Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 127 / Monday, July 1, 1996 / Proposed Rules 33891

States Code, Crimes and Criminal

Procedures, and the Internal Security

Act of 1950, as amended, title 50,

United States Code, prescribe, under

certain circumstances, criminal

penalties for the unauthorized

disclosure of information respecting the

national security, and for loss,

destruction, or compromise of such

information.

(viii) That this statement is made to

the U.S. Government to enable it to

exercise its responsibilities for the

protection of information affecting the

national security.

(ix) That the applicant understands

that any material false statement that the

applicant makes knowingly and

willfully will subject the applicant to

the penalties of 18 U.S.C. 1001.

(4) The security office will process the

forms in the same manner as specified

for a preappointment national agency

check for a critical-sensitive position.

Upon receipt of the completed national

agency check, the security office, if

warranted, may determine that access

by the applicant to the information will

be clearly consistent with the interests

of national security and the person to be

granted access is trustworthy. If deemed

necessary, before making its

determination, the office may conduct

or request further investigation. Before

access is denied in any case, the matter

will be referred through channels to the

Director of Security for review and

submission to the Personnel Security

Review Board for final review.

(5) If access to TOP SECRET or

intelligence or communications security

information is involved a special

background investigation is required.

However, this investigation will not be

requested until the matter has been

referred through channels to the

Director of Security for determination as

to adequacy of the justification and the

consent of other agencies as required.

(6) When it is indicated that an

applicant’s research may extend to

material originating in the records of

another agency, approval must be

obtained from the other agency prior to

the grant of access.

(7) Approvals for access will be valid

for the duration of the current research

project but no longer than 2 years from

the date of issuance, unless renewed. If

a subsequent request for similar access

is made by the individual within 1 year

from the date of completion of the

current project, access may again be

granted without obtaining a new

National Agency Check. If more than 1

year has elapsed, a new National

Agency Check must be obtained. The

local security office will promptly

advise its headquarters security staff of

all approvals of access granted under

these provisions.

(8) An applicant may be given access

only to that classified information that

is directly pertinent to the applicant’s

approved project. The applicant may

review files or records containing

classified information only in offices

under the control of the Department.

Procedures must be established to

identify classified material to which the

applicant is given access. The applicant

must be briefed on local procedures

established to prevent unauthorized

access to the classified material while in

the applicant’s custody, for the return of

the material for secure storage at the end

of the daily working period, and for the

control of the applicant’s notes until

they have been reviewed. In addition to

the security review of the applicant’s

manuscript, the manuscript must be

reviewed by appropriate offices to

assure that it is technically accurate

insofar as material obtained from the

Department is concerned, and is

consistent with the Department’s public

release policies.

(b) Former Presidential appointees.

Persons who previously occupied

policymaking positions to which they

were appointed by the President may be

granted access to classified information

or material that they originated,

reviewed, signed, or received, while in

public office, provided that:

(1) It is determined that such access

is clearly consistent with the interests of

national security; and

(2) The person agrees to safeguard the

information, to authorize a review of the

person’s notes to assure that classified

information is not contained therein,

and that the classified information will

not be further disseminated or

published.

§ 8.31 Industrial security.

(a) Background. The National

Industrial Security Program was

established by Executive Order 12829 of

January 6, 1993 for the protection of

information classified pursuant to

Executive Order 12356 of April 2, 1982,

National Security Information, or its

predecessor or successor orders, and the

Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended.

The Secretary of Defense serves as the

Executive Agent for inspecting and

monitoring contractors, licensees,

grantees, and certificate holders that

require or will require access to, or that

store or will store, classified

information, and for determining the

eligibility for access to classified

information of contractors, licensees,

certificate holders, and grantees, and

their respective employees.

(b) Implementing regulations. The

Secretary of Transportation has entered

into agreement for the Secretary of

Defense to render industrial security

services for the Department of

Transportation. Regulations prescribed

by the Secretary of Defense to fulfill the

provisions of Executive Order 12829

have been extended to protect release of

classified information for which the

Secretary of Transportation is

responsible. Specifically, this regulation

is DOD 5220.22–M, National Industrial

Security Program Operating Manual.

This regulation is effective within the

Department of Transportation, which

functions as a User Agency as

prescribed in the regulation.

Appropriate security staffs, project

personnel, and contracting officers

assure that actions required by the

regulation are taken.

Issued in Washington, DC, on May 31,

1996.

Federico Pen ̄ a,

Secretary of Transportation.

[FR Doc. 96–16524 Filed 6–28–96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–62–P

National Highway Traffic Safety

Administration

49 CFR Part 571

[Docket No. 96–066; Notice 01]

RIN 2127–AG19

Federal Motor Vehicle Safety

Standards; Lamps, Reflective Devices,

and Associated Equipment; Heavy

Truck Conspicuity; Evaluation Plan

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic

Safety Administration (NHTSA), DOT.

ACTION: Request for comment on

proposed collection of information.

SUMMARY: NHTSA is initiating a study to

evaluate the safety effects of the

Conspicuity Systems requirement

(Section 5.7) of Federal Motor Vehicle

Safety Standard (FMVSS) No.108,

‘‘Lamps, Reflective Devices, and

Associated Equipment. To carry out the

study, NHTSA has requested that

special motor vehicle crash data be

collected by two state law enforcement

agencies. Before a Federal agency can

collect certain information, it must

receive approval from the Office of

Management and Budget (OMB). Under

procedures established by the

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995,

before seeking OMB approval, Federal

Agencies must solicit public comment

on the proposed collection of
33892 Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 127 / Monday, July 1, 1996 / Proposed Rules

information. In compliance with these

procedures, NHTSA requests comments

on the issues contained at the end of

this notice.

DATES: Comments must be received by

August 30, 1996.

ADDRESSES: Comments should refer to

the docket and notice numbers set forth

above and be submitted to the Docket

Section, NHTSA, Room 5109, 400

Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC

20590 (Docket hours are from 9:30 a.m.

to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday). It is

requested, but not required, that one

original plus 2 copies of the comments

be provided.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Charles J. Kahane, Chief, Evaluation

Division, Office of Strategic Planning

and Evaluation, National Highway

Traffic Safety Administration, 400

Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC

20590. Telephone: (202) 366–1574. (For

information on OMB processing

procedures for the proposed information

collection, contact: Ed Kosek, NHTSA

Information Collection Clearance

Officer, NHTSA, 400 Seventh Street

SW., Washington, DC 20590. Telephone

(202) 366–2589).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In

September 1992, the NHTSA amended

FMVSS Number 108 (49 CFR 571.108),

‘‘Lamps, Reflective Devices, and

Associated Equipment’’. This revision,

effective December 1, 1993, requires that

heavy truck trailers (i.e., those 80 or

more inches in width with a Gross

Vehicle Weight Rating over 10,000

pounds) manufactured after this date be

equipped with retroreflective material

(57 FR 58406). Two types of material are

permitted—(1) retroreflective sheeting,

or tape, and (2) reflex reflectors. The

purpose of the material is to reduce

traffic accidents, and resulting deaths

and injuries, by increasing the visibility

of heavy truck trailer combination

vehicles and making them more

conspicuous to other motorists.

Nighttime collisions of other vehicles

into the sides and rear of large tractor

trailer trucks are the primary types of

crashes targeted to be reduced by the

retroreflective material.

Under Executive Order 12866,

‘‘Regulatory Planning and Review’’ (58

FR 51735), NHTSA is required to

conduct periodic evaluations to assess

the effectiveness of the vehicle safety

standards it has promulgated. These

studies estimate the actual safety

benefits achieved by the standards and

provide a basis for assessing whether

the standards are functioning as

intended. Typically, the evaluation

studies consist of the analyses of

highway crash data which compare the

experience of vehicles equipped with a

given standard with the experience of

vehicles not equipped with the

standard. In addition to all trailers

manufactured since December 1993,

which are required to have conspicuity

marking, some companies have also

equipped their older trailers with the

material. Trailers equipped prior to

December 1993 sometimes used colors

and patterns which differ from those

specified in the standard. A data

collection effort is planned to provide

crash information for the purpose of

evaluating the safety effects of the

conspicuity requirement under FMVSS

No.108. NHTSA will analyze the data to

estimate the safety benefits, in terms of

crashes, injuries, and fatalities avoided

that can be attributed to the

requirement.

It is proposed that the data be

collected by state law enforcement

officers (i.e., state police) who

investigate and report on highway motor

vehicle crashes as part of their regularly

assigned duties. For each crash

involving a large truck trailer

combination vehicle, the information to

be provided will consist of a copy of the

standard state accident report, which is

regularly filed with applicable state

authorities, plus a special accident

report supplement designed to record

data specific to the study of the effects

of the retroreflective material on the

trailers. The officers investigating the

heavy truck crashes will complete the

data items on the supplement for each

such crash occurring within their

jurisdiction. Data from both the report

supplement and the corresponding state

accident report are required in order to

evaluate the safety effects of the

conspicuity standard. Two states,

Pennsylvania and Florida, are being

proposed as the data collection sites. All

state-reported crashes of tractor trailer

combination vehicles which occur

within the boundaries of the two states

will be reported. A tractor trailer

combination vehicle is defined as a

truck tractor pulling one or two

trailers—i.e., tractor with semi-trailer or

tractor with double trailers.

The data to be provided to NHTSA

will consist of two parts. Part 1 will be

a copy of the official state motor vehicle

accident report involving a heavy truck

tractor combination vehicle that is filed

with the applicable authorities in the

states where the study is being

conducted. Part 2 will consist of the

special supplement to each state motor

vehicle accident report for the

designated truck crashes. A copy of the

proposed supplement, ‘‘Investigator’s

Supplementary Truck-Tractor Trailer

Accident Report,’’ is shown in the

accompanying illustration. The

instructions for completing the

supplement are also shown. The

supplement would be printed as a onepage form with the report form on one

side and the instructions on the other

side. In order to have sufficient data for

a definitive statistical evaluation, it is

proposed that the two states collect and

provide the specified information for a

two-year period. The accident reports

would be collected at the state level and

forwarded to NHTSA on a monthy basis.

NHTSA estimates that the reporting

burden per heavy truck crash report will

average 30 minutes. This includes the

time to review the instructions,

complete the accident report

supplement, transmit the information

(state report plus supplement), and to

coordinate and oversee the collection at

the state level. Based on recent crash

statistics from the two selected states, it

is estimated that approximately 2,000

reports of tractor trailer crashes per year

will be reported by each state. The

number of respondents (officers who file

reports for the designated crashes)

cannot be precisely determined, but

based on the annual number of crashes

and the size of the law enforcement

agencies in the two states, the typical

officer would complete one report per

year. In actuality, some officers may

complete no reports while others could

complete several reports. This will be a

function of where, throughout the state

road systems, the crashes occur, and the

specific officers who have investigation

and reporting jurisdiction over those

areas at the time the crashes occur. The

total reporting burden for the proposed

information collection project is

therefore best estimated on the basis of

the total estimated number of crashes

expected to be reported. For the two

study states over the two-year period, it

is estimated that 8,000 crashes will be

reported. Thus, the total reporting

burden is estimated at 4,000 hours

(8,000 crashes times 0.5 hours per

crash).

NHTSA has consulted with the two

selected states and has obtained their

consent to support the agency in its

evaluation study of retroreflective

marking on heavy truck trailers. In

compliance with the requirements of the

Office of Management and Budget (5

CFR part 1320, ‘‘Reporting and

Recordkeeping Requirements,’’ effective

August 29, 1995), NHTSA requests

comments on the proposed collection of

information. Comments will be used by

the agency in:

a. Evaluating whether the proposed

collection of information is necessary

for the proper performance of the

functions of the agency, including
Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 127 / Monday, July 1, 1996 / Proposed Rules 33893

whether the information will have

practical utility;

b. Evaluating the accuracy of the

agency’s estimate of the burden of the

proposed collection of information,

including the validity of the

methodology and assumptions used;

c. Enhancing the quality, utility, and

clarity of the information to be

collected; and

d. Minimizing the burden of the

collection of information on those who

are to respond, including through the

use of appropriate automated electronic,

mechanical, or other technological

collection techniques or other forms of

information technology, e.g., permitting

electronic submission of responses.

Submission of Comments

Interested persons are invited to

submit comments. All comments

received before the close of business on

the comment closing date will be

considered and will be available for

examination in the docket at the above

address both before and after that date.

To the extent possible, comments filed

after the closing date will also be

considered.

Authority: 44 U. S. C. 3506 (c); delegation

of authority at 49 CFR 1.50.

L. Robert Shelton,

Acting Associate Administrator for Plans and

Policy.

BILLING CODE 4910–59–P
33894 Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 127 / Monday, July 1, 1996 / Proposed Rules
Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 127 / Monday, July 1, 1996 / Proposed Rules 33895

[FR Doc. 96–16697 Filed 6–28–96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–59–C