IV 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 485 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the declas-
sification of information related to missing and unaccounted-for members 
of the Armed Forces. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 7, 2011 
Mr. JONES (for himself, Mr. POE of Texas, and Mr. WHITFIELD) submitted 
the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Armed 
Services 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regard-
ing the declassification of information related to missing 
and unaccounted-for members of the Armed Forces. 
Whereas accounting for members of the Armed Forces still 
missing and otherwise unaccounted for from the past 
wars of the United States continues to be of great con-
cern to the families of the members, veterans, Congress, 
and the American people; 
Whereas for decades, new laws, executive orders by successive 
Presidents, and intense official efforts by the Federal 
Government have failed to ensure the declassification of 
all relevant information that should be readily available 
to the families of members who are missing or unac-
counted for and both private and public researchers for 
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analysis, for example, all written communication, includ-
ing attached or referenced documents, between James 
Kelleher, Director of Special Operations of the Office of 
the Secretary of Defense, and Major Walter R. Smith, 
Executive, Subsidiary Plans Division of the Air Force, re-
garding missing personnel of the United States during 
the Korean War, including unclassified files forwarded to 
the Department of Defense on August 3, 1956, and Sep-
tember 27, 1956; 
Whereas obstacles continue to be encountered by some di-
rectly affected family members and private researchers 
who are seeking relevant archival records of the United 
States on incidents, processes, procedures, and policies 
that pertain or may pertain to missing and unaccounted- 
for individuals and their ultimate fates; 
Whereas countless hearings and investigations by the House 
of Representatives and the Senate have been held since 
the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 to delve into unre-
solved questions related to POW/MIA matters, including 
claims of conspiracy and cover-up within the Federal 
Government that were found to be without merit; 
Whereas decades after the end of the Vietnam War, Korean 
War, and the Cold War, there are still many unanswered 
questions about the ultimate fates of some of these 
unreturned veterans, especially those who were known at 
one time to be captured or in immediate proximity to 
capture in North Korea and Southeast Asia; 
Whereas in March 2009, the Government of Vietnam pro-
posed increasing the pace and scope of field operations, 
a proposal welcomed by POW/MIA families and veterans, 
but not yet adequately responded to by the United 
States, despite the fact that remains of personnel of the 
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•HRES 485 IH 
United States from the Vietnam War are disappearing 
because of the passage of time in acidic soil inherent in 
the region, encroaching development, and incident sites 
becoming more difficult to locate because of the death of 
potential eye-witnesses; and 
Whereas thousands of members of the Armed Forces who 
served during World War II are considered to be buried 
at sea and unrecoverable because of the sinking of Amer-
ican ships, but the remains of other thousands of mem-
bers lost in World War II and the Korean War that are 
considered possibly recoverable have yet to be recovered, 
identified, and returned to their families and to the 
United States for burial with the honors earned in com-
bat: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that— 
(1) the Secretary of Defense should take imme-
diate actions to ensure that all classified information 
(except for current, active intelligence information 
and sources and methods of collection) that pertains 
or may pertain to any member of the Armed Forces 
who is missing and unaccounted for from World 
War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, or the 
Cold War, regardless of whether such information 
was originated by the Federal Government, a foreign 
source, or other official or private source, that came 
into the possession of the Department of Defense be 
declassified and provided to the primary-next-of-kin 
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or other designated next-of-kin and, in accordance 
with relevant privacy laws, made available to the Na-
tional Archives and Records Administration for re-
view by public and private researchers; 
(2) sufficient funding and personnel should be 
approved and provided for the POW/MIA accounting 
community (as defined by section 1509(b)(2) of title 
10, United States Code) to support— 
(A) expanding and increasing the declas-
sification effort described in paragraph (1); 
(B) responding fully to Vietnam’s proposal 
to increase the pace and scope of field oper-
ations; 
(C) developing the capacity to conduct 
worldwide remains recovery and identification 
of at least 200 unaccounted-for members by fis-
cal year 2015, as required by section 541(d)(2) 
of the National Defense Authorization Act for 
Fiscal Year 2010 (10 U.S.C. 1509 note); 
(D) resuming field recovery operations in 
North Korea, including notification to Congress 
if additional funding is needed to implement 
agreements reached on October 20, 2011, be-
tween the United States and North Korea; and 
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(E) resuming field operations in Burma if 
such recovery operations again become possible; 
and 
(3) the funding described in paragraph (2) 
should be sufficient to allow for the expansion of ac-
counting efforts for all members of the Armed 
Forces missing and unaccounted for from all wars 
without— 
(A) degrading any efforts related to the 
most recent wars and conflicts; and 
(B) reducing efforts to account for mem-
bers in cases where acidic soil is destroying re-
mains, development is encroaching, and eye-
witnesses are dying. 
Æ 
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