I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5006 

To direct the Secretary of State to take certain actions for the declassification 

and publication of materials relating to the Afghanistan withdrawal, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 27, 2023 

Mr. ISSA (for himself, Mr. MAST, Mr. WALTZ, and Mr. MILLS) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of State to take certain actions 

for the declassification and publication of materials relating to the Afghanistan withdrawal, 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. DECLASSIFICATION REVIEW AND PUBLICATION 

4 OF MATERIALS RELATING TO AFGHANISTAN 

5 WITHDRAWAL. 

6 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con7 gress that the American people deserve to understand the 

8 events and decision-making which resulted in the chaotic 


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1 withdrawal of United States personnel from Afghanistan 

2 in 2021. 

3 (b) DISSENT CHANNEL CABLE RELATING TO AF4 GHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL.— 

5 (1) SUBMISSION TO CONGRESS.— 

6 (A) SUBMISSION.—Not later than 5 days 

7 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

8 Secretary of State shall submit to the Com9 mittee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Rep10 resentatives and the Committee on Foreign Re11 lations of the Senate a complete (and, except as 

12 provided in subparagraph (B), unredacted) copy 

13 of— 

14 (i) the dissent channel cable of the 

15 Department of State written on or about 

16 July 13, 2021, describing the likely con17 sequences of United States withdrawal 

18 from Afghanistan; and 

19 (ii) the official response of the De20 partment of State with respect to such dis21 sent channel cable. 

22 (B) AUTHORIZED REDACTIONS.—The Sec23 retary may redact the name of any signatory to 

24 the dissent channel cable specified in subpara25 graph (A). 


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1 (2) DECLASSIFICATION REVIEW; PUBLICA2 TION.— 

3 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days 

4 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

5 Secretary of State shall— 

6 (i) complete a declassification review 

7 to determine what, if any, information con8 tained within the dissent channel cable or 

9 the official response specified in paragraph 

10 (1)(A) may be declassified in accordance 

11 with the standards under subsection (d); 

12 (ii) declassify any information so de13 termined; and 

14 (iii) publish on a publicly available 

15 internet website of the Department of 

16 State such dissent channel cable and offi17 cial response, in unclassified form and con18 taining, in addition to any information pre19 viously unclassified, any other information 

20 declassified as a result of such declassifica21 tion review. 

22 (B) REQUIRED REDACTIONS.—In pub23 lishing the dissent channel cable pursuant to 

24 subparagraph (A)(iii), the Secretary shall re25 dact the name, and any other personally identiVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:53 Aug 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5006.IH H5006

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1 fiable information, of each signatory to such 

2 dissent channel cable. 

3 (c) DECLASSIFICATION AND PUBLICATION OF

4 AFTER-ACTION REVIEW OF DEPARTMENT OF STATE.— 

5 Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment 

6 of this Act, the Secretary of State shall— 

7 (1) complete a declassification review to deter8 mine what, if any, additional information contained 

9 within the after-action review of the Department of 

10 State developed with respect to the Afghanistan 

11 withdrawal (in this section, referred to as the ‘‘after12 action review’’) may be declassified in accordance 

13 with the standards under subsection (d); 

14 (2) declassify any information so determined; 

15 and 

16 (3) publish on a publicly available internet 

17 website of the Department of State a complete 

18 version of such after-action review containing, in ad19 dition to information previously unclassified, any 

20 other information declassified as a result of such de21 classification review. 

22 (d) STANDARDS FOR DECLASSIFICATION.—In con23 ducting each declassification review under this section 

24 with respect to given information, the Secretary of State 

25 shall declassify such information unless the Secretary deVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:53 Aug 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5006.IH H5006

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1 termines the declassification would be incompatible with 

2 the national security interests of the United States or oth3 erwise inconsistent with the protection of intelligence 

4 sources and methods. 

Æ 


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