JUSTIFICATION FOR EMERGENCY REVIEW
Crisis Assistance Request Form - Ukraine, OMB Number 1405-XXXX.
On January 23, the U.S. Department of State authorized the voluntary departure of non-emergency U.S. government employees. At the same time, the Department ordered departure of family members of U.S. government employees at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv. Additionally, Department elevated our previous Travel Advisory for Ukraine to Level Four – Do Not Travel due to the increased threats of Russian military action. (The Travel Advisory was already at Level Four – Do Not Travel due to COVID-19.) The Department took these actions out of an abundance of caution due to continued Russian efforts to destabilize the country and undermine the security of Ukrainian citizens and others visiting or residing in Ukraine.
Subsequent to those actions, as reflected in a February 14 press statement from the Secretary of State and a February 12 Travel Advisory update, the Department has taken further steps to warn Americans to leave Ukraine, and is now in the process of temporarily relocating our Embassy operations from our Embassy in Kyiv to Lviv due to the dramatic acceleration in the buildup of Russian forces.
With respect to U.S. citizens in Ukraine, the Department’s primary role is to keep the U.S. citizen community informed of safety and security developments. The Secretary’s press statement and the Travel Advisory ask U.S. citizens in Ukraine to complete an online form – the information collection that is the subject of this emergency review request – so that the Department may better understand and effectively communicate with them about individual consular assistance they may need. The form, available at https://cacms.state.gov/s/crisis-intake, asks U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents (LPRs) currently in Ukraine to share information about their current plans, the number of people in their group, and their exact location. It also asks for their latest contact information, and contact information for an emergency contact not currently in Ukraine.
The Department is using this online form to acquire the most current and accurate data possible to inform our consular assistance efforts. It will allow us to build a more current picture of how many U.S. citizens plan to remain in Ukraine and any who may need reimbursable loan assistance to depart. The online form helps avoid unstructured requests for assistance, such as those that arrive via e-mail messages, which may not include important information, such as family size and their biodata, and which often require entry into other systems in order to facilitate responses. This form is integrated with other elements of the Department’s evolving information technology platform used in crisis-management situations, enhancing the efficient handling of individual cases.
The Department has therefore determined that:
This collection is necessary without allowing for the time period normally associated with a routine submission for review under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act. As President Biden has said, military action by Russia could come at any time. Russia has amassed upwards of 100,000 troops on Ukraine’s borders and is conducting disinformation and destabilization operations, including preparing potential cyber attacks and other actions that may disrupt communications infrastructure. If Russia chooses further escalation, then the security conditions, particularly along Ukraine’s borders, in Russia-occupied Crimea, and in Russia-controlled eastern Ukraine, are unpredictable and can deteriorate with little notice. The information collection allows the Department to build a more current picture of how many U.S. citizens plan to remain in Ukraine and any who may need reimbursable loan assistance or other consular services in order to depart.
This collection is essential to the mission of the Department of State, which has no higher priority than the safety and welfare of U.S. citizens overseas. The purpose of the collection is to enable the Department to better communicate with U.S. citizens and LPRs who may be in need of assistance in departing Ukraine, amid continued Russian efforts to destabilize the country and undermine the security of Ukrainian citizens and others visiting or residing there.
The use of normal clearance procedures would prevent the Department from obtaining this information on a timely basis, amid increased threats of Russian military action and security conditions that are unpredictable and could deteriorate with little notice.
In light of the foregoing, the Department of State requests OMB’s formal emergency review and approval of this information collection.
/s Karin King
Karin
King, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Overseas Citizens Services,
Bureau of Consular Affairs
February 15, 2022
Department of State.
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| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| File Title | Justification for Emergency Review |
| Author | MorganGM |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2022-03-01 |