[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 53 (Monday, March 18, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19302-19303]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-05666]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Office of the Secretary

[Docket ID: DOD-2023-OS-0092]


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

AGENCY: Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and 
Readiness (OUSD(P&R)), Department of Defense (DoD).

ACTION: 30-Day information collection notice.

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SUMMARY: The DoD has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) for clearance the following proposal for collection of 
information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act.

DATES: Consideration will be given to all comments received by April 
17, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of 
this notice to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this particular 
information collection by selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--
Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search function.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Reginald Lucas, 571-372-7574, or 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 572 of the National Defense 
Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 required commanders 
of each military command to conduct a climate assessment of the command 
or unit for purposes of preventing sexual assault. A subsequent 
November 2015 memo from the Acting Under Secretary of Defense for 
Personnel and Readiness (USD P&R), and further a 2022 DoD Instruction 
(DoDI 6400.11) designated the DEOCS as the survey tool to support the 
NDAA requirement for a DoD command climate assessment program. A DEOCS 
is conducted annually in all active duty and Reserve component DoD 
units and DoD civilian personnel organizations. Also included in the 
DEOCS population are active duty and Reserve component members of the 
Coast Guard, students and staff at the US Merchant Marine Academy, and 
foreign nationals working for the DoD. The survey is web-based and is a 
census of the commander's unit. The core survey questions are organized 
into three main categories that include (1) unit experience, (2) 
leadership, and (3) behaviors and personal experience. The DEOCS 
includes a module collecting information on the attitudes and 
experiences of Active duty and Reserve component military members 
related to racial/ethnic relations in the military. The module content 
is derived from the Armed Forces Workplace and Equal Opportunity (WEO) 
survey (OMB license 0704-0631) and provides primary data on estimated 
prevalence rates of racial/ethnic harassment and discrimination and 
climate that is required by the Secretary of Defense biennially (Esper 
2020). To reduce survey burden for Active and Reserve component 
members, key measures previously collected under OMB license 0704-0659 
will be included as a module to the DEOCS for a subset of Active and 
Reserve component DEOCS respondents.
    Title; Associated Form; and OMB Number: Defense Organizational 
Climate Survey (DEOCS) 5.1; OMB Control Number 0704-0659.
    Type of Request: Revision.
    Number of Respondents: 1,589,098.
    Responses per Respondent: 1.
    Annual Responses: 1,589,098.
    Average Burden per Response: 35 minutes.
    Annual Burden Hours: 926,974.
    Needs and Uses: The purpose of the Defense Organizational Climate 
Survey (DEOCS) is to assess command climate at the unit/organizational 
level across the Department of Defense (DoD) and serves as a tool, 
helping commanders and leaders improve their command climate. Military 
commanders and DoD civilian organization leaders are required to 
administer a DEOCS to their unit or organization annually. The DEOCS 
was initially developed in response to DoD Instruction (DoDI) 1350.2 
which mandated the creation of a Military Equal Opportunity program as 
well as the administration of a command climate assessment. The 
National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY 2013 (Section 572)--
and amended by section 1721 of the NDAA FY 2014--further mandates the 
climate

[[Page 19303]]

assessment within all DoD organizations for purposes of preventing 
sexual assaults. A subsequent November 2015 memo from the Acting Under 
Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness (USD P&R) designated 
the DEOCS as the survey tool to support the NDAA requirement for a DoD 
command climate assessment program. A May 2019 memo from the Acting 
Secretary of Defense directed that the goals of the DEOCS include 
developing and providing leaders with assessment tools to ``help them 
with developing an appropriate course of action from a suite of 
interventions and provide them with feedback on their impact of their 
efforts.'' The DoD Instruction (DoDI) 6400.11 further specified the 
requirements for DEOCS fielding.
    The DEOCS will be administered to Active Duty and Reserve component 
members, DoD Civilians, and Military Service Academy (MSA) and MSA 
Preparatory School members (hereafter, MSA Prep School) in order to 
meet this statutory requirement for the DoD. The universe of the DoD 
community also includes foreign nationals who are employed by the DoD. 
Additionally, the DEOCS will also include Active, Reserve, and MSA 
components of the United States Coast Guard and students/staff at the 
United States Merchant Marine Academy. The DEOCS includes a module 
fielded to a subset of Active Duty and Reserve component members to 
collect information on their attitudes and experiences related to 
racial/ethnic relations in the military.
    The statutory and policy requirements for the DEOCS, including the 
module, can be found in the following:

 FY13 NDAA, Section 572
 FY14 NDAA, Section 1721
 DoD Instruction (DoDI) 6400.11, ``DoD Integrated Primary 
Prevention Policy for Prevention Workforce and Leaders''
 DoD Instruction (DoDI) 1350.2, ``DoD Military Equal 
Opportunity Program''
 Immediate Actions to Improve Diversity & Inclusion (Esper, 
2020)

    Affected Public: Individuals and Households.
    Frequency: As required.
    Unit commanders and organizational leaders must administer a DEOCS 
yearly, within the annual fielding window, unless they are unable to do 
so as a result of mission requirements. The annual fielding window for 
the DEOCS 5.1 is from August 1 to November 30, however, the DEOCS is 
available for fielding continuously throughout the year for units or 
organizations that cannot field during the survey window. Currently, 
there is not a standardized method for defining at which level in the 
hierarchy units are required to take the DEOCS, how to define a unit, 
or how to define unit membership. As a result, there may be overlap 
between DEOCS units resulting in individuals taking more than one 
DEOCS. DoDI 6400.11 was established in 2022 and reduces occurrences of 
overlapping DEOCS. The DEOCS module is field in response to a 2020 
Secretary of Defense action memorandum (Esper, 2020) requiring the 
biennial survey of Active Duty and Reserve component members regarding 
their attitudes and experiences related to racial/ethnic relations in 
the military and replaces (OMB Control Number 0704-0659) to reduce cost 
and survey burden.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    OMB Desk Officer: Ms. Jasmeet Seehra.
    You may also submit comments and recommendations, identified by 
Docket ID number and title, by the following method:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency 
name, Docket ID number, and title for this Federal Register document. 
The general policy for comments and other submissions from members of 
the public is to make these submissions available for public viewing on 
the internet at http://www.regulations.gov as they are received without 
change, including any personal identifiers or contact information.
    DOD Clearance Officer: Mr. Reginald Lucas.
    Requests for copies of the information collection proposal should 
be sent to Mr. Reginald Lucas at [email protected].

    Dated: March 12, 2024.
Aaron T. Siegel,
Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison Officer, Department of Defense.
[FR Doc. 2024-05666 Filed 3-15-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6001-FR-P