WASHINGTON -- Every person entering or leaving the country could be subject to data collection and risk assessment under a border security program outlined in the Federal Register. Data collected could be retained for up to 40 years.

The Department of Homeland Security stressed that the border monitoring outlined in the notice published Thursday was not a new program or an expansion of an existing program.

''There is nothing new here,'' Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said Friday. ''All that is new is that the department is fulfilling the spirit of the Privacy Act by updating the federal record.''

The notice provides details of the Automated Targeting System, which in the past was used primarily to help identify and inspect U.S.-bound cargo. The system, it said, processes and stores information on air and sea travelers, as well as those arriving by automobile or foot.

It said the system builds risk assessments based on criteria developed by the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection.

For air and sea passengers, it maintains information provided by the commercial carrier, such as payment information, billing addresses, contact telephone numbers and e-mail addresses.

Knocke said screening for air and sea travelers has been in place since the 1990s and the Federal Register notice was part of an effort to provide transparency on an existing program as the newly created Homeland Security Department takes over programs previously under the jurisdiction of the Treasury Department.

The department has a parallel program, the Visitor and Immigration Status Indicator Technology program, or US-VISIT, that uses biometric technology, including fingerprinting to screen visitors. The program has been deployed to 116 airports, 15 seaports and 154 land ports of entry and processed more than 61 million people applying for admission to the country.