[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 238 (Monday, December 12, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 89429-89431]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-29750]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

National Agricultural Statistics Service


Confidentiality Pledge Revision Notice

AGENCY: National Agricultural Statistics Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of Revision of Confidentiality Pledge under the Title V 
of the E-Government Act, Confidential Information Protection and 
Statistical Efficiency Act of 2002 (CIPSEA) and Title 7, Chapter 55, 
Section 2276 (Confidentiality of Information).

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SUMMARY: Under 44 U.S.C. 3506(e), and 44 U.S.C. 3501, the National 
Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) is announcing a revision to the 
confidentiality pledge it provides to its respondents under CIPSEA and 
Title 7, Chapter 55, Section 2276. The revision is 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), which permit and require the Secretary of Homeland Security 
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: This revision becomes effective upon publication of this notice 
in the Federal Register. In a parallel Federal Register notice, NASS is 
seeking public comment on this confidentiality pledge revision.

ADDRESSES: Questions about this notice may be submitted by any of the 
following methods:
     Email: [email protected]. Include the title 
``Confidentiality Pledge Revision Notice'' in the subject line of the 
message.
     Efax: (855) 838-6382.
     Mail or Hand Delivery/Courier: David Hancock, NASS 
Clearance Officer, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Room 5336 South 
Building, 1400 Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20250-2024.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: R. Renee Picanso, Associate 
Administrator, National Agricultural Statistics Service, U.S. 
Department of Agriculture, (202) 720-4333, or email [email protected]. 
Because of delays in the receipt of regular mail related to security 
screening, respondents are encouraged to use phone or electronic 
communications.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:  Under CIPSEA; Title 7, Chapter 55, Section 
2276; and similar statistical confidentiality protection statutes, many 
federal statistical agencies, including NASS, 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. CIPSEA and Title 7, Chapter 55, Section 
2276 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 legal 
process. Moreover, many of these statutes 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 included the Federal 
Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2015 (H.R. 2029, Division N, Title II, 
Subtitle B, Sec. 223). This Act, among other provisions, permits and 
requires the Secretary of Homeland Security to provide federal civilian 
agencies' information technology systems with cybersecurity protection 
for their Internet traffic. The technology currently used to provide 
this protection against cyber malware is known as ``Einstein 3A''. It 
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 
Department of Homeland Security (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 integrity of the respondents' submissions.
    Consequently, with the passage of the Federal Cybersecurity 
Enhancement Act of 2015, the federal statistical community has an 
opportunity to welcome the further protection of its confidential data 
offered by DHS' Einstein 3A cybersecurity protection program. The DHS 
cybersecurity

[[Page 89430]]

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 
Department of Homeland Security is not a federal statistical agency, 
both DHS and the federal statistical agencies have been engaged in 
finding a way to balance both objectives and achieve these mutually 
reinforcing objectives.
    Accordingly, DHS and federal statistical agencies (including NASS), 
in cooperation with their parent departments, have developed a 
Memorandum of Agreement for the installation of Einstein 3A 
cybersecurity protection technology to monitor their Internet traffic 
and have incorporated an associated Addendum on Highly Sensitive Agency 
Information that provides additional protection and enhanced security 
handling of confidential statistical data. However, CIPSEA; Title 7, 
Chapter 55, Section 2276; and similar statistical confidentiality 
pledges promise that respondents' data will be seen only by statistical 
agency personnel or their sworn agents. Since it is possible that DHS 
personnel could see some portion of those confidential data in the 
course of examining the suspicious Internet packets identified by the 
Einstein 3A technology, statistical agencies need to revise their 
confidentiality pledges to reflect this process change.
    Therefore, NASS is providing this notice to alert the public to 
this confidentiality pledge revision in an efficient and coordinated 
fashion. Below is the revised confidentiality pledge as it will appear 
on NASS survey questionnaires, as well as the revision to NASS's 
confidentiality Web page. A list of the NASS OMB numbers and 
information collection titles that will be affected by this revision is 
also included below.
    The revised confidentiality pledge to appear on NASS questionnaires 
is below:

    The information you provide will be used for statistical 
purposes only. Your responses will be kept confidential and any 
person who willfully discloses ANY identifiable information about 
you or your operation is subject to a jail term, a fine, or both.
    This survey is conducted in accordance with the Confidential 
Information Protection provisions of Title V, Subtitle A, Public Law 
107-347 and other applicable Federal laws. For more information on 
how we protect your information please visit: https://www.nass.usda.gov/About_NASS/Confidentiality_Pledge/index.php.

    For voluntary surveys the statement, ``Response to this survey is 
voluntary.'' Will follow this pledge. For mandatory surveys the 
statement, ``Response to this survey is mandatory.'' will follow.
    The NASS confidentiality pledge Web page (https://www.nass.usda.gov/About_NASS/Confidentiality_Pledge/index.php) will be 
revised to include a fifth item explaining that DHS will monitor the 
transmission of data for cybersecurity threats. Item 5 is below:

    5. Data are protected from cybersecurity threats
    Per the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2015, your data are 
further protected by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) 
through cybersecurity monitoring of the systems that transmit your 
data. DHS will be monitoring these systems to look for viruses, 
malware and other threats. In the event of a cybersecurity incident, 
and pursuant to any required legal process, information from these 
sources may be used to help identify and mitigate the incident.
    Affected information collections:

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                                                  Information collection
           OMB No.             Expiration date            title
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0535-0001...................         04/30/2019  Cold Storage.
0535-0002...................         10/31/2018  Field Crops Production.
0535-0003...................         07/31/2019  Agricultural Prices.
0535-0004...................         01/31/2019  Egg, Chicken, and
                                                  Turkey Surveys.
0535-0005...................         11/30/2017  Livestock Slaughter.
0535-0007...................         01/31/2019  Stocks Reports.
0535-0020...................         07/31/2018  Milk and Milk Products.
0535-0037...................         08/31/2019  Vegetable Surveys.
0535-0039...................         10/31/2019  Fruit, Nuts, and
                                                  Specialty Crops.
0535-0088...................         07/31/2018  Field Crops Objective
                                                  Yield.
0535-0093...................         11/30/2018  Floriculture Survey.
0535-0109...................         03/31/2018  Agricultural Labor.
0535-0140...................         01/31/2019  List Sampling Frame
                                                  Survey.
0535-0150...................         06/30/2017  Aquaculture.
0535-0153...................         12/31/2018  Honey Survey.
0535-0212...................         11/30/2018  Mink Survey.
0535-0213...................         06/30/2017  Agricultural Surveys
                                                  Program.
0535-0218...................         07/31/2018  Agricultural Resource
                                                  Management and
                                                  Chemical Use Surveys
                                                  (ARMS).
0535-0220...................         03/31/2017  Cotton Ginnings.
0535-0226...................         10/31/2019  Census of Agriculture.
0535-0243...................         08/31/2018  Census of Agriculture
                                                  Content Test.
0535-0244...................         11/30/2019  Nursery Production
                                                  Survey and Nursery and
                                                  Floriculture Chemical
                                                  Use Survey.
0535-0245...................         09/30/2017  CEAP--NRI Conservation
                                                  Tillage and Nutrient
                                                  Management Survey.
0535-0248...................         04/30/2019  Generic Clearance of
                                                  Survey Improvement
                                                  Projects.
0535-0249...................         12/31/2017  Organic Production
                                                  Survey.
0535-0251...................         05/30/2019  Residue and Biomass
                                                  Field Survey.
0535-0254...................         07/31/2017  Current Agricultural
                                                  Industrial Reports
                                                  (CAIR).
0535-0255...................         04/30/2018  Colony Loss.
0535-0256...................         06/30/2018  Feral Swine Survey.
0535-0257...................        610/31/2018  Organic Certifier
                                                  Census.
0535-0258...................        611/30/2018  Cost of Pollination
                                                  Survey.
0535-0259...................        603/31/2019  Local Foods Survey.
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[[Page 89431]]

    Signed at Washington, DC, November 30, 2016.
Hubert Hamer,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2016-29750 Filed 12-9-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3410-20-P