E8-28145. Proposed Collection; Comment Request

AGENCY:

Office of the Secretary of Defense.

ACTION:

Notice.

In compliance with Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Defense Security Service (DSS) announces an upcoming public information collection and seeks public comments on the provision thereof. Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden hours of the information to be collected; and (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the information collection on respondents.

DATES:

Consideration will be given to all comments received by January 26, 2009.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments, identified by docket number and title, by any of the following methods:

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
• Mail: Federal Docket Management System Office, 1160 Defense Pentagon, Washington, DC 20301-1160.

Instructions: All submissions received must include agency name, docket number and title for this Federal Register document. The general policy of 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 contract information.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

To request more information on this proposed information collection or to obtain a copy of the proposal and associated collection instruments, please write to the Defense Security Service, ATTN: Ms. Helmut Hawkins, Industrial Security Program Policy, Clearance Oversight Office, 1340 Braddock Place, Alexandria, VA 22314.

Title; Associated Form; and OMB Number: Industry Cost Collection Report Survey; OMB Control Number 0704-TBD.

Needs and Uses: Executive Order 12829, “National Industrial Security Program” requires the Department of Defense to account each year for the costs associated with implementation of the National Industrial Security Program and report those costs to the Director of the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO). In furtherance of this requirement, and pursuant with 32 CFR, Subpart F, section 2001.61(b); Classified National Security Information; Final Rule, the Secretary of Defense, acting as executive agent for the NISP, is obligated to collect cost estimates for classification-related activities of contractors, licensees, certificate holders, and grantees and report them to ISOO annually. The cost collection methodology employed since 1996 was validated with the ISOO in December 2007. Participation in the survey is strictly voluntary. Input is integrated into a total cost figure for the President and is never associated with a specific facility.

Affected Public: A statistical sample of active and cleared businesses, or other profit and non-profit organizations under Department of Defense Security Cognizance, approved for storage of classified materials.

Annual Burden Hours: 125.

Number of Respondents: 749.

Responses per Respondent: 1.

Average Burden per Response: 10 minutes.

Frequency: Annually.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Summary of Information Collection

Collection of this data is required to comply with the reporting requirements of Executive Order 12829, “National Industrial Security Program.” This collection of information requests the assistance of the Facility Security Officer to provide estimates of annual security labor cost in burdened, current year dollars and the estimated percentage of security labor dollars to the total security costs for the facility. Security labor is defined as personnel whose positions exist to support operations and staff in the implementation of government security requirements for the protection of classified information. Guards who are required as supplemental controls are included in security labor. This data will be incorporated into a report produced to ISOO for the estimated cost of securing classified information within industry. The survey will be distributed electronically via a Web-based commercial survey tool.

Dated: November 19, 2008.

Patricia L. Toppings,

OSD Federal Register Liaison Officer, Department of Defense.