SECNAVINST 5211.5F - Department of the Navy Privacy Program

Scope

SECNAVINST 5211.5F implements the Privacy Act of 1974, 5 USC 552a, inside the Department of the Navy. The instruction sets policy on the collection, maintenance, use, and disclosure of personally identifiable information. The Marine Corps applies it across personnel administration, sponsorship coordination, command investigations, systems access, and records management, every clerk touching a record holds individual responsibility under it.

Audience

• Every S-1, IPAC, and admin clerk handling PII in MCTFS, OMPF, and correspondence.
• Unit privacy officers and security managers receiving breach reports.
• Sponsorship coordinators transmitting inbound Marines' information.
• Investigating officers handling Privacy Act material in command investigations.

Structure

Paragraph 1 Purpose, 2 Cancellation, 3 Definitions, 4 Applicability, 5 Policy, 6 Responsibilities, 7 Privacy Act, 8 Records Management, 9 Forms and Reports, with enclosures for references, definitions, and responsibilities.

Operative content

• A Privacy Act Statement is required at the point of collection when PII is gathered from an individual. Paragraph 7. Records containing PII released outside the section carry Privacy Act markings and safeguarding, two distinct requirements the portal's admin pages enforce together.
• Breach response. A suspected or confirmed breach briefs to the unit security manager within 24 hours, scope determination, confirmed, suspected, or near-miss, documents per the instruction.
• PII encrypts in transit. Unencrypted email of PII is itself a reportable exposure, and personal email addresses are not approved destinations.
• Access rides need-to-know. Role-based system access aligns with the duty at SAAR-N provisioning, annual Privacy Act training precedes access.
• Privacy Act files carry their own records management rules. Paragraph 8.

Connection to higher policy

• 5 USC 552a. The Privacy Act of 1974.
• Public Law 104-191. HIPAA, paired on health-information handling.

Connection to Marine Corps doctrine and lower policy

• MCO 5211.5. The separate Marine Corps Privacy Program order implementing the Act locally.
• MARADMIN 162/10. Total Force PII safeguarding requirements reinforcing the instruction.
• MCO 1320.11H paragraph 5.c and JAGINST 5800.7G section 0207.e. Sponsorship and investigation surfaces citing the framework.
• MCO P1070.12 IRAM. Privacy Act handling inside individual records administration.

Status

Active. Effective 2019-05-20, Distribution Statement A. Confirmed current on the DON issuances site 2026-07-15, no successor revision published. Portal E-revision cites now carry a current-revision pointer to the F, swept 2026-07-15. MCO 5211.5 is a different document sharing the base number.