Notice of Accidental Loss of Selective Service Microfilm Reel Containing PII
Press Release · Friday, July 24, 2015

Washington, DC

Press Statement
July 24, 2015

In April 2015, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) was informed by the Selective Service System (SSS) that a microfilm reel of 4,800 individual Selective Service Registration Forms containing Personally Identifiable Information (PII) was lost in transit via the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). Because NARA has a duplicate of the microfilm reel, the data itself has not been lost. Letters of notification have been sent to the affected individuals.

NARA sincerely regrets the inconvenience or concern this situation may cause those affected, and we have taken immediate steps to ensure that our staff is trained to properly follow our policies on packaging and tracking the shipment of records.

The incident occurred when the Selective Service System asked NARA to send it several microfilm reels in order to ensure the microfilm was not deteriorating. The reels were being temporarily stored at a NARA records center. During transit to the Selective Service through the U.S. Postal system, the package was damaged, and two microfilm reels with individual Selective Service Registration Forms containing PII were lost. USPS conducted a search and recovered one of the missing microfilm reels and returned it to the SSS.

On Friday, July 24, 2015, NARA, through its data breach and recovery services contractor ID Experts®, sent letters of notification to the affected individuals, apologizing for the incident and offering one year of free identity theft protection services. Because the microfilm reel was lost in the mail and not deliberately stolen, NARA believes that the likelihood of the PII being misused is low.

The PII contained in the Selective Service Registration Forms includes Social Security numbers, dates of birth, and the address and telephone numbers of persons who registered for the draft in 1985.

For more information, members of the public can call the National Archives and Records Administration’s Privacy Breach Hotline at 301-837-3769 or email them at privacy@nara.gov.

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For press inquiries, please contact the National Archives Public Affairs staff at 202-357-5300.

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