Commerce, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor, the Internal Revenue Service Statistics of Income Division of the U.S. Department of Treasury, the National Institute on Aging of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the National Center for Education Statistics of the U.S. Department of Education, and, through their general contributions to the work of the Committee on National Statistics, several other federal agencies.

The panel accomplished its work in several different ways. Prior to the first meeting of the panel, and as a foundation for the panel's work, the Committee on National Statistics and the Social Science Research Council sponsored two workshops: the Longitudinal Retirement History Workshop, held in September 1987, and the Workshop on Confidentiality of and Access to Doctorate Records, held in November 1988. In January 1991 the panel sponsored a workshop on confidentiality of and access to National Center for Education Statistics data. A conference on disclosure limitation approaches and data access was held in March 1991. The panel held nine deliberative meetings from November 1989 through January 1992. The panel also met with representatives from the federal statistical community, privacy advocates, and other concerned individuals and organizations. Finally, the panel commissioned papers to inform its deliberations, including several papers that served as background for the Workshop on Confidentiality of and Access to National Center for Education Statistics Data and the Conference on Disclosure Limitation Approaches and Data Access (see below).

The panel held nine meetings in Washington, D.C., between November 1989 and January 1992. Through presentations by agency representatives at these meetings, the panel was informed about the complexities and realities of the missions of the agencies and the role that those missions and environment play in agencies' efforts to protect confidentiality while permitting access to data for research. Agency representatives identified important aspects of confidentiality and data access and provided information on the subtleties of some of the problems they face in dealing with these issues. In addition, the panel held lengthy discussions with researchers, privacy advocates, and others about data sharing and record linkage, statistical disclosure limitation, administrative policies of the agencies, legislative problems and solutions, the needs of researchers, and the needs of the federal statistical agencies. The length, duration, and number of meetings was intended to encourage debate and ultimately develop consensus on the issues. Throughout