[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 291 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 291

  To amend title 10, United States Code, to establish procedures for 
determining whether members of the Armed Forces in a missing status or 
   certain civilian officers and employees are deceased, to require 
certain information to be kept in the personnel files of such persons, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 5, 1993

 Mr. Murphy (for himself and Mr. Swift) introduced the following bill; 
         which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend title 10, United States Code, to establish procedures for 
determining whether members of the Armed Forces in a missing status or 
   certain civilian officers and employees are deceased, to require 
certain information to be kept in the personnel files of such persons, 
                        and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Missing Service Personnel Act of 
1993''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

    The purpose of this Act is to ensure that any member of the Armed 
Forces or any civilian officer or employee serving with or accompanying 
an Armed Force in the field under orders is fully accounted for by the 
Federal Government and, as a general rule, may not be declared dead 
solely because of the passage of time.

SEC. 3. REQUIREMENTS WITH RESPECT TO MISSING PERSONS.

    Chapter 53 of title 10, United States Code, is amended by adding at 
the end the following new section:
``Sec. 1058. Missing persons: informal investigations; boards of 
              inquiry; determinations of death; personnel files
    ``(a) Informal Investigations.--After receiving notice that a 
person under the command of an element of the armed forces is missing, 
the responsible commander shall conduct an informal investigation to 
determine that person's whereabouts and, if appropriate, shall place 
the missing person in a missing status.
    ``(b) Boards of Initial Inquiry; Duties.--(1) If a missing person 
placed in a missing status under subsection (a) is a member of the 
armed forces on active duty, the responsible commander who places that 
person in a missing status shall, as soon as feasible after placing 
that person in a missing status, notify the officer holding general 
court-martial authority over that person that the person has been 
placed in a missing status, and such officer shall convene a board of 
initial inquiry not later than 45 days after receiving such notice.
    ``(2) If a missing person placed in a missing status under 
subsection (a) is a civilian, the responsible commander who places that 
person in a missing status shall, as soon as feasible after placing 
that person in a missing status, notify the Secretary concerned that 
that person has been placed in a missing status, and the Secretary 
concerned shall convene a board of initial inquiry not later than 45 
days after receiving such notice.
    ``(3) A board of initial inquiry convened under this subsection 
shall--
            ``(A) investigate and analyze evidence relating to the 
        disappearance of the missing person;
            ``(B) based upon such evidence, recommend whether to 
        continue such person in a missing status or make a finding that 
        such person has deserted, is absent without leave, or is dead; 
        and
            ``(C) issue a report describing its recommendations and 
        findings.
    ``(c) Boards of Further Inquiry; Duties.--(1) If a board of initial 
inquiry convened under subsection (b) recommends that a missing person 
be continued in a missing status, the Secretary concerned shall convene 
a board of further inquiry not later than one year after the date on 
which the board of initial inquiry issues its recommendation. The board 
of further inquiry shall--
            ``(A) analyze any information which has become available 
        since the board of initial inquiry issued its report;
            ``(B) based upon such information and a review of evidence 
        presented during the board of initial inquiry, determine 
        whether such person should be continued in a missing status or 
        should be declared dead; and
            ``(C) issue a report describing its recommendations and 
        findings.
    ``(2) Upon the written request of a member of the immediate family 
of a missing person who, before the date of the enactment of this 
section, was determined by the Secretary concerned to be dead, the 
Secretary concerned shall convene a board of further inquiry which 
shall--
            ``(A) conduct an investigation to determine whether such 
        finding of death should be upheld or such person should be 
        placed in a missing status; and
            ``(B) issue a report describing its recommendations and 
        findings.
    ``(3) If a board of further inquiry convened under this subsection 
recommends continuing the missing status of a missing person or placing 
a missing person previously found to be dead in a missing status, the 
Secretary concerned shall reconvene such board to review the missing 
status of such person not later than three years after such 
recommendation is made.
    ``(d) Composition and Meetings of Boards.--(1) Each board convened 
under subsection (b) or (c) shall be composed of members of the armed 
forces on active duty (except as provided in subparagraph (C)) and 
shall include--
            ``(A) one attorney;
            ``(B) one person who is a member of the armed forces whose 
        primary military occupational specialty is the same 
        occupational specialty as that of the missing person at the 
        time of such missing person's disappearance;
            ``(C) if the missing person being investigated is a 
        civilian, one person whose occupational specialty is similar to 
        the occupational specialty of such missing person at the time 
        of such missing person's disappearance; and
            ``(D) if the missing person being investigated disappeared 
        while in transit, one person who is a member of the armed 
        forces whose military occupational specialty pertains to the 
        piloting, navigating, or operating of the mode of 
        transportation used by such missing person at the time of his 
        disappearance.
    ``(2) The Secretary concerned shall invite each member of the 
immediate family of the missing person being investigated to attend any 
meeting of a board of initial inquiry convened under subsection (b) 
unless he determines, in consultation with the commander of the 
military installation at which such meeting is convened, that 
attendance at such a meeting would place such family members in 
physical danger. In the case of the meetings of a board of further 
inquiry convened or reconvened under subsection (c), the Secretary 
concerned shall--
            ``(A) invite each member of the immediate family of such 
        missing person to attend such meetings;
            ``(B) attempt to schedule such meetings at locations and 
        times convenient for the members of the immediate family of 
        such missing person;
            ``(C) provide members of the immediate family of such 
        missing person with reasonable notice of the time and location 
        of such meetings; and
            ``(D) open such meetings to the general public.
    ``(3) Each board convened under subsection (b) or (c) may hold such 
meetings, take such testimony, and receive such evidence as it 
considers appropriate, and may secure directly from any department or 
agency of the United States any information necessary to carry out its 
duties under this section.
    ``(e) Appointment of Counsel.--The officer or Secretary concerned 
who convenes a board under subsection (b) or (c) shall appoint counsel 
to represent the missing person. Counsel appointed under this 
subsection shall have the qualifications prescribed under section 
827(b) of this title (article 27(b) of the Uniform Code of Military 
Justice).
    ``(f) Determinations of Death.--If a board convened under 
subsection (b) or (c) determines that a missing person is dead, it 
shall include in its report a detailed description of the location 
where the death occurred, the date on which the death occurred, whether 
the body has been recovered, and, if the body has been recovered, 
whether a licensed practitioner of forensic medicine determined that 
the body recovered is that of the missing person. No missing person may 
be declared dead by a board convened under subsection (a) unless--
            ``(1) evidence other than the passage of a period of time 
        of less than 50 years exists which suggests that the person is 
        dead;
            ``(2) no evidence which reasonably suggests that such 
        person is alive is in the possession of the Federal Government;
            ``(3) representatives of the Federal Government have made a 
        complete search of the area where such person was last seen 
        (unless, after making every good faith effort to obtain access 
        to such area, the United States is not granted such access); 
        and
            ``(4) representatives of the Federal Government have 
        examined the records of the government or entity having control 
        over the area where such person was last seen (unless, after 
        making every good faith effort to obtain access to such 
        records, the United States is not granted such access).
    ``(g) Judicial Review.--(1) Any member of the immediate family of a 
missing person who was found by a board convened under subsection (b) 
or (c)(1) to be dead, or the finding of whose death was upheld by a 
board convened under subsection (c)(2), may obtain a review of such 
finding in the court of appeals of the United States within the circuit 
where such member resides or where the finding of death was made or 
upheld. Such family member may obtain such review if, at any time after 
receiving notice of such finding, the family member files in the court 
a written petition requesting that the finding be set aside.
    ``(2) The decision of the court of appeals shall be final, except 
that it shall be subject to review by the Supreme Court upon 
certiorari, as provided in section 1254 of title 28.
    ``(3) If the court of appeals sets aside the finding of death and 
if--
            ``(A) the time allowed for filing a petition for certiorari 
        has expired and no such petition has been duly filed;
            ``(B) the petition for certiorari has been denied; or
            ``(C) the decision of the court of appeals has been 
        affirmed by the Supreme Court;
the Secretary concerned shall convene a board of further inquiry under 
subsection (c)(2) to review the missing person's status not later than 
three years after the date on which the finding is set aside, the 
petition for certiorari is denied, or the Supreme Court affirms the 
decision of the court of appeals.
    ``(h) Personnel Files.--(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), 
the Secretary concerned shall ensure that a missing person's personnel 
file contains all information in the possession of Federal departments 
and agencies pertaining to the disappearance or whereabouts of such 
person.
    ``(2) If classified information is withheld from the personnel file 
of a missing person, the Secretary concerned shall ensure that the 
file--
            ``(A) contains a notice that the information exists; and
            ``(B) contains a notice of the date of the most recent 
        review of the classification status of the information.
    ``(3) Any person who knowingly and willfully withholds information 
pertaining to the disappearance or whereabouts of a missing person from 
that person's personnel file shall be fined as provided in title 18 or 
imprisoned not more than one year, or both.
    ``(4) The Secretary concerned shall make the contents of the 
personnel file of a missing person available to a member of the 
immediate family of such person upon the written request of such family 
member.
    ``(i) Effect on State Law.--Nothing in this section shall be 
construed to invalidate or limit the power of any State court or 
administrative entity, or the power of any court or administrative 
entity of any political subdivision thereof, to find or declare a 
person dead for purposes of the law of such State or political 
subdivision.
    ``(j) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) The term `member of the immediate family' means the 
        spouse, each adopted or natural child, each parent, and each 
        sibling.
            ``(2) The term `military installation' means a base, camp, 
        post, station, yard, center, or other activity under the 
        jurisdiction of the Secretary of a military department.
            ``(3) The term `missing person' means--
                    ``(A) a member of the armed forces on active duty 
                who is missing; or
                    ``(B) a civilian officer or employee serving with 
                or accompanying an armed force under orders who is 
                missing.
            ``(4) The term `missing status' means the status of a 
        missing person who is determined to be absent in a status of--
                    ``(A) missing;
                    ``(B) missing in action;
                    ``(C) interned in a foreign country;
                    ``(D) captured, beleaguered, or besieged by a 
                hostile force; or
                    ``(E) detained in a foreign country against his 
                will.
            ``(5) The term `State' means any State, the District of 
        Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and any territory or 
        possession of the United States.''.

SEC. 4. CONFORMING AND CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.

    (a) Conforming Amendments.--(1) Section 555 of title 37, United 
States Code, is repealed.
    (2) Chapter 10 of title 37, United States Code, is amended--
            (A) in the last sentence of section 552(a), by striking the 
        second comma and all that follows and inserting a period;
            (B) in the second sentence of section 552(b)(2), by 
        striking the hyphen and all that follows and inserting ``that 
        his death is determined under section 1057 of title 10'';
            (C) in section 552(e), by striking ``section 555 of this 
        title'' and inserting ``section 1057 of title 10'';
            (D) in section 553(f)--
                    (i) by striking ``When the Secretary concerned'' 
                and inserting ``When a board convened under section 
                1057 of title 10''; and
                    (ii) by striking ``the Secretary concerned receives 
                evidence'' and inserting ``a board convened under 
                section 1057 of title 10 reports'';
            (E) in section 553(g) by striking ``section 555 of this 
        title'' and inserting ``section 1057 of title 10'';
            (F) in section 556(a)--
                    (i) by inserting ``and'' at the end of paragraph 
                (3);
                    (ii) by striking the semicolon at the end of 
                paragraph (4) and inserting a period; and
                    (iii) by striking paragraphs (1), (5), (6), and (7) 
                and redesignating paragraphs (2), (3), and (4) as 
                paragraphs (1), (2), and (3), respectively;
            (G) in section 556(h)--
                    (i) by striking ``status'' and inserting ``pay''; 
                and
                    (ii) by striking the second sentence;
            (H) in section 556, by striking subsection (b) and 
        redesignating subsections (c), (d), (e), (f), (g), and (h) as 
        subsections (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), and (g), respectively;
            (I) in paragraph (1) of section 557(a), by striking ``, 
        553, and 555'' and inserting ``and 553''; and
            (J) in paragraph (4)(B) of section 559(a), by striking 
        ``556(f)'' and inserting ``556(e)''.
    (b) Clerical Amendments.--(1) The table of sections at the 
beginning of chapter 53 of title 10, United States Code, is amended by 
adding at the end the following new item:

``1058. Missing persons: informal investigations; boards of inquiry; 
                            determinations of death; personnel 
                            files.''.
    (2) The table of sections at the beginning of chapter 10 of title 
37, United States Code, is amended by striking the item relating to 
section 555.

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