REPORT ON REDUCING THE BACKLOG IN LEGALLY REQUIRED HISTORICAL DECLASSIFICATION OBLIGATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE.

SEC. 1759. REPORT ON REDUCING THE BACKLOG IN LEGALLY REQUIRED HISTORICAL DECLASSIFICATION OBLIGATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE. (a) Report.—Not later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and the House of Representatives a report detailing the progress made by the Secretary toward reducing the backlog in legally required historical declassification obligations of the Department of Defense. (b) Elements.—The report under subsection (a) shall include, with respect to the Department of Defense, the following: (1) A plan to achieve legally mandated historical declassification requirements and reduce backlogs. (2) A plan to incorporate new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, that would increase productivity and reduce cost in implementing the plan under paragraph (1). (3) A detailed assessment of the documents released in each of the proceeding three years before the date of the report, broken out by program, such as the 25 and 50 year programs. (4) A detailed assessment of the documents awaiting review for release and an estimate of how many documents will be released in each of the next three years. (5) Potential policy, resource, and other options available to the Secretary to reduce backlogs. (6) The progress and objectives of the Secretary with respect to the release of documents for publication in the Foreign Relations of the United States series or to facilitate the public accessibility of such documents at the National Archives, presidential libraries, or both. (c) Form and Availability.—The report under subsection (a) shall be submitted in unclassified form, which shall be made publicly available, but may include a classified annex.