with other agencies to address potential violations and security risks | Court: OIG disclosure to DOD OIG was proper and consistent with investigator’s duties |
Key Cases Cited
- Postal Service v. Nat’l Ass’n of Letter Carriers, 9 F.3d 138 (D.C. Cir. 1993) (discusses meaning of “compatible” in routine-use context)
- Britt v. Naval Investigative Service, 886 F.2d 544 (3d Cir. 1989) (compatibility requires meaningful convergence between collection and disclosure purposes)
- Swenson v. Postal Service, 890 F.2d 1075 (9th Cir. 1989) (compatibility requires nexus between collection and disclosure purposes)