104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4000

AN ACT

To amend title 10, United States Code, to restore

thorization Act for Fiscal Year 1997.amendments made by the National Defense Auto missing persons) as in effect before thethe provisions of chapter 76 of that title (relating
104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4000

AN ACT

To amend title 10, United States Code, to restore the provisions of chapter 76 of that title (relating to missing

persons) as in effect before the amendments made by

the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year

1997.

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. RESTORATION OF MISSING PERSONS AUTHORI2 TIES APPLICABLE TO DEPARTMENT OF DE3 FENSE AS IN EFFECT BEFORE ENACTMENT

4 OF NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT

5 FOR FISCAL YEAR 1997.

6 (a) APPLICABILITY TO DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

7 CIVILIAN EMPLOYEES AND CONTRACTOR EMPLOYEES.—

8 (1) Section 1501 of title 10, United States Code, is

9 amended—

10 (A) by striking out subsection (c) and inserting

11 in lieu thereof the following:

12 ‘‘(c) COVERED PERSONS.—Section 1502 of this title

13 applies in the case of the following persons:

14 ‘‘(1) Any member of the armed forces on active

15 duty who becomes involuntarily absent as a result of

16 a hostile action, or under circumstances suggesting

17 that the involuntary absence is a result of a hostile

18 action, and whose status is undetermined or who is

19 unaccounted for.

20 ‘‘(2) Any civilian employee of the Department

21 of Defense, and any employee of a contractor of the

22 Department of Defense, who serves with or accom23 panies the armed forces in the field under orders

24 who becomes involuntarily absent as a result of a

25 hostile action, or under circumstances suggesting

26 that the involuntary absence is a result of a hostile
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1 action, and whose status is undetermined or who is

2 unaccounted for.’’; and

3 (B) by adding at the end the following new sub4 section:

5 ‘‘(f) SECRETARY CONCERNED.—In this chapter, the

6 term ‘Secretary concerned’ includes, in the case of a civil7 ian employee of the Department of Defense or contractor

8 of the Department of Defense, the Secretary of the mili9 tary department or head of the element of the Department

10 of Defense employing the employee or contracting with the

11 contractor, as the case may be.’’.

12 (2) Section 1503(c) of such title is amended—

13 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking out ‘‘one mili14 tary officer’’ and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘one indi15 vidual described in paragraph (2)’’;

16 (B) by redesignating paragraphs (2) and (3) as

17 paragraphs (3) and (4), respectively; and

18 (C) by inserting after paragraph (1) the follow19 ing new paragraph (2):

20 ‘‘(2) An individual referred to in paragraph (1) is the

21 following:

22 ‘‘(A) A military officer, in the case of an in23 quiry with respect to a member of the armed forces.

24 ‘‘(B) A civilian, in the case of an inquiry with

25 respect to a civilian employee of the Department of
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1 Defense or of a contractor of the Department of De2 fense.’’.

3 (3) Section 1504(d) of such title is amended—

4 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking out ‘‘who are’’

5 and all that follows in that paragraph and inserting

6 in lieu thereof ‘‘as follows:

7 ‘‘(A) In the case of a board that will inquire

8 into the whereabouts and status of one or more

9 members of the armed forces (and no civilians de10 scribed in subparagraph (B)), the board shall be

11 composed of officers having the grade of major or

12 lieutenant commander or above.

13 ‘‘(B) In the case of a board that will inquire

14 into the whereabouts and status of one or more civil15 ian employees of the Department of Defense or con16 tractors of the Department of Defense (and no

17 members of the armed forces), the board shall be

18 composed of—

19 ‘‘(i) not less than three employees of the

20 Department of Defense whose rate of annual

21 pay is equal to or greater than the rate of an22 nual pay payable for grade GS–13 of the Gen23 eral Schedule under section 5332 of title 5; and

24 ‘‘(ii) such members of the armed forces as

25 the Secretary considers advisable.
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1 ‘‘(C) In the case of a board that will inquire

2 into the whereabouts and status of both one or more

3 members of the armed forces and one or more civil4 ians described in subparagraph (B)—

5 ‘‘(i) the board shall include at least one of6 ficer described in subparagraph (A) and at least

7 one employee of the Department of Defense de8 scribed in subparagraph (B)(i); and

9 ‘‘(ii) the ratio of such officers to such em10 ployees on the board shall be roughly propor11 tional to the ratio of the number of members of

12 the armed forces who are subjects of the

13 board’s inquiry to the number of civilians who

14 are subjects of the board’s inquiry.’’; and

15 (B) in paragraph (4), by striking out ‘‘section

16 1503(c)(3)’’ and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘section

17 1503(c)(4)’’.

18 (4) Paragraph (1) of section 1513 of such title is

19 amended to read as follows:

20 ‘‘(1) The term ‘missing person’ means—

21 ‘‘(A) a member of the armed forces on ac22 tive duty who is in a missing status; or

23 ‘‘(B) a civilian employee of the Depart24 ment of Defense or an employee of a contractor

25 of the Department of Defense who serves with
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1 or accompanies the armed forces in the field

2 under orders and who is in a missing status.’’.

3 (b) REPORT ON PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT OF STA4 TUS.—(1) Section 1502 of such title is amended—

5 (A) in subsection (a)(2)—

6 (i) by striking out ‘‘10 days’’ and inserting

7 in lieu thereof ‘‘48 hours’’; and

8 (ii) by striking out ‘‘Secretary concerned’’

9 and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘theater compo10 nent commander with jurisdiction over the

11 missing person’’;

12 (B) in subsection (a), as amended by subpara13 graph (A)—

14 (i) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and

15 (2) as subparagraphs (A) and (B), respectively;

16 (ii) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ after ‘‘COM17 MANDER.—’’; and

18 (iii) by adding at the end the following new

19 paragraph:

20 ‘‘(2) However, if the commander determines that

21 operational conditions resulting from hostile action or

22 combat constitute an emergency that prevents timely re23 porting under paragraph (1)(B), the initial report should

24 be made as soon as possible, but in no case later than
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1 ten days after the date on which the commander receives

2 such information under paragraph (1).’’;

3 (C) by redesignating subsection (b) as sub4 section (c);

5 (D) by inserting after subsection (a), as amend6 ed by subparagraphs (A) and (B), the following new

7 subsection (b):

8 ‘‘(b) TRANSMISSION THROUGH THEATER COMPO9 NENT COMMANDER.—Upon reviewing a report under sub10 section (a) recommending that a person be placed in a

11 missing status, the theater component commander shall

12 ensure that all necessary actions are being taken, and all

13 appropriate assets are being used, to resolve the status

14 of the missing person. Not later than 14 days after receiv15 ing the report, the theater component commander shall

16 forward the report to the Secretary of Defense or the Sec17 retary concerned in accordance with procedures prescribed

18 under section 1501(b) of this title. The theater component

19 commander shall include with such report a certification

20 that all necessary actions are being taken, and all appro21 priate assets are being used, to resolve the status of the

22 missing person.’’; and

23 (E) in subsection (c), as redesignated by sub24 paragraph (C), by adding at the end the following

25 new sentence: ‘‘The theater component commander
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1 through whom the report with respect to the missing

2 person is transmitted under subsection (b) shall en3 sure that all pertinent information relating to the

4 whereabouts and status of the missing person that

5 results from the preliminary assessment or from ac6 tions taken to locate the person is properly safe7 guarded to avoid loss, damage, or modification.’’.

8 (2) Section 1503(a) of such title is amended by strik9 ing out ‘‘section 1502(a)’’ and inserting in lieu thereof

10 ‘‘section 1502(b)’’.

11 (3) Section 1504 of such title is amended by striking

12 out ‘‘section 1502(a)(2)’’ in subsections (a), (b), and

13 (e)(1) and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘section 1502(a)’’.

14 (4) Section 1513 of such title is amended by adding

15 at the end the following new paragraph:

16 ‘‘(8) The term ‘theater component commander’

17 means, with respect to any of the combatant com18 mands, an officer of any of the armed forces who

19 (A) is commander of all forces of that armed force

20 assigned to that combatant command, and (B) is di21 rectly subordinate to the commander of the combat22 ant command.’’.

23 (c) FREQUENCY OF SUBSEQUENT REVIEWS.—Sub24 section (b) of section 1505 of such title is amended to read

25 as follows:
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1 ‘‘(b) FREQUENCY OF SUBSEQUENT REVIEWS.—(1)

2 In the case of a missing person who was last known to

3 be alive or who was last suspected of being alive, the Sec4 retary shall appoint a board to conduct an inquiry with

5 respect to a person under this subsection—

6 ‘‘(A) on or about three years after the date of

7 the initial report of the disappearance of the person

8 under section 1502(a) of this title; and

9 ‘‘(B) not later than every three years there10 after.

11 ‘‘(2) In addition to appointment of boards under

12 paragraph (1), the Secretary shall appoint a board to con13 duct an inquiry with respect to a missing person under

14 this subsection upon receipt of information that could re15 sult in a change of status of the missing person. When

16 the Secretary appoints a board under this paragraph, the

17 time for subsequent appointments of a board under para18 graph (1)(B) shall be determined from the date of the re19 ceipt of such information.

20 ‘‘(3) The Secretary is not required to appoint a board

21 under paragraph (1) with respect to the disappearance of

22 any person—

23 ‘‘(A) more than 30 years after the initial report

24 of the disappearance of the missing person required

25 by section 1502(a) of this title; or
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1 ‘‘(B) if, before the end of such 30-year period,

2 the missing person is accounted for.’’.

3 (d) PENALTIES FOR WRONGFUL WITHHOLDING OF

4 INFORMATION.—Section 1506 of such title is amended—

5 (1) by redesignating subsection (e) as sub6 section (f); and

7 (2) by inserting after subsection (d) the follow8 ing new subsection (e):

9 ‘‘(e) WRONGFUL WITHHOLDING.—Except as pro10 vided in subsections (a) through (d), any person who

11 knowingly and willfully withholds from the personnel file

12 of a missing person any information relating to the dis13 appearance or whereabouts and status of a missing person

14 shall be fined as provided in title 18 or imprisoned not

15 more than one year, or both.’’.

16 (e) INFORMATION TO ACCOMPANY RECOMMENDA17 TION OF STATUS OF DEATH.—Section 1507(b) of such

18 title is amended adding at the end the following new para19 graphs:

20 ‘‘(3) A description of the location of the body,

21 if recovered.

22 ‘‘(4) If the body has been recovered and is not

23 identifiable through visual means, a certification by

24 a practitioner of an appropriate forensic science that

25 the body recovered is that of the missing person.’’.
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1 (f) SCOPE OF PREENACTMENT REVIEW.—(1) Section

2 1509 of such title is amended—

3 (A) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub4 section (d); and

5 (B) by inserting after subsection (b) the follow6 ing new subsection (c):

7 ‘‘(c) SPECIAL RULE FOR PERSONS CLASSIFIED AS

8 ‘KIA/BNR’.—In the case of a person described in sub9 section (b) who was classified as ‘killed in action/body not

10 recovered’, the case of that person may be reviewed under

11 this section only if the new information referred to in sub12 section (a) is compelling.’’.

13 (2)(A) The heading of such section is amended by

14 inserting ‘‘, special interest’’ after

15 ‘‘Preenactment’’.

16 (B) The item relating to such section in the table of

17 sections at the beginning of chapter 76 of such title is

18 amended by inserting ‘‘, special interest’’ after

19 ‘‘Preenactment’’.

20 (g) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

21 this section shall take effect immediately after the enact-
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1 ment of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal

2 Year 1997.

Passed the House of Representatives September 27,

1996.

Attest:

Clerk.