Bring Our Heroes Home Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 5646 To provide for the creation of the Missing Armed Forces Personnel Records Collection at the National Archives, to require the expeditious public transmission to the Archivist and public disclosure of Missing Armed Forces Personnel records, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 16, 2020 Mr. PAPPAS (for himself and Mr. FULCHER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform A BILL To provide for the creation of the Missing Armed Forces Personnel Records Collection at the National Archives, to require the expeditious public transmission to the Ar- chivist and public disclosure of Missing Armed Forces Personnel records, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Bring Our Heroes 4 Home Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Jan 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5646.IH H5646 2 •HR 5646 IH SEC. 2. FINDINGS, DECLARATIONS, AND PURPOSES. 1 (a) FINDINGS AND DECLARATIONS.—Congress finds 2 and declares the following: 3 (1) A vast number of records relating to Miss- 4 ing Armed Forces Personnel have not been identi- 5 fied, located, or transferred to the National Archives 6 following review and declassification. Only in the 7 rarest cases is there any legitimate need for contin- 8 ued protection of records pertaining to Missing 9 Armed Forces Personnel who have been missing for 10 decades. 11 (2) There has been insufficient priority placed 12 on identifying, locating, reviewing, or declassifying 13 records relating to Missing Armed Forces Personnel 14 and then transferring the records to the National 15 Archives for public access. 16 (3) Mandates for declassification set forth in 17 multiple Executive orders have been broadly written, 18 loosely interpreted, and often ignored by Federal 19 agencies in possession and control of records related 20 to Missing Armed Forces Personnel. 21 (4) No individual or entity has been tasked with 22 oversight of the identification, collection, review, and 23 declassification of records related to Missing Armed 24 Forces Personnel. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Jan 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5646.IH H5646 3 •HR 5646 IH (5) The interest, desire, workforce, and funding 1 of Federal agencies to assemble, review, and declas- 2 sify records relating to Missing Armed Forces Per- 3 sonnel have been lacking. 4 (6) All records of the Federal Government re- 5 lating to Missing Armed Forces Personnel should be 6 preserved for historical and governmental purposes 7 and for public research. 8 (7) All records of the Federal Government re- 9 lating to Missing Armed Forces Personnel should 10 carry a presumption of declassification, and all such 11 records should be disclosed under this Act to enable 12 the fullest possible accounting for Missing Armed 13 Forces Personnel. 14 (8) Legislation is necessary to create an en- 15 forceable, independent, and accountable process for 16 the public disclosure of records relating to Missing 17 Armed Forces Personnel. 18 (9) Legislation is necessary because section 552 19 of title 5, United States Code (commonly known as 20 the ‘‘Freedom of Information Act’’), as implemented 21 by Federal agencies, has prevented the timely public 22 disclosure of records relating to Missing Armed 23 Forces Personnel. 24 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Jan 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5646.IH H5646 4 •HR 5646 IH (1) to provide for the creation of the Missing 1 Armed Forces Personnel Records Collection at the 2 National Archives; and 3 (2) to require the expeditious public trans- 4 mission to the Archivist and public disclosure of 5 Missing Armed Forces Personnel records, subject to 6 narrow exceptions, as set forth in this Act. 7 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 8 In this Act: 9 (1) ARCHIVIST.—The term ‘‘Archivist’’ means 10 Archivist of the United States. 11 (2) COLLECTION.—The term ‘‘Collection’’ 12 means the Missing Armed Forces Personnel Records 13 Collection established under section 4(a). 14 (3) EXECUTIVE AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Executive 15 agency’’— 16 (A) means an agency, as defined in section 17 552(f) of title 5, United States Code; and 18 (B) includes any Executive department, 19 military department, Government corporation, 20 Government controlled corporation, or other es- 21 tablishment in the executive branch of the Fed- 22 eral Government, including the Executive Office 23 of the President, any branch of the Armed 24 Forces, and any independent regulatory agency. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Jan 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5646.IH H5646 5 •HR 5646 IH (4) EXECUTIVE BRANCH MISSING ARMED 1 FORCES PERSONNEL RECORD.—The term ‘‘executive 2 branch Missing Armed Forces Personnel record’’ 3 means a Missing Armed Forces Personnel record of 4 an Executive agency, or information contained in 5 such a Missing Armed Forces Personnel record ob- 6 tained by or developed within the executive branch 7 of the Federal Government. 8 (5) GOVERNMENT OFFICE.—The term ‘‘Govern- 9 ment office’’ means an Executive agency, the Li- 10 brary of Congress, or the National Archives. 11 (6) MISSING ARMED FORCES PERSONNEL.— 12 (A) DEFINITION.—The term ‘‘Missing 13 Armed Forces Personnel’’ means 1 or more 14 missing persons. 15 (B) INCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘Missing 16 Armed Forces Personnel’’ includes an indi- 17 vidual who was a missing person and whose sta- 18 tus was later changed to ‘‘missing and pre- 19 sumed dead’’. 20 (7) MISSING ARMED FORCES PERSONNEL 21 RECORD.—The term ‘‘Missing Armed Forces Per- 22 sonnel record’’ means a record that relates, directly 23 or indirectly, to the loss, fate, or status of Missing 24 Armed Forces Personnel that— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Jan 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5646.IH H5646 6 •HR 5646 IH (A) was created or made available for use 1 by, obtained by, or otherwise came into the cus- 2 tody, possession, or control of— 3 (i) any Government office; 4 (ii) any Presidential library; or 5 (iii) any of the Armed Forces; and 6 (B) relates to 1 or more Missing Armed 7 Forces Personnel who became missing persons 8 during the period— 9 (i) beginning on December 7, 1941; 10 and 11 (ii) ending on the date of enactment 12 of this Act. 13 (8) MISSING PERSON.—The term ‘‘missing per- 14 son’’ has the meaning given that term in section 15 1513 of title 10, United States Code. 16 (9) NATIONAL ARCHIVES.—The term ‘‘National 17 Archives’’— 18 (A) means the National Archives and 19 Records Administration; and 20 (B) includes any component of the Na- 21 tional Archives and Records Administration (in- 22 cluding Presidential archival depositories estab- 23 lished under section 2112 of title 44, United 24 States Code). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Jan 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5646.IH H5646 7 •HR 5646 IH (10) OFFICIAL INVESTIGATION.—The term ‘‘of- 1 ficial investigation’’ means a review, briefing, in- 2 quiry, or hearing relating to Missing Armed Forces 3 Personnel conducted by a Presidential commission, 4 committee of Congress, or agency, regardless of 5 whether it is conducted independently, at the request 6 of any Presidential commission or committee of Con- 7 gress, or at the request of any official of the Federal 8 Government. 9 (11) ORIGINATING BODY.—The term ‘‘origi- 10 nating body’’ means the Government office or other 11 initial source that created a record or particular in- 12 formation within a record. 13 (12) PUBLIC INTEREST.—The term ‘‘public in- 14 terest’’ means the compelling interest in the prompt 15 public disclosure of Missing Armed Forces Personnel 16 records for historical and governmental purposes, for 17 public research, and for the purpose of fully inform- 18 ing the people of the United States, most impor- 19 tantly families of Missing Armed Forces Personnel, 20 about the fate of the Missing Armed Forces Per- 21 sonnel and the process by which the Federal Govern- 22 ment has sought to account for them. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Jan 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5646.IH H5646 8 •HR 5646 IH (13) RECORD.—The term ‘‘record’’ has the 1 meaning given the term ‘‘records’’ in section 3301 of 2 title 44, United States Code. 3 (14) REVIEW BOARD.—The term ‘‘Review 4 Board’’ means the Missing Armed Forces Personnel 5 Records Review Board established under section 7. 6 SEC. 4. MISSING ARMED FORCES PERSONNEL RECORDS 7 COLLECTION AT THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES. 8 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF COLLECTION.—Not later 9 than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the 10 Archivist shall— 11 (1) commence establishment of a collection of 12 records to be known as the ‘‘Missing Armed Forces 13 Personnel Records Collection’’; 14 (2) commence preparing the subject guidebook 15 and index to the Collection; and 16 (3) establish criteria for Executive agencies to 17 follow when transmitting copies of Missing Armed 18 Forces Personnel Records to the Archivist, to in- 19 clude required metadata. 20 (b) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 180 days after 21 the date of enactment of this Act, the Review Board shall 22 promulgate rules to establish guidelines and processes for 23 the disclosure of records contained in the Collection. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Jan 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5646.IH H5646 9 •HR 5646 IH SEC. 5. REVIEW, IDENTIFICATION, TRANSMISSION TO THE 1 NATIONAL ARCHIVES, AND PUBLIC DISCLO- 2 SURE OF MISSING ARMED FORCES PER- 3 SONNEL RECORDS BY GOVERNMENT OF- 4 FICES. 5 (a) IN GENERAL.— 6 (1) PREPARATION.—As soon as practicable 7 after the date of enactment of this Act, and suffi- 8 ciently in advance of the deadlines established under 9 this Act, each Government office shall— 10 (A) identify and locate any Missing Armed 11 Forces Personnel records in the custody, pos- 12 session, or control of the Government office; 13 and 14 (B) prepare for transmission to the Archi- 15 vist in accordance with the criteria established 16 by the Archivist a copy of any Missing Armed 17 Forces Personnel records that have not pre- 18 viously been transmitted to the Archivist by the 19 Government office. 20 (2) CERTIFICATION.—Each Government office 21 shall submit to the Archivist, under penalty of per- 22 jury, a certification indicating— 23 (A) whether the Government office has 24 conducted a thorough search for all Missing 25 Armed Forces Personnel records in the custody, 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Jan 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5646.IH H5646 10 •HR 5646 IH possession, or control of the Government office; 1 and 2 (B) whether a copy of any Missing Armed 3 Forces Personnel record has not been trans- 4 mitted to the Archivist. 5 (3) PRESERVATION.—No Missing Armed 6 Forces Personnel record shall be destroyed, altered, 7 or mutilated in any way. 8 (4) EFFECT OF PREVIOUS DISCLOSURE.—Infor- 9 mation that was made available or disclosed to the 10 public before the date of enactment of this Act in a 11 Missing Armed Forces Personnel record may not be 12 withheld, redacted, postponed for public disclosure, 13 or reclassified. 14 (5) WITHHELD AND SUBSTANTIALLY RE- 15 DACTED RECORDS.—For any Missing Armed Forces 16 Personnel record that is transmitted to the Archivist 17 which a Government office proposes to substantially 18 redact or withhold in full from public access, the 19 head of the Government office shall submit an un- 20 classified and publicly releasable report to the Archi- 21 vist, the Review Board, and each appropriate com- 22 mittee of the Senate and the House of Representa- 23 tives justifying the decision of the Government office 24 to substantially redact or withhold the record by 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Jan 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5646.IH H5646 11 •HR 5646 IH demonstrating that the release of information would 1 clearly and demonstrably be expected to cause an ar- 2 ticulated harm, and that the harm would be of such 3 gravity as to outweigh the public interest in access 4 to the information. 5 (b) REVIEW.— 6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 7 after the date of enactment of this Act, each Gov- 8 ernment office shall, in accordance with the criteria 9 established by the Archivist and the rules promul- 10 gated under paragraph (2)— 11 (A) identify, locate, copy, and review each 12 Missing Armed Forces Personnel record in the 13 custody, possession, or control of the Govern- 14 ment office for transmission to the Archivist 15 and disclosure to the public or, if needed, re- 16 view by the Review Board; and 17 (B) cooperate fully, in consultation with 18 the Archivist, in carrying out paragraph (3). 19 (2) REQUIREMENT.—The Review Board shall 20 promulgate rules for the disclosure of relevant 21 records by Government offices under paragraph (1). 22 (3) NATIONAL ARCHIVES RECORDS.—Not later 23 than 180 days after the date of enactment of this 24 Act, the Archivist shall— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Jan 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5646.IH H5646 12 •HR 5646 IH (A) locate and identify all Missing Armed 1 Forces Personnel records in the custody of the 2 National Archives as of the date of enactment 3 of this Act that remain classified, in whole or 4 in part; 5 (B) notify a Government office if the Ar- 6 chivist locates and identifies a record of the 7 Government office under subparagraph (A); and 8 (C) make each classified Missing Armed 9 Forces Personnel record located and identified 10 under subparagraph (A) available for review by 11 Executive agencies through the National De- 12 classification Center established under Execu- 13 tive Order 13526. 14 (4) RECORDS ALREADY PUBLIC.—A Missing 15 Armed Forces Personnel record that is in the cus- 16 tody of the National Archives on the date of enact- 17 ment of this Act and that has been publicly available 18 in its entirety without redaction shall be made avail- 19 able in the Collection without any additional review 20 by the Archivist, the Review Board, or any other 21 Government office under this Act. 22 (c) TRANSMISSION TO THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES.— 23 Each Government office shall— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Jan 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5646.IH H5646 13 •HR 5646 IH (1) not later than 180 days after the date of 1 enactment of this [Text truncated for display. 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