I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1625

To provide a process for declassifying on an expedited basis certain documents

relating to human rights abuses in Guatemala, Honduras, and other regions.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

APRIL 29, 1999

Mr. LANTOS (for himself, Mrs. MORELLA, Mr. PORTER, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr.

SMITH of New Jersey, Ms. MCKINNEY, Mr. BARRETT of Wisconsin, Mr.

BERMAN, Mr. BLAGOJEVICH, Mr. BOUCHER, Mr. BROWN of California,

Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Mr. CLYBURN, Mr. COSTELLO, Mr. COYNE, Mr.

DEFAZIO, Mr. DELAHUNT, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. EVANS, Mr. FARR of California, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. HINCHEY,

Ms. KILPATRICK, Mr. KLECZKA, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Ms. LOFGREN,

Mrs. LOWEY, Mr. LUTHER, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr.

MCNULTY, Mrs. MALONEY of New York, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr. MINGE, Mr. MOAKLEY, Ms. NORTON, Mr. OBERSTAR, Mr.

OLVER, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota, Ms. RIVERS, Mr.

SABO, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. STARK, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SHAYS, Mr.

SMITH of Washington, Mrs. THURMAN, Mr. UNDERWOOD, Mr. WAXMAN,

Mr. WEINER, and Mr. WEXLER) introduced the following bill; which was

referred to the Committee on Government Reform

A BILL

To provide a process for declassifying on an expedited basis

certain documents relating to human rights abuses in

Guatemala, Honduras, and other regions.

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 Congress finds the following:

6 (1) The people of the United States consider

7 the national and international protection and pro8 motion of human rights and the rule of law the most

9 important values of any democracy. The founding

10 fathers defined human rights prominently in the Bill

11 of Rights, giving those rights a special priority and

12 protection in the Constitution.

13 (2) Federal agencies are in possession of docu14 ments pertaining to gross human rights violations

15 abroad which are needed by foreign authorities to

16 document, investigate, and subsequently prosecute

17 instances of continued and systematic gross human

18 rights violations, including those directed against

19 citizens of the United States.

20 (3) The United States will continue to receive

21 requests from foreign authorities for legal assistance

22 regarding human rights violations, including the de23 classification of documents. In addition to requests

24 by Guatemala and Honduras, a Spanish court mag25 istrate, Baltasar Garzon, recently requested from the

26 United States information on General Augusto
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1 Pinochet. Currently, the United States responds to

2 declassification requests by following procedures out3 lined in Presidential directives and executive orders.

4 The overwhelming interest of the United States in

5 the protection and promotion of human rights na6 tionally and internationally requires a significant

7 strengthening of existing declassification procedures,

8 including section 552 of title 5, United States Code

9 (commonly known as the ‘‘Freedom of Information

10 Act’’).

11 (4) The expedient declassification of human

12 rights documents in full compliance with United

13 States security interests according to the procedures

14 outlined in this Act will protect global human rights

15 by strengthening the rule of law internationally, cre16 ating a crucial level of accountability of Federal

17 agencies, and will result in significant saving of Gov18 ernment resources.

19 (5) The commitment to the promotion and pro20 tection of human rights and democracy around the

21 world has led the United States to undertake tre22 mendous diplomatic, economic, and military efforts

23 to end systematic gross human rights violations

24 abroad, consistent with the national interests and

25 international leadership role of the United States. In
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1 addition, countless humanitarian United States non2 governmental organizations and citizens of the

3 United States promote human rights and democracy

4 in foreign countries. These efforts are thwarted if

5 the cycle of impunity for human rights violations is

6 not broken in those countries, and the likelihood of

7 the need for renewed United States engagements in

8 those areas remains.

9 (6) The United States therefore has a signifi10 cant interest that newly established or reestablished

11 democratic societies take credible steps to fully in12 vestigate and prosecute human rights violations.

13 These steps can include the creation of a national or

14 international truth commission or tribunal, the ap15 pointment of a human rights officer, or official na16 tional investigations led by credible sections of the

17 civil society, including churches and nongovern18 mental organizations.

19 (7) The United States has long provided inter20 national leadership to end impunity for gross human

21 rights violations and to promote the rule of law

22 around the world by establishing and supporting the

23 Nuremberg and Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal; in ad24 dition, the United States has actively participated in,
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1 among others, the International War Crimes Tribu2 nals on the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

3 (8) The United States has ratified the Conven4 tion against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or

5 Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which in arti6 cle 9 obligates parties to ‘‘afford one another the

7 greatest measure of assistance in connection with

8 criminal proceedings brought in respect of any [acts

9 of, attempts of, or complicity in acts of torture], in10 cluding the supply of all evidence at their disposal

11 necessary for the proceedings.’’ In addition, as a

12 member State of the Organization of American

13 States, the United States should seek to follow the

14 December 8, 1998, recommendation of the Inter15 American Commission on Human Rights ‘‘that

16 member States of the Organization of American

17 States adopt legislative and such other measures as

18 may be necessary to effectuate the right of free ac19 cess to information in files and documents in the

20 power of the State, particularly in cases of investiga21 tions to establish criminal responsibility for inter22 national crimes and serious violations of human

23 rights.’’

24 (9) The Guatemalan peace accords, which the

25 Government of the United States firmly supports,
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1 included as an important and vital component an in2 vestigation and a report by the Commission for the

3 Historical Clarification of Human Rights Violations

4 and Acts of Violence which have Caused Suffering to

5 the Guatemalan People (referred to in this Act as

6 the ‘‘Clarification Commission’’). Despite the conclu7 sion of this investigation, many questions, including

8 the identity of perpetrators of human rights viola9 tions as well as the location of bodies of the ‘‘dis10 appeared’’, remain unanswered. The Clarification

11 Commission explicitly recommended that ‘‘all avail12 able legal and material resources should be utilized

13 [by the Guatemalan Government] to clarify the

14 whereabouts of the disappeared and, in the case of

15 death, to deliver the remains to the relatives.’’

16 (10) Two days after presenting a parallel inves17 tigation, ‘‘Guatemala: Never Again’’, by the Histor18 ical Memory Recovery Project by the Archbishop of

19 Guatemala, the director of the project, Bishop Juan

20 Jose Gerardi, was assassinated.

21 (11) President Clinton stated in Guatemala on

22 March 10, 1999, that ‘‘[f]or the United States, it is

23 important that I state clearly that support for mili24 tary forces or intelligence units which engaged in

25 violent and widespread repression of the kind de-
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1 scribed in the report [by the Clarification Commis2 sion] was wrong, and the United States must not re3 peat that mistake. We must, and we will, instead,

4 continue to support the peace and reconciliation

5 process in Guatemala.’’

6 (12) The National Commissioner for the Pro7 tection of Human Rights in the Republic of Hon8 duras has been requesting documentation of the

9 United States on human rights violations in Hon10 duras since November 15, 1993. The Commis11 sioner’s request has been partly fulfilled, but aspects

12 of it are still pending.

13 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

14 In this Act:

15 (1) HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD.—The term

16 ‘‘human rights record’’ means a record in the pos17 session, custody, or control of the United States

18 Government containing information about gross vio19 lations of internationally recognized human rights

20 committed after 1944.

21 (2) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ means any

22 agency of the United States Government charged

23 with the conduct of foreign policy or foreign intel24 ligence, including, but not limited to, the Depart25 ment of State, the Agency for International Develop-
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1 ment, the Department of Defense (and all of its

2 components), the Central Intelligence Agency, the

3 National Reconnaissance Office, the Department of

4 Justice (and all of its components), the National Se5 curity Council, and the Executive Office of the

6 President.

7 (3) GROSS VIOLATIONS OF INTERNATIONALLY

8 RECOGNIZED HUMAN RIGHTS.—The term ‘‘gross vio9 lations of internationally recognized human rights’’

10 has the meaning given that term in section

11 502B(d)(1) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961

12 (22 U.S.C. 2304(d)(1)).

13 SEC. 4. IDENTIFICATION, REVIEW, AND PUBLIC DISCLO14 SURE OF HUMAN RIGHTS RECORDS REGARD15 ING GUATEMALA AND HONDURAS.

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi17 sion of law, the provisions of this Act shall govern the de18 classification and public disclosure of human rights

19 records by agencies.

20 (b) IDENTIFICATION OF RECORDS.—Not later than

21 120 days after the date of enactment of this Act, each

22 agency shall identify, review, and organize all human

23 rights records regarding activities occurring in Guatemala

24 and Honduras after 1944 for the purpose of declassifying

25 and disclosing the records to the public. Except as pro-
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1 vided in section 5, all records described in the preceding

2 sentence shall be made available to the public not later

3 than 30 days after a review under this section is com4 pleted.

5 (c) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 150 days

6 after the date of enactment of this Act, the President shall

7 report to Congress regarding each agency’s compliance

8 with the provisions of this Act.

9 SEC. 5. GROUNDS FOR POSTPONEMENT OF PUBLIC DISCLO10 SURE OF RECORDS.

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—An agency may postpone public

12 disclosure of a human rights record or particular informa13 tion in a human rights record only if the agency deter14 mines that there is clear and convincing evidence that—

15 (1) the threat to the military defense, intel16 ligence operations, or conduct of foreign relations of

17 the United States raised by public disclosure of the

18 human rights record is of such gravity that it out19 weighs the public interest, and such public disclosure

20 would reveal—

21 (A) an intelligence agent whose identity

22 currently requires protection;

23 (B) an intelligence source or method—
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1 (i) which is being utilized, or reason2 ably expected to be utilized, by the United

3 States Government;

4 (ii) which has not been officially dis5 closed; and

6 (iii) the disclosure of which would

7 interfere with the conduct of intelligence

8 activities; or

9 (C) any other matter currently relating to

10 the military defense, intelligence operations, or

11 conduct of foreign relations of the United

12 States, the disclosure of which would demon13 strably impair the national security of the

14 United States;

15 (2) the public disclosure of the human rights

16 record would reveal the name or identity of a living

17 individual who provided confidential information to

18 the United States and would pose a substantial risk

19 of harm to that individual;

20 (3) the public disclosure of the human rights

21 record could reasonably be expected to constitute an

22 unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, and that

23 invasion of privacy is so substantial that it out24 weighs the public interest; or
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1 (4) the public disclosure of the human rights

2 record would compromise the existence of an under3 standing of confidentiality currently requiring pro4 tection between a Government agent and a cooper5 ating individual or a foreign government, and public

6 disclosure would be so harmful that it outweighs the

7 public interest.

8 (b) SPECIAL TREATMENT OF CERTAIN INFORMA9 TION.—It shall not be grounds for postponement of disclo10 sure of a human rights record that an individual named

11 in the human rights record was an intelligence asset of

12 the United States Government, although the existence of

13 such relationship may be withheld if the criteria set forth

14 in subsection (a) are met. For purposes of the preceding

15 sentence, the term an ‘‘intelligence asset’’ means a covert

16 agent as defined in section 606(4) of the National Security

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

18 SEC. 6. REQUEST FOR HUMAN RIGHTS RECORDS FROM OF19 FICIAL ENTITIES IN OTHER COUNTRIES.

20 In the event that an agency of the United States re21 ceives a request for human rights records from an entity

22 created by the United Nations, the Organization of Amer23 ican States or a similar entity, a national truth commis24 sion or entity of similar nature, or from the principal jus25 tice or human rights official of a country that is inves-
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1 tigating a pattern of gross violations of internationally rec2 ognized human rights, the agency shall conduct a review

3 of records as described in section 4 and shall declassify

4 and publicly disclose such records in accordance with the

5 standards and procedures set forth in this Act.

6 SEC. 7. REVIEW OF DECISIONS TO WITHHOLD RECORDS.

7 (a) DUTIES OF THE APPEALS PANEL.—The Inter8 agency Security Classification Appeals Panel or any other

9 entity subsequently established by law or Executive order

10 and charged with carrying out the functions currently car11 ried out by such Panel (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Ap12 peals Panel’’) shall review all determinations by an agency

13 to postpone public disclosure of any human rights record.

14 (b) DETERMINATIONS OF THE APPEALS PANEL.—

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Appeals Panel shall di16 rect that all human rights records be disclosed to the

17 public, unless the Appeals Panel determines that

18 there is clear and convincing evidence that—

19 (A) the record is not a human rights

20 record; or

21 (B) the human rights record or particular

22 information in the human rights record quali23 fies for postponement of disclosure pursuant to

24 section 5.
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1 (2) TREATMENT IN CASES OF NONDISCLO2 SURE.—If the Appeals Panel concurs with an agency

3 decision to postpone disclosure of a human rights

4 record, the Appeals Panel shall determine, in con5 sultation with the originating agency and consistent

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

7 any, of the alternative forms of disclosure described

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

9 (3) ALTERNATIVE FORMS OF DISCLOSURE.—

10 The forms of disclosure described in this paragraph

11 are as follows:

12 (A) Disclosure of any reasonably seg13 regable portion of the human rights record

14 after deletion of the portions described in para15 graph (1).

16 (B) Disclosure of a record that is a sub17 stitute for information which is not disclosed.

18 (C) Disclosure of a summary of the infor19 mation contained in the human rights record.

20 (4) NOTIFICATION OF DETERMINATION.—

21 (A) IN GENERAL.—Upon completion of its

22 review, the Appeals Panel shall notify the head

23 of the agency in control or possession of the

24 human rights record that was the subject of the

25 review of its determination and shall, not later
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1 than 14 days after the determination, publish

2 the determination in the Federal Register.

3 (B) NOTICE TO PRESIDENT.—The Appeals

4 Panel shall notify the President of its deter5 mination. The notice shall contain a written un6 classified justification for its determination, in7 cluding an explanation of the application of the

8 standards contained in section 5.

9 (5) GENERAL PROCEDURES.—The Appeals

10 Panel shall publish in the Federal Register guide11 lines regarding its policy and procedures for adjudi12 cating appeals.

13 (c) PRESIDENTIAL AUTHORITY OVER APPEALS

14 PANEL DETERMINATION.—

15 (1) PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OR POSTPONEMENT

16 OF DISCLOSURE.—The President shall have the sole

17 and nondelegable authority to review any determina18 tion of the Appeals Panel under this Act, and such

19 review shall be based on the standards set forth in

20 section 5. Not later than 30 days after the Appeals

21 Panel’s determination and notification to the agency

22 pursuant to subsection (b)(4), the President shall

23 provide the Appeals Panel with an unclassified writ24 ten certification specifying the President’s decision

25 and stating the reasons for the decision, including in
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1 the case of a determination to postpone disclosure,

2 the standards set forth in section 5 which are the

3 basis for the President’s determination.

4 (2) RECORD OF PRESIDENTIAL POSTPONE5 MENT.—The Appeals Panel shall, upon receipt of

6 the President’s determination, publish in the Federal

7 Register a copy of any unclassified written certifi8 cation, statement, and other materials transmitted

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

10 postponement of disclosure of a human rights

11 record.

12 SEC. 8. REPORT REGARDING OTHER HUMAN RIGHTS

13 RECORDS.

14 Upon completion of the review and disclosure of the

15 human rights records relating to Guatemala and Hon16 duras, the Information Security Policy Advisory Council,

17 established pursuant to Executive Order No. 12958, shall

18 report to Congress on the desirability and feasibility of

19 declassification of human rights records relating to other

20 countries. The report shall be available to the public.

21 SEC. 9. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.

22 (a) FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT.—Nothing in

23 this Act shall be construed to limit any right to file a re24 quest with any executive agency or seek judicial review of
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1 a decision pursuant to section 552 of title 5, United States

2 Code.

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

4 construed to preclude judicial review, under chapter 7 of

5 title 5, United States Code, of final actions taken or re6 quired to be taken under this Act.

7 SEC. 10. CREATION OF POSITIONS.

8 For purposes of carrying out the provisions of this

9 Act, there shall be 2 additional positions in the Appeals

10 Panel. The President shall appoint individuals who are not

11 employees of the United States who have demonstrated

12 substantial human rights expertise and who are able to

13 meet the security requirements for the positions. The

14 President shall seek recommendations with respect to such

15 positions from nongovernmental human rights organiza16 tions.

Æ