Nothing in the Privacy Act requires an agency to grant access to any information compiled in reasonable anticipation of a civil action or proceeding, including administrative hearings. This protects civil litigation files from access by the individual. This does not incorporate a deliberative process privilege or an attorney-client privilege. Unlike all of the other Privacy Act exemptions, (d)(5) is SELF-EXECUTING, since it does not require an implementing regulation.
TWO GENERAL EXEMPTIONS (j)(1) and (j)(2)
The head of an agency may promulgate regulations to exempt applicable records. These regulations must be published in the FEDERAL REGISTER.
(j)(1) records maintained by the CIA.
(j)(2) records maintained by an agency or component thereof which performs as its principal function any activity pertaining to the enforcement of criminal laws and which consists of identifying data compiled for the purpose of a criminal investigation, associated with an identifiable individual; or reports identifiable to an individual compiled at any stage of the process of enforcement of criminal laws.
There is no time limitation on this exemption - even if there is no trial or the investigation is closed. Also, the exemption follows the record - no matter where it ends up (e.g., in a non-law enforcement file).
IF ONE OF THESE SPECIFIC EXEMPTIONS IS CITED:
(k)(1) - relate to the national defense or foreign policy and are properly classified
(k)(2) - are investigatory and compiled for law enforcement purposes
(k)(3) - pertain to the protection of the President of the United States
(k)(4) - are required by statute to be maintained and used solely as statistical records
(k)(5) - are investigatory and used for employee or contractor suitability determinations
(k)(6) - are Federal service exam or test materials
(k)(7) - are armed services promotion evaluation materials