Defense Orientation Conference Association

Last updated: March 2, 2026

1. Overview

The Defense Orientation Conference Association (DOCA) retains personal data only as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, comply with legal obligations, and support legitimate organizational interests. This policy outlines retention periods by data category and the procedures for requesting data deletion.

2. Retention Periods

Data Category	Retention Period	Basis
Active member profiles	Duration of membership + 3 years	Organizational operations
Lapsed member records	3 years after membership expiry	Re-enrollment, historical records
Financial records (dues, payments, invoices)	7 years	IRS nonprofit compliance
Conference registrations	Permanent (anonymized after 7 years)	Historical archive, attendance trends
Security/access lists	1 year after conference date	DoD facility access records
Donation records	7 years	IRS nonprofit compliance
Email communications	2 years	Communication records
Chatbot conversations	90 days	Service improvement
Audit logs	5 years	Security and compliance
Website visitor logs (IP, browser)	30 days	Security monitoring
Contact form submissions	1 year	Inquiry resolution

3. Deletion Procedures

Member-Initiated Deletion

Active and former members may request deletion of their personal data through the Member Portal under Profile Settings, or by contacting DOCA directly. Upon receiving a deletion request:

The request is reviewed by the DOCA administrator within 10 business days.
Data subject to legal retention requirements (financial records, audit logs) will be retained for the required period but access-restricted.
All other personal data is permanently deleted or anonymized.
The member receives confirmation of the completed deletion.

Automatic Purging

DOCA periodically reviews stored data and automatically purges records that have exceeded their retention period. Anonymized data used for aggregate reporting (attendance trends, membership statistics) is retained indefinitely.

4. Data Export

Members may request a copy of all personal data DOCA holds about them. This export is available as a JSON file through the Member Portal under Profile Settings. The export includes profile information, addresses, guest records, registration history, payment history, and communication logs.

5. Exceptions

Certain data may be exempt from deletion requests:

Financial records required for IRS compliance (retained for 7 years from transaction date).
Audit logs documenting security events and administrative actions.
Records required for pending legal proceedings or investigations.
Anonymized aggregate data that cannot be traced to an individual.

6. Contact

For data retention questions or deletion requests: