Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 105 Part 2.djvu/528

 105 STAT. 1480 PUBLIC LAW 102-190—DEC. 5, 1991 PART G—MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS SEC. 1081. SURVIVOR NOTIFICATION AND ASSISTANCE; ACCESS TO MILI- TARY RECORDS OF SERVICE MEMBERS WHO DIE ON ACTIVE DUTY. (a) PoucY RE-EXAMINATION. —The Secretary of Defense shall reexamine policies of the Department of Defense relating to casualty notification and assistance, including policies relating to the access of parents, spouses, and adult children to the records of deceased members of the Armed Forces. The review (1) should determine if existing regulations adequately respect a service member's wishes in the event of death on active duty, and (2) should consider new needs or problems resulting from complex family situations. The review should take into account experiences resulting from the Persian Gulf conflict and should seek to determine if changes in policy or procedures would be in the best interests of both service members and their families. (b) MATTERS TO BE EXAMINED.— The study should examine the advantages and disadvantages of each of the following: (1) Making the personnel records of a service member who dies on active duty available, in whole or in part, to any adult family member who requests those records. (2) Excluding from disclosure to family members certain types or categories of information in a deceased service member's personnel records and, if any should ever be excluded, identify- ing what contents and under what circumstances. (3) Releasing to family members of a deceased service member relevant records not in the member's personnel records, such as any record of investigation into the circumstances of the member's death. (4) Making autopsy reports automatically available to family members upon request. (5) Requiring that more than one family member make a request before activating the release of any information from the member's personnel records. (6) Revising the "Emergency Data" form prepared by service members (A) to allow specific provision for notification of additional family members in cases such as the case of a divorced service member who leaves children with both a current and a former spouse, or (B) to establish which family member should be entitled to have access to the service member's military r-;\, records. (7) Such other matters as the Secretary determines to be appropriate or relevant to the purposes of the study. (c) REPORT. —The Secretary shall submit to the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and House of Representatives a report containing the results of the study not later than February 1, 1992. 50 USC 401 note. SEC. 1082. DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION CONCERNING UNITED STATES PERSONNEL CLASSIFIED AS PRISONER OF WAR OR MISSING IN ACTION DURING VIETNAM CONFLICT. (a) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION.—(1) Except as provided in subsection (b), the Secretary of Defense shall, with respect to any information referred to in paragraph (2), place the information in a suitable library-like location within a facility within the National Capital region for public review and photocopying.

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