Review, identification, transmission to the National Archives, and public disclosure of missing Armed Forces and civilian personnel records by Government offices

(a) In general (1) Preparation As soon as practicable after the date of enactment of this Act, and sufficiently in advance of the deadlines established under this Act, each Government office shall— (A) identify and locate any missing Armed Forces and civilian personnel records in the custody, possession, or control of the Government office, including intelligence reports, congressional inquiries, memoranda to or from the White House and other Federal departments and agencies, Prisoner of War (POW) debriefings, live sighting reports, documents relating to POW camps, movement of POWs, exploitation 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 Archivist in accordance with the criteria and acceptable formats established by the Archivist a copy of any missing Armed Forces and civilian personnel 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 perjury, a certification indicating— (A) whether the Government office has conducted a thorough search for all missing Armed Forces and civilian personnel records in the custody, possession, or control of the Government 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, altered, or mutilated in any way. (4) Effect of previous disclosure Information 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 redacted records (A) In general For any missing Armed Forces and civilian 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 unclassified and publicly releasable report to the Archivist, the Review Board, and each appropriate committee of the Senate and the House of Representatives justifying the decision of the Government office to substantially redact or withhold the record by demonstrating that the release of information would clearly and demonstrably be expected to cause an articulated harm, and that the harm would be of such gravity as to outweigh the public interest in access to the information. (B) Rulemaking The Archivist shall promulgate regulations to define the term substantially redacted record for purposes of subparagraph (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 accordance with the criteria and acceptable formats established 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 (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 Archivist 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 National Declassification Center established under Executive Order 13526 (50 U.S.C. 3161 note; relating to classified national security information), or any successor order. (4) Records already public A missing Armed Forces and civilian personnel record that is in the custody of the National Archives on the date of enactment of this Act and that has been publicly available in its entirety without redaction shall be made available in the Collection without any additional review by the Archivist, the Review Board, or any other Government office under this Act. (5) Exemptions (A) Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency is exempt from the requirement under this subsection to declassify and transmit to the Archivist documents in its custody or control that pertain to a specific case or cases that the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency is actively investigating or developing for the purpose of locating, disinterring, or identifying a missing member of the Armed Forces. (B) Department of Defense Military Service Casualty Offices and Department of State Service Casualty Offices The Department of Defense Military Service Casualty Offices and the Department of State Service Casualty Offices are exempt from the requirement to declassify and transmit to the Archivist documents in their custody or control that pertain to individual cases with respect to which the office is lending support and assistance to the families of missing individuals. (c) Transmission to the National Archives Each Government office shall— (1) not later than 270 days after a quorum of the Review Board has been established under section 7, commence transmission to the Archivist of copies of the missing Armed Forces and civilian personnel records in the custody, possession, or control of the Government office, except for records described in subsection (a)(5); and (2) not later than 1 year after a quorum of the Review Board has been established under section 7, complete transmission to the Archivist of copies of all missing Armed Forces and civilian personnel records in the possession or control of the Government office. (d) Periodic review of postponed missing Armed Forces and civilian personnel records (1) In general All missing Armed Forces and civilian personnel records, or information within a missing Armed Forces and civilian personnel record, the public disclosure of which has been postponed under the standards under this Act shall be reviewed by the originating body— (A) (i) periodically, but not less than every 5 years, after the date on which the Review Board terminates under section 7(p); 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 (A) In general A periodic review of a missing Armed Forces and civilian personnel record, or information within a missing Armed Forces and civilian personnel record, by the originating body shall address the public disclosure of the missing Armed Forces and civilian personnel record under the standards under this Act. (B) Continued postponement If an originating body conducting a periodic review of a missing Armed Forces and civilian personnel record, or information within a missing Armed Forces and civilian personnel record, the public disclosure of which has been postponed under the standards under this Act, determines that continued postponement is required, the originating body shall provide to the Archivist an unclassified written description of the reason for the continued postponement that the Archivist shall highlight and make accessible on a publicly accessible website administered by the National Archives. (C) Scope The periodic review of postponed missing Armed Forces and civilian personnel records, or information within a missing Armed Forces and civilian personnel record, shall serve the purpose stated in section 2(b)(2), to provide expeditious public disclosure of missing Armed Forces and civilian personnel records, to the fullest extent possible, subject only to the grounds for postponement of disclosure under section 6. (D) Disclosure absent certification by President Not later than 10 years after the date on which a quorum of the Review Board has been established under section 7, all missing Armed Forces and civilian personnel records, and information within a missing Armed Forces and civilian personnel record, shall be publicly disclosed in full, and available in the Collection, unless— (i) the head of the originating body, Executive agency, or other Government office recommends in writing that continued postponement is necessary; (ii) the written recommendation described in clause (i)— (I) is provided to the Archivist in unclassified and publicly releasable form not later than 180 days before the date that is 10 years the date on which a quorum of the Review Board has been established under section 7; and (II) includes— (aa) a justification of the recommendation to postpone disclosure with clear and convincing evidence that the identifiable harm is of such gravity that it outweighs the public interest in disclosure; and (bb) a recommended specified time at which or a specified occurrence following which the material may be appropriately disclosed to the public under this Act; (iii) the Archivist transmits all recommended postponements and the recommendation of the Archivist to the President not later than 90 days before the date that is 10 years after the date on which a quorum of the Review Board has been established under section 7; and (iv) the President transmits to the Archivist a certification indicating that continued postponement is necessary and the identifiable harm, as demonstrated by clear and convincing evidence, is of such gravity that it outweighs the public interest in disclosure not later than the date that is 10 years after the date on which a quorum of the Review Board has been established under section 7. (e) Records management In carrying out this section, the Archivist shall comply with any applicable statutory or regulatory requirement related to records management.