[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 231 (Thursday, December 1, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 86730-86732]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-29009]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Office of the Secretary


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB 
Review; Revision of Confidentiality Pledges Under the Confidential 
Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Under 44 U.S.C. 3506(e) and 44 U.S.C. 3501, the Department of 
Labor

[[Page 86731]]

(DOL) is announcing revisions to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) 
confidentiality pledges provided to respondents under the Confidential 
Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act (44 U.S.C. 3501) 
(CIPSEA). These revisions are required by the passage and 
implementation of provisions of the Federal Cybersecurity Enhancement 
Act of 2015 (H.R. 2029, Division N, Title II, Subtitle B, Sec. 223), 
that permit and require the Secretary for the Department of Homeland 
Security (DHS) to provide Federal civilian agencies' information 
technology systems with cybersecurity protection for their Internet 
traffic. More details on this announcement are presented in the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below.

DATES: These revisions become effective upon publication of this notice 
in the Federal Register.

ADDRESSES: Questions about this notice should be addressed to Michel 
Smyth by telephone at 202-693-4129 (this is not a toll-free number); by 
email at [email protected]; or by mail or courier to the U.S. 
Department of Labor-OASAM, Office of the Chief Information Officer, 
Attn: Departmental Information Compliance Management Program, Room 
N1301, 200 Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20210. Because of 
delays in the receipt of regular mail related to security screening, 
respondents are encouraged to use electronic communications.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michel Smyth at (202)693-4129 (this is 
not a toll-free number) or by email at [email protected]; or by 
mail or courier to the U.S. Department of Labor-OASAM, Office of the 
Chief Information Officer, Attn: Departmental Information Compliance 
Management Program, Room N1301, 200 Constitution Avenue NW., 
Washington, DC 20210. Because of delays in the receipt of regular mail 
related to security screening, respondents are encouraged to use 
electronic communications.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Federal statistics provide key information 
that the Nation uses to measure its performance and make informed 
choices about budgets, employment, health, investments, taxes, and a 
host of other significant topics. The overwhelming majority of Federal 
surveys are conducted on a voluntary basis. Respondents, ranging from 
businesses to households to institutions, may choose whether to provide 
the requested information. Many of the most valuable Federal statistics 
come from surveys that ask for highly sensitive information such as 
proprietary business data from companies or particularly personal 
information or practices from individuals. Strong and trusted 
confidentiality and exclusively statistical use pledges under the 
CIPSEA and similar statistical confidentiality pledges are effective 
and necessary in honoring the trust that businesses, individuals, and 
institutions, by their responses, place in statistical agencies.
    Under the CIPSEA and similar statistical confidentiality protection 
statutes, many Federal statistical agencies make statutory pledges that 
the information respondents provide will be seen only by statistical 
agency personnel or their sworn agents, and will be used only for 
statistical purposes. The CIPSEA and similar statutes protect the 
confidentiality of information that agencies collect solely for 
statistical purposes and under a pledge of confidentiality. These Acts 
protect such statistical information from administrative, law 
enforcement, taxation, regulatory, or any other non-statistical use and 
immunize the information submitted to statistical agencies from many 
legal processes. Moreover, statutes like the CIPSEA carry criminal 
penalties of a Class E felony (fines up to $250,000, or up to five 
years in prison, or both) for conviction of a knowing and willful 
unauthorized disclosure of covered information.
    As part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2016 
signed on December 17, 2015, the Congress enacted the Federal 
Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2015 (H.R. 2029, Division N, Title II, 
Subtitle B, Sec. 223). This Act, among other provisions, requires the 
DHS to provide Federal civilian agencies' information technology 
systems with cybersecurity protection for their Internet traffic. The 
DHS cybersecurity program's objective is to protect Federal civilian 
information systems from malicious malware attacks. The Federal 
statistical system's objective is to ensure that the DHS Secretary 
performs those essential duties in a manner that honors the 
Government's statutory promises to the public to protect their 
confidential data. Given that the DHS is not a Federal statistical 
agency, both DHS and the Federal statistical system have been 
successfully engaged in finding a way to balance both objectives and 
achieve these mutually reinforcing objectives.
    As required by passage of the Federal Cybersecurity Enhancement Act 
of 2015, the Federal statistical community will implement DHS' 
cybersecurity protection program, called Einstein.
    The technology currently used to provide this protection against 
cyber malware electronically searches Internet traffic in and out of 
Federal civilian agencies in real time for malware signatures. When 
such a signature is found, the Internet packets that contain the 
malware signature are shunted aside for further inspection by DHS 
personnel. Because it is possible that such packets entering or leaving 
a statistical agency's information technology system may contain 
confidential statistical data, statistical agencies can no longer 
promise their respondents that their responses will be seen only by 
statistical agency personnel or their sworn agents. However, they can 
promise, in accordance with provisions of the Federal Cybersecurity 
Enhancement Act of 2015, that such monitoring can be used only to 
protect information and information systems from cybersecurity risks, 
thereby, in effect, providing stronger protection to the security and 
integrity of the respondents' submissions.
    Accordingly, DHS and Federal statistical agencies, in cooperation 
with their parent Departments, have developed a Memorandum of Agreement 
for the installation of Einstein cybersecurity protection technology to 
monitor their Internet traffic.
    The DOL is providing this notice to alert the public in an 
efficient and coordinated fashion that it is revising its 
confidentiality pledge. Below is a listing of the current numbers and 
information collection titles for those BLS programs whose 
confidentiality pledges will change to reflect the statutory 
implementation of DHS' Einstein monitoring for cybersecurity protection 
purposes.
    For the Information Collections listed in the table below, BLS 
statistical confidentiality pledges will be modified to include the 
following sentence, ``Per the Federal Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 
2015, Federal information systems are protected from malicious 
activities through cybersecurity screening of transmitted data.''

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           OMB Control No.               Information collection title
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1220-0039...........................  Consumer Price Index Commodities
                                       and Services Survey.
1220-0008...........................  Producer Price Index Survey.
1220-0011...........................  Report on Employment, Payroll, and
                                       Hours.
1220-0164...........................  National Compensation Survey.
1220-0170...........................  Job Openings and Labor Turnover
                                       Survey (JOLTS).
1220-0189...........................  Occupational Requirements Survey
                                       (Production).

[[Page 86732]]

 
1220-0025...........................  International Price Program-U.S.
                                       Export Product Information.
1220-0163...........................  Consumer Price Index Housing
                                       Survey.
1220-0042...........................  Report on Occupational Employment.
1220-0045...........................  Survey of Occupational Injuries.
1220-0133...........................  Census of Fatal Occupational
                                       Injuries.
1220-0012...........................  Employment, Wages and
                                       Contributions Report (ES-202
                                       Program).
1220-0032...........................  Annual Refiling Survey.
1220-0141...........................  Cognitive and Psychological
                                       Research.
1220-0134...........................  Multiple Worksite Report and the
                                       Report of Federal Employment and
                                       Wages.
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    Dated: November 29, 2016.
Michel Smyth,
Departmental Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 2016-29009 Filed 11-29-16; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 4510-24-P