I

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 5056

To amend the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act to clarify that activities

of the Imperial Government of Japan are included, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 27, 2000

Mr. LANTOS (for himself, Mr. GILMAN, Mr. ACKERMAN, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY,

Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. EVANS, Mr. PORTER, and Mr. WAXMAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on Government Reform

A BILL

To amend the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act to clarify

that activities of the Imperial Government of Japan are

included, and for other purposes.

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Nazi and Japanese

5 World War II War Crimes Disclosure Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE OF JAPANESE WAR CRIMINAL

2 RECORDS.

3 (a) DISCLOSURE OF RECORDS.—Section 3 of the

4 Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act (Public Law 105–246;

5 5 U.S.C. 552 note) is amended—

6 (1) in subsection (a)—

7 (A) by striking ‘‘RECORDS.—’’ and all that

8 follows through ‘‘(1) pertain’’ and inserting

9 ‘‘RECORD.—For purposes of this Act, the term

10 ‘Nazi war criminal record’ means a classified

11 record or portion of a record that—

12 ‘‘(1) pertains’’; and

13 (B) in paragraph (2)—

14 (i) by striking ‘‘pertain to any trans15 action as to which’’ and inserting ‘‘pertains

16 to any transaction which’’; and

17 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking

18 ‘‘such transaction’’;

19 (2) by redesignating subsections (b) and (c) as

20 subsections (c) and (d), respectively;

21 (3) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol22 lowing:

23 ‘‘(b) JAPANESE WAR CRIMINAL RECORD.—For pur24 poses of this Act, the term ‘Japanese war criminal record’

25 means any classified record or portion of a record that—
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1 ‘‘(1) pertains to any person with respect to

2 whom the United States Government, in its sole dis3 cretion, has grounds to believe ordered, incited, as4 sisted, or otherwise participated in the experimen5 tation on or persecution of any person because of

6 race, religion, national origin, or political opinion,

7 during the period beginning on September 18, 1931,

8 and ending on September 2, 1945, under the direc9 tion of, or in association with—

10 ‘‘(A) the Imperial Government of Japan;

11 ‘‘(B) any government in any area occupied

12 by the military forces of the Imperial Govern13 ment of Japan;

14 ‘‘(C) any government established with the

15 assistance or cooperation of the Imperial Gov16 ernment of Japan; or

17 ‘‘(D) any government which was an ally of

18 the Imperial Government of Japan; or

19 ‘‘(2) pertains to any transaction which the

20 United States Government, in its sole discretion, has

21 grounds to believe—

22 ‘‘(A) involved assets taken from persecuted

23 persons during the period beginning on Sep24 tember 18, 1931, and ending on September 2,

25 1945, by, under the direction of, on behalf of,
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1 or under authority granted by the Imperial

2 Government of Japan or any nation then allied

3 with that government; and

4 ‘‘(B) was completed without the assent of

5 the owners of those assets or their heirs or as6 signs or other legitimate representatives.’’;

7 (4) in subsection (c), as so redesignated—

8 (A) in paragraph (1)—

9 (i) by striking ‘‘Nazi War Criminal

10 Records’’; and

11 (ii) by striking ‘‘Nazi war criminal

12 records that are described in subsection

13 (a)’’ and inserting ‘‘all Nazi war criminal

14 records and all Japanese war criminal

15 records’’; and

16 (B) in paragraph (3)(A), by inserting after

17 ‘‘Nazi war criminal records’’ the following: ‘‘or

18 Japanese war criminal records, as the case may

19 be,’’; and

20 (5) in subsection (d), as so redesignated, by

21 striking ‘‘under section 3 of this Act’’ and inserting

22 ‘‘or a Japanese war criminal record’’.

23 (b) EXPEDITED PROCESSING OF FOIA REQUESTS.—

24 Section 4 of the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act (5

25 U.S.C. 522 note) is amended—
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1 (1) in subsection (a), by inserting ‘‘or a Japa2 nese war criminal record’’ after ‘‘Nazi war criminal

3 record’’; and

4 (2) in subsection (b), by inserting before the pe5 riod the following: ‘‘or was persecuted in the manner

6 described in section 3(b)(1) of this Act who requests

7 a Japanese war criminal record’’.

8 SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS AND AUTHORITIES.

9 The Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act is amended by

10 adding at the end the following:

11 ‘‘SEC. 5. COOPERATION BY GOVERNMENT OF JAPAN.

12 ‘‘The Secretary of State shall inform the Government

13 of Japan that all Japanese war criminal records in the

14 custody of the Government of Japan should be made fully

15 and freely available to the United States Government, as

16 requested, and to the public at large.

17 ‘‘SEC. 6. ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT SERVICES.

18 ‘‘The National Archives and Record Administration

19 shall provide administrative support services to the Inter20 agency Group.

21 ‘‘SEC. 7. PROCUREMENT OF TEMPORARY AND INTERMIT22 TENT SERVICES.

23 ‘‘The Chair of the Interagency Group may procure

24 temporary and intermittent services of historical special25 ists to aid in identifying, describing, and assessing the his-
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1 torical significance of Nazi war criminal records and Japa2 nese war criminal records. Such services may be procured

3 without regard to any provision of law requiring adver4 tising by contract bids, without regard to the provisions

5 of title 5, United States Code, governing appointments in

6 the competitive service, and without regard to the provi7 sions of chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53 of

8 that title relating to classification and General Schedule

9 pay rates, except that the level of compensation for such

10 services may not exceed $100 per hour. Such services may

11 not be provided after the end of fiscal year 2001.’’.

12 SEC. 4. TERMINATION OF INTERAGENCY GROUP.

13 Section 2(b)(1) of the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure

14 Act (5 U.S.C. 552 note) is amended by striking ‘‘3’’ and

15 inserting ‘‘5’’.

16 SEC. 5. TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.

17 Section 2 of the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act (5

18 U.S.C. 522 note) is amended—

19 (1) in subsection (a)—

20 (A) in paragraph (2), by adding ‘‘and’’

21 after the semicolon;

22 (B) by striking paragraph (3) and redesig23 nating paragraph (4) as paragraph (3); and
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1 (C) in paragraph (3), as so redesignated,

2 by inserting ‘‘or a Japanese war criminal

3 record’’ after ‘‘criminal record’’; and

4 (2) in subsection (c)—

5 (A) by striking ‘‘Not later than 1 year

6 after the date of enactment of this Act, the’’

7 and inserting ‘‘The’’; and

8 (B) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘all clas9 sified Nazi war criminal records’’ and inserting

10 ‘‘as soon as possible after the date of the enact11 ment of this Act, all Nazi war criminal records,

12 and all Japanese war criminal records,’’.

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