Hirono, colleagues introduce bill to expedite recovery of missing servicemembers

US Sen. Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) joined Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Mike Crapo (R-ID), and six colleagues in introducing the Bring Our Heroes Home Act, legislation that would eliminate obstacles preventing families and caseworkers from accessing records needed for recovery of America’s prisoners of war (POWs) and missing in action (MIA).

“Families of servicemembers who never returned home deserve to know that the government is doing everything it can to determine the fates of their loved ones as quickly and efficiently as possible,” said Hirono. “This legislation will help to eliminate bureaucratic obstacles and streamline processes to identify and recover our lost servicemembers so we can properly honor their lives and legacies.”

According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, approximately 80,930 Americans remain unaccounted for—including more than 150 individuals from Hawaiʻi—from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Cold War, the Gulf Wars and other conflicts.

The Bring Our Heroes Home Act would:

• Create a collection of missing Armed Forces and civilian personnel records at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) for families and caseworkers to easily access;
• Require executive agencies to identify, locate and transmit any missing Armed Forces personnel records to the National Archives for placement in the collection; and
• Establish an independent Missing Armed Forces and Civilian Personnel Records Review Board to identify missing personnel records, facilitate the transmission and disclosure of these records, and review any decisions by federal agencies to postpone declassification for purposes of protecting sensitive classified material.

In addition to Sens. Hirono, Shaheen, and Crapo, the legislation is cosponsored by Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Jim Risch (R-ID), and Jacky Rosen (D-NV).

The full text of the legislation is available here.