Bring Our Heroes Home Act

Key Points

• The bill creates a new "Missing Armed Forces and Civilian Personnel Records Collection" at the National Archives, covering anyone who went missing from the start of World War II in 1941 through the present day. All government agencies must find, review, and send copies of relevant records to the Archivist.
• Government offices must identify a wide range of documents, including intelligence reports, prisoner of war debriefings, live sighting reports, and records about POW camps, movement, and status changes from Missing in Action to Killed in Action.
• A new five-member independent Review Board, appointed by the president with Senate confirmation, would oversee the process. The board has subpoena power and makes final decisions about which records get released and which stay classified.
• Records can only be kept secret under narrow conditions, such as protecting living confidential sources, active intelligence methods, or military plans. Even postponed records must be reviewed at least every five years, and after 10 years nearly everything must be released unless the president personally certifies continued secrecy.
• The bill encourages the State Department to reach out to Russia, China, and North Korea to seek disclosure of any records they hold about missing American service members, as well as any other foreign government with relevant information.
• The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency is exempt from the declassification requirement for cases it is actively investigating to locate, disinter, or identify a missing service member. This protects ongoing recovery efforts from disruption.