SEC. 2. FINDINGS, DECLARATIONS, AND PURPOSES. 
(a) FINDINGS AND DECLARATIONS.—Congress finds 
and declares the following: 
(1) A vast number of records relating to Miss-
ing Armed Forces Personnel have not been identi-
fied, located, or transferred to the National Archives 
following review and declassification. Only in the 
rarest cases is there any legitimate need for contin-
ued protection of records pertaining to Missing 
Armed Forces Personnel who have been missing for 
decades. 
(2) There has been insufficient priority placed 
on identifying, locating, reviewing, or declassifying 
records relating to Missing Armed Forces Personnel 
and then transferring the records to the National 
Archives for public access. 
(3) Mandates for declassification set forth in 
multiple Executive orders have been broadly written, 
loosely interpreted, and often ignored by Federal 
agencies in possession and control of records related 
to Missing Armed Forces Personnel. 
(4) No individual or entity has been tasked with 
oversight of the identification, collection, review, and 
declassification of records related to Missing Armed 
Forces Personnel. 
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(5) The interest, desire, workforce, and funding 
of Federal agencies to assemble, review, and declas-
sify records relating to Missing Armed Forces Per-
sonnel have been lacking. 
(6) All records of the Federal Government re-
lating to Missing Armed Forces Personnel should be 
preserved for historical and governmental purposes 
and for public research. 
(7) All records of the Federal Government re-
lating to Missing Armed Forces Personnel should 
carry a presumption of declassification, and all such 
records should be disclosed under this Act to enable 
the fullest possible accounting for Missing Armed 
Forces Personnel. 
(8) Legislation is necessary to create an en-
forceable, independent, and accountable process for 
the public disclosure of records relating to Missing 
Armed Forces Personnel. 
(9) Legislation is necessary because section 552 
of title 5, United States Code (commonly known as 
the ‘‘Freedom of Information Act’’), as implemented 
by Federal agencies, has prevented the timely public 
disclosure of records relating to Missing Armed 
Forces Personnel. 
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are— 
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(1) to provide for the creation of the Missing 
Armed Forces Personnel Records Collection at the 
National Archives; and 
(2) to require the expeditious public trans-
mission to the Archivist and public disclosure of 
Missing Armed Forces Personnel records, subject to 
narrow exceptions, as set forth in this Act. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) ARCHIVIST.—The term ‘‘Archivist’’ means 
Archivist of the United States. 
(2) 
COLLECTION.—The 
term 
‘‘Collection’’ 
means the Missing Armed Forces Personnel Records 
Collection established under section 4(a). 
(3) EXECUTIVE AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Executive 
agency’’— 
(A) means an agency, as defined in section 
552(f) of title 5, United States Code; and 
(B) includes any Executive department, 
military department, Government corporation, 
Government controlled corporation, or other es-
tablishment in the executive branch of the Fed-
eral Government, including the Executive Office 
of the President, any branch of the Armed 
Forces, and any independent regulatory agency. 
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(4) 
EXECUTIVE
BRANCH
MISSING
ARMED 
FORCES PERSONNEL RECORD.—The term ‘‘executive 
branch Missing Armed Forces Personnel record’’ 
means a Missing Armed Forces Personnel record of 
an Executive agency, or information contained in 
such a Missing Armed Forces Personnel record ob-
tained by or developed within the executive branch 
of the Federal Government. 
(5) GOVERNMENT OFFICE.—The term ‘‘Govern-
ment office’’ means an Executive agency, the Li-
brary of Congress, or the National Archives. 
(6) MISSING ARMED FORCES PERSONNEL.— 
(A) DEFINITION.—The term ‘‘Missing 
Armed Forces Personnel’’ means 1 or more 
missing persons. 
(B) INCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘Missing 
Armed Forces Personnel’’ includes an indi-
vidual who was a missing person and whose sta-
tus was later changed to ‘‘missing and pre-
sumed dead’’. 
(7) MISSING
ARMED
FORCES
PERSONNEL 
RECORD.—The term ‘‘Missing Armed Forces Per-
sonnel record’’ means a record that relates, directly 
or indirectly, to the loss, fate, or status of Missing 
Armed Forces Personnel that— 
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(A) was created or made available for use 
by, obtained by, or otherwise came into the cus-
tody, possession, or control of— 
(i) any Government office; 
(ii) any Presidential library; or 
(iii) any of the Armed Forces; and 
(B) relates to 1 or more Missing Armed 
Forces Personnel who became missing persons 
during the period— 
(i) beginning on December 7, 1941; 
and 
(ii) ending on the date of enactment 
of this Act. 
(8) MISSING PERSON.—The term ‘‘missing per-
son’’ has the meaning given that term in section 
1513 of title 10, United States Code. 
(9) NATIONAL ARCHIVES.—The term ‘‘National 
Archives’’— 
(A) means the National Archives and 
Records Administration; and 
(B) includes any component of the Na-
tional Archives and Records Administration (in-
cluding Presidential archival depositories estab-
lished under section 2112 of title 44, United 
States Code). 
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(10) OFFICIAL INVESTIGATION.—The term ‘‘of-
ficial investigation’’ means a review, briefing, in-
quiry, or hearing relating to Missing Armed Forces 
Personnel conducted by a Presidential commission, 
committee of Congress, or agency, regardless of 
whether it is conducted independently, at the request 
of any Presidential commission or committee of Con-
gress, or at the request of any official of the Federal 
Government. 
(11) ORIGINATING
BODY.—The term ‘‘origi-
nating body’’ means the Government office or other 
initial source that created a record or particular in-
formation within a record. 
(12) PUBLIC INTEREST.—The term ‘‘public in-
terest’’ means the compelling interest in the prompt 
public disclosure of Missing Armed Forces Personnel 
records for historical and governmental purposes, for 
public research, and for the purpose of fully inform-
ing the people of the United States, most impor-
tantly families of Missing Armed Forces Personnel, 
about the fate of the Missing Armed Forces Per-
sonnel and the process by which the Federal Govern-
ment has sought to account for them. 
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(13) RECORD.—The term ‘‘record’’ has the 
meaning given the term ‘‘records’’ in section 3301 of 
title 44, United States Code. 
(14) REVIEW
BOARD.—The term ‘‘Review 
Board’’ means the Missing Armed Forces Personnel 
Records Review Board established under section 7. 
SEC. 4. MISSING ARMED FORCES PERSONNEL RECORDS 
COLLECTION AT THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT
OF COLLECTION.—Not later 
than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
Archivist shall— 
(1) commence establishment of a collection of 
records to be known as the ‘‘Missing Armed Forces 
Personnel Records Collection’’; 
(2) commence preparing the subject guidebook 
and index to the Collection; and 
(3) establish criteria for Executive agencies to 
follow when transmitting copies of Missing Armed 
Forces Personnel Records to the Archivist, to in-
clude required metadata. 
(b) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 180 days after 
the date of enactment of this Act, the Review Board shall 
promulgate rules to establish guidelines and processes for 
the disclosure of records contained in the Collection. 
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SEC. 5. REVIEW, IDENTIFICATION, TRANSMISSION TO THE 
NATIONAL ARCHIVES, AND PUBLIC DISCLO-
SURE OF MISSING ARMED FORCES PER-
SONNEL RECORDS BY GOVERNMENT OF-
FICES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.— 
(1) PREPARATION.—As soon as practicable 
after the date of enactment of this Act, and suffi-
ciently in advance of the deadlines established under 
this Act, each Government office shall— 
(A) identify and locate any Missing Armed 
Forces Personnel records in the custody, pos-
session, or control of the Government office; 
and 
(B) prepare for transmission to the Archi-
vist in accordance with the criteria established 
by the Archivist a copy of any Missing Armed 
Forces Personnel records that have not pre-
viously been transmitted to the Archivist by the 
Government office. 
(2) CERTIFICATION.—Each Government office 
shall submit to the Archivist, under penalty of per-
jury, a certification indicating— 
(A) whether the Government office has 
conducted a thorough search for all Missing 
Armed Forces Personnel records in the custody, 
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possession, or control of the Government office; 
and 
(B) whether a copy of any Missing Armed 
Forces Personnel record has not been trans-
mitted to the Archivist. 
(3) 
PRESERVATION.—No 
Missing 
Armed 
Forces Personnel record shall be destroyed, altered, 
or mutilated in any way. 
(4) EFFECT OF PREVIOUS DISCLOSURE.—Infor-
mation that was made available or disclosed to the 
public before the date of enactment of this Act in a 
Missing Armed Forces Personnel record may not be 
withheld, redacted, postponed for public disclosure, 
or reclassified. 
(5) 
WITHHELD
AND
SUBSTANTIALLY
RE-
DACTED RECORDS.—For any Missing Armed Forces 
Personnel record that is transmitted to the Archivist 
which a Government office proposes to substantially 
redact or withhold in full from public access, the 
head of the Government office shall submit an un-
classified and publicly releasable report to the Archi-
vist, the Review Board, and each appropriate com-
mittee of the Senate and the House of Representa-
tives justifying the decision of the Government office 
to substantially redact or withhold the record by 
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demonstrating that the release of information would 
clearly and demonstrably be expected to cause an ar-
ticulated harm, and that the harm would be of such 
gravity as to outweigh the public interest in access 
to the information. 
(b) REVIEW.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 
after the date of enactment of this Act, each Gov-
ernment office shall, in accordance with the criteria 
established by the Archivist and the rules promul-
gated under paragraph (2)— 
(A) identify, locate, copy, and review each 
Missing Armed Forces Personnel record in the 
custody, possession, or control of the Govern-
ment office for transmission to the Archivist 
and disclosure to the public or, if needed, re-
view by the Review Board; and 
(B) cooperate fully, in consultation with 
the Archivist, in carrying out paragraph (3). 
(2) REQUIREMENT.—The Review Board shall 
promulgate rules for the disclosure of relevant 
records by Government offices under paragraph (1). 
(3) NATIONAL ARCHIVES RECORDS.—Not later 
than 180 days after the date of enactment of this 
Act, the Archivist shall— 
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(A) locate and identify all Missing Armed 
Forces Personnel records in the custody of the 
National Archives as of the date of enactment 
of this Act that remain classified, in whole or 
in part; 
(B) notify a Government office if the Ar-
chivist locates and identifies a record of the 
Government office under subparagraph (A); and 
(C) make each classified Missing Armed 
Forces Personnel record located and identified 
under subparagraph (A) available for review by 
Executive agencies through the National De-
classification Center established under Execu-
tive Order 13526. 
(4) RECORDS
ALREADY
PUBLIC.—A Missing 
Armed Forces Personnel record that is in the cus-
tody of the National Archives on the date of enact-
ment of this Act and that has been publicly available 
in its entirety without redaction shall be made avail-
able in the Collection without any additional review 
by the Archivist, the Review Board, or any other 
Government office under this Act. 
(c) TRANSMISSION TO THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES.— 
Each Government office shall— 
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(1) not later than 180 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, commence transmission to the 
Archivist of copies of the Missing Armed Forces 
Personnel records in the custody, possession, or con-
trol of the Government office; and 
(2) not later than 1 year after the date of en-
actment of this Act, complete transmission to the 
Archivist of copies of all Missing Armed Forces Per-
sonnel records in the possession or control of the 
Government office. 
(d) PERIODIC REVIEW
OF POSTPONED MISSING 
ARMED SERVICES PERSONNEL RECORDS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—All Missing Armed Forces 
Personnel records, or information within a Missing 
Armed Forces Personnel record, the public disclo-
sure of which has been postponed under the stand-
ards under this Act shall be reviewed by the origi-
nating body— 
(A)(i) periodically, but not less than every 
5 years, after the date on which the Review 
Board terminates under section 7(o); and 
(ii) at the direction of the Archivist; and 
(B) consistent with the recommendations 
of the Review Board under section 9(b)(3)(B). 
(2) CONTENTS.— 
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(A) IN GENERAL.—A periodic review of a 
Missing Armed Forces Personnel record, or in-
formation within a Missing Armed Forces Per-
sonnel record, by the originating body shall ad-
dress the public disclosure of the Missing 
Armed Forces Personnel record under the 
standards under this Act. 
(B) CONTINUED
POSTPONEMENT.—If an 
originating body conducting a periodic review of 
a Missing Armed Forces Personnel record, or 
information within a Missing Armed Forces 
Personnel record, the public disclosure of which 
has been postponed under the standards under 
this Act, determines that continued postpone-
ment is required, the originating body shall pro-
vide to the Archivist an unclassified written de-
scription of the reason for the continued post-
ponement that the Archivist shall highlight and 
make accessible on a publicly accessible website 
administered by the National Archives. 
(C) SCOPE.—The periodic review of post-
poned Missing Armed Forces Personnel records, 
or information within a Missing Armed Forces 
Personnel record, shall serve the purpose stated 
in section 2(b)(2), to provide expeditious public 
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