Authorities & Guidance
on Relevant Rules, Policy Standards, and Implementation

Federal rules and statutes can be complex and can involve many different parts of an organization.  Executive Orders are used to shape the processes of the government, often requiring new standards and protocols at many different levels of government.  This section provides relevant background information, direct links to the text of Federal Statutes, Regulations, and Executive Orders, and guidance on implementation and best practices for an individual organization.

• Federal Statutes – The Privacy Act, the USA PATRIOT Act, and the “Wiretap” Act created just a few of the statutes that help govern information sharing and privacy and civil liberties issues.
   
• Federal Regulations – Federal regulations covering topics that range from Criminal Justice Information Systems to Privacy in Health Information are linked to and described here.
   
• Executive Orders – The power of the executive branch to manage operations of the Federal Government has changed the operation and handling of information systems, privacy protections, and governance in the Information Sharing Environment (ISE), studied in detail here.
   
• Policy Guidance and Standards – Guidelines in all methods of policy in information sharing have been developed over the years.  This section helps explain some key guidelines in privacy and civil liberties protections and other areas.
   
• Guidance Implementing Federal Statutes – Some Federal Statutes can be detailed and extremely complex.  In this section, you will find resources to help your organization interpret statutes such as the Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act of 1988, Freedom of Information Act, and others.

Source: Page created by the DHS/Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and the DHS/Privacy Office in cooperation with the DOJ, Office of Justice Programs.