[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 143 (Thursday, July 27, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34969-34970]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-15742]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY


Notice of Request for Revision to and Extension of a Currently 
Approved Information Collection for Chemical-Terrorism Vulnerability 
Information (CVI)

AGENCY: National Protection and Programs Directorate, DHS.

ACTION: 30-Day notice and request for comments; revision of Information 
Collection Request: 1670-0015.

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    Authority:  6 U.S.C. 621-629.

SUMMARY: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS or the Department), 
National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD), Office of 
Infrastructure Protection (IP), Infrastructure Security Compliance 
Division (ISCD), will submit the following Information Collection 
Request (ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review 
and clearance in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. 
DHS previously published this ICR in the Federal Register on April 19, 
2017 at 82 FR 18466 and allowed for a 60-day public comment period. DHS 
received one comment during the 60-day public comment period. The 
purpose of this notice is to allow an additional 30 days for public 
comments.

DATES: Comments are encouraged and will be accepted until August 28, 
2017. This process is conducted in accordance with 5 CFR 1320.8.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit written comments on 
this proposed information collection to the Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget. Comments must be 
addressed to the OMB Desk Officer, Department of Homeland Security, 
National Protection and Programs Directorate via electronic mail to 
[email protected] or faxed to (202) 395-5806. All submissions 
must include the agency name and OMB Control Number 1670-0015.
    Comments that include trade secrets, confidential commercial or 
financial information, Chemical-terrorism Vulnerability Information 
(CVI),\1\ Sensitive Security Information (SSI),\2\ or Protected 
Critical Infrastructure Information (PCII) \3\ should not be submitted 
to the public regulatory docket. Please submit such comments separately 
from other comments in response to this notice. Comments containing 
trade secrets, confidential commercial or financial information, CVI, 
SSI, or PCII should be appropriately marked and packaged in accordance 
with applicable requirements and submitted by mail to the DHS/NPPD/IP/
ISCD CFATS Program Manager at the Department of Homeland Security, 245 
Murray Lane SW., Mail Stop 0610, Arlington, VA 20528-0610. Comments 
must be identified by OMB Control Number 1670-0015. The Department will 
forward all comments received by the submission deadline to the OMB 
Desk Officer.
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    \1\ For more information about CVI see 6 CFR 27.400 and the CVI 
Procedural Manual at http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/chemsec_cvi_proceduresmanual.pdf.
    \2\ For more information about SSI see 49 CFR part 1520 and the 
SSI Program Web page at http://www.tsa.gov.
    \3\ For more information about PCII see 6 CFR part 29 and the 
PCII Program Web page athttp://www.dhs.gov/protected-critical-infrastructure-information-pcii-program.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: CFATS Program Manager, 866-323-2957, 
_____________________________________-
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This information collection notice was 
previously published in the Federal Register at 82 FR 18466 (April 19, 
2017) and provided a 60-day public comment

[[Page 34970]]

period. DHS received 1 comment in response to the 60-day notice. To 
access and review all documents related to this information collection, 
please visit the Federal eRulemaking Portal site at http://www.regulations.gov and enter Docket Number DHS-2017-0015 in the search 
box.

DHS Proposed Revisions for This Collection Are Summarized Below

     Removal of the following instruments: (1) ``Determination 
of CVI''; (2) Determination of a ``Need to Know'' by a Public 
Official''; (3) ``Disclosure of CVI Information; (4) Notification of 
Emergency or Exigent Circumstances''; and (5) ``Tracking Log for CVI 
Received'' from this collection. As required by 5 CFR 1320.5, the 
Department reevaluated the continued need for each instrument in this 
collection. This evaluation resulted in a finding these instruments 
have been used and collected rarely within the last 3 years.
     DHS also proposes to extend this collection with revisions 
to reduce the estimated burden for the remaining instrument in this 
collection. DHS proposes a reduction of the number of respondents for 
the CVI Authorization instrument from 30,000 to 20,000. This estimate 
is based on historical data and the anticipated impact of the 
Department's revision of its Chemical Security Assessment Tool (CSAT) 
and enhancement of its risk tiering methodology for the CFATS program. 
See 81 FR 47001 (Jul. 20, 2016).

Response to Comment Received During 60-Day Comment Period

    Comment: The one comment received concerning the 60-day PRA notice 
for this proposed information collection raised a concern that guidance 
provided in the DHS ``Safeguarding Information Designated as Chemical-
Terrorism Vulnerability Information (CVI)'' manual (``CVI Procedural 
Manual'') and the CFATS regulation (at 6 CFR 27.400(d)(7)) appear to 
require collection of information using three instruments identified by 
DHS for removal. The Commenter also asserted that the investigatory 
exception under 44 U.S.C. 3518(c) does not justify the Department's 
collection of information as part of these three instruments without an 
OMB-approved information collection request. Based on these reasons, 
the comment suggested retaining the ``Disclosure of CVI Information,'' 
``Notification of Emergency or Exigent Circumstances,'' and ``Tracking 
Log for CVI Received'' instruments in this information collection with 
adjusted burden levels.
    Response: The Department's proposal to remove five instruments from 
this collection, including the three identified by the commenter, is 
based mainly on an evaluation of the historical usage of those 
instruments. As noted in DHS's 60-day notice, ``these instruments have 
historically been used rarely.'' 82 FR 18467. More specifically, DHS's 
review indicated that at no time has the Department collected 
information under any of these five instruments on ten or more 
occasions during any given calendar year. Additionally, the Department 
expects that this historical pattern would continue during the next 
three years if the instruments were to be retained. Consequently, none 
of the instruments proposed for removal qualify as a ``collection of 
information'' subject to the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction 
Act (see 44 U.S.C. 3502(3)(A)(i)). Also, if this proposed information 
collection is approved, DHS would only collect the information 
currently covered by the three instruments identified by the commenter 
as part of an administrative action or investigation, which would 
exempt these instruments from the requirements of the Paperwork 
Reduction Act (if they were not also exempt for other reasons).
    In addition, removal of the five instruments proposed is consistent 
with DHS guidance provided in the DHS CVI Procedural Manual and the 
requirements specified in 6 CFR 27.400. Per the specific marking on the 
footer of each page, the DHS CVI Procedural Manual ``does not create or 
confer any new rights or obligations on any person or entity or 
otherwise operate to bind the public.'' Rather, the DHS CVI Procedural 
Manual describes and encourages the public's use of best practices for 
complying with the regulatory requirements associated with maintaining, 
safeguarding, and disclosing CVI set out in 6 CFR 27.400. DHS developed 
some of the instruments in this collection as part of these best 
practices, but their use is not mandatory. If this proposed collection 
is approved, the Department will consider updating its guidance 
materials to clarify this aspect of the CVI Program.
    To the extent that reporting certain information to the Department 
is required by 6 CFR 27.400(d)(7), that reporting requirement will 
remain in effect. However, as described in the paragraph above 
detailing historical usage of the instruments proposed for removal from 
this collection, DHS expects to receive fewer than ten such reports per 
year and the Department would likely seek unique pieces of information 
related to each unauthorized release of CVI, not standard pieces of 
information.
    OMB is particularly interested in written comments from the public 
that:
    1. Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is 
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, 
including whether the information will have practical utility;
    2. Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of 
the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used;
    3. Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to 
be collected; and
    4. Address how the agency might minimize the burden of the 
collection of information on those who are to respond, including 
through the use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or 
other technological collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology (e.g., permitting electronic submissions of responses).

Analysis

    The Department continues to rely on the analysis and resulting 
burden estimates provided in the 60-day notice for the instruments 
included in this ICR.
    Agency: Department of Homeland Security, National Protection and 
Programs Directorate, Office of Infrastructure Protection, 
Infrastructure Security Compliance Division.
    Title: CFATS Chemical-terrorism Vulnerability Information.
    OMB Number: 1670-0015.
    Instrument: Chemical-terrorism Vulnerability Information 
Authorization.
    Frequency: ``On occasion'' and ``Other''.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit.
    Number of Respondents: 20,000 respondents (rounded estimate).
    Estimated Time per Respondent: 0.50 hours.
    Total Burden Hours: 10,000 annual burden hours.
    Total Burden Cost (capital/startup): $0.
    Total Recordkeeping Burden: $0.
    Total Burden Cost: $677,200.

    Dated: July 20, 2017.
David Epperson,
Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2017-15742 Filed 7-26-17; 8:45 am]
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