(a) In generalThe Attorney General,[1] shall maintain the “National Missing and Unidentified Persons System” or “NamUs”, consistent with the following:
(1)
The NamUs shall be a national information clearinghouse and resource center for missing, unidentified, and unclaimed person cases across the United States administered by the National Institute of Justice and managed through an agreement with an eligible entity.
(2) The NamUs shall coordinate or provide—
(A)
online database technology which serves as a national information clearinghouse to help expedite case associations and resolutions;
(B)
various free-of-charge forensic services to aid in the identification of missing persons and unidentified remains;
(C)
investigative support for criminal justice efforts to help missing and unidentified person case resolutions;
(b) Permissible use of funds
(1) In generalThe permissible use of funds awarded under this section for the implementation and maintenance of the agreement created in subparagraph (a)(1) include the use of funds—
(D)
to provide forensic analyses to support the identification of missing and unidentified persons, to include, but not limited to DNA typing, forensic odontology, fingerprint examination, and forensic anthropology;
(E)
to train State, local, and Tribal law enforcement personnel and forensic medicine service providers to use NamUs resources and best practices for the investigation of missing and unidentified person cases;
(F)
to assist States in providing information to the NCIC database, the NamUs database, or any future database system for missing, unidentified, and unclaimed person cases;
(G)
to report to law enforcement authorities in the jurisdiction in which the remains were found information on every deceased, unidentified person, regardless of age;
(H)
to participate in Missing Person Days and other events to directly support family members of the missing with NamUs case entries and DNA collections;
(I)
to provide assistance and training by coordinating State and local service providers in order to support individuals and families;
(J)
to conduct data analytics and research projects for the purpose of enhancing knowledge, best practices, and training related to missing and unidentified person cases, as well as developing NamUs system enhancements;