From DPMO ::
Defense POW/MIA Weekly Update
November 5, 1997
NEW JTF-FA COMMANDER MAKES FIRST VISIT TO WASHINGTON
Brigadier General Terry L. Tucker, commander of the Joint Task Force-Full Accounting, concluded a three-day stay in Washington this week meeting with DPMO officials and other senior government, veterans and family leaders.
The primary focus of Gen. Tucker's visit was to gain a broad view of U. S. government policies on POW/MIA accounting. While meeting with DPMO analysts and policy leadership, he was briefed on the critical importance placed on the accounting mission as a result of the work done in Southeast Asia by the JTF-FA. Additionally, he met with senior leaders of the National League of Families, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Vietnam Veterans of America and the American Legion.
He met also with key Asia policymakers in both DoD and the State Department. While in the Washington area, he toured the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory in Rockville, Md. and received detailed briefings on the latest technology which may be used in confirming identifications of biological remains.
PERSONNEL RECOVERY CONFERENCE BREAKS NEW GROUND
DoD's first comprehensive Personnel Recovery conference, organized by DPMO, successfully provided a forum for the key decisionmakers to focus on personnel recovery issues and chart a course for personnel recovery into the future. Senior representatives from the Department of Defense, the Intelligence Community, the Services, the Unified and Special Commands, and the interagency community convened to discuss policy and operational considerations. Conference participants exchanged ideas about personnel recovery programs already in place, especially within each combatant command, and addressed the myriad challenges they face.
Personnel recovery is defined as the aggregation of military, civil, and political efforts to obtain the release or recovery of personnel from uncertain or hostile environments and denied areas whether they are captured, missing, or isolated. Other areas of interest and discussion included joint personnel recovery training, integration of the full spectrum of intelligence capabilities into the recovery process, legal issues surrounding isolated personnel, and opportunities to harness emerging technologies to enhance the Department of DefenseÕs personnel recovery capabilities. This conference will be an annual event.