[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 111 (Thursday, July 25, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1381]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     THE WAR CRIMES DISCLOSURE ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 25, 1996

  Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, it is with great pride that I announce to 
my colleagues the unanimous passage Of H.R. 1281, the War Crimes 
Disclosure Act, from the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight.
  As the sponsor of H.R. 1281, I am pleased that this bill is quickly 
making its way through the legislative process, and I am hopeful that 
is will soon be passed by the House. A companion bill will be 
introduced by New York Senators Moynihan and D'Amato, and I am 
confident that this measure has a solid chance of becoming law during 
this session of Congress.
  I introduced H.R. 1281 to close what I perceive is a tremendous 
loophole in the Freedom of Information Act. Under current law, the FOIA 
allows Government agencies to block the release of information for a 
wide variety of reasons, including outdated ``national security'' 
arguments that are no longer valid in the post-cold-war era.
  Because of this circumstance, researchers investigating Nazi war 
criminals like Kurt Waldheim are denied information that is sitting in 
U.S. Government files. I'm indebted to A.M. Rosenthal, the New York 
Times columnist, for his series of articles which brought this problem 
to light.
  The Waldheim case is the most celebrated example. For years, the CIA 
was keeping its information on Waldheim a secret, even as other 
Government agencies, namely the Department of Justice, were placing 
Waldheim on the Watch List of individuals forbidden to enter our 
country. Waldheim was given the dubious distinction because of his 
direct involvement in the deportation and murder of Jews and others 
during World War II.
  It is not difficult to imagine how history might have been changed if 
Waldheim's secret past had become public. Most notably, Waldheim would 
probably not have been elected to the post of Secretary General of the 
United Nations, one of the most shameful events in the history of that 
world body.
  And Mr. Waldheim's shameful story continues. Just recently, we 
learned that in his brand new autobiography, ``The Answer'', he 
whitewashes his Nazi past, and blames the American Jewish community for 
his banishment from the United States.
  Waldheim's book is a dishonest answer to the overwhelmingly credible 
charges that he persecuted and facilitated the murder of Jews, 
Italians, Serbs, and others in World War II. It is almost 
incomprehensible that he calls himself a victim, when it was his 
murderous activity that helped make victims of so many innocent people.
  I drafted H.R. 1281 to ensure that the entire Waldheim file is 
finally disclosed. It is also my hope that the enactment of this bill 
would help those who research the horrors of the Holocaust ensure that 
cases like Waldheim do not occur in the future.
  My bill is narrowly drawn. It would exclude from disclosure 
requirements any material that is strictly private and personal. 
Similarly, information pertaining to current or future intelligence, 
national security, and foreign relations issues could remain secret if 
there is clear and convincing evidence that disclosing the files could 
cause substantial harm to our national interests.

  My bill also takes great care not to impede the important work of the 
Department of Justice's Nazi hunting unit, the Office of Special 
Investigations. I am a fervent supporter of the OSI. Just last month, 
for example, I called upon the Lithuanian government to extradite two 
Nazi war criminals living in the United States that were exposed by 
OSI's long and painstaking work. I was pleased to work with the OSI to 
craft the final version of the bill so that it can accomplish its 
purpose of disclosing Nazi war crimes files without hindering OSI's 
valuable investigations and prosecutions. The Justice Department firmly 
supports my bill.
  The Clinton administration is moving in the right direction with 
respect to classifying hidden documents. The President's Executive 
Order of April 20, 1995, will, in 4 years, declassify many documents 
that are 25 years old. But I believe, when it comes to Nazi war crimes 
files, we can and should move more swiftly.
  On June 14, Chairman Stephen Horn and I presided over a hearing of 
our subcommittee, during which we heard excellent testimony from three 
witnesses. We heard from Congressman Tom Lantos, the only Holocaust 
survivor to be elected to Congress, and a moral mentor to me and to all 
of our colleagues. Elizabeth Holtzman also testified. As an outstanding 
Member of this body in the 1970's, Liz was a pioneer in the efforts to 
expose Nazi war criminals. Finally, we received valuable insights from 
Robert Herzstein, a distinguished scholar and professor of history at 
University of South Carolina. His efforts to uncover the secret files 
of Kurt Waldheim have played an instructive role in the formation of 
this legislation.
  There are a number of organizations which support my bill. These 
groups include the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the Anti-Defamation League, 
the World Jewish Congress, the Jewish Community Relations Council of 
New York, the Orthodox Union, the American Jewish Committee, and the 
Agudath Israel of America.
  Mr. Speaker, the Second World War ended 51 years ago. It's finally 
time for the entire story of this, the most horrible era in the history 
of man's inhumanity to man, to emerge. It is time to take a stand 
against those who insult humanity by denying what took place half a 
century ago. The great philosopher George Santayana taught us that 
``those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.'' I 
hope that the passage of the War Crimes Disclosure Act will play a 
small role in helping us heed Santayana's warning.

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