Are your records safe? Published Jan. 13, 2010 By Tim Herndon U.S. Air Force SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. -- The Privacy Act of 1974 requires that records be maintained with appropriate administrative, technical and physical safeguards in order to ensure the security and confidentiality of records and to protect against any threats or hazards to their security or integrity, which could result in substantial harm if compromised. Upon completion of retention period and prior to staging an Airman must ensure that no classified items are being stored incorrectly or sent back to the staging facility. Records maintained in manual form subject to the Privacy Act shall be maintained in a manner commensurate with the sensitivity of the information contained in the system of records. The following minimum safeguards affording comparable protection are applicable to Privacy Act systems of records containing sensitive information. Areas in which the records are maintained or regularly used shall be posted with an appropriate warning stating that access to the records is limited to authorized persons. The warning shall also state that the Privacy Act contains provisions for criminal penalty for the unauthorized disclosures of records to which it applies. During working hours, the area in which the records are maintained or regularly used shall be occupied by authorized personnel, or access to the records shall be restricted by their storage in locked metal file cabinets or a locked room and by the establishment of built-in access controls for automated records. During non-working hours, access to the records shall be restricted by storage in locked metal file cabinets or a locked room.