Emergency Request Justification

U.S. Department of Justice
Federal Bureau of Investigation

Clarksburg, WV 26306

June 14, 2019

Mr. Joseph B. Nye
OMB Policy Analyst
Office of the Information and Regulatory Affairs
New Executive Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20530
Ms. Melody Braswell
Department Clearance Officer, PRA
Office of the Chief Information Officer
Policy and Planning Staff
DOJ Two Constitution Square
Washington, D.C. 20002

Dear Mr. Nye and Ms. Braswell:
As the Section Chief of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Criminal Justice
Information Services Section (CJIS) Division, Biometrics Services Section (BSS), I am seeking
an emergency review and approval of the attached "External Repository Survey" pursuant to the
requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA). This letter requests emergency approval of
the Application by June 24, 2019, in accordance with 44 U.S.C. § 35070) and 5 C.F.R. §
1320.13, which permits such expedited approvals when a collection is needed prior to the
expiration of time periods established by the PRA, is essential to the mission of the agency, and
would cause a statutory deadline to be missed. See 44 U.S.C. §§ 35070)(1) and 35070)(2).
This emergency processing is essential because compliance with normal clearance
procedures would cause the FBI CJIS Division to fail to provide complete, accurate information
to the United States House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
regarding the accuracy of face recognition systems operated by external partners, such as state
and federal agencies, in support of FBI investigations at an anticipated hearing in July 2019.

The "External Repository Survey" is Essential to the Mission of the FBI CJIS
Division, BSS.
The expedited approval of the "External Repository Survey" is essential to the mission of
the FBI CJIS Division, BSS because the collection of data from the "External Repository
Survey" will assist the FBI in determining whether external partner systems are sufficiently
accurate for the FBI CJIS Division, BSS's use in support of active FBI investigations. On June
4, 2019, the Deputy Assistant Director of the FBI CJIS Division testified on before the United
States House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform regarding the
FBI's use of face recognition technology. The Committee members expressed concern that the
FBI CJIS Division had not taken sufficient action to address a Government Accountability
Office recommendation that the FBI assess the accuracy of face recognition systems operated by
external partners. While the FBI does not have authority to conduct accuracy tests on external
systems, the FBI CJIS Division can collect information from external partners to ensure that
these external systems are sufficiently accurate for the FBI CJIS Division, BSS use in support of
FBI investigations.

Approval is Necessary to Achieve Compliance with Congressional requests for
information and Government Accountability Office recommendations.
Approval of the "External Repository Survey" is necessary, because it is the only way to
achieve compliance with the request for information from the United States House of
Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Government
Accountability Office. This request for information was not previously assigned/delegated to the
FBI CJIS Division. The CJIS Division must begin gathering the necessary information to collect
information from external partner agencies operating face recognition databases performing
searches on behalf of the FBI CJIS Division BSS in support of FBI investigations. By collecting
this information, the FBI CJIS Division BSS will be able to determine whether the external
systems are sufficiently accurate for the FBI's use. This canvas for responsive information will
also allow the FBI to provide complete and accurate information to members of Congress, the
Government Accountability Office, and the American public. This collection must take place at
the earliest opportunity to meet the July 2019 deadline. Collecting this information is merely the
first step in the FBI's evaluating whether the face recognition systems operated by partner
agencies are sufficiently accurate to meet the FBI's investigative needs .. Once information is
received, it will require additional man hours to review each agency response and then generate
responses to Congress and the Government Accountability Office.. Approval of the template is
necessary before the expiration of the 60-day and 30-day notice periods, because it is the only
way to achieve compliance with the request for additional information from United States House
of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform members. Otherwise, the
FBI CJIS Division Deputy Assistant Director will be unable to provide complete, accurate
information in response to Congressional inquiries. If the normal process for obtaining an Office
of Management and Budg~t (OMB) number is required, adding a 90-day or even a 60-day OMB
clearance process, would prevent the CJIS Division, BSS from being able to solicit the
information needed to comply with requests for information from Congress regarding the FBI
CJIS Division, BSS's use of face recognition technology The questionnaire needs to be
disseminated to agencies beginning June 24, 2019, in order to allow the agencies adequate time
to determine an accurate response, as well, as time to then develop, draft and coordinate a
response to members of the United States House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and
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Government Reform and the Government Accountability Office. The process of coordinating
with the agency contacts and assessing whether the external face recognition systems are
sufficiently accurate for use in support of FBI investigations is critical. Therefore, the C.JI S
Di vision is requesting an emergency processing to fac ilitate this task.
Expedited Approval of the "External Repository Survey" provides a Temporary Measure
to A llow the FBI CJIS Division' s BSS the ability to begin disseminating the template to the
external partners in June 201 9, to allow the agencies ample time to provide a response to the
CJIS Division and for the CJIS Division BSS to evaluate the info rmati on received in response to
the collecti on of information to the United States House of Representatives Committee on
Oversight and Government Reform and the Government Accountability Offi ce ..

Expedited Approval provides a Temporary Measure to Allow the agencies time to
provide a response and the CJIS Division to Develop the external partners time to develop
a response and the CJIS Division time to evaluate the information received in response to
the collection of information within the time limits while the template undergoes the
normal clearance procedures.
Finally, the FBI CJIS Division BSS request for expedited approva l should be granted
because it is a temporary measure to allow the external partners time to develop a response and
the CJIS Division time to evaluate the information received in response to the collection of
information within the time limits while the template undergoes the normal clearance procedures
If additional comments are received during the PRA clearance process, the template can be
amended.
Thank you for your prompt consideration of this request. Please contact Gerry Lynn
Brovey, FBI CJIS Division, Supervisory Info rmation Lia ison Specialist, by email at
or by phone at (3 04) 625-4320 if you have any questions or need additi onal
information.
Sincerely,

~11:,:df!td~~
Section Chief
Biometric Serv ices Secti on,
Criminal Justice Info rmation Services
Division
Federal Bureau of Investigation

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