国会纪录：1997年11月5日（参议院）Page S11764-S11778关于引入德威先生（为自己，Moynihan先生，Hatch先生，D'Amato先生，D'Moath先生，D'Moats先生，D'Moats先生，D'May先生，D'Moats先生。，盖德德先生，肯尼迪先生，里梅先生，利伯曼先生，斯诺姆先生，哈吉先生，张文顿先生，麦克文先生，坎贝尔先生，坎贝尔先生和威登先生先生先生。1379。A bill to amend section 552 of title 5, United States Code, and the National Security Act of 1947 to require disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act regarding certain persons, disclose Nazi war criminal records without impairing any investigation or prosecution conducted by the Department of Justice or certain intelligence matters, and for other purposes; to the Committee on the Judiciary. The Nazi war crimes disclosure act Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I am pleased to be part of a bipartisan group of Senators, led by my friend from New York, Senator Moynihan, to introduce the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act. Passage of this legislation will lift the last remaining veils of secrecy on one of the darkest periods in human history. the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act represents what I hope will be the culmination of work begun in the last Congress to release U.S. Government-held records of Nazi war criminals, the Nazi Holocaust, and the trafficking of Nazi-held assets. Just 2 years ago, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, and with it, the Nazis' death grip on an entire continent. Since that time, searingly detailed accounts of the Nazi Holocaust have come to our attention. We have learned so much. Yet, if the last few years are any indication, we still have so much more to learn. After the fall of Communist rule, Russia and several former Soviet- bloc nations opened volumes of secret files on Nazi war crimes. Argentina has cooperated in the public release of its files. British Government records are being declassified and made available for public scrutiny. And over the past year, Swiss banks and the Swiss Government have been under intense international pressure to make a full accounting of unclaimed funds belonging to Holocaust victims, as well as Nazi assets that may have once belonged to Holocaust victims. Mr. President, here at home, our own Government has been gradually making records available about what it knew of Nazi-related activities and atrocities. Earlier this year, a Government-conducted study revealed new information about what the U.S. Government knew regarding the transfer and flow of funds held by Nazi officials. This report found that the U.S. Government was aware that the Nazi mint took gold stolen from European central banks and melted it together with gold obtained in horrible fashion--from tooth-fillings, wedding bands and other items seized from death camp victims. Last Sunday's New York Times detailed newly released Government documents that described how the Federal Reserve Bank of New York had melted down and recast hundreds of Nazi-held gold bars. According to the released records, the U.S. Government knew that a good portion of this gold had been looted from the Netherlands and Belgium. It is not known if any of these bars contained gold from Holocaust victims, or to what extent the U.S. Government knew it. Mr. President, earlier today, at a press conference to announce the introduction of this legislation, I had on display several aerial U.S. intelligence photographs taken in 1944. The pictures were of Auschwitz, with prisoners being led to the gas chambers. These pictures were discovered by photo analysts from the Central Intelligence Agency in 1978. They confirm what we had heard from the Polish underground that a death camp did in fact exist at Auschwitz. They also demonstrated that our Government had photographs of these camps as these atrocities were occurring. These pictures tell a grisly story. How many more exist? With our legislation, we intend to answer that question. So, the fact is, the dark tragedy of the Nazi Holocaust, which ended more than 60 years ago, has been unfolding long after these tragic events occurred and is still unfolding with each new release of information. Both Congress and the President have taken action to promote the release of Government-held records during this tragic era. On April 17, 1995, the President issued an Executive order calling for the release of national security data and information older than 25 years. Last year, thanks to the tireless efforts of my friend from New York, Senator Moynihan and Representative Carolyn Maloney and several others, Congress passed a sense-of-the-Congress resolution, which stated that any U.S. Government agencies should make public any records in its possession about individuals who are alleged to have committed Nazi war crimes. The President agreed, noting that learning the remaining secrets about the Holocaust are in the clear public interest. The Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act is designed to put the concerns expressed by the last Congress into strong action. What our bill would do is amend the Freedom of Information Act to establish a presumption that Nazi war criminal records are to be made available to the public. This means that all materials would be required to be released in their entirety unless a Federal agency head concludes [[Page S11773]] that the release of all or part of these records would compromise privacy or national security interests. The agency head must notify Congress of any determination to not release records. To facilitate this process, the bill would establish the Nazi War Criminal Records Interagency Working Group. This working group would to the greatest extent possible locate, identify, inventory, declassify, and make available for the public all Nazi war records held by the United States. This pro-active search is necessary because a full Government search and inventory has never been completed. For example, some documents that surfaced this spring were found in holdings related to Southeast Asia. Our bill would be targeted toward two classes of Nazi-related materials: First, war crimes information regarding Nazi persecutions; and second, any information related to transactions involving assets of Holocaust and other Nazi victims. In summary, what we are trying to do with this bill is strike a clear balance between our Government's legitimate privacy and national security interests and the people's desire to know the truth about Nazi atrocities. These records, once released, will be held in a repository at the National Archives. This bill is a bipartisan effort to ensure the Federal Government has done all it can to ensure Holocaust victims and their families can obtain the answers they need. Again, this bill is the culmination of years of tireless work by a number of leaders. First, I want to pay special tribute to the Senators from New York--both have worked tirelessly on Holocaust related legislation for years. Senator Moynihan has been a leader in the drive to declassify U.S. Government records and a well-respected historian. He championed the release of the so-called VENONA cables that confirmed that the Soviet Union had an active spy network that had penetrated our Government. I am pleased to be working with Senator Moynihan on a similar endeavor--the cataloging and declassification of as many World War II documents on the Holocaust as possible. Senator D'Amato has worked to make public scores of Swiss bank records and lost accounts of Holocaust victims. His efforts inspired us to redraft our legislation to ensure the Federal Government releases records related to the trafficking of Nazi-held assets. This bill has the support of the chairmen of the Judiciary and Intelligence Committees--respectively, my friend from Utah, Senator Hatch, and my friend from Alabama, Senator Shelby. Mr. President, I also would be remiss if I did not mention my friend from Wisconsin, Senator Kohl, who serves with me on the Antitrust Subcommittee on the Judiciary Committee. He has brought insight on this issue that none of us has. Together, with this kind of bipartisan support, I am hopeful we can move this legislation quickly through Congress and to the President early next year. As a member of the Intelligence Committee, I intend to make this a priority issue--so that people from my State and across our Nation can have access to the most complete inventory of U.S. Government records on the Holocaust. The clock is running, and time is running out for so many victims of the Holocaust. They, and history itself, deserve to know as much as possible about this tragic chapter in the story of humanity. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record. There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows: S. 1379 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the "Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act". SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT OF DISCLOSURE UNDER FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REGARDING PERSONS WHO COMMITTED NAZI WAR CRIMES. (a) In General.--Section 552 of title 5, United States Code, is amended-- (1) in subsection (a)(4)(B) in the second sentence, by inserting "or subsection (h)" after "subsection (b)"; and (2) by inserting after subsection (g) the following: "(h)(1) For the purposes of this subsection, the term `Nazi war criminal records' means records or portions of records that-- "(A) pertain to any person as to whom the United States Government, in its sole discretion, has determined there exists reasonable grounds to believe that such person, during the period beginning on March 23, 1933, and ending on May 8, 1945, under the direction of, or in association with-- "(i) the Nazi government of Germany; "(ii) any government in any area occupied by the military forces of the Nazi government of Germany; "(iii) any government established with the assistance or cooperation of the Nazi government of Germany; or "(iv) any government which was an ally of the Nazi government of Germany, ordered, incited, assisted, or otherwise participated in the persecution of any person because of race, religion, national origin, or political opinion; or "(B) pertain to any transaction as to which the United States Government, in its sole discretion, has determined there exists reasonable grounds to believe-- "(i) involved assets taken from persecuted persons during the period beginning on March 23, 1933, and ending on May 8, 1945, by, under the direction of, on behalf of, or under authority granted by the Nazi government of Germany or any nation then allied with that government; and "(ii) such transaction was completed without the assent of the owners of those assets or their heirs or assigns or other legitimate representatives. "(2)(A) Notwithstanding subsection (b), this subsection shall apply to Nazi war criminal records. "(B) Subject to subparagraphs (C), (D), and (E), Nazi war criminal records that are responsive to a request for records made in accordance with subsection (a) shall be released in their entirety. "(C) An agency head may exempt from release under subparagraph (B) specific information, the release of which should be expected to-- "(i) constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy; "(ii) reveal the identity of a confidential human source, or reveal information about the application of an intelligence source or method, or reveal the identity of a human intelligence source when the unauthorized disclosure of that source would clearly and demonstrably damage the national security interests of the United States; "(iii) reveal information that would assist in the development or use of weapons of mass destruction; "(iv) reveal information that would impair United States cryptologic systems or activities; "(v) reveal information that would impair the application of state-of-the-art technology within a United States weapon system; "(vi) reveal actual United States military war plans that remain in effect; "(vii) reveal information that would seriously and demonstrably impair relations between the United States and a foreign government, or seriously and demonstrably undermine ongoing diplomatic activities of the United States; "(viii) reveal information that would clearly and demonstrably impair the current ability of United States Government officials to protect the President, Vice President, and other officials for whom protection services, in the interest of national security, are authorized; "(ix) reveal information that would seriously and demonstrably impair current national security emergency preparedness plans; or "(x) violate a statute, treaty, or international agreement. "(D) In applying exemptions (ii) through (x) of subparagraph (C), there shall be a presumption that the public interest in the release of Nazi war criminal records outweighs the damage to national security that might reasonably be expected to result from disclosure. The agency head, as an exercise of discretion, may rebut this presumption with respect to a Nazi war criminal record, or portion thereof, based on an exemption listed in subparagraph (C). The exercise of this discretion shall be promptly reported to the committees of Congress with appropriate jurisdiction. "(E) This subsection shall not apply to records-- "(i) related to or supporting any active or inactive investigation, inquiry, or prosecution by the Office of Special Investigations of the Department of Justice; or "(ii) in the possession, custody or control of that office.". (b) Inapplicability of National Security Act of 1947 Exemption.--Section 701 of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 431) is amended-- (1) by redesignating subsections (e) and (f) as subsections (f) and (g), respectively; and (2) by inserting after subsection (d) the following: "(e) Subsection (a) shall not apply to any operational file, or any portion of any operational file, that constitutes a Nazi war criminal record under section 552(h) of title 5, United States Code.". SEC. 3. INTERAGENCY INVENTORY OF NAZI WAR CRIMINAL RECORDS. (a) Definitions.--In this section the term-- (1) "agency" has the meaning given such term under section 551 of title 5, United States Code; [[Page S11774]] (2) "Interagency Group" means the Nazi War Criminal Records Interagency Working Group established under subsection (b); (3) "Nazi war criminal records" has the meaning given such term under section 552(h)(1) of title 5, United States Code (as added by section 2(a)(2) of this Act); and (4) "record" means a Nazi war criminal record. (b) Establishment of Interagency Group.-- (1) In general.--Not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the President shall establish the Nazi War Criminal Records Interagency Working Group. (2) Membership.--The President shall appoint to the Interagency Group the heads of agencies who the President determines will most completely and effectively carry out the functions of the Interagency Group within the time limitations provided in this section. The head of an agency appointed by the President may designate an appropriate officer to serve on the Interagency Group in lieu of the head of such agency. (3) Initial meeting.--Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Interagency Group shall hold an initial meeting and begin the functions required under this section. (c) Functions.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Interagency Group shall, to the greatest extent possible consistent with section 552(h)(2) of title 5, United States Code (as added by section 2(a)(2) of this Act)-- (1) locate, identify, inventory, recommend for declassification, and make available to the public at the National Archives and Records Administration, all Nazi war criminal records of the United States; (2) coordinate with agencies and take such actions as necessary to expedite the release of such records to the public; and (3) submit a report to Congress describing all such records, the disposition of such records, and the activities of the Interagency Group and agencies under this section. SEC. 4. EXPEDITED PROCESSING OF REQUESTS FOR NAZI WAR CRIMINAL RECORDS. (a) Definitions.--In this section, the term-- (1) "Nazi war criminal record" has the meaning given the term under section 552(h)(1) of title 5, United States Code (as added by section 2(a)(2) of this Act); and (2) "requester" means any person who was persecuted in the manner described under section 552(h)(1)(A) of title 5, United States Code (as added by section 2(a)(2) of this Act), who requests a Nazi war criminal record. (b) Expedited Processing.--For purposes of expedited processing under section 552(a)(6)(E) of title 5, United States Code, any requester of a Nazi war criminal record shall be deemed to have a compelling need for such record. SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE. The amendments made by this Act shall apply to requests under section 552 of title 5, United States Code (known as Freedom of Information Act requests) received by an agency after the expiration of the 90-day period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act. Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, today we introduce a revised War Crimes Disclosure Act which Senators D'Amato, Dodd and I originally sponsored in the 104th Congress as a companion to a measure introduced by Representative Maloney. The measure is a simple one. It requires the disclosure of information under the Freedom of Information Act regarding individuals who participated in Nazi war crimes. This bill, which Senator DeWine has carefully crafted, builds on our original measure by expanding its scope to include information regarding stolen assets of the victims of Nazi war crimes, and by requiring a Governmentwide search of records to ensure the release of as many relevant documents as possible. A similar search for information regarding Nazi assets was recently conducted under the direction of Stuart Eizenstat, with significant results. Ideally, documents regarding Nazi war crimes would be made available to the public without further legislation and without having to go through the slow process involved in getting information through the Freedom of Information Act [FOIA]. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Researchers seeking information on Nazi war criminals are denied access to relevant materials in the possession of the United States Government, even when the disclosure of these documents no longer poses a threat to national security--if indeed such disclosure ever did. Perhaps the most important provision contained in the legislation is the balancing test. This requires that "there shall be a presumption that the public interest in the release of Nazi war criminal records outweighs the damage to national security that might reasonably be expected to result from disclosure." The provision is in keeping with the report of the Commission on Protecting and Reducing Government Secrecy which recommended that such a balancing test be applied in all classification decisions. The Commission on Protecting and Reducing Government Secrecy was the second statutory examination of Government secrecy. I was honored to Chair the Commission; Representative Combest served as vice-chairman. Also serving on the Commission were John Deutch, Martin Faga, John Podesta, and Samuel Huntington. We presented our report to the President in March, and the congressional members of the Commission introduced legislation to implement the recommendations of the Commission in May. We have welcomed the many editorials and feature articles supporting our efforts as, in the words of the Sacramento Bee, a "sensible, much- needed proposal for reforming runaway classification of secrets by the federal government." And Albany's Times Union assessment that our bill represents a "bipartisan effort * * * to make more government documents accessible to the public and, in the process, make government more accountable." Our's is a report that, I believe, sets out a new framework for how to think about Government secrecy. Beginning with the concept that secrecy should be understood as a form of Government regulation. In the words of the German sociologist Max Weber, writing some eight decades ago: Every bureaucracy seeks to increase the superiority of the professionally informed by keeping their knowledge and intentions secret. Bureaucratic administration always tends to be an administration of "secret sessions"; in so far as it can, it hides its knowledge and action from criticism. The pure interest of the bureaucracy in power, however, is efficacious far beyond those areas where purely functional interests make for secrecy. The concept of the "official secret" is the specific invention of bureaucracy, and nothing is so fanatically defended by the bureaucracy as this attitude, which cannot be substantially defended beyond these specifically qualified areas. What we traditionally think of in this country as regulation concerns how citizens are to behave. Whereas public regulation involves what the citizen may do, secrecy concerns what that citizen may know. And the citizen does not know what may not be known. As our Commission stated: "Americans are familiar with the tendency to overregulate in other areas. What is different with secrecy is that the public cannot know the extent or the content of the regulation." Thus, secrecy in the ultimate mode of regulation; the citizen does not even know that he or she is being regulated. It is a parallel regulatory regime with a far greater potential for damage if it malfunctions. In our democracy, where the free exchange of ideas is so essential, it can be suffocating. We must develop what might be termed a competing "culture of openness" fully consistent with our interests in protecting national security, but in which power and authority are no longer derived primarily from one's ability to withhold information from others in Government and the public at large. The Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act is in keeping with the work of the Commission on Protecting and Reducing Government Secrecy. With the passing of time it becomes ever more important to document Nazi war crimes, lest the enormity of those crimes be lost to history. The greater access which this legislation provides will add clarity to this important effort. I applaud those researchers who continue to pursue this important work. I would like to thank Representative Maloney for her original work on this subject in the House of Representatives and I would also thank Senator DeWine for joining me in this effort here in the Senate. Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I am pleased to be an original cosponsor of the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act. I want to thank Senator DeWine and commend him for taking the lead on this important issue. This bill demonstrates America's commitment to the same historical honesty that we are demanding of Switzerland and other countries only now facing their role in the atrocities of World War II. It is not enough for us to talk about disclosure by others. We need to practice it too. If there are secrets relating to the presence of Nazi war criminals in the United States, or [[Page S11775]] if there is information that will be helpful in identifying assets of Holocaust victims, or even evidence of other governments collaborating with the Nazis, let's open these files and reveal these secrets before an entire generation of survivors is gone. This bill creates a presumption in favor of the public interest in learning all there is to learn about Nazi war crimes and requires a proactive searching of Government files for relevant documents. We have an obligation to find this information and to disseminate it. Although the Holocaust happened more than 50 years ago, we are now seeing countries and individuals caught up in the maelstrom of World War II grappling with this difficult past. Much of the debate on these issues has been triggered by recently released information from Government and other archives. For survivors, there is no legislation that can erase the suffering they endured at the hands of the Nazis. As we go about our day-to-day business, it is easy to forget the horrific details of what happened in Europe: the gruesome torture and deaths, the systematic extermination of people. However, for those of us who were directly touched by the Holocaust, history is very real. I grew up in the shadow of this tragedy. When I was a child, my family worried daily about family members left behind in Europe during the war. We constantly discussed what was or wasn't happening, and when the truth finally emerged, and all Americans realized the extent of the tragedy, it touched us even more. It is only natural for American survivors and their families to expect the American Government to be as forthcoming as possible. Although many survivors have gone on to live productive lives here in the United States, and around the world, they can never forget. Nor should we. Many emerging democracies are now facing their pasts--through truth commissions and the like. It is tempting to want to look forward and to forget events of long ago. But for these fragile democracies, reckoning with the past is the key to ensuring a secure future. We too must recognize that the openness prescribed by this legislation only makes our democracy stronger. This legislation maintains protections for individuals from the unwarranted invasion of their personal privacy, and it continues to provide exceptions for the most urgent national security and foreign policy interests. The difference between this bill and existing FOIA protections is that this bill firmly sets into law the public's right to know about Nazi war crimes and the disposition of Nazi assets, and if there is information that agencies insist on keeping secret, the relevant congressional committees must be informed. This will give us the opportunity to determine whether information dating so far back should remain classified. Finally, the bill provides that if an agency head exercises his or her authority to block the release of information, the decision is subject to judicial review. It is difficult to imagine what knowledge would be subject to these protections so many years after the fact. Yes, there may be information which makes us feel uncomfortable. There is already information about the extent to which the U.S. Government knew about what was going on during the war in the Nazi death camps. We must not be afraid of what we may learn. The only ones who need fear are the perpetrators of these vicious acts who have escaped scrutiny until now, for there are still Nazi war criminals at large in this country and abroad. Armed with new information, much like the information which may be available in our own files, courts around the world are compelling them to answer for their despicable acts. This legislation is targeted to information solely related to Nazi war crimes and to transactions involving Nazi victims, yet it sets an important precedent in codifying a more narrow set of privacy and national security exceptions for the release of Government information through the Freedom of Information Act. These exceptions are based on Executive Order 12958 which set the criteria for the release of information more than 25 years old. Unfortunately, we still have a long way to go in ensuring that this more open standard is uniformly applied to the release of Government information. I am pleased that Senator Moynihan is one of the lead sponsors of this bill because he has been such an eloquent spokesman against excessive secrecy. His work with the Commission on Protecting and Reducing Government Secrecy is truly commendable and I am pleased that this legislation is consistent with the findings of the Commission. Beyond shedding light on a difficult chapter in the history of humanity, this legislation can help foster a greater openness in the handling of Government information. If we succeed, we will have left a legacy of which we can all be proud. ______