Loading…
S. 3226119th CongressIn markupLatest action Aug 6, 2026Decoded by AI · checked against the record
The plain-language version leads. The official text is always the reference.
S 3226 requires federal agencies to declassify and archive wartime missing-personnel records going back to Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
55-second read · 4 questions answered below
S 3226 establishes the Missing Armed Forces and Civilian Personnel Records Collection at the National Archives, a centralized archive of government records about U.S. military members and civilian workers who went missing during wartime, covering conflicts from December 7, 1941 onward. Every federal agency, military branch, and government office must locate relevant records, send copies to the National Archives, and release them to the public by default. After ten years, nearly all records must be released unless the President personally certifies specific ones still require withholding.
Families of service members and civilian government workers who went missing in wars from World War II through recent conflicts are the most directly affected. Researchers, historians, the general public, and federal agencies and military departments required to locate and turn over records are also affected.
Records about missing wartime personnel have long been classified or scattered across multiple agencies, leaving families without a full accounting. Centralizing and releasing these records would give families, researchers, and the public access to information that has previously been difficult or impossible to obtain.
AI-drafted summary. Verify it against the official text before you act on it. Read the official bill on Congress.gov
Right now: a Senate committee is reviewing it. If the House changes it, it goes back to the Senate before reaching the President.
Latest action: — Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably.