The Census Bureau’s mission is to collect and provide comprehensive data about the nation’s people and economy. Core activities include conducting decennial, economic, and government censuses; conducting demographic and economic surveys; managing international demographic and socioeconomic databases; providing technical advisory services to foreign governments; and performing other activities such as producing official population estimates and projections. The Census Bureau is part of the Department of Commerce and is in the department’s Economics and Statistics Administration, led by the Under Secretary for Economic Affairs. It is headed by a director and is organized into directorates corresponding to key programmatic and administrative functions, as depicted in figure 1. To support the IT operations for all of its activities, including those related to decennial censuses, the Census Bureau reported that it planned to spend $384 million on major IT investments in fiscal year 2012. The Census Bureau’s mission to plan, take, process, and publish the results of censuses and surveys requires the work of thousands of people and, increasingly, the use of automation to compile the information. For nearly 100 years, census data were tabulated by clerks who made tally marks or added columns of figures with a pen or a pencil. As the nation grew and there were more people, items, and characteristics to count, speedier tabulation methods had to be invented or the results of one census would not be processed before it was time for the next one. In 1880, the bureau used a “tabulating machine”—a wooden box in which a roll of paper was threaded past an opening where a clerk marked the tallies in various columns and then added up the marks when the roll was full—which made tabulating at least twice as fast as the previously-used manual processes. By 1950, mechanical tabulating improved to 2,000 items per minute. In 1951, the bureau used the first large-scale electronic computer, UNIVAC I, designed and built specifically for its use. This machine was able to tabulate 4,000 items per minute. Beginning in 1970, the bureau took advantage of new high-speed equipment that converted data on computer tape directly to words and numbers on off-set negative film used in publishing. Then, in the mid-1980s, statistics were made available on diskettes for use in microcomputers and users were able to obtain statistics online. In the later 1980s, the bureau began testing CD-ROM (compact disc/read-only memory) laser disks as a medium for releasing data. The 2000 census demonstrated probably the biggest leap forward in the use of technology for collecting and disseminating data. The bureau’s previous response scanning system (which dated to the 1950s) was replaced with optical character recognition technology, allowing the bureau to design a respondent-friendly (instead of machine-friendly) questionnaire in which write-in responses could also be captured electronically. In addition, the bureau’s previous online data system from the 1990s evolved into online data available through the Census Bureau’s website. Further technological advances were made in the 2010 Decennial Census through the use of handheld computers for parts of census operations and the integration of Global Positioning System information into Census Bureau maps. While advances in capturing and tabulating census data can improve the bureau’s ability to fulfill its mission, the costs for these improvements have been high. The 2010 Decennial Census, at $13 billion, was the most expensive U.S. census in history. One reason for this was the greater- than-anticipated use of paper-based processing due to performance issues with key IT systems, which increased the price of the census by almost $3 billion. Based on these past trends, the cost of the next decennial census could reach approximately $25 billion, although, thus far, the bureau is planning to spend roughly $12 to $18 billion. For many years, each decennial census was conducted pursuant to a specific act of Congress. In 1954, that body of acts was brought together in Title 13 of the United States Code, the laws under which the Census Bureau operates. Title 13 spells out the basic scope of the censuses and surveys, the requirements for the public to provide information as well as for the Census Bureau to keep that information confidential, and the penalties for violating these obligations. Specifically, the bureau may not disclose or publish any private information that identifies an individual or business, such as names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and telephone numbers. Other federal laws, including the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2002 and the Privacy Act of 1974, reinforce these protections. According to bureau documentation, the bureau takes several steps to protect the public’s personal information. For example, it displays its data protection and privacy principles on its website, pledges to remove personally identifiable information—such as names, telephone numbers, and addresses—from data files, and uses various approaches to protect personal information, including computer technologies, statistical methodologies, and security procedures. For example, according to the bureau, names and addresses are removed from forms, the remaining information is transferred to a machine readable form, and the original questionnaires are then destroyed. Before any census tabulation is published, it is checked to make certain that no individual, household, or organization can be identified, and that information cannot be inferred by reading the table or by analyzing the figures it contains. Every person who works with the bureau’s confidential information takes an oath to uphold the law. Violating the confidentiality of a respondent is a federal crime with serious penalties, including a federal prison sentence of up to 5 years, a fine of up to $250,000, or both. According to the Census Bureau, results from previous censuses are stored in secure locations. In the case of population and housing census data, the questionnaires are microfilmed before destruction and the microfilm is stored in the bureau’s National Processing Center in Jeffersonville, Indiana, where an individual or an heir or legal representative may obtain information for proof of age or residence in the form of an official transcript. Copies of population census schedules from 1790 through 1940, are available for research at the National Archives, on the Internet, and at libraries in various parts of the country, but subsequent records are closed to the public for 72 years to protect the confidentiality of the information they contain. (The Freedom of Information Act, designed to make records available to individuals, does not apply to identifiable data the Census Bureau collects for statistical purposes.) The bureau’s IT operations are divided among three locations: Census Bureau headquarters in Suitland, Maryland; the Bowie Computing Center in Bowie, Maryland; and the National Processing Center in Jeffersonville, Indiana. See figure 2 for a depiction of the Census Bureau’s network. At these locations, the Census Bureau’s information systems are organized into 27 “CENs,” with each CEN containing a set of information resources that share the same direct management control. These systems include networks, telecommunications, and specific applications. Headquarters develops national policies and is the primary location hosting the bureau’s statistical programs. The Bowie Computing Center is the bureau’s primary data center, and the National Processing Center is the bureau’s primary location for mailing, receiving, and scanning data from hard copy survey forms. The bureau has additional facilities nationwide, including field offices, regional data centers, and call centers. Many of the bureau’s enterprise IT resources and services are managed by the Information Technology Directorate, which is led by the Associate Director for Information Technology, who serves as the Chief Information Officer for the bureau. Within the IT Directorate, three offices play key roles in administering Census Bureau IT operations: (1) the Telecommunications Office, at headquarters in Suitland, is responsible for operating the wide area network that provides connectivity among headquarters, major sites, regional offices, and other government agencies; (2) the Local Area Network Technologies Support Office, also located in Suitland, manages end user desktops, core productivity applications, and connectivity from user workstations to the core network; and (3) the Computer Services Division, located in Bowie, manages server operations across the bureau. Responsibility for other key IT systems lies within other bureau organizations, and the majority of the bureau’s IT staff are located outside of the bureau’s IT Directorate. According to the Census Bureau, of 1,148 IT staff, the IT Directorate has 256, Economic Programs has 262, the Decennial Census has 156, Field Operations has 185, and Demographic Programs has 123. In addition, according to the bureau, the IT Directorate was allocated $130 million in fiscal year 2012 to be spent on systems it manages and $254 million was allocated for systems managed by other directorates. The Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA) requires each federal agency to develop, document, and implement an agencywide information security program to provide security for the information and information systems that support the operations and assets of the agency, including those provided or managed by other agencies, contractors, or other sources. The Secretary of Commerce is responsible for ensuring that the department, including the Census Bureau, provides an information security program, commensurate with risk, for information collected or maintained by or on behalf of the agency, and information systems used or operated by the agency or on its behalf. The Secretary, as agency head is also responsible for ensuring that senior agency officials, such as the Under Secretary for Economic Affairs who oversees the Census Bureau, provide information security for the operations and assets under their control. The Director of the Census Bureau is accountable to the Department of Commerce for the Census Bureau’s information security program, and has delegated oversight of the program to the bureau’s Chief Information Officer. The Census Bureau’s Chief Information Officer has appointed the bureau’s Chief Information Security Officer to serve as the bureau’s Senior Agency Information Security Officer. The Chief Information Security Officer is responsible for ensuring that the bureau’s information security program follows applicable federal laws.