Statement of Determination

STATEMENT OF DETERMINATION

Collection of Required Data Elements to Verify Eligibility

1. In accordance with title 5, CFR 1320.13, the senior official, or designee, of the Department of Defense has determined that this collection of information is needed prior to the expiration of the time periods under title 5, CFR 1320, and that it is essential to the mission of the agency. The agency cannot reasonably follow the normal clearance procedures under title 5, CFR 1320, due to the immediate need to collect information in an effort to safeguard individuals who have been directly affected by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) cybersecurity incident in which approximately 21.5 million security clearance background investigation records containing personally identifiable information (PII) were compromised.

2. The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness (P&R), is submitting the subject requirement for emergency review and approval. The information collection is being initiated at this time due to the immediate need to provide assurance and awareness to all impacted individuals and their minor children. The information collected will be used only to verify whether or not an individual was impacted by the OPM cybersecurity incident. If the individual is categorized as “impacted,” they will receive Government-provided identity protection and credit monitoring services. We, therefore, are asking for emergency consideration in order to implement this collection as soon as possible to provide individuals with immediate safeguards and to further protect US government interests within information security and integrity.

3. The information that is requested is the minimum necessary and will be an ongoing collection.