[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1281 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        H.R.1281

                       One Hundred Fourth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE SECOND SESSION

         Begun and held at the City of Washington on Wednesday,
   the third day of January, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-six


                                 An Act


 
   To express the sense of the Congress that United States Government 
 agencies in possession of records about individuals who are alleged to 
    have committed Nazi war crimes should make these records public.

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

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
        (1) during the 104th Congress, Americans commemorated the 50th 
    anniversary of the conclusion of the Second World War and the end 
    of the Holocaust, one of the worst tragedies in history;
        (2) it is important to learn all that we can about this 
    terrible era so that we can prevent such a catastrophe from ever 
    happening again;
        (3) the cold war is over;
        (4) numerous nations, including those of the former Soviet 
    Union, are making public their files on Nazi war criminals as well 
    as crimes committed by agencies of their own governments;
        (5) on April 17, 1995, President Clinton signed Executive Order 
    12958, which will make available certain previously classified 
    national security documents that are at least 25 years old;
        (6) that Executive Order stated: ``Our democratic principles 
    require that the American people be informed of the activities of 
    their Government.'';
        (7) this year marks the 30th anniversary of the passage of the 
    Freedom of Information Act;
        (8) agencies of the United States Government possess 
    information on individuals who ordered, incited, assisted, or 
    otherwise participated in Nazi war crimes;
        (9) some agencies have routinely denied Freedom of Information 
    Act requests for information about individuals who committed Nazi 
    war crimes;
        (10) United States Government agencies may have been in 
    possession of material about the war crimes facilitated by Kurt 
    Waldheim but did not make this information public;
        (11) it is legitimate not to disclose certain material in 
    Government files if the disclosure would seriously and demonstrably 
    harm current or future national defense, intelligence, or foreign 
    relations activities of the United States and if protection of 
    these matters from disclosure outweighs the public interest of 
    disclosure;
        (12) the disclosure of most Nazi war crimes information should 
    not harm United States national interests; and
        (13) the Office of Special Investigations of the Department of 
    Justice is engaged in vital work investigating and expelling Nazi 
    war criminals from the United States, accordingly, the records 
    created by these investigations and other actions should not be 
    disclosed, and the investigations and other actions should not be 
    interfered with.

SEC. 2. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of the Congress that United States Government 
agencies in possession of records about individuals who are alleged to 
have committed Nazi war crimes should make these records public.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.