TRACE Act Mandates New Data Field to Track Missing Persons on Federal Land and U.S. Waters

The Tracking and Reporting Absent Community-Members Everywhere Act, or the TRACE Act, is a fairly straightforward piece of legislation aimed at improving how federal agencies track missing persons cases. Essentially, it mandates two key changes: updating a national database to better flag cases that fall under federal jurisdiction and requiring an annual report on those specific incidents.

Flagging Cases for Federal Jurisdiction

The core of the TRACE Act is a directive to the Attorney General—specifically through the National Institute of Justice (NIJ)—to upgrade the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, or NamUs. If you’ve ever watched a crime documentary, you’ve probably heard of NamUs; it’s the national repository for missing and unidentified person records. This bill requires that every new entry in NamUs includes a specific data field indicating whether the missing person’s last known location was on "Federal land" or in "territorial waters of the United States" (Section 3).

This isn't just bureaucratic box-checking. When a person goes missing, jurisdiction can be a nightmare. Was it on state land? A national forest? A military base? The TRACE Act aims to cut through that complexity. By instantly flagging a case as originating on Federal land—defined here as property managed by the Interior, Agriculture, or specific parts of Defense (Section 2)—investigators can immediately know that federal agencies like the FBI, National Park Service, or Coast Guard might need to step in or coordinate the search. For families, this means less time wasted figuring out which level of government is in charge.

What Counts as Federal Land and Water?

To make sure everyone is on the same page, the bill locks down the definitions. "Federal land" covers the national parks, forests, and other properties managed by the Secretaries of Interior and Agriculture. It also includes Department of Defense land, but only if it’s tied to Army Corps of Engineers water projects. This specificity matters because it tells the NIJ exactly which kind of location triggers the new data requirement. Similarly, "territorial waters" is defined precisely as the 12 nautical miles extending from the U.S. coast, as established by a 1988 Presidential Proclamation (Section 2).

The Annual Tally: Tracking the Scope of the Problem

Beyond improving the database, the TRACE Act requires the Attorney General to start sending an annual report to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees (Section 4). This report must tally up exactly how many missing persons cases in the previous calendar year were flagged in NamUs as occurring on federal land or in U.S. territorial waters. The first report is due by January 15th of the second full calendar year after the law is enacted.

Why the report? It turns a procedural data change into a tool for accountability. Currently, it can be difficult to get a clear, centralized picture of how many people go missing each year in national parks, forests, or coastal waters—areas often remote and challenging for search and rescue. By forcing an annual count, Congress gets a standardized metric on the scope of the problem. For lawmakers, this data is essential for deciding where to allocate resources, whether that means funding more search and rescue teams or improving infrastructure in specific federal areas.