[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 227 (Friday, November 26, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66459-66460]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-30730]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Office of the Secretary


Proposed Collection; Comment Request

AGENCY: Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel and 
Readiness), DOD.

ACTION: Notice

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    In compliance with Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995, the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel 
and Readiness) announces the following proposed reinstatement of a 
public information collection and seeks public comment on the 
provisions thereof. Comments are invited on: (a) whether the proposed 
collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of 
the functions of the agency, including whether the information shall 
have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of 
burden of the

[[Page 66460]]

proposed information collection; (c) ways to enhance the quality, 
utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways 
to minimize the burden of the information collection on respondents, 
including through the use of automated collection techniques or other 
forms of information technology.

DATES: Consideration will be given to all comments received by January 
25, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations on the proposed 
information collection should be sent to the Office of the Under 
secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness) (Force Management 
Policy/Military Personnel Policy/Accession Policy), ATTN: Dr. Sharon 
Holcombe, 1600 Wilson Blvd., Suite 400, Arlington, VA 22209.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request more information on this 
proposed information collection or to obtain a copy of the proposal and 
associated collection instruments, please write to the above address or 
call (703) 696-6912
    Title, Associated Form, and OMB Control Number: Joint Recruiting 
Advertising Program (JRAP), OMB Number 0704-0351.
    Needs and Uses: Title 10, U.S. Code, Section 503, allows the 
Secretary of Defense to ``conduct intensive recruiting campaigns to 
obtain enlistments'' in the Military Services and the Coast Guard. 
Advertising is a central underpinning of military recruiting campaigns. 
Successful advertising involves packaging information about Military 
Service opportunities, delivering that information to a target 
audience, and having that target audience positively respond. When 
members of the public respond, they voluntarily provide information 
about themselves (e.g., name, address) so that information they 
requested about the Armed Forces can be sent to them.
    Recruitment advertisement requires two types of information 
collection. First, information is collected via market research to 
enable the Department of Defense to obtain information on the attitudes 
and opinions of youth or their influencers (e.g., parents). This 
information is obtained primarily though qualitative data collections 
(e.g., polls, surveys, and focus group research with youth and their 
influencers). The information collected becomes the foundation on which 
advertising messages are crafted; subsequently, draft advertising 
messages are further market-tested via focus group research and/or 
interviews.
    Second, members of the public voluntarily provide information about 
themselves when they request information about opportunities in the 
Armed Forces. For example, many Armed Forces advertising messages are 
in print format, and have Business Reply Cards (BRCs) attached to them. 
The BRCs are used by youth to request additional, in-depth information 
about Military Service opportunities. Respondents fill out a card 
(e.g., name, address, social security number, etc) and mail it back to 
the Department of Defense.
    All information collected in these efforts is done so on a 
voluntary basis with members of the public and data are used to (1) 
develop and improve advertising messages that support military 
recruiting efforts; (2) provide members of the public with information 
about the Armed Forces; and (3) provide the Military Services with lead 
lists for military recruiting purposes.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households.
    Annual Burden Hours: 4,382.
    Number of Respondents: 125,797.
    Responses Per Respondent: 1.
    Average Burden per Response: 2.09 minutes.
    Frequency: On occasion.

Summary of Information Collection

    Each year, the Department of Defense collects information from 
young adults and their influencers (e.g., parents) in support of 
military recruiting efforts. First, information is collected via market 
research efforts that support the development and evaluation of 
military recruiting advertising messages. The Market research methods 
used are surveys, polls, interviews, and focus groups. For example, 
groups of youth are convened for the purpose of reviewing draft 
advertising messages. Second, information is voluntarily provided to 
the Department of Defense in response to advertising media. For 
example, the Department of Defense annually publishes an information 
folder about Reserve Officers training Corps (ROTC) Scholarships. These 
folders are sent to each high school guidance counselor in the country 
for them to use in acquainting students with ROTC scholarship 
opportunities. Included in these folders are Business Reply Cards that 
individual students can use to request additional information about 
ROTC scholarships. The reply cards, which the students respond to on a 
voluntary basis, ask for the student's name, address, high school 
graduation date, date of birth, phone number, whether or not they are a 
U.S. citizen, name of college they are planning to attend, gender and 
social security number. The social security number is used for tracking 
purposes only and the gender information is used for both tracking 
purposes and for use in tailoring response materials concerning 
military career opportunities available to women. In addition to the 
ROTC Scholarship folders, similar Business Reply Cards are attached to 
various advertising direct mail items, printed advertisements, and 
military information brochures. The information obtained from these 
cards is used to respond to requests from the general public for 
information about the Armed Forces and to provide the Military Services 
with lead lists for use in their recruiting campaigns.

    Dated: November 18, 1999.
L.M. Bynum,
Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison Officer, Department of Defense.
[FR Doc. 99-30730 Filed 11-24-99; 8:45 am]
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