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Privacy and Security

  1. This website is provided as a public service by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Public Affairs.
  2. Information presented on this website is considered public information and may be distributed or copied unless otherwise specified. Use of appropriate byline/photo/image credits is requested.
  3. Privacy Notice– If you choose to provide us with personal information—like filling out a Contact Us form with e-mail and/or postal addresses—we only use that information to respond to your message or request. We will only share the information you give us with another government agency if your inquiry relates to that agency, or as otherwise required by law. We never create individual profiles or give it to any private organizations. We never collect information for commercial marketing. While you must provide an e-mail address or postal address for a response other than those generated automatically in response to questions or comments that you may submit, we recommend that you NOT include any other personal information, especially Social Security numbers. The Social Security Administration offers additional guidance on sharing your Social Security number.
  4. We maintain a variety of physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect your personal information. For site security purposes and to ensure that this service remains available to all users, this government computer system employs software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage.
  5. Except for authorized law enforcement investigations, no other attempts are made to identify individual users or their usage habits. Raw data logs are used for no other purposes and are scheduled for regular destruction in accordance with National Archives and Records Administration guidelines.
  6. Unauthorized attempts to upload information or change information on this service are strictly prohibited and may be punishable under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act.
  7. If you have any privacy-related questions or comments about the information presented here, please forward them to us using our Contact page.

Use of Measurement and Customization Technology

This website uses measurement and customization technology known as a "cookies." Cookies are used to remember a user's online interactions with a website or online application in order to conduct measurement and analysis of usage or to customize the user's experience.

There are two kinds of cookies used on this website. A single-session cookie (Tier 1) is a line of text that is stored temporarily on a user's computer and deleted as soon as the browser is closed. A persistent or multi-session cookie (Tier 2) is saved to a file on a user's hard drive and is called up the next time that user visits a website. Use of these cookies does not involve the collection of a visitor's personally identifiable information (PII).

USACE does not use the information associated with cookies to track individual user activity on the Internet outside USACE websites, nor does it share the data obtained through such technologies, without the user's explicit consent, with other departments or agencies. USACE does not keep a database of information obtained from the use of cookies.

Cookies are enabled by default to optimize website functionality and customize user experience. Users can choose not to accept the use of these cookies by changing the settings on their local computer's web browser. The USA.gov website, http://www.usa.gov/optout_instructions.shtml, provides general instructions on how to opt out of cookies and other commonly used web measurement and customization technologies. Opting out of cookies still permits users to access comparable information and services; however, it may take longer to navigate or interact with the website if a user is required to fill out certain information repeatedly.

Specific Technologies/Vendors

Tier 1 cookies are used for technical purposes to improve users' experience and to allow users to more easily navigate the website.

Urchin software collects aggregate statistics of website visitor characteristics, traffic, and activity. This information is used to assess what content is of most and least interest, determine technical design specifications, and identify system performance or problem areas. The software records a variety of data, including IP addresses (the locations of computers or networks on the Internet), unique visits, page views, hits, referring websites, and which hyperlinks have been clicked . Tier 2 cookies are used to distinguish between summary statistics for users who have been to the site before and those that are visiting the site the for the first time. USACE does not gather, request, record, require, collect or track any Internet users' PII through these processes.

Use of Third-party Websites and Applications

Third-party websites and applications that are not owned, operated, or controlled by USACE are integral to Internet-based operations across USACE and used to augment official communication. These capabilities include, but are not limited to, networking services, media sharing services, wikis and data mashups. A list of USACE's authorized pages and uses of these services is listed on our Social Media page. These sites may collect PII and may make it available to USACE and other users; however, the PII is not collected on behalf of, nor is it provided specifically for, USACE. USACE does not harvest and additionally collect, maintain, share or otherwise use such PII for any purpose other than that for which it is made available to all users.