Congressional Record: May 13, 1999 (Extensions)
Page E954

                   MISSING PERSONS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

                                 ______

                        HON. BENJAMIN A. GILMAN
                              of new york
                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 13, 1999

  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce legislation
designed to declassify the records of the House Select Committee on
Missing Persons in Southeast Asia. In doing so, I am joined by my
colleagues: Mr. Taylor from Mississippi, Mr. Talent from Missouri, and
Mr. Rohrabacher from California.
  I served as a member of the Select Committee on Missing Persons in
Southeast Asia during the committee's period of existence in the
1970's. At the time, the Select Committee was tasked with the
responsibility of determining whether American servicemen had been left
behind in Southeast Asia after the Vietnam War.
  At the time the committee was dissolved, its records were subject to
House classification rules, which mandated the material be kept
classified for 50 years. Similar regulations covered the records of the
Senate's counterpart committee.
  Several years ago, the Senate agreed to reduce the period of secrecy
to 20 years, and as a result, declassified all of their committee
files. This legislation would simply make a change in House rules to
open all of the Select Committee's files and boxes of material to the
public.
  Mr. Speaker, the end of the cold war has resulted in the discovery of
literally hundreds of documents which had previously been out of reach
behind the Iron Curtain. I see no need for the House to maintain a veil
of secrecy over its Select Committee files. Therefore, I ask that my
colleagues join in supporting this worthwhile legislation which would
bring the House rules on this subject in line with those of our
counterpart committee in the Senate.

                               H. Res.--

       Resolved, That the Archivist of the United States is
     authorized and directed to make available for public use the
     records of the House of Representatives Select Committee on
     Missing Persons in Southeast Asia (94th Congress).