DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AND
NATIONAL GEOSPATIAL-INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SYSTEMS USER AGREEMENT
STANDARD MANDATORY NOTICE AND CONSENT PROVISION
FOR ALL DOD INFORMATION SYSTEMS USER AGREEMENTS
By consenting to this document, you acknowledge and consent that when you access Department of Defense (DoD) information systems:
You are accessing a U.S. Government (USG) information system (IS) which is provided for USG-authorized use only.
By using this IS (which includes any device attached to this Is), you consent to the following conditions:
The USG routinely intercepts and monitors communications on this IS for purposes including, but not limited to, penetration testing, communications security (COMSEC) monitoring, network operations and defense, personnel misconduct (PM), law enforcement (LE), and counterintelligence (CI) investigations.
At any time, the USG may inspect and seize data stored on this IS.
Communications using, or data stored on, this IS are not private, are subject to routine monitoring, interception, and search, and may be disclosed or used for any USG-authorized purpose.
This IS includes security measures (for example, authentication and access controls) to protect USG interests–not for your benefit or privacy.
Notwithstanding the above, using an IS does not constitute consent to PM, LE, or CI investigative searching or monitoring of the content of privileged communications or data (including work product) that are related to personal representation or services by attorneys, psychotherapists, or clergy, and their assistants. Under these circumstances, such communications and work product are private and confidential, as further explained below:
Nothing in this User Agreement shall be interpreted to limit the user’s consent to, or in any other way restrict or affect, any USG actions for purposes of network administration, operation, protection, or defense, or for communications security. This includes all communications and data on an IS, regardless of any applicable privilege or confidentiality.
The user consents to interception or capture and seizure of all communications and data for any authorized purpose (including PM, LE, or CI investigation). However, consent to interception or capture, or seizure of communications and data is not consent to the use of privileged communications or data for PM, LE, or CI investigation against any party and does not negate any applicable privilege or confidentiality that otherwise applies.
Whether any particular communication or data qualifies for the protection of a privilege, or is covered by a duty of confidentiality, is determined in accordance with established legal standards and DoD policy. Users are strongly encouraged to seek personal legal counsel on such matters prior to using an IS if the user intends to rely on the protections of a privilege or confidentiality.
Users should take reasonable steps to identify such communications or data that the user asserts are protected by any such privilege or confidentiality. However, the user’s identification or assertion of a privilege or confidentiality is not sufficient to create such protection where none exists under established legal standards and DoD policy.
A user’s failure to take a reasonable steps to identify such communications or data as privileged or confidential does not waive the privilege or confidentiality if such protections otherwise exist under established legal standards and DoD policy. However, in such cases the USG is authorized to take reasonable actions to identify such communications or data as being subject to a privilege or confidentiality, and such actions do not negate any applicable privilege or confidentiality.
These conditions preserve the confidentiality of the communications or data, and the legal protections regarding the use and disclosure of privileged information, and thus such communications or data are private and confidential. Further, the USG shall take all reasonable measures to protect the content of captured or seized privileged communications or data to ensure they are appropriately protected.
In cases when the user has consented to content searching or monitoring of communications or data for PM, LE, or CI investigative searching, (such as for all communications or data other than the privileged communications or data that are related to personal representation or services by attorneys, psychotherapists, or clergy, and their assistants), the USG may, solely at its discretion and in accordance with DoD policy, elect to apply a privilege or other restriction on the USG’s otherwise-authorized use or disclosure of such information.
All of the above conditions apply regardless of whether the access or use of an IS includes the display of a Notice and Consent Banner (“banner”). When a banner is used, the banner functions to remind the user of the conditions that are set forth in this User Agreement, regardless of whether the banner describes these conditions in full detail or provide a summary of such conditions, and regardless of whether the banner expressly references this User Agreement.