I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2534

To promote human rights, democracy, and the rule of law by providing 

a process for executive agencies for declassifying on an expedited basis 

and disclosing certain documents relating to human rights abuses in 

countries other than the United States. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 19, 2003

Mr. LANTOS (for himself, Mr. SHAYS, Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mrs. MALONEY, Mr. LAHOOD, Mr. 

KUCINICH, Ms. NORTON, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. COOPER, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, 

Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. DEFAZIO, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. 

ABERCROMBIE, Mr. MCNULTY, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. SANDLIN, Mr. 

BROWN of Ohio, Mr. DELAHUNT, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. STARK, Mr. 

OLVER, and Mr. FILNER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Government Reform 

A BILL

To promote human rights, democracy, and the rule of law 

by providing a process for executive agencies for declassifying on an expedited basis and disclosing certain documents relating to human rights abuses in countries other 

than the United States.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Human Rights Infor3 mation Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

5 The Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) The commitment to the promotion and pro7 tection of human rights, democracy, and the rule of 

8 law around the world has led the United States to 

9 undertake tremendous diplomatic, economic, and 

10 military efforts to end systematic gross human 

11 rights violations abroad, consistent with the national 

12 interests and international leadership role of the 

13 United States. Such efforts are thwarted if the cycle 

14 of impunity for human rights violations in countries 

15 other than the United States is not broken, and the 

16 likelihood of the need for renewed United States en17 gagements in those countries remains. 

18 (2) The United States has a significant interest 

19 that newly established or reestablished democratic 

20 societies take credible steps to fully investigate and 

21 prosecute human rights violations. Such steps could 

22 include the creation of a national or international 

23 truth commission or tribunal, the appointment of a 

24 human rights officer, or the leading of official na25 tional investigations by credible sections of the civil 
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1 society, including religious institutions and non2 governmental organizations. 

3 (3) Executive agencies are in possession of doc4 uments pertaining to gross human rights violations 

5 abroad that are needed by foreign authorities to doc6 ument, investigate, and subsequently prosecute in7 stances of continued and systematic gross human 

8 rights violations, including those directed against 

9 citizens of the United States. 

10 (4) The overwhelming importance to the United 

11 States of investigations by foreign authorities of 

12 gross human rights violations and the urgency of re13 quests for legal assistance which the United States 

14 will continue to receive from foreign entities require 

15 a systematic process of expedited declassification 

16 and disclosure of documents pertaining to such gross 

17 human rights violations. 

18 (5) After a 36-year history of being open to for19 eign requesters, the Freedom of Information Act 

20 (section 552 of title 5, United States Code) was 

21 amended in the 107th Congress by the Intelligence 

22 Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2003 (Public Law 

23 107–306) to prohibit agencies within the intelligence 

24 community from making records available to foreign 

25 entities or their representatives. 
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1 (6) Only an expedited systematic process can 

2 help ensure timely investigations of perpetrators of 

3 gross and systematic human rights violations and 

4 provide families with urgently needed information 

5 regarding the fate of relatives, including information 

6 making possible the location, identification, and bur7 ial of the remains of family members who have been 

8 killed, helping to bring closure for those families and 

9 beginning the process of national reconciliation. 

10 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

11 In this Act: 

12 (1) HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD.—The term 

13 ‘‘human rights record’’ means a record in the pos14 session, custody, or control of the United States 

15 Government containing information about gross vio16 lations of internationally recognized human rights 

17 committed in a country other than the United 

18 States, except that such term does not include any 

19 record submitted to or compiled by the Immigration 

20 and Naturalization Service or its successors (includ21 ing the Bureau of Border Security and the Bureau 

22 of Citizenship and Immigration Services). 

23 (2) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ means the 

24 National Archives and Records Administration (and 

25 all the Presidential libraries it maintains), the Na-
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1 tional Security Council, the Office of National Drug 

2 Control Policy, and any executive agency of the 

3 United States Government charged with the conduct 

4 of foreign policy or foreign intelligence, including,

5 but not limited to, the Department of State, the De6 partment of Justice, the Department of Defense, the 

7 Central Intelligence Agency, the Agency for Inter8 national Development, and the National Reconnais9 sance Office, except that such term does not include 

10 the Immigration and Naturalization Service or its 

11 successors (including the Bureau of Border Security 

12 and the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration 

13 Services). 

14 (3) APPEALS PANEL.—The term ‘‘Appeals 

15 Panel’’ means the Interagency Security Classifica16 tion Appeals Panel created by Executive Order num17 ber 12958 (or any successor entity or review proce18 dure).

19 (4) GROSS VIOLATIONS OF INTERNATIONALLY

20 RECOGNIZED HUMAN RIGHTS.—The term ‘‘gross vio21 lations of internationally recognized human rights’’ 

22 has the meaning given that term in section 

23 502B(d)(1) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 

24 (22 U.S.C. 2304(d)(1)). 
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1 (5) INTERNATIONAL BONA FIDE REQUEST.—

2 The term ‘‘international bona fide request’’ means a 

3 request for a human rights record from an indi4 vidual or entity (such as an entity created by the 

5 United Nations, a regional international organiza6 tion, a national truth commission, or the principal 

7 justice or human rights official of a country) that is 

8 carrying out an official mandate to investigate a pat9 tern of gross violations of internationally recognized 

10 human rights, pursuant to a proceeding that—

11 (A) is a credible examination or investiga12 tion conducted in accordance with the mandate 

13 of the entity or official; 

14 (B) is carried out in accordance with inter15 national law, including laws regarding appro16 priate jurisdiction of the person or entity car17 rying out the proceeding; and 

18 (C) does not threaten to violate due proc19 ess or other internationally recognized human 

20 rights. 

21 (6) INTERNATIONAL LAW.—The term ‘‘inter22 national law’’ means the rules and principles of gen23 eral application dealing with the conduct and rela24 tions of nations and international organizations. 
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1 SEC. 4. DETERMINATIONS REQUIRED REGARDING RE2 QUESTS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS RECORDS.

3 (a) DETERMINATION REQUIRED.—If the President 

4 or the head of an agency receives a request for a human 

5 rights record from an individual or entity (such as an enti6 ty created by the United Nations, a regional international 

7 organization, a national truth commission, or the principal 

8 justice or human rights official of a country) that is car9 rying out an official mandate to investigate a pattern of 

10 gross violations of internationally recognized human 

11 rights, not later than 60 days after the receipt of such 

12 request the President (or the Attorney General on behalf 

13 of the President) shall make a determination whether such 

14 request is an international bona fide request. 

15 (b) PROCEDURES IN CASE OF POSITIVE DETERMINA16 TION.—If the President (or the Attorney General on be17 half of the President) makes a determination that a re18 quest under subsection (a) is an international bona fide 

19 request, not later than 120 days after the date that the 

20 President or Attorney General makes such determination, 

21 the heads of the appropriate agencies shall identify, re22 view, and organize all human rights records with respect 

23 to such request for the purpose of declassifying and dis24 closing the records to the public. Except as provided in 

25 section 5 and subsection (d), all records described in the 

26 preceding sentence shall be made available to the public 
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1 not later than 30 days after the date that a review under 

2 this subsection is completed. 

3 (c) PROCEDURES IN CASE OF NEGATIVE DETER4 MINATION.—If the President (or the Attorney General on 

5 behalf of the President) makes a determination that a re6 quest under subsection (a) is not an international bona 

7 fide request, such determination, and a detailed expla8 nation regarding such determination, shall be published 

9 in the Federal Register not later than 90 days after the 

10 date that such request is received. 

11 (d) CONFIDENTIALITY TO PROTECT ONGOING IN12 VESTIGATIONS.—

13 (1) DISCLOSURE OF RECORDS ON CONFIDEN14 TIAL BASIS.—The head of an agency disclosing 

15 human rights records as a result of a positive deter16 mination under subsection (b) may, at the agency 

17 head’s initiative or at the request of the individual 

18 or entity that submitted the request for records, dis19 close such records to the individual or entity on a 

20 confidential basis if the agency head determines that 

21 confidential disclosure is necessary to avoid jeopard22 izing an ongoing investigation. 

23 (2) DELAYED PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF

24 RECORDS.—If the agency head determines that con25 fidential disclosure of records under paragraph (1) is 
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1 necessary, the agency head may withhold such 

2 records from public disclosure until the agency head 

3 determines, in consultation with the individual or en4 tity that submitted the request, that the need for 

5 confidentiality no longer exists. 

6 SEC. 5. GROUNDS FOR POSTPONEMENT OF DISCLOSURE OF 

7 RECORDS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—The head of an agency may post9 pone disclosure of a human rights record or particular in10 formation in a human rights record under this Act only 

11 if the head of the agency determines that there is clear 

12 and convincing evidence that—

13 (1) the threat to the military defense, intel14 ligence operations, or conduct of foreign relations of 

15 the United States that would result from disclosure 

16 of the human rights record is of such gravity that 

17 it outweighs the public interest, and such disclosure 

18 would reveal—

19 (A) an intelligence agent whose identity re20 quires protection; 

21 (B) an intelligence source or method—

22 (i) which is being utilized, or reason23 ably expected to be utilized, by the United 

24 States Government; 
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1 (ii) which has not been officially dis2 closed; and 

3 (iii) the disclosure of which would 

4 interfere with the conduct of intelligence 

5 activities; or 

6 (C) any other matter currently relating to 

7 the military defense, intelligence operations, or

8 conduct of foreign relations of the United 

9 States, the disclosure of which would demon10 strably impair the national security of the 

11 United States; 

12 (2) the disclosure of the human rights record—

13 (A) would reveal the name or identity of a 

14 living individual who provided confidential in15 formation to the United States; and

16 (B) would pose a substantial risk of harm 

17 to such individual or to any member of the fam18 ily, friend, or associate of such individual; 

19 (3) the disclosure of the human rights record 

20 could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwar21 ranted invasion of personal privacy, and that inva22 sion of privacy would be so substantial that it out23 weighs the public interest; or 

24 (4) the disclosure of the human rights record 

25 would compromise the existence of an understanding 
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1 of confidentiality requiring protection between a 

2 United States Government agent and a cooperating 

3 individual or a foreign government, and disclosure 

4 would be so harmful that it outweighs the public in5 terest. 

6 (b) SPECIAL TREATMENT OF CERTAIN INFORMA7 TION.—It shall not be grounds for postponement of disclo8 sure of a human rights record that an individual named 

9 in the human rights record was an intelligence asset of 

10 the United States Government, although the existence of 

11 such relationship may be withheld if any of the criteria 

12 set forth in subsection (a) are met. For purposes of the 

13 preceding sentence, the term ‘‘intelligence asset’’ means 

14 a covert agent as defined in section 606(4) of the National 

15 Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 426(4)). 

16 SEC. 6. REVIEW OF DETERMINATIONS TO WITHHOLD 

17 RECORDS.

18 (a) DUTIES OF THE APPEALS PANEL.—The Appeals 

19 Panel shall review all determinations by the head of an 

20 agency to postpone disclosure of a record under this Act. 

21 (b) DETERMINATIONS OF THE APPEALS PANEL.—

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Appeals Panel may up23 hold a determination by the head of an agency to 

24 postpone disclosure of a record under this Act only 
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1 if the Appeals Panel determines that there is clear 

2 and convincing evidence that—

3 (A) the record is not a human rights 

4 record; or 

5 (B) the record or particular information in 

6 the record qualifies for postponement of disclo7 sure under section 5. 

8 (2) TREATMENT IN CASES OF NONDISCLO9 SURE.—If the Appeals Panel concurs with an agency 

10 decision to postpone disclosure of a record under 

11 this Act, the Appeals Panel shall determine, in con12 sultation with the head of the agency and consistent 

13 with the standards set forth in this Act, which, if 

14 any, of the alternative forms of disclosure described 

15 in paragraph (3) shall be made by the agency.

16 (3) ALTERNATIVE FORMS OF DISCLOSURE.—

17 The forms of disclosure under this paragraph are 

18 the following: 

19 (A) Disclosure of any reasonably seg20 regable portion of the human rights record 

21 after deletion of the portions described in para22 graph (1)(B). 

23 (B) Disclosure of a record that is a sub24 stitute for information that is not disclosed. 
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1 (C) Disclosure of a summary of the infor2 mation in the human rights record. 

3 (4) NOTIFICATION OF DETERMINATION.—

4 (A) IN GENERAL.—Upon completion of a 

5 review under this section, the Appeals Panel 

6 shall notify the head of the agency in control or 

7 possession of the record that was the subject of 

8 the review of its determination and shall, not

9 later than 14 days after the determination, pub10 lish the determination in the Federal Register. 

11 (B) NOTICE TO PRESIDENT.—The Appeals 

12 Panel shall notify the President of a determina13 tion under this section. The notice shall contain 

14 a written unclassified justification for the deter15 mination, including an explanation of the appli16 cation of the criteria set forth in section 5. 

17 (5) GENERAL PROCEDURES.—The Appeals 

18 Panel shall publish in the Federal Register guide19 lines regarding its policy and procedures for adjudi20 cating appeals under this section. 

21 (c) PRESIDENTIAL REVIEW OF APPEALS PANEL DE22 TERMINATIONS.—

23 (1) DISCLOSURE OR POSTPONEMENT OF DIS24 CLOSURE.—The President shall have the sole and 

25 nondelegable authority to review any determination 
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1 of the Appeals Panel under this Act, and such re2 view shall be based on the criteria set forth in sec3 tion 5. If the Appeals Panel overturns the deter4 mination of the head of an agency to withhold 

5 records from declassification, not later than 30 days 

6 after the Appeals Panel’s determination and notifi7 cation to the head of the agency under subsection 

8 (b)(4), the President shall provide the Appeals Panel 

9 with an unclassified written certification specifying 

10 the President’s determination and stating the rea11 sons for the decision, including, in the case of a de12 termination to postpone disclosure, the criteria set 

13 forth in section 5 that are the basis for the Presi14 dent’s determination.

15 (2) RECORD OF PRESIDENTIAL POSTPONE16 MENT.—The Appeals Panel shall, upon receipt of 

17 the President’s determination, publish in the Federal 

18 Register a copy of any unclassified written certifi19 cation, statement, and other materials transmitted 

20 by or on behalf of the President with regard to the 

21 postponement of disclosure of a record under this 

22 Act. 
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1 SEC. 7. IDENTIFICATION, REVIEW, AND PUBLIC DISCLO2 SURE OF CERTAIN HUMAN RIGHTS RECORDS.

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days after the 

4 date of the enactment of this Act, the head of each agency 

5 shall identify, review, and organize all human rights 

6 records regarding activities occurring in Guatemala and 

7 Honduras for the purpose of declassifying and disclosing 

8 such records to the public. Except as provided in section 

9 5, all records described in the preceding sentence shall be 

10 made available to the public not later than 30 days after 

11 the date that a review under this section is completed.

12 (b) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 150 days 

13 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the President 

14 shall report to Congress regarding each agency’s compli15 ance with the provisions of this section. 

16 SEC. 8. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi18 sion of law, the provisions of this Act shall govern the de19 classification and public disclosure of human rights 

20 records by executive agencies. 

21 (b) JUDICIAL REVIEW.—Nothing in this Act shall be 

22 construed to preclude judicial review, under chapter 7 of 

23 title 5, United States Code, of final actions taken or re24 quired to be taken under this Act. For purposes of this 

25 Act, determinations by the Attorney General made on be26 half of the President under section 4(a) shall be subject 
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1 to the same standard of judicial review as determinations 

2 by the President.

3 SEC. 9. CREATION OF ADDITIONAL POSITIONS FOR AP4 PEALS PANEL. 

5 Two additional positions shall be created for the Ap6 peals Panel solely for purposes of carrying out the provi7 sions of this Act. In filling such positions, the President—

8 (1) shall appoint individuals who—

9 (A) were not involved in making deter10 minations that could be reviewed by the Ap11 peals Panel; 

12 (B) have demonstrated substantial human 

13 rights expertise; and 

14 (C) are able to meet the security require15 ments for such positions; and 

16 (2) shall seek recommendations with respect to 

17 such positions from nongovernmental human rights 

18 organizations.

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