WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Mike Crapo of Idaho and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire have reintroduced bipartisan legislation designed to speed up the recovery and identification of American servicemembers who remain missing from past conflicts. The Bring Our Heroes Home Act aims to remove bureaucratic barriers that limit access to military records needed by families and caseworkers working to locate prisoners of war and those missing in action.

The effort comes shortly after Idaho welcomed home the remains of 2nd Lt. Charles Atteberry, who had been missing for more than 80 years before being identified through DNA testing. His remains were recovered from a mass grave in Taiwan, while his brother Lloyd, a World War II pilot, is still missing.

According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, roughly 80,930 Americans—including 359 Idahoans—remain unaccounted for from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Cold War, the Gulf Wars and other conflicts.

Crapo said the nation has a responsibility to eliminate delays that hinder recovery efforts. “We must cut the bureaucratic red tape that delays bringing them to an eternal resting place here at home,” he said, adding that families deserve assurance their loved ones have not been forgotten. Shaheen emphasized the years and often decades families spend waiting for answers, saying the bill is intended to make that process more efficient and transparent.

The legislation would create a centralized records collection at the National Archives, require agencies to locate and transmit missing personnel files, and establish an independent review board to manage disclosure and evaluate decisions to postpone declassification. The measure has seven additional co-sponsors and previously advanced unanimously out of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.