Pinochet. Currently, the United States responds to
declassification requests by following procedures out-
lined in Presidential directives and executive orders.
The overwhelming interest of the United States in
the protection and promotion of human rights na-
tionally and internationally requires a significant
strengthening of existing declassification procedures,
including section 552 of title 5, United States Code
(commonly known as the ‘‘Freedom of Information
Act’’).
(4) The expedient declassification of human
rights documents in full compliance with United
States security interests according to the procedures
outlined in this Act will protect global human rights
by strengthening the rule of law internationally, cre-
ating a crucial level of accountability of Federal
agencies, and will result in significant saving of Gov-
ernment resources.
(5) The commitment to the promotion and pro-
tection of human rights and democracy around the
world has led the United States to undertake tre-
mendous diplomatic, economic, and military efforts
to end systematic gross human rights violations
abroad, consistent with the national interests and
international leadership role of the United States. In
addition, countless humanitarian United States non-
governmental organizations and citizens of the
United States promote human rights and democracy
in foreign countries. These efforts are thwarted if
the cycle of impunity for human rights violations is
not broken in those countries, and the likelihood of
the need for renewed United States engagements in
those areas remains.
(6) The United States therefore has a signifi-
cant interest that newly established or reestablished
democratic societies take credible steps to fully in-
vestigate and prosecute human rights violations.
These steps can include the creation of a national or
international truth commission or tribunal, the ap-
pointment of a human rights officer, or official na-
tional investigations led by credible sections of the
civil society, including churches and nongovern-
mental organizations.
(7) The United States has long provided inter-
national leadership to end impunity for gross human
rights violations and to promote the rule of law
around the world by establishing and supporting the
Nuremberg and Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal; in ad-
dition, the United States has actively participated in,
among others, the International War Crimes Tribu-
nals on the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.
(8) The United States has ratified the Conven-
tion against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or
Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which in arti-
cle 9 obligates parties to ‘‘afford one another the
greatest measure of assistance in connection with
criminal proceedings brought in respect of any [acts
of, attempts of, or complicity in acts of torture], in-
cluding the supply of all evidence at their disposal
necessary for the proceedings.’’ In addition, as a
member State of the Organization of American
States, the United States should seek to follow the
December 8, 1998, recommendation of the Inter-
American Commission on Human Rights ‘‘that
member States of the Organization of American
States adopt legislative and such other measures as
may be necessary to effectuate the right of free ac-
cess to information in files and documents in the
power of the State, particularly in cases of investiga-
tions to establish criminal responsibility for inter-
national crimes and serious violations of human
rights.’’
(9) The Guatemalan peace accords, which the
Government of the United States firmly supports,
included as an important and vital component an in-
vestigation and a report by the Commission for the
Historical Clarification of Human Rights Violations
and Acts of Violence which have Caused Suffering to
the Guatemalan People (referred to in this Act as
the ‘‘Clarification Commission’’). Despite the conclu-
sion of this investigation, many questions, including
the identity of perpetrators of human rights viola-
tions as well as the location of bodies of the ‘‘dis-
appeared’’, remain unanswered. The Clarification
Commission explicitly recommended that ‘‘all avail-
able legal and material resources should be utilized
[by the Guatemalan Government] to clarify the
whereabouts of the disappeared and, in the case of
death, to deliver the remains to the relatives.’’
(10) Two days after presenting a parallel inves-
tigation, ‘‘Guatemala: Never Again’’, by the Histor-
ical Memory Recovery Project by the Archbishop of
Guatemala, the director of the project, Bishop Juan
Jose Gerardi, was assassinated.
(11) President Clinton stated in Guatemala on
March 10, 1999, that ‘‘[f]or the United States, it is
important that I state clearly that support for mili-
tary forces or intelligence units which engaged in
violent and widespread repression of the kind de-
scribed in the report [by the Clarification Commis-
sion] was wrong, and the United States must not re-
peat that mistake. We must, and we will, instead,
continue to support the peace and reconciliation
process in Guatemala.’’
(12) The National Commissioner for the Pro-
tection of Human Rights in the Republic of Hon-
duras has been requesting documentation of the
United States on human rights violations in Hon-
duras since November 15, 1993. The Commis-
sioner’s request has been partly fulfilled, but aspects
of it are still pending.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) 
HUMAN
RIGHTS
RECORD.—The 
term
‘‘human rights record’’ means a record in the pos-
session, custody, or control of the United States
Government containing information about gross vio-
lations of internationally recognized human rights
committed after 1944.
(2) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ means any
agency of the United States Government charged
with the conduct of foreign policy or foreign intel-
ligence, including, but not limited to, the Depart-
ment of State, the Agency for International Develop-
ment, the Department of Defense (and all of its
components), the Central Intelligence Agency, the
National Reconnaissance Office, the Department of
Justice (and all of its components), the National Se-
curity Council, and the Executive Office of the
President.
(3) GROSS VIOLATIONS OF INTERNATIONALLY
RECOGNIZED HUMAN RIGHTS.—The term ‘‘gross vio-
lations of internationally recognized human rights’’
has the meaning given that term in section
502B(d)(1) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961
(22 U.S.C. 2304(d)(1)).
SEC. 4. IDENTIFICATION, REVIEW, AND PUBLIC DISCLO-
SURE OF HUMAN RIGHTS RECORDS REGARD-
ING GUATEMALA AND HONDURAS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi-
sion of law, the provisions of this Act shall govern the de-
classification and public disclosure of human rights
records by agencies.
(b) IDENTIFICATION OF RECORDS.—Not later than
120 days after the date of enactment of this Act, each
agency shall identify, review, and organize all human
rights records regarding activities occurring in Guatemala
and Honduras after 1944 for the purpose of declassifying
and disclosing the records to the public. Except as pro-
vided in section 5, all records described in the preceding
sentence shall be made available to the public not later
than 30 days after a review under this section is com-
pleted.
(c) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 150 days
after the date of enactment of this Act, the President shall
report to Congress regarding each agency’s compliance
with the provisions of this Act.
SEC. 5. GROUNDS FOR POSTPONEMENT OF PUBLIC DISCLO-
SURE OF RECORDS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—An agency may postpone public
disclosure of a human rights record or particular informa-
tion in a human rights record only if the agency deter-
mines that there is clear and convincing evidence that—
(1) the threat to the military defense, intel-
ligence operations, or conduct of foreign relations of
the United States raised by public disclosure of the
human rights record is of such gravity that it out-
weighs the public interest, and such public disclosure
would reveal—
(A) an intelligence agent whose identity
currently requires protection;
(B) an intelligence source or method—
(i) which is being utilized, or reason-
ably expected to be utilized, by the United
States Government;
(ii) which has not been officially dis-
closed; and
(iii) the disclosure of which would
interfere with the conduct of intelligence
activities; or
(C) any other matter currently relating to
the military defense, intelligence operations, or
conduct of foreign relations of the United
States, the disclosure of which would demon-
strably impair the national security of the
United States;
(2) the public disclosure of the human rights
record would reveal the name or identity of a living
individual who provided confidential information to
the United States and would pose a substantial risk
of harm to that individual;
(3) the public disclosure of the human rights
record could reasonably be expected to constitute an
unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, and that
invasion of privacy is so substantial that it out-
weighs the public interest; or
(4) the public disclosure of the human rights
record would compromise the existence of an under-
standing of confidentiality currently requiring pro-
tection between a Government agent and a cooper-
ating individual or a foreign government, and public
disclosure would be so harmful that it outweighs the
public interest.
(b) SPECIAL TREATMENT
OF CERTAIN INFORMA-
TION.—It shall not be grounds for postponement of disclo-
sure of a human rights record that an individual named
in the human rights record was an intelligence asset of
the United States Government, although the existence of
such relationship may be withheld if the criteria set forth
in subsection (a) are met. For purposes of the preceding
sentence, the term an ‘‘intelligence asset’’ means a covert
agent as defined in section 606(4) of the National Security
Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 426(4)).
SEC. 6. REQUEST FOR HUMAN RIGHTS RECORDS FROM OF-
FICIAL ENTITIES IN OTHER COUNTRIES.
In the event that an agency of the United States re-
ceives a request for human rights records from an entity
created by the United Nations, the Organization of Amer-
ican States or a similar entity, a national truth commis-
sion or entity of similar nature, or from the principal jus-
tice or human rights official of a country that is inves-
tigating a pattern of gross violations of internationally rec-
ognized human rights, the agency shall conduct a review
of records as described in section 4 and shall declassify
and publicly disclose such records in accordance with the
standards and procedures set forth in this Act.
SEC. 7. REVIEW OF DECISIONS TO WITHHOLD RECORDS.
(a) DUTIES OF THE APPEALS PANEL.—The Inter-
agency Security Classification Appeals Panel or any other
entity subsequently established by law or Executive order
and charged with carrying out the functions currently car-
ried out by such Panel (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Ap-
peals Panel’’) shall review all determinations by an agency
to postpone public disclosure of any human rights record.
(b) DETERMINATIONS OF THE APPEALS PANEL.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Appeals Panel shall di-
rect that all human rights records be disclosed to the
public, unless the Appeals Panel determines that
there is clear and convincing evidence that—
(A) the record is not a human rights
record; or
(B) the human rights record or particular
information in the human rights record quali-
fies for postponement of disclosure pursuant to
section 5.
(2) TREATMENT
IN
CASES
OF
NONDISCLO-
SURE.—If the Appeals Panel concurs with an agency
decision to postpone disclosure of a human rights
record, the Appeals Panel shall determine, in con-
sultation with the originating agency and consistent
with the standards set forth in this Act, which, if
any, of the alternative forms of disclosure described
in paragraph (3) shall be made by the agency.
(3) ALTERNATIVE
FORMS
OF
DISCLOSURE.—
The forms of disclosure described in this paragraph
are as follows:
(A) Disclosure of any reasonably seg-
regable portion of the human rights record
after deletion of the portions described in para-
graph (1).
(B) Disclosure of a record that is a sub-
stitute for information which is not disclosed.
(C) Disclosure of a summary of the infor-
mation contained in the human rights record.
(4) NOTIFICATION OF DETERMINATION.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—Upon completion of its
review, the Appeals Panel shall notify the head
of the agency in control or possession of the
human rights record that was the subject of the
review of its determination and shall, not later
than 14 days after the determination, publish
the determination in the Federal Register.
(B) NOTICE TO PRESIDENT.—The Appeals
Panel shall notify the President of its deter-
mination. The notice shall contain a written un-
classified justification for its determination, in-
cluding an explanation of the application of the
standards contained in section 5.
(5) 
GENERAL
PROCEDURES.—The 
Appeals
Panel shall publish in the Federal Register guide-
lines regarding its policy and procedures for adjudi-
cating appeals.
(c) PRESIDENTIAL
AUTHORITY
OVER
APPEALS
PANEL DETERMINATION.—
(1) PUBLIC
DISCLOSURE
OR
POSTPONEMENT
OF DISCLOSURE.—The President shall have the sole
and nondelegable authority to review any determina-
tion of the Appeals Panel under this Act, and such
review shall be based on the standards set forth in
section 5. Not later than 30 days after the Appeals
Panel’s determination and notification to the agency
pursuant to subsection (b)(4), the President shall
provide the Appeals Panel with an unclassified writ-
ten certification specifying the President’s decision
and stating the reasons for the decision, including in
the case of a determination to postpone disclosure,
the standards set forth in section 5 which are the
basis for the President’s determination.
(2) RECORD
OF
PRESIDENTIAL
POSTPONE-
MENT.—The Appeals Panel shall, upon receipt of
the President’s determination, publish in the Federal
Register a copy of any unclassified written certifi-
cation, statement, and other materials transmitted
by or on behalf of the President with regard to the
postponement of disclosure of a human rights
record.
SEC. 8. REPORT REGARDING OTHER HUMAN RIGHTS
RECORDS.
Upon completion of the review and disclosure of the
human rights records relating to Guatemala and Hon-
duras, the Information Security Policy Advisory Council,
established pursuant to Executive Order No. 12958, shall
report to Congress on the desirability and feasibility of
declassification of human rights records relating to other
countries. The report shall be available to the public.
SEC. 9. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.
(a) FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT.—Nothing in
this Act shall be construed to limit any right to file a re-
quest with any executive agency or seek judicial review of
a decision pursuant to section 552 of title 5, United States
Code.
(b) JUDICIAL REVIEW.—Nothing in this Act shall be
construed to preclude judicial review, under chapter 7 of
title 5, United States Code, of final actions taken or re-
quired to be taken under this Act.
SEC. 10. CREATION OF POSITIONS.
For purposes of carrying out the provisions of this
Act, there shall be 2 additional positions in the Appeals
Panel. The President shall appoint individuals who are not
employees of the United States who have demonstrated
substantial human rights expertise and who are able to
meet the security requirements for the positions. The
President shall seek recommendations with respect to such
positions from nongovernmental human rights organiza-
tions.
Æ