[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5006 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5006

   To direct the Secretary of State to take certain actions for the 
     declassification and publication of materials relating to the 
            Afghanistan withdrawal, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 27, 2023

 Mr. Issa (for himself, Mr. Mast, Mr. Waltz, and Mr. Mills) introduced 
  the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
                                Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To direct the Secretary of State to take certain actions for the 
     declassification and publication of materials relating to the 
            Afghanistan withdrawal, 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. DECLASSIFICATION REVIEW AND PUBLICATION OF MATERIALS 
              RELATING TO AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL.

    (a) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that the 
American people deserve to understand the events and decision-making 
which resulted in the chaotic withdrawal of United States personnel 
from Afghanistan in 2021.
    (b) Dissent Channel Cable Relating to Afghanistan Withdrawal.--
            (1) Submission to congress.--
                    (A) Submission.--Not later than 5 days after the 
                date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 
                State shall submit to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
                of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
                Foreign Relations of the Senate a complete (and, except 
                as provided in subparagraph (B), unredacted) copy of--
                            (i) the dissent channel cable of the 
                        Department of State written on or about July 
                        13, 2021, describing the likely consequences of 
                        United States withdrawal from Afghanistan; and
                            (ii) the official response of the 
                        Department of State with respect to such 
                        dissent channel cable.
                    (B) Authorized redactions.--The Secretary may 
                redact the name of any signatory to the dissent channel 
                cable specified in subparagraph (A).
            (2) Declassification review; publication.--
                    (A) In general.--Not later than 60 days after the 
                date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 
                State shall--
                            (i) complete a declassification review to 
                        determine what, if any, information contained 
                        within the dissent channel cable or the 
                        official response specified in paragraph (1)(A) 
                        may be declassified in accordance with the 
                        standards under subsection (d);
                            (ii) declassify any information so 
                        determined; and
                            (iii) publish on a publicly available 
                        internet website of the Department of State 
                        such dissent channel cable and official 
                        response, in unclassified form and containing, 
                        in addition to any information previously 
                        unclassified, any other information 
                        declassified as a result of such 
                        declassification review.
                    (B) Required redactions.--In publishing the dissent 
                channel cable pursuant to subparagraph (A)(iii), the 
                Secretary shall redact the name, and any other 
                personally identifiable information, of each signatory 
                to such dissent channel cable.
    (c) Declassification and Publication of After-Action Review of 
Department of State.--Not later than 60 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall--
            (1) complete a declassification review to determine what, 
        if any, additional information contained within the after-
        action review of the Department of State developed with respect 
        to the Afghanistan withdrawal (in this section, referred to as 
        the ``after-action review'') may be declassified in accordance 
        with the standards under subsection (d);
            (2) declassify any information so determined; and
            (3) publish on a publicly available internet website of the 
        Department of State a complete version of such after-action 
        review containing, in addition to information previously 
        unclassified, any other information declassified as a result of 
        such declassification review.
    (d) Standards for Declassification.--In conducting each 
declassification review under this section with respect to given 
information, the Secretary of State shall declassify such information 
unless the Secretary determines the declassification would be 
incompatible with the national security interests of the United States 
or otherwise inconsistent with the protection of intelligence sources 
and methods.
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