[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 133 (Tuesday, September 24, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H10817-H10819]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       WAR CRIMES DISCLOSURE ACT

  Mr. HORN. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 1281) to amend title 5, United States Code, and the National 
Security Act of 1947 to require disclosure under the Freedom of 
Information Act of information regarding certain individuals who 
participated in Nazi war crimes during the period in which the United 
States was involved in World War II, as amended.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 1281

       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.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
California [Mr. Horn] and the gentlewoman from New York [Mrs. Maloney] 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California [Mr. Horn].
  Mr. HORN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Over a half century has passed since the ending of the Second World 
War and the revelation of the horrors of the Holocaust. The War Crimes 
Disclosure Act authored by my colleague, the gentlewoman from New York 
[Mrs. Maloney], is intended to make available under the Freedom of 
Information Act records in the possession of Federal departments and 
agencies about individuals believed to have participated in Nazi war 
crimes. I join the bill's author, Representative Maloney, in advancing 
this important legislation.
  We are acting just a day after the Jewish high holiday of Yom Kippur,

[[Page H10818]]

the Day of Atonement. All people of conscience can benefit from the 
careful contemplation of the past. Such reflection is a vital step 
toward a resolve to redress past wrongs and to do good in the future. 
For governments and their citizens to accomplish this, the facts, even 
painful facts, must be made public.
  If we are not to forget the horrors of the Holocaust, and we must 
never do so, then we must make the records available, all the records 
of this dark, dark period in human history.
  I am appreciative of the role of historians as stewards of our past. 
Their work on this terrible period is far from complete. We must assist 
them by making these records available. Information about contacts once 
maintained with Nazi war criminals must finally be disclosed.
  Some words of clarification are necessary about the amendment before 
the House. The Committee on Government Reform and Oversight passed a 
version of H.R. 1281 which provided for the mandatory disclosure of 
this information pursuant to the provisions of the Freedom of 
Information Act, or FOIA, as it is called.
  Normally under the Freedom of Information Act, national security 
records are exempt from disclosure. H.R. 1281 as reported by the 
Committee on Government Reform and Oversight would have required a 
careful balancing of the public interest when the national security 
exemption was applied to the records of alleged Nazi war criminals.
  Since the committee's action, Mrs. Maloney, the Representative from 
New York, and I have worked with the Permanent Section Committee on 
Intelligence and the Central Intelligence Agency to refine the language 
of H.R. 1281 to address the national security considerations. 
Unfortunately, we have not been able to resolve the sensitive questions 
about the extent and nature of judicial review of agency or Freedom of 
Information Act determinations and the appropriate treatment of the 
more recently created records.
  Consequently, I join the gentlewoman from New York [Mrs. Maloney] in 
proposing an amendment with substitute language which expresses, and I 
quote:

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

  I expect in the next Congress to continue to work together with 
Representative Maloney and others to advance the release of records 
held by the Federal Government departments and agencies concerning Nazi 
war criminals. I am confident that an appropriate balancing of 
interests can be found.
  As the author of H.R. 1281, the gentlewoman from New York [Mrs. 
Maloney] has provided active leadership in using the Freedom of 
Information Act to learn more about the information in Federal 
Government files about Nazi war criminals.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mrs. MALONEY. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  (Mrs. MALONEY asked and was given permission to revise and extend her 
remarks.)
  Mrs. MALONEY. Madam Speaker, I first want to thank my friend, the 
gentleman from California, Chairman Horn, and his fine staff and my 
fine staff for all of their hard work on bringing this measure to the 
floor. I want to thank the gentleman from Texas, Chairman Combest, and 
the gentleman from Washington, Mr. Dicks, ranking member of the 
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence for their assistance. I also 
want to thank our former colleague, Elizabeth Holtzman, not only for 
her efforts on this bill but for a career spent in pursuit of justice 
and human rights, dating back to her pioneering legislation on Nazi war 
criminals.
  Madam Speaker, this is a somewhat bittersweet moment. Chairman Horn 
and I had wanted to bring forward H.R. 1281 as reported, which 
unanimously passed the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight. 
This bill which I have been working on for nearly 3 years would end a 
tremendous loophole in the Freedom of Information Act which currently 
allows Government agencies to block the release of information on Nazi 
war crimes. Although we have a carefully crafted bill, which protects 
legitimate national security, the CIA strenuously objected to the 
legislation and has effectively killed it in this Congress.
  Given that half a century has passed since the end of World War II 
and given that the cold war is over, I find it outrageous that the CIA 
would block a bill which would help us shed light on the Holocaust, the 
darkest moment in the history of man's inhumanity to man.
  But bringing this substitute sense of Congress resolution to the 
floor today, we will put the House on record in support of the 
principles of our bill and we will set the stage for the passage of 
binding legislation in the next Congress.
  Madam Speaker, I am indebted to A.M. Rosenthal of the New York Times 
for his series of articles he wrote about secret U.S. Nazi war crimes 
files. I am also thankful for the advice and assistance of professor 
Robert Herzstein of the University of South Carolina who has cataloged 
the celebrated case of Kurt Waldheim. For years the CIA was keeping its 
information on Waldheim a secret, even as the Department of Justice was 
placing him on the watch list of individuals forbidden to enter the 
United States. It is not difficult to imagine how history might have 
been changed if Waldheim's secret past had become public. Most notably, 
he probably would 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 Waldheim's outrageous story continues. In his recent 
autobiography, he continues to whitewash his Nazi past and blames the 
American Jewish community for his banishment from the United States. 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 will help 
those who research the horrors of the Holocaust to ensure that cases 
like Waldheim do not occur again.
  Madam Speaker, some of what we might learn in U.S. Government files 
may not be pleasant. Evidence exists, for example, that our Nation 
actively recruited Nazis and facilitated their entry into the country 
to pursue early cold war objectives. But as we quote in this 
resolution, President Clinton's Executive Order 1212958, which 
represents a strong step forward in the declassification of national 
security documents states, and I quote, ``Our democratic principles 
require that the American people be informed of the activities of their 
government.''
  Madam Speaker, this is the spirit of the Freedom of Information Act 
which this year turns 30 years old. FOIA has been a great tool to 
historians, studying World War II and the Holocaust. But all too often 
U.S. intelligence, defense, and foreign relations agencies deny FOIA 
requests, citing outdated exemptions that are simply no longer valid in 
the post-cold war era.
  Our bill as reported would have required the release of this material 
but would have exempted disclosure of files that would have seriously 
harmed current or future national security concerns.
  Our bill would have ended the longstanding practice of routine denial 
by the CIA of freedom of information requests about Nazi war crimes, by 
placing the CIA under the judicial review requirements of other 
government agencies. What this means is that researchers who present 
the CIA with reasonable FOIA requests, only to have them denied, would 
be able to turn to the Federal courts for final ruling. Our bill would 
not have interfered with the outstanding work of the Office of Special 
Investigations, which has a long track record of exposing and expelling 
Nazi war criminals from our country.
  Madam Speaker, during the past several days, as I have been 
attempting to get H.R. 1281 to the floor, the Nation has learned some 
very interesting facts from previously classified historical documents. 
For example, we learned last week from a 40-year-old document that our 
government knew about U.S. prisoners of war held by North Korea during 
the Korean war.
  We also learned from World War II documents that millions of dollars 
in gold looted by the Nazis is currently sitting in the Federal Reserve 
Bank of New York.

[[Page H10819]]

  These two revelations may be disturbing but learning about our 
Nation's past, disturbing as it might be, to teach us how to govern in 
the future is the essence of democracy. And this is the essence of the 
resolution we are debating today. We can never heed Santayana's warning 
that, and I quote, ``Those who do not remember the past are condemned 
to repeat it,'' if we do not have the proper historical tools.
  Madam Speaker, yesterday Jews all over the world celebrated Yom 
Kippur, the Day of Atonement. This is a day of somber reflection about 
the past. In my district and in countless others, thousands of these 
individuals are survivors of the Holocaust and their families. These 
people can never escape the searing memories of what befell them half a 
century ago.
  In passing this resolution, we honor the memory of those who died and 
the suffering of those who survived. In passing this resolution, we are 
taking a stand against those who insult humanity by denying the very 
fact that the Holocaust occurred. And in passing this resolution, we 
must pledge that before another year goes by, we will ensure that our 
government's full accounting of this terrible era and its aftermath is 
made public.
  I ask my colleagues to support our resolution calling for the release 
of Nazi war crime files.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. HORN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I received a letter from the chairman of the Permanent Select 
Committee on Intelligence, our distinguished colleague, the gentleman 
from Texas [Mr. Combest]. I want to include that letter for the Record:

         House of Representatives, Permanent Select Committee on 
           Intelligence,
                               Washington, DC, September 23, 1996.
     Hon. Stephen Horn,
     Chairman, Subcommittee on Government Management, Information, 
         and Technology, Washington, DC.
       Dear Mr. Chairman: I am writing to you regarding the War 
     Crimes Disclosure Act, H.R. 1281. As reported, H.R. 1281, 
     contained a number of provisions that would amend the Freedom 
     of Information Act (FOIA) and would effect long standing 
     federal case law and rule of judicial deference to 
     intelligence and law enforcement executive agency expertise 
     in national security matters.
       The Committee is committed to declassifying older 
     intelligence documents, in particular those pertaining to 
     Nazi war criminals. I specifically requested that the Central 
     Intelligence Agency review this legislation to reach an 
     agreement satisfying the concerns of the intelligence 
     agencies as well as meeting the public's right to receive 
     information about Nazi criminals that may be contained within 
     U.S. intelligence files.
       I am in receipt of the Sense of Congress substitute for 
     H.R. 1281 that reiterates the commitment we all feet 
     concerning the disclosure of information related to Nazi war 
     crimes. Recognizing that you and Representative Maloney 
     desire to bring this legislation to the House floor 
     expeditiously, the House Permanent Select Committee on 
     Intelligence will forego its right to sequential referral in 
     this instance. Further, I am committed to working with you to 
     craft new legislation that meets the desire of the American 
     people to know about Nazi criminal acts while protecting 
     legitimate national security interests.
       Thank you for your attention to this matter.
           Sincerely,
                                                    Larry Combest,
                                                         Chairman.

  Mr. HORN. Madam Speaker, I want to quote two paragraphs there that 
are relevant to the measure before us. Chairman Combest assures me:

       The committee is committed to declassifying older 
     intelligence documents, in particular those pertaining to 
     Nazi war criminals. I specifically requested that the Central 
     Intelligence Agency review this legislation to reach an 
     agreement satisfying the concerns of the intelligence 
     agencies as well as meeting the public's right to receive 
     information about Nazi criminals that may be contained within 
     U.S. intelligence files.

  He goes on to say:

       I am in receipt of the Sense of Congress substitute for 
     H.R. 1281 that reiterates the commitment we all feel 
     concerning the disclosure of information related to Nazi war 
     crimes. Recognizing that you and Representative Maloney 
     desires to bring this legislation to the floor expeditiously, 
     the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence will 
     forego its rights to sequential referral in this instance. 
     Further, I am committed to working with you to craft new 
     legislation that meets the desire of the American people to 
     know about Nazi criminal acts while protecting legitimate 
     national security interests.

  Madam Speaker, I deeply appreciate the word of the chairman of the 
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. As a citizen and as a 
Member of this Congress, I cannot imagine any executive branch under 
any administration wanting, after almost a half century has passed, to 
keep the files that relate to specific war crimes committed during the 
Second World War.

                              {time}  1500

  Madam Speaker, this is a fine piece of legislation that the 
gentlewoman from New York [Mrs. Maloney] has offered. We are delighted 
to support it on this side.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mrs. MALONEY. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. Greene of Utah). The question is on the 
motion offered by the gentleman from California [Mr. Horn] that the 
House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 1281, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  The title of the bill was amended so as to read: ``A bill 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.''
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________