II

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1379

To amend section 552 of title 5, United States Code, and the National

Security Act of 1947 to require disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act regarding certain persons, disclose Nazi war criminal records

without impairing any investigation or prosecution conducted by the

Department of Justice or certain intelligence matters, and for other

purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

NOVEMBER 5, 1997

Mr. DEWINE (for himself, Mr. MOYNIHAN, Mr. HATCH, Mr. D’AMATO, Mr.

DODD, Mr. KOHL, Mr. COVERDELL, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. INOUYE, Mr.

LEIBERMAN, Ms. SNOWE, Mr. HUTCHINSON, Mr. THURMOND, Mr.

MCCAIN, Mr. SHELBY, Mr. CAMPBELL, and Mr. WYDEN) introduced the

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the

Judiciary

A BILL

To amend section 552 of title 5, United States Code, and

the National Security Act of 1947 to require disclosure

under the Freedom of Information Act regarding certain

persons, disclose Nazi war criminal records without impairing any investigation or prosecution conducted by

the Department of Justice or certain intelligence matters,

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,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Nazi War Crimes Dis3 closure Act’’.

4 SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT OF DISCLOSURE UNDER FREEDOM

5 OF INFORMATION REGARDING PERSONS

6 WHO COMMITTED NAZI WAR CRIMES.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 552 of title 5, United

8 States Code, is amended—

9 (1) in subsection (a)(4)(B) in the second sen10 tence, by inserting ‘‘or subsection (h)’’ after ‘‘sub11 section (b)’’; and

12 (2) by inserting after subsection (g) the follow13 ing:

14 ‘‘(h)(1) For the purposes of this subsection, the term

15 ‘Nazi war criminal records’ means records or portions of

16 records that—

17 ‘‘(A) pertain to any person as to whom the

18 United States Government, in its sole discretion, has

19 determined there exists reasonable grounds to be20 lieve that such person, during the period beginning

21 on March 23, 1933, and ending on May 8, 1945,

22 under the direction of, or in association with—

23 ‘‘(i) the Nazi government of Germany;

24 ‘‘(ii) any government in any area occupied

25 by the military forces of the Nazi government

26 of Germany;
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1 ‘‘(iii) any government established with the

2 assistance or cooperation of the Nazi govern3 ment of Germany; or

4 ‘‘(iv) any government which was an ally of

5 the Nazi government of Germany,

6 ordered, incited, assisted, or otherwise participated

7 in the persecution of any person because of race, re8 ligion, national origin, or political opinion; or

9 ‘‘(B) pertain to any transaction as to which the

10 United States Government, in its sole discretion, has

11 determined there exists reasonable grounds to be12 lieve—

13 ‘‘(i) involved assets taken from persecuted

14 persons during the period beginning on March

15 23, 1933, and ending on May 8, 1945, by,

16 under the direction of, on behalf of, or under

17 authority granted by the Nazi government of

18 Germany or any nation then allied with that

19 government; and

20 ‘‘(ii) such transaction was completed with21 out the assent of the owners of those assets or

22 their heirs or assigns or other legitimate rep23 resentatives.

24 ‘‘(2)(A) Notwithstanding subsection (b), this sub25 section shall apply to Nazi war criminal records.
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1 ‘‘(B) Subject to subparagraphs (C), (D), and (E),

2 Nazi war criminal records that are responsive to a request

3 for records made in accordance with subsection (a) shall

4 be released in their entirety.

5 ‘‘(C) An agency head may exempt from release under

6 subparagraph (B) specific information, the release of

7 which should be expected to—

8 ‘‘(i) constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of

9 personal privacy;

10 ‘‘(ii) reveal the identity of a confidential human

11 source, or reveal information about the application

12 of an intelligence source or method, or reveal the

13 identity of a human intelligence source when the un14 authorized disclosure of that source would clearly

15 and demonstrably damage the national security in16 terests of the United States;

17 ‘‘(iii) reveal information that would assist in the

18 development or use of weapons of mass destruction;

19 ‘‘(iv) reveal information that would impair

20 United States cryptologic systems or activities;

21 ‘‘(v) reveal information that would impair the

22 application of state-of-the-art technology within a

23 United States weapon system;

24 ‘‘(vi) reveal actual United States military war

25 plans that remain in effect;
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1 ‘‘(vii) reveal information that would seriously

2 and demonstrably impair relations between the Unit3 ed States and a foreign government, or seriously and

4 demonstrably undermine ongoing diplomatic activi5 ties of the United States;

6 ‘‘(viii) reveal information that would clearly and

7 demonstrably impair the current ability of United

8 States Government officials to protect the President,

9 Vice President, and other officials for whom protec10 tion services, in the interest of national security, are

11 authorized;

12 ‘‘(ix) reveal information that would seriously

13 and demonstrably impair current national security

14 emergency preparedness plans; or

15 ‘‘(x) violate a statute, treaty, or international

16 agreement.

17 ‘‘(D) In applying exemptions (ii) through (x) of sub18 paragraph (C), there shall be a presumption that the pub19 lic interest in the release of Nazi war criminal records out20 weighs the damage to national security that might reason21 ably be expected to result from disclosure. The agency

22 head, as an exercise of discretion, may rebut this presump23 tion with respect to a Nazi war criminal record, or portion

24 thereof, based on an exemption listed in subparagraph (C).

25 The exercise of this discretion shall be promptly reported
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1 to the committees of Congress with appropriate jurisdic2 tion.

3 ‘‘(E) This subsection shall not apply to records—

4 ‘‘(i) related to or supporting any active or inac5 tive investigation, inquiry, or prosecution by the Of6 fice of Special Investigations of the Department of

7 Justice; or

8 ‘‘(ii) in the possession, custody or control of

9 that office.’’.

10 (b) INAPPLICABILITY OF NATIONAL SECURITY ACT

11 OF 1947 EXEMPTION.—Section 701 of the National Secu12 rity Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 431) is amended—

13 (1) by redesignating subsections (e) and (f) as

14 subsections (f) and (g), respectively; and

15 (2) by inserting after subsection (d) the follow16 ing:

17 ‘‘(e) Subsection (a) shall not apply to any operational

18 file, or any portion of any operational file, that constitutes

19 a Nazi war criminal record under section 552(h) of title

20 5, United States Code.’’.

21 SEC. 3. INTERAGENCY INVENTORY OF NAZI WAR CRIMINAL

22 RECORDS.

23 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section the term—

24 (1) ‘‘agency’’ has the meaning given such term

25 under section 551 of title 5, United States Code;
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1 (2) ‘‘Interagency Group’’ means the Nazi War

2 Criminal Records Interagency Working Group estab3 lished under subsection (b);

4 (3) ‘‘Nazi war criminal records’’ has the mean5 ing given such term under section 552(h)(1) of title

6 5, United States Code (as added by section 2(a)(2)

7 of this Act); and

8 (4) ‘‘record’’ means a Nazi war criminal record.

9 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF INTERAGENCY GROUP.—

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after

11 the date of enactment of this Act, the President

12 shall establish the Nazi War Criminal Records Inter13 agency Working Group.

14 (2) MEMBERSHIP.—The President shall appoint

15 to the Interagency Group the heads of agencies who

16 the President determines will most completely and

17 effectively carry out the functions of the Interagency

18 Group within the time limitations provided in this

19 section. The head of an agency appointed by the

20 President may designate an appropriate officer to

21 serve on the Interagency Group in lieu of the head

22 of such agency.

23 (3) INITIAL MEETING.—Not later than 90 days

24 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Inter-
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1 agency Group shall hold an initial meeting and begin

2 the functions required under this section.

3 (c) FUNCTIONS.—Not later than 1 year after the date

4 of enactment of this Act, the Interagency Group shall, to

5 the greatest extent possible consistent with section

6 552(h)(2) of title 5, United States Code (as added by sec7 tion 2(a)(2) of this Act)—

8 (1) locate, identify, inventory, recommend for

9 declassification, and make available to the public at

10 the National Archives and Records Administration,

11 all Nazi war criminal records of the United States;

12 (2) coordinate with agencies and take such ac13 tions as necessary to expedite the release of such

14 records to the public; and

15 (3) submit a report to Congress describing all

16 such records, the disposition of such records, and

17 the activities of the Interagency Group and agencies

18 under this section.

19 SEC. 4. EXPEDITED PROCESSING OF REQUESTS FOR NAZI

20 WAR CRIMINAL RECORDS.

21 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the term—

22 (1) ‘‘Nazi war criminal record’’ has the mean23 ing given the term under section 552(h)(1) of title

24 5, United States Code (as added by section 2(a)(2)

25 of this Act); and
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1 (2) ‘‘requester’’ means any person who was per2 secuted in the manner described under section

3 552(h)(1)(A) of title 5, United States Code (as

4 added by section 2(a)(2) of this Act), who requests

5 a Nazi war criminal record.

6 (b) EXPEDITED PROCESSING.—For purposes of expe7 dited processing under section 552(a)(6)(E) of title 5,

8 United States Code, any requester of a Nazi war criminal

9 record shall be deemed to have a compelling need for such

10 record.

11 SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.

12 The amendments made by this Act shall apply to re13 quests under section 552 of title 5, United States Code

14 (known as Freedom of Information Act requests) received

15 by an agency after the expiration of the 90-day period be16 ginning on the date of enactment of this Act.

Æ