Service Member Privacy vs. Public Access to Information

4 minute read Sept. 3, 2024

The information contained on this website is designed to educate and inform service members and their families on their personal legal affairs. Nothing contained in the website is a substitute for the competent legal advice of a licensed attorney. Service members and their families seeking legal advice should consult the staff of the nearest installation Legal Assistance Office.

As a service member, you have the right to keep your personally identifiable information private. Meanwhile, the public has the right to access federal agency records. There are laws on both sides of this legal tug of war:

The Privacy Act of 1974 provides protections for the release of records from federal agencies that contain personally identifiable information. It blocks the release of these records without your written consent, unless one of 12 exceptions applies.
The Freedom of Information Act allows the public to request access to various federal records. Federal agencies must make records available to the public on request, unless they fall within one of nine exemptions.

Know your privacy rights

The Privacy Act is a U.S. federal law that:

Protects records that can be retrieved from a system of records by personal identifiers (such as a name, Social Security number or other identifying number or symbol)
Defines a system of records as any grouping of information about an individual under the control of a federal agency from which information is retrievable by personal identifiers
Grants you access to your service record
Provides you with the option to request the correction of your records

Know the public’s rights

Enacted in 1966, FOIA generally provides that any person has a right to obtain access to federal agency records. The intent is to make these agencies accountable to the public for their actions. It requires them to:

Publish statements of their organizations’ functions, rules, procedures, general policy, any changes that are made and how to obtain information
Index and make available statements of policy, manuals and instructions, final opinions and orders in cases, as well as indexes, for public inspection and copying
Release the public information requested under FOIA unless it falls under one of the nine exemptions (including personal privacy, national security and law enforcement)

Learn about FOIA requests

What information is released to the public from federal records depends on whether a person requests information that FOIA allows to be released or if you or your next of kin authorize its release.

Without your authorization (or your next of kin’s after your death), the government can only release limited information from your official military personnel files. Information it can release includes:

Name and photograph
Dates and branch of service
Duty status and rank
Duty assignments
Military education, awards and decorations
Transcripts of courts-martial trials
Home of record (identification of state only)

With your authorization (or your next of kin’s after your death), a federal agency can release any information not available to the public under FOIA. The authorization must:

Be in writing
Specify what additional information or copies the services or National Personnel Records Center may release
Include your signature or the signature of your next of kin

See the DOD’s Disclosure of Personal Information to Other Agencies and Third Parties for more information.