The Honorable William M. Daley
Secretary of Commerce
Washington, DC 20230

Dear Mr. Secretary:

On behalf of the Census Bureau, I am pleased to forward a summary of the refined operational plan for Census 2000. [PDF] This 13-page summary reflects the refinements the Bureau has made based on our experience in the Dress Rehearsal as well as adjustments responsive to the recent Supreme Court decision.

The Census Bureau firmly believes that the plan here summarized adheres to the goals for Census 2000: the Census Bureau is dedicated to delivering to the nation a census that is as complete and accurate as possible. I can assure the country that the Census 2000 plan is the finest and most modern plan ever conceived by the Bureau. Regrettably, given existing social trends that make completing the population counts for apportionment purposes more difficult with each new decade, it will take this enhanced effort just to meet the level of accuracy experienced in 1990. For all other purposes the plan includes an Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation (ACE) that will produce the most accurate counts.

Though it is in the nature of a census that no plan is "final," the commodity now in shortest supply is time. I therefore stress that there is little elasticity in this plan if the Census Bureau is to meet its statutory and Constitutional obligations. The thousands of Bureau employees employed in the 12-year process of designing and engineering the census must immediately devote their full attention to its implementation.

Finally, the success of Census 2000 depends on the full faith and confidence of the American public in this great undertaking. We will need the cooperation of tens of thousands of public and private institutions to bolster that confidence and to achieve the highest level of participation. Anything that undermines the faith in this civic effort will only impede the achievement of that goal.

Sincerely,

Kenneth Prewitt
Director