[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 69 (Wednesday, April 12, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17641-17644]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-07350]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


Notice of Revision of the National Center for Education 
Statistics (NCES) Confidentiality Pledges Under Confidential 
Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act (CIPSEA) and 
Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA 2002)

AGENCY: National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Department of 
Education (ED).

[[Page 17642]]


ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Under 44 U.S.C. 3506(e), and 44 U.S.C. 3501 (note), the 
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is announcing revisions 
to the confidentiality pledge(s) it provides to its respondents under 
the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act 
(44 U.S.C. 3501 (note)) (CIPSEA) and under the Education Sciences 
Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA 2002). These revisions are required by the 
passage and implementation of provisions of the Federal Cybersecurity 
Enhancement Act of 2015 (6 U.S.C. 151), which permits and requires 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: These revisions become effective upon publication of this notice 
in the Federal Register.

ADDRESSES: Questions about this notice should be addressed to Dr. Cleo 
Redline, National Center for Education Statistics, Potomac Center 
Plaza, 550 12th Street SW., Washington, DC 20202 or by email at 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Cleo Redline by telephone at 202-
245-7695 (this is not a toll-free number); by email at 
[email protected]; or by mail at the National Center for Education 
Statistics, Potomac Center Plaza, 550 12th Street SW., Washington, DC 
20202. 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 education, employment, health, investments, budgets, 
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 or not 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.

Confidential Information and Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act 
(CIPSEA)

    Strong and trusted confidentiality and exclusively statistical use 
pledges under the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical 
Efficiency Act (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 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. 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 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 (6 U.S.C. 151). 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 a small portion of 
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.
    Accordingly, DHS and Federal statistical agencies, 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.
    However, many current CIPSEA 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 Einstein 3A sensors, statistical agencies need to 
revise their confidentiality pledges to reflect this process change.
    Therefore, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is 
providing this notice to alert the public to these confidentiality 
pledge revisions in an efficient and coordinated fashion.
    Under CIPSEA, the following is the revised statistical 
confidentiality pledge for applicable NCES data collections, with the 
new line added to address the new cybersecurity monitoring activities 
bolded for reference only:

    The information you provide will be used for statistical 
purposes only. In accordance with the Confidential Information 
Protection provisions of Title V, Subtitle A, Public Law 107-347 and 
other applicable Federal laws, your responses will be kept 
confidential and will not be disclosed in identifiable form to 
anyone other than employees or agents. By law, every NCES employee 
as well as every agent, such as contractors and NAEP coordinators, 
has taken an oath and is subject to a jail term of up to 5 years, a 
fine of $250,000, or both if he or she willfully discloses ANY 
identifiable information about you. Electronic submission of your 
information will be monitored for viruses, malware, and other 
threats by Federal employees and contractors in accordance with the 
Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2015.

    The following listing shows the current NCES Paperwork Reduction 
Act (PRA) OMB number and information collection title whose CIPSEA 
confidentiality pledge will change to reflect the statutory 
implementation of DHS' Einstein 3A monitoring for cybersecurity 
protection purposes:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
           OMB control number              Information collection title
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1850-0928..............................  National Assessment of
                                          Educational Progress (NAEP)
                                          2017.
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Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA 2002)

    NCES sample surveys are governed by additional laws, one of which 
is the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA 2002) (20 U.S.C. 
9573). Under ESRA 2002, the information respondents provide can be seen 
only by statistical agency personnel or their sworn agents, and may not 
be disclosed, or used, in identifiable form for any other purpose, 
except in the case of an authorized investigation or prosecution of an 
offense concerning national or international terrorism. Under ESRA 
2002, the Attorney General is permitted to petition a court of 
competent jurisdiction for an ex parte order requiring the Secretary of 
Education to provide data relevant to an authorized investigation or 
prosecution of an offense concerning national or international 
terrorism. Thus, ESRA 2002 affords many of the same protections as 
CIPSEA, that is, surveys conducted under ESRA 2002 are protected from 
administrative, taxation, regulatory, and many other non-statistical 
uses and the disclosure of information carries 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 for any non-statistical uses, except as noted 
previously, in the case of an authorized investigation concerning 
national or international terrorism.
    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 (6 U.S.C. 151). 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. Since 
it is possible that DHS personnel could see some portion of the 
confidential data collected under ESRA 2002 in the course of examining 
the suspicious Internet packets identified by Einstein 3A sensors, the 
National Center for Education Statistics needs to revise the 
confidentiality pledges made under ESRA 2002 to reflect this process 
change.
    Therefore, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is 
providing this notice to alert the public to these confidentiality 
pledge revisions in an efficient and coordinated fashion.
    Under ESRA 2002, the following is the revised statistical 
confidentiality pledge for applicable NCES data collections, with the 
new line added to address the new cybersecurity monitoring activities 
bolded for reference only:
    All of the information you provide may be used only for statistical 
purposes and may not be disclosed, or used, in identifiable form for 
any other purpose except as required by law (20 U.S.C. 9573 and 6 
U.S.C. 151).
    The following listing shows the current NCES Paperwork Reduction 
Act (PRA) OMB numbers and information collection titles whose ESRA 2002 
confidentiality pledge will change to reflect the statutory 
implementation of DHS' Einstein 3A monitoring for cybersecurity 
protection purposes:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
      OMB control number              Information collection title
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1850-0631....................  2012/17 Beginning Postsecondary Students
                                Longitudinal Study (BPS:12/17).
1850-0695....................  Trends in International Mathematics and
                                Science Study (TIMSS 2019) Pilot Test.
1850-0733....................  Fast Response Survey System (FRSS) 108:
                                Career and Technical Education (CTE)
                                Programs in Public School Districts.
1850-0755....................  Program for International Student
                                Assessment (PISA 2018) Field Test.
1850-0852....................  High School Longitudinal Study of 2009
                                (HSLS:09) Second Follow-up Main Study.
1850-0870....................  Program for the International Assessment
                                of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) 2017
                                National Supplement.
1850-0888....................  2018 Teaching and Learning International
                                Survey (TALIS 2018) Field Test.
1850-0911....................  Middle Grades Longitudinal Study of 2017-
                                18 (MGLS:2017) Operational Field Test
                                (OFT) and Recruitment for Main Study
                                Base-year.
1850-0923....................  ED School Climate Surveys (EDSCLS)
                                National Benchmark Study.
1850-0929....................  International Computer and Information
                                Literacy Study (ICILS 2018) Field Test.
1850-0931....................  NCER-NPSAS Grant Study--Connecting
                                Students with Financial Aid (CSFA) 2017:
                                Testing the Effectiveness of FAFSA
                                Interventions on College Outcomes.
1850-0932....................  NCER-NPSAS Grant Study--Financial Aid
                                Nudges 2017: A National Experiment to
                                Increase Retention of Financial Aid and
                                College Persistence.
1850-0934....................  Principal Follow-Up Survey (PFS 2016-17)
                                to the National Teacher and Principal
                                Survey (NTPS 2015-16).
1850-0803 v.174..............  The National Assessment of Educational
                                Progress (NAEP) Oral Reading Fluency
                                Pilot Study 2017.
1850-0803 v.176..............  National Assessment of Educational
                                Progress (NAEP) Survey Assessments
                                Innovations Lab (SAIL) English Language
                                Arts (ELA) Collaboration and Inquiry
                                Study 2017.
1850-0803 v.177..............  2017 Integrated Postsecondary Education
                                Data System (IPEDS) Time Use and Burden
                                Cognitive Interviews Round 1.
1850-0803 v.178..............  ED School Climate Surveys (EDSCLS)
                                Additional Item Cognitive Interviews--
                                Set 2 Round 2.
1850-0803 v.179..............  National Assessment of Educational
                                Progress (NAEP) Pretesting of Survey and
                                Cognitive Items for Pilot in 2017 and
                                2018.
1850-0803 v.180..............  National Assessment of Educational
                                Progress (NAEP) 2017 Feasibility Study
                                of Middle School Transcript Study
                                (MSTS).
1850-0803 v.181..............  National Assessment of Educational
                                Progress (NAEP) Digitally Based
                                Assessments (DBA) Usability Study 2017-
                                18.
1850-0803 v.182..............  2017 National Household Education Survey
                                (NHES) Web Data Collection Test.
1850-0803 v.186..............  National Household Education Surveys
                                Program 2019 (NHES:2019) Focus Groups
                                with Parents of Students using Virtual
                                Education.
1850-0803 v.187..............  National Household Education Surveys
                                Program (NHES) 2017 Web Test Debriefing
                                Interviews for Parents of Homeschoolers.
1850-0803 v.189..............  2017-2018 National Teacher and Principal
                                Survey (NTPS) Portal Usability Testing.
1850-0803 v.191..............  NCER-NPSAS Grant Study--Connecting
                                Students with Financial Aid (CSFA) 2017
                                Cognitive Testing.
1850-0803 v.190..............  International Early Learning Study (IELS
                                2018) Cognitive Items Trial.
1850-0803 v.164..............  National Assessment of Educational
                                Progress (NAEP) 2019 Science Items
                                Pretesting.
1850-0803 v.170..............  National Assessment of Educational
                                Progress (NAEP) Survey Assessments
                                Innovations Lab (SAIL) Pretesting
                                Activities: Virtual World for English
                                Language Arts Assessment.
1850-0803 v.175..............  National Assessment of Educational
                                Progress (NAEP) Science Questionnaire
                                Cognitive Interviews 2017.

[[Page 17644]]

 
1850-0803 v.184..............  NCER-NPSAS Grant Study--Connecting
                                Students with Financial Aid (CSFA) 2017
                                Focus Groups.
1850-0803 v.183..............  NCER-NPSAS Grant Study--Financial Aid
                                Nudges 2017 Focus Groups.
1850-0803 v.185..............  The School Survey on Crime and Safety
                                (SSOCS) Principals Focus Groups.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Affected Public: Survey respondents to applicable NCES information 
collections.
    Total Respondents: Unchanged from current collections.
    Frequency: Unchanged from current collections.
    Total Responses: Unchanged from current collections.
    Average Time per Response: Unchanged from current collections.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: Unchanged from current collections.
    Estimated Total Cost: Unchanged from current collections.

    Dated: April 7, 2017.
Kate Mullan,
Acting Director, Information Collection Clearance Division, Office of 
the Chief Privacy Officer, Office of Management.
[FR Doc. 2017-07350 Filed 4-11-17; 8:45 am]
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