Proposed Collection; Comment Request

AGENCY:

Department of the Army, Department of Defense (DoD).

ACTION:

Information collection notice.

SUMMARY:

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Defense Forensics and Biometrics Agency announces a proposed public information collection and seeks public comment on the provisions thereof. Comments are invited on: Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information shall have practical utility; the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed information collection; ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and ways to minimize the burden of the information collection on respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

DATES:

Consideration will be given to all comments received by July 6, 2021.

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: The DoD cannot receive written comments at this time due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Comments should be sent electronically to the docket listed above.

Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name, docket 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.

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 Forensics and Biometrics Agency, 251 18th Street Suite 244A, Arlington, VA 22202, ATTN: Mr. Russell Wilson, or call (703) 571-0388.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Title; Associated Form; and OMB Number: Defense Biometric Identification Records System; OMB Control Number 0702-0127.

Needs and Uses: The DoD Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) is an authoritative biometrics data repository that processes, matches, and stores biometric identity information data, collected by global U.S. forces, during the course of military operations. Biometric data may also be collected for use in field identification and recovery of persons, or their physical remains, who have been captured, detained, missing, prisoners of war (POW), or personnel recovered from hostile control. The information processed by DoD ABIS (biometric, biographic, behavioral, and contextual data) is collected by DoD military personnel worldwide using hand-held biometric collection devices across the full range of military operations for DoD warfighting, intelligence, law enforcement, security, force protection, base access, homeland defense, counterterrorism, business enterprise purposes, and also in information environment mission areas. It also includes biometric data from individuals collected from interagency or foreign partners' data repositories.

Affected Public: Individuals or households.

Annual Burden Hours: 201,872.917.

Number of Respondents: 2,422,475.

Responses per Respondent: 1.

Annual Responses: 2,422,475.

Average Burden per Response: 5 minutes.

Frequency: As Required.

The information collected and processed by DoD ABIS is shared, accessed, and leveraged by DoD partners, U.S. Government inter-agency agency and departmental stakeholders, and approved multi-national partners, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) for intelligence, counterterrorism, military force protection, national security, and law enforcement purposes. DoD provides collected and processed information to the FBI/Terrorist Screening Center (TSC) to place individuals on National Watchlists. Required biometric fields for every record include: Name, ten (10) fingerprints, and two (2) iris scans. All other data fields in DoD ABIS, such as Social Security Number (SSN), are optional and vary based on each record and situation.