Maintaining Confidentiality
- A JLEA agent must take the utmost care to avoid conveying any confidential investigative information to a CI (e.g., information relating to electronic surveillance, search warrants, or the identity of other actual or potential informants), other than what is necessary and appropriate for operational reasons.
- The Chief Federal Prosecutor and his or her designee are required to maintain as confidential the identity of any CI and the information the CI has provided, unless obligated to disclose it by law or Court order. If a JLEA provides the Chief Federal Prosecutor or his or her designee with written material containing such information:
- Such individual is obligated to keep it confidential by placing it into a locked file cabinet when not in his or her direct care and custody;
- Access to the information shall be restricted to the Chief Federal Prosecutor or his or her designee and personnel deemed necessary to carry out the official duties related to the case;
- The Chief Federal Prosecutor or his or her designee is responsible for assuring that each person permitted access to the information is made aware of the need to preserve the security and confidentiality of the information, as provided in this policy;
- Prior to disclosure of the information to defense counsel or in open Court, the Chief Federal Prosecutor or his or her designee must give the JLEA an opportunity to discuss such disclosure and must comply with any other applicable provision of 28 C.F.R. §§ 16.21-16.29; and
- At the conclusion of a case or investigation, all written materials containing the information that have not been disclosed shall be forwarded to the JLEA that provided them.3
- Employees of a JLEA and employees of a FPO have a continuing obligation after leaving employment with the Department of Justice and its constituent components to maintain as confidential the identity of any CI and the information he or she provided, unless the employee is obligated to disclose it by law or Court order. See 28 C.F.R. §§ 16.21 - 16.29.
3 This requirement shall not prevent the Chief Federal Prosecutor or his or her designee from keeping in the relevant case file materials such as motions, responses, legal memoranda, Court orders, and internal office memoranda and correspondence. If any such materials contain information revealing a CI's true identity, the Chief Federal Prosecutor or his or her designee shall maintain the materials in accordance with the provisions of paragraph I(F)(2)(a)-(d), above.
