News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci
(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Re: DPMO Update 25 NOV 98P> Date: December 05, 1998

Defense POW/MIA Weekly Update

COMMISSION CHAIRMAN APPOINTED BY PRESIDENT

President Clinton announced that he will designate Major General Roland Lajoie, US Army (Retired), as the Co-Chair of the U.S.-Russian Joint Commission on POW/MIAs to be effective December 1, 1998.

Major General Roland Lajoie, of West Wilton, New Hampshire, is currently a special consultant to the Deputy Secretary of Defense. Until February 1998, he served as the Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR). In this position he was also the Program Manager for CTR and responsible for the implementation of the Nunn-Lugar initiative mandated by Congress in 1991 to assist the Former Soviet Union in the destruction of weapons of mass destruction and other related nonproliferation efforts. Previously he was the Associate Deputy Director for Operations/Military Affairs at the Central Intelligence Agency. During his 35-year military career, General Lajoie has held a wide variety of important national security positions including: Deputy Director for International Negotiations, J-5, Joint Chiefs of Staff; first Director, US On-Site Inspection Agency; Defense Attache, Paris, France; and Army Attache to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. General Lajoie has a long military career of various commands and staff assignments including two tours in the Republic of Vietnam.

General Lajoie is the three-time recipient of the Defense Distinguished Service Medal. He is also the recipient of several other awards and distinctions including: the Defense Superior Service Medal (with Oak Leaf Cluster), the Distinguished Intelligence Medal, the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal, and the Legion of Merit.

General LajoieÕs military education includes completion of the United States Army Command and General Staff College and the United States Army War College. He holds a BA in Political Science from the University of New Hampshire, an MA in History from the University of Colorado, and was a Research Fellow at Harvard University's Russian Research Center.

The U.S.-Russian Joint Commission (USRJC) on POW/MIAs was established in March 1992 by Presidents Bush and Yeltsin as a bilateral mechanism for determining the fate of both countriesÕ military personnel taken prisoner of war and missing in action. The primary goal of the United States is to find information in the former Soviet Union about American service members unaccounted for as a result of military conflicts beginning with World War II and to report that information to the American people.

DPMO OFFICIAL RECEIVES NITZE AWARD

Colonel Mel Richmond, head of DPMOÕs operations division, was named winner of the prestigious Nitze Award in ceremonies at the Pentagon this week. Richmond was selected for his leadership role in establishing the new personnel recovery mission within DPMO. The Missing Persons Act requires that the DoD provide policy oversight for the search and rescue mission, in addition to its role in accounting for Americans missing in action from all conflicts.

The award is named for Paul H. Nitze, Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs from 1961-63. Since the early 1940s, he held a number of key positions in the U. S. government. Among those are arms control negotiator; Deputy Secretary of Defense; Secretary of the Navy; Ambassador at Large; Special Advisor to the President; and Secretary of State on Arms Control Matters.

In 1995, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security affairs established the Nitze award for excellence in international security affairs. It is presented annually to an individual who has a distinguished record of sustained superior performance, has made significant contributions to international security affairs and has demonstrated the potential for future accomplishments.

In accepting the award, Richmond said, "DPMO is full of dedicated people working hard to keep the promise to our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines who we place in harmÕs way. We will use every instrument of power available to the United States to bring them home safely * and to keep the promise to families that our efforts to account for those we fail to bring home will endure. It's one more recognition for the function of personnel recovery.

"In today's world where even one downed pilot can shape our willingness to continue to pursue our interests, the ability to recover our own is critical, and we'll continue to promote this issue.

"It's capability that doesn't always become important until an incident occurs, and then you either have it or you don't. It's not something we'll be able to generate on the fly. Most important is that having a recovery capability is all about taking care of soldiers, about fulfilling our promise to bring them home safely and with honor. There are not many things more important than that. We've made a lot of progress and we appreciate the recognition for that, but we've really only scratched the surface and still have much more to do."

REMAINS RECOVERY OPERATIONS IN VIETNAM, LAOS

A team of more than 100 specialists has entered Vietnam with hopes of recovering remains that may lead to the identification of American servicemen listed as missing in action from the war in Southeast Asia.

Earlier this month, members of the Joint Task Force-Full Accounting and the U. S. Army's Central Identification Laboratory joined representatives from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to begin joint investigations and remains recovery operations in 26 provinces.

Fifty-two cases involving potential aircraft and ground losses are scheduled to be investigated during the 30-day operation. As many as 10 sites may be excavated. This team is expected to conclude its work in Vietnam the first week in December.

Earlier, a smaller team with 43 specialists conducted similar operations in three provinces in Laos. This team investigated 24 cases of aircraft and ground losses during the 30-day operation. Eight sites were scheduled for excavation.