Attachment
2, DepSecDef memo: "Ensuring the Quality of Information Disseminated to the
Public"
Definitions
1. Affected persons. Persons who may benefit, be harmed, or otherwise
affected by the disseminated information. This includes persons who
are seeking to address information about themselves as well as persons
who use information. "Persons" includes groups, organizations
and corporations as defined by the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of
1995.
2. Dissemination. Component initiated or sponsored distribution of information
to the public. Dissemination does not include distribution limited
to: government employees or component contractors or grantees; intra-
or inter-Component use or sharing of government information; and responses
to requests for Component records under the Freedom of Information Act,
the Privacy Act, the Federal Advisory Committee Act or other similar
law. This definition also does not include distribution limited to:
correspondence with individuals or persons, press releases, archival
records, public filings, subpoenas or adjudicative processes.
3. Influential. When used in the context of
scientific, financial, or statistical information, means that the Component
can reasonably determine that dissemination of the information will
have or does have clear and substantial impact on important public policies
or important private sector decisions. Each Component is authorized
to define "influential" in ways appropriate given the nature
and multiplicity of issues for which the Component is responsible.
4.
Information. Any communication or representation of
knowledge such as facts or data, in any medium or form, including textual,
numerical, graphic, cartographic, narrative, or audiovisual forms.
This definition includes information that a Component disseminates from
a web page, but does not include the provision of hyperlinks to information
that others disseminate. This definition does not include opinions,
where the Component's presentation makes it clear that what is being
offered is someone's opinion rather than fact or the Component's views.
4.1. Specific
types of information that are not subject to these guidelines
4.1.2.
Distribution of information that is limited to government
employees, Component contractors or grantees.
4.1.3.
Intra or inter-Component or other Department or Agency
use of sharing of government information including responses to requests
under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Privacy Act, the Federal
Advisory Committee Act, or other similar laws.
4.1.4.
Distribution of correspondence
with individuals or persons.
4.1.5.
Information limited to
subpoenas and adjudicative processes.
4.1.6.
Information that has previously been disseminated to
the public and is subsequently presented to Congress as part of the
legislative or oversight processes, including testimony of officials,
and information or drafting assistance provided to Congress in connection
with pending or proposed legislation.
4.1.7.
Press releases and other information advising the public
of an event or activity.
4.1.8.
Procedural, operational, policy, and internal manuals
prepared for the management and operations of the Component that are
not primarily intended for public dissemination, including personnel
notices such as vacancy announcements.
4.1.9.
Information that is not otherwise disseminated to the
public.
4.1.10.
Applicability of these
DoD information quality guidelines may be waived by any DoD agent, for
information disseminated under urgent situations, including imminent
or credible threats to national defense and security.
5. Information disseminating activity. Any
organization, office, entity or activity, not limited to the public
affairs activity, that provides official information directly to the
public.
6. Information
dissemination product. Any book, paper, map, machine-readable material, audiovisual production,
or other documentary material, regardless of physical form or characteristic,
a Component disseminates to the public. This definition includes any
electronic document, CD-ROM, or web page.
7. Integrity. Refers to the security of information -- protection of
the information from unauthorized access or revision, to ensure that
the information is not compromised through corruption or falsification.
8. Objectivity. Involves two distinct elements, presentation and substance.
8.1. "Objectivity"
includes whether disseminated information is being presented in an accurate,
clear, complete, and unbiased manner. The information must also be
presented in the proper context. Sometimes, in disseminating certain
types of information to the public, other information must also be disseminated
in order to ensure an accurate, clear, complete, and unbiased presentation.
Also, the Component must identify the sources of the disseminated information
(to the extent possible, consistent with confidentiality protections)
and, in a scientific, financial, or statistical context, the supporting
data and models, so that the public can assess for itself whether there
may be some reason to question the objectivity of the sources. Where
appropriate, supporting data (including classified data) should have
full, accurate, transparent documentation, and error sources affecting
data quality should be identified and disclosed to users when possible.
8.2. In addition, "objectivity"
involves ensuring accurate and reliable information, including classified
information. In a scientific, financial, or statistical context, the
original and supporting data shall be generated, and the analytical
results shall be developed, using sound statistical and research methods.
8.2.1. If the data and analytical results have been subjected to formal,
independent, external peer review, the information can generally be
considered of acceptable objectivity. However, this presumption is
rebuttable based on persuasive showing by the petitioner in a particular
instance.
8.2.2. In those situations involving dissemination
of influential scientific, financial, or statistical information, a
high degree of transparency of data and methods must be ensured to facilitate
the reproducibility of such information by qualified third parties.
8.2.3. Components
shall not require that all disseminated original and supporting data
be subjected to the reproducibility requirement. Components may identify
those particular types of data that can practicably be subjected to
the reproducibility requirement, given ethical, feasibility, or confidentiality
constraints.
8.2.4. Making the data and models publicly available
will assist in determining whether analytical results are capable of
being substantially reproduced. However, these guidelines do not alter
the otherwise applicable standards and procedures for determining when
and how information is disclosed. Thus, the objectivity standard does
not override other compelling interests such as privacy, trade secret,
intellectual property and other confidentiality protections such as
security classifications.
9. Quality. An encompassing
term comprising utility, objectivity, and integrity. Therefore, the
guidelines sometimes refer to these four statutory terms, collectively,
as "quality."
10. Reproducibility.
The information is capable of being substantially reproduced, subject
to an acceptable degree of imprecision. For information
judged to have more (less) important impacts, the degree of imprecision
that is tolerated is reduced (increased). If Components apply the reproducibility
test to specific types of original and supporting data, standards for
replication of laboratory data shall be established. With respect to
analytic results, "capable of being substantially reproduced''
means that independent analysis of the original or supporting data using
identical methods would generate similar analytic results, subject to
an acceptable degree of imprecision or error.
11. Transparent/Transparency.
The practice of describing the data and methods of developing an information
product in a way that it would be possible for an independent individual
or organization to reproduce the results.
12. Utility. Refers to the relevance and timeliness
of information to its intended users, including the public. In assessing
the usefulness of information that the Component disseminates to the
public, the Component needs to consider the uses of the information
not only from the perspective of the Component but also from the perspective
of the public.
