Sponsors (12)
The bill substantially increases transparency and creates a centralized process and an independent Review Board to get families answers about missing military and civilian personnel, but it does so at the cost of higher taxpayer expense, heavier agency burdens, potential privacy exposures, and real national‑security and diplomatic tradeoffs.
Families of missing service members and civilians (and veterans) will gain faster, clearer access to records that can clarify the fate, loss, or status of their loved ones.
The National Archives will host a centralized, indexed 'Missing Armed Forces and Civilian Personnel Records' collection (with subject guides and metadata), making it easier for families, researchers, and agencies to locate and use historical personnel records.
An independent, time‑limited Review Board with subpoena and review powers will be created to compel or accelerate release and review of records and provide sustained oversight of postponed disclosures.
Some disclosures could inadvertently reveal classified or sensitive national‑security information, risking operational harm to troops, intelligence sources, or methods.
The Act could provoke diplomatic friction or yield little cooperation from foreign governments when U.S. officials press for foreign-held records, limiting effectiveness and complicating foreign relations.
Centralizing and releasing large volumes of personnel records increases privacy and data‑breach risks and could expose sensitive personal or operational details about living individuals.
Based on analysis of 15 sections of legislative text.
Creates a federal Review Board and requires agencies to locate, preserve, and transfer records about missing military and civilian personnel to the National Archives for public disclosure under narrow exceptions.
Introduced November 19, 2025 by Michael Dean Crapo · Last progress November 19, 2025
Creates an independent federal Review Board to locate, collect, review, and publicly release federal records related to missing U.S. Armed Forces and civilian personnel from World War II onward. Federal agencies must search for, preserve, certify, and transmit those records to the National Archives for inclusion in a new public Collection, subject to narrow national-security, privacy, and other limited postponement rules. The Board will set schedules and disclosure rules, direct the Archivist’s handling of records and metadata, appoint staff and an executive director, and may ask the Attorney General to seek court orders (including unsealing grand‑jury materials) when needed. The law authorizes funding as necessary, prohibits destruction of covered records, and requires public notices, justifications for redactions, and oversight reporting when records are postponed or substituted instead of released.