I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 6723 
To provide for the creation of the missing Armed Forces and civilian personnel 
Records Collection at the National Archives, to require the expeditious 
public transmission to the Archivist and public disclosure of missing 
Armed Forces and civilian personnel records, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 15, 2025 
Mr. PAPPAS (for himself and Mr. FULCHER) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 
A BILL 
To provide for the creation of the missing Armed Forces 
and civilian personnel Records Collection at the National 
Archives, to require the expeditious public transmission 
to the Archivist and public disclosure of missing Armed 
Forces and civilian personnel records, and for other pur-
poses. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Bring Our Heroes 
Home Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSES. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that all records of the 
Federal Government relating to missing Armed Forces 
and civilian personnel should— 
(1) be preserved for historical and governmental 
purposes and for public research, including for fami-
lies seeking to learn the ultimate fate of their loved 
ones; 
(2) carry a presumption of declassification; and 
(3) be disclosed under this Act to enable the 
fullest possible accounting for missing Armed Forces 
and civilian personnel. 
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are— 
(1) to provide for the creation of the Missing 
Armed Forces and Civilian Personnel Records Col-
lection at the National Archives; and 
(2) to require the expeditious public trans-
mission to the Archivist and public disclosure of 
missing Armed Forces and civilian personnel 
records, subject to narrow exceptions, as set forth in 
this Act. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) ARCHIVIST.—The term ‘‘Archivist’’ means 
the Archivist of the United States. 
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(2) 
COLLECTION.—The 
term 
‘‘Collection’’ 
means the Missing Armed Forces and Civilian Per-
sonnel 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; 
(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; 
and 
(C) does not include any non-appropriated 
agency, department, corporation, or establish-
ment. 
(4) EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Execu-
tive Director’’ means the Executive Director of the 
Review Board. 
(5) GOVERNMENT OFFICE.—The term ‘‘Govern-
ment office’’ means an Executive agency, the Li-
brary of Congress, or the National Archives. 
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(6) MISSING
ARMED
FORCES
AND
CIVILIAN 
PERSONNEL.—The term ‘‘missing Armed Forces and 
civilian personnel’’— 
(A) means 1 or more missing persons; and 
(B) includes an individual who was a miss-
ing person and whose status was later changed 
to ‘‘missing and presumed dead’’. 
(7) MISSING
ARMED
FORCES
AND
CIVILIAN 
PERSONNEL
RECORD.—The term ‘‘missing Armed 
Forces and civilian personnel record’’ means a 
record that relates, directly or indirectly, to the loss, 
fate, or status of missing Armed Forces and civilian 
personnel that— 
(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 and civilian personnel who became miss-
ing persons during the period— 
(i) beginning on December 7, 1941; 
and 
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(ii) ending on the date of enactment 
of this Act. 
(8) MISSING PERSON.—The term ‘‘missing per-
son’’ means— 
(A) a person described in paragraph (1) of 
section 1513 of title 10, United States Code; 
and 
(B) any other civilian employee of the Fed-
eral Government or an employee of a contractor 
of the Federal Government who serves in direct 
support of, or accompanies, the Armed Forces 
in the field under orders and who is in a miss-
ing status (as that term is defined in paragraph 
(2) of such section 1513). 
(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). 
(10) OFFICIAL INVESTIGATION.—The term ‘‘of-
ficial investigation’’ means a review, briefing, in-
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guidelines and processes for the disclosure of records con-
tained in the Collection, including applicable information 
privacy safeguards. 
(c) OVERSIGHT.— 
(1) SENATE.—The Committee on Homeland 
Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate 
shall have continuing jurisdiction, including legisla-
tive oversight jurisdiction, in the Senate with respect 
to the Collection. 
(2) HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.—The Com-
mittee on Oversight and Government Reform of the 
House of Representatives shall have continuing ju-
risdiction, including legislative oversight jurisdiction, 
in the House of Representatives with respect to the 
Collection. 
SEC. 5. REVIEW, IDENTIFICATION, TRANSMISSION TO THE 
NATIONAL ARCHIVES, AND PUBLIC DISCLO-
SURE OF MISSING ARMED FORCES AND CI-
VILIAN PERSONNEL RECORDS BY GOVERN-
MENT OFFICES. 
(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— 
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(A) identify and locate any missing Armed 
Forces and civilian personnel records in the 
custody, possession, or control of the Govern-
ment office, including intelligence reports, con-
gressional inquiries, memoranda to or from the 
White House and other Federal departments 
and 
agencies, 
Prisoner 
of 
War 
(POW) 
debriefings, live sighting reports, documents re-
lating to POW camps, movement of POWs, ex-
ploitation of POWs, experimentation on POWs, 
or status changes from Missing in Action 
(MIA) to Killed in Action (KIA); and 
(B) prepare for transmission to the Archi-
vist in accordance with the criteria and accept-
able formats established by the Archivist a copy 
of any missing Armed Forces and civilian per-
sonnel records that have not previously 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 and civilian personnel records in 
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the custody, possession, or control of the Gov-
ernment office; and 
(B) whether a copy of any missing Armed 
Forces and civilian personnel record has not 
been transmitted to the Archivist. 
(3) PRESERVATION.—No missing Armed Forces 
and civilian personnel record shall be destroyed, al-
tered, 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 and civilian personnel record 
may not be withheld, redacted, postponed for public 
disclosure, or reclassified. 
(5) 
WITHHELD
AND
SUBSTANTIALLY
RE-
DACTED RECORDS.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—For any missing Armed 
Forces and civilian personnel record that is 
transmitted to the Archivist which a Govern-
ment office proposes to substantially redact or 
withhold in full from public access, the head of 
the Government office shall submit an unclassi-
fied and publicly releasable report to the Archi-
vist, the Review Board, and each appropriate 
committee of the Senate and the House of Rep-
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resentatives justifying the decision of the Gov-
ernment office to substantially redact or with-
hold the record by demonstrating that the re-
lease of information would clearly and demon-
strably be expected to cause an articulated 
harm, and that the harm would be of such 
gravity as to outweigh the public interest in ac-
cess to the information. 
(B) RULEMAKING.—The Archivist shall 
promulgate regulations to define the term ‘‘sub-
stantially redacted record’’ for purposes of sub-
paragraph (A). 
(b) REVIEW.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided under 
paragraph (5), not later than 270 days after a 
quorum of the Review Board has been established 
under section 7, each Government office shall, in ac-
cordance with the criteria and acceptable formats es-
tablished by the Archivist— 
(A) identify, locate, copy, and review each 
missing Armed Forces and civilian personnel 
record in the custody, possession, or control of 
the Government office for transmission to the 
Archivist and disclosure to the public or, if 
needed, review by the Review Board; and 
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(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 270 days after a quorum of the Review Board 
has been established under section 7, the Archivist 
shall— 
(A) locate and identify all missing Armed 
Forces and civilian 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 and civilian personnel record located and 
identified under subparagraph (A) available for 
review by Executive agencies through the Na-
tional Declassification Center established under 
Executive Order 13526 (50 U.S.C. 3161 note; 
relating to classified national security informa-
tion), or any successor order. 
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