Bring Our Heroes Home Act

S. 3226, the Bring Our Heroes Home Act, would create a new "Missing Armed Forces and Civilian Personnel Records Collection" at the National Archives. It requires federal agencies, the Armed Forces, and Presidential libraries to locate, copy, and transmit to the National Archivist all records relating to U.S. military and civilian personnel who went missing between December 7, 1941, and the bill's enactment, including personnel later reclassified as "missing and presumed dead." Records would carry a presumption of declassification and be publicly disclosed on a set timeline, with narrow exceptions (such as national security harms or personal privacy) subject to written justification and periodic review. A Review Board would oversee the process, and records already public could not be re-redacted or reclassified.

The bill primarily affects federal agencies (which must search their files, certify compliance, and meet transmission deadlines), the National Archives (which must build and index the collection), and families and researchers seeking information on missing service members and civilian personnel, who would gain expanded public access to these records. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency and casualty-assistance offices have narrow exemptions for records tied to active individual cases.

The bill was introduced November 19, 2025, and referred to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. On August 6, 2026, the committee ordered it reported favorably with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. Next, it would go to the full Senate for consideration; it has not yet passed either chamber.

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