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Creates an independent Review Board and a permanent National Archives collection to locate, preserve, and publicly disclose federal records about missing U.S. Armed Forces members and civilian personnel who became missing between December 7, 1941 and the law's enactment. Federal agencies must search for, certify under penalty of perjury, and transmit such records to the Archivist in specified formats; records are presumed declassified for public disclosure except under narrow, time‑limited postponement rules. The Board can compel agency action, subpoena records and witnesses, ask the Attorney General to seek court orders to unseal sealed information (including grand‑jury material), and oversee a structured review, reporting, and timeline that includes a ten‑year default disclosure rule and special exemptions for active investigations and family‑support cases.
The bill substantially improves access, preservation, and centralized review of records to help families, researchers, and oversight, but it does so at the cost of significant administrative expense, privacy and national‑security risks, potential delays, and reduced regular congressional spending oversight.
Families of missing service members and civilian federal employees/contractors gain substantially improved and faster access to records about loss, fate, or status due to mandated preservation, presumptive declassification, centralized review, and disclosure timelines.
The bill centralizes and increases government transparency and accountability by creating a public Collection, requiring certifications and reporting, establishing a Review Board and oversight routines, and making more records available to researchers and Congress.
The statute explicitly expands coverage to include civilian federal employees and contractors who served with the Armed Forces, making their records eligible for preservation and review.
Mandatory preservation and presumptive disclosure increase the risk of exposing sensitive intelligence, operations, sources, or military plans, which could harm national security and service members' safety.
Locating, reviewing, redacting, certifying, and transmitting voluminous historical and personnel records will impose substantial administrative and compliance costs on agencies and likely increase taxpayer expense and staff workloads.
Centralizing and publicly disclosing sensitive personnel and missing‑person records creates meaningful privacy risks for veterans, service members, contractors, families, and private persons (including via Board subpoena powers).
Introduced December 15, 2025 by Chris Pappas · Last progress December 15, 2025