AII POW-MIA - DPMO Annual Report 1998

The year 1998 was a significant one for the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office. Not only was there a continuation of the robust work in Southeast Asia to account for our missing personnel there, but new initiatives pushed aside barriers in other parts of the world.

Our work in North Korea concluded its third year, and the groundwork was laid for an even more productive year in 1999.

Access to Russian archives enabled us to further refine much of the information concerning the fates of missing Americans from the Cold War period. Initial contacts with the governments of Eastern Europe and China offer real hope that their archives will help shed light on the fate of missing Americans.

Our innovations in communicating with our families and with other constituents continue to build credibility.

We've also made great strides in ensuring policy advocates for the personnel recovery mission provide the necessary support for our combatant commands.

The U. S. government continues to honor its commitment to the fullest possible accounting of Americans missing from all conflicts. I am pleased to recommend this entire report for your reading. In it, you will see the breadth of the worldwide effort by the proud members of the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office.

Robert L. Jones
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense
(POW/Missing Personnel Affairs)

Preserving the lives and well being of U.S. personnel placed in danger of isolation or capture while fulfilling America's commitments overseas is a priority concern of the Department of Defense. Administrations past and present have pledged that the effort to obtain the fullest possible accounting for Americans who sacrifice their freedom and, in many cases, their lives while serving the United States is one of America's highest national priorities.

The United States is admired and respected throughout the world for its continued efforts to return to American soil those who remain unaccounted-for from Southeast Asia, North Korea and the battlefields of World War II.

We continue to negotiate with Southeast and Northeast Asian governments to execute a full complement of joint field activities which regularly bring repatriation and identification of American remains and information that locates loss locations and explains the fates of the missing. We will not lose the momentum gathered in our accounting effort. DPMO pledges to sustain current resource levels into the millennium and maintain the present robust operations tempo that supports the steady progress we are making in the quest for the fullest possible accounting.

Although this mission began as an effort unique to the Vietnam War, our efforts on this issue are not confined to Southeast Asia accounting. A reinvigorated focus has brought dramatic new results in our efforts to achieve accountability for Americans missing from the Korean War. Today, there are more than 8,100 American servicemen from the Korean War whose remains were never returned. From the final repatriation of remains in Operation Glory in 1954 to 1990, there was no progress in persuading the North Koreans to return the remains of U.S. servicemen lost in North Korea. Although the North Koreans did turn over 208 remains between 1990-1994, the poor condition of those remains and a lack of verifiable locations from which they were recovered clearly demonstrated the need for U.S. expert directed joint recovery operations. It is only through the involvement of our experts from the Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii, that we can ensure the maximum success in the very difficult task of identifying Korean War remains. Since direct negotiations began with North Korea in 1996, we have conducted nine joint recovery operations and two joint archival reviews in North Korea. Both sides are looking to expand joint accounting operations even further in the coming years.

We continue our efforts to resolve Cold War shootdown cases and determine whether Russia and other current and former communist states received captured U.S. service personnel. We also seek archival data that could aid U.S. accounting efforts. These challenges dictate fresh and innovative approaches to help overcome the difficulties of our work in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. DPMO is engaged in searching through the archival records of many of these countries for information on Americans whose fates remain unresolved.

To further the U.S. government's search for answers, DPMO supports the U.S.-Russia Joint Commission on POW/MIAs, established in 1992 by direction of the Presidents of the United States and the Russian Federation. The Commission serves as a forum through which both nations seek to determine the fates of their missing servicemen, Americans missing from the Vietnam, Korean, and Cold Wars, and Russians lost in Afghanistan. In the course of its work, the Commission has received over 12,000 pages of documents, interviewed over 2,000 people in the former Soviet Union, and convened 15 plenary sessions of the Commission.

To take advantage of the new political environment in Eastern Europe, DPMO ventured into Eastern Europe to work with our newest NATO candidates: Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary, as well as with other former Warsaw Pact members Romania and Bulgaria. Efforts in the preliminary stages of our investigative pursuits have yielded only tentative results. We believe that progress relevant to POW/MIA issues will occur only through continued dialogue with these governments, particularly in light of the overall cooperative relationships that have been forged with them and their general desire for even closer ties in the future.

Additionally, during the past year, we embarked on an intense effort to improve DoD's personnel recovery capability, the first comprehensive approach to a process that is paramount to reducing the number of unaccounted-for during any future conflicts. Our goal is to create a fully integrated personnel recovery architecture that ensures the recovery of U.S. personnel worldwide, who are isolated or find themselves in harm's way. Personnel recovery is now a high priority within the Department and the interagency community. The Secretary of Defense highlighted his commitment by citing the importance of maintaining a strong recovery capability in his most recent "Defense Planning Guidance" and the Chairman of the joint Chiefs followed suit in his "Contingency Planning Guide" and "Joint Strategic Capabilities Plan." Personnel recovery for future operations and the POW/MIA issue from past conflicts are high priorities in the Director of Central Intelligence "Annual Strategic Intelligence Review." We will work to maintain these issues at a high priority. DPMO is also working with the interagency community to establish agreements between DPMO and other departments and agencies such as the CIA and Department of State for mutual support on personnel recovery. Much work remains before we will reach our ultimate goal.

Finally, DoD is working hard to address uncertainties surrounding our missing by illuminating the facts and pursuing an aggressive outreach program to interact with the families of those missing, with Congress, and with the American people. We seek to illustrate the process surrounding case resolution and the overall progress we are achieving in our accounting effort. DPMO's Family Support, Public Affairs and Legislative Affairs divisions are the voice of DPMO and the focal point for communications with family members, the military services, State Department, casualty offices, Congress, veteran and family groups, and the public. DPMO's outreach program has increased its efforts to improve the public understanding of the U.S. government's message.

Collectively, DPMO wishes to communicate clearly to all with whom we work that we are firmly committed to ensure continuation of this effort to locate, account for and repatriate Americans captured or missing as a result of past, current, and future hostile actions; to provide the expertise, technology, and resources necessary to uphold this commitment with integrity and dedication; and to resolve uncertainties by providing the facts to the families, the Congress, and the American people.

During the past year, Plans & Policy has undertaken the task of developing a series of new policies that pertain to our fullest accounting measure. While several were approved, many are still in progress. For those items still in progress, this report will delineate DoD's intent on that particular policy:

After several years of consistent, high-level pressure from U.S. government officials, China agreed this year to consider meeting with DASD Jones on Korean War accounting. This has proven a difficult issue on which to get cooperation from the Chinese. Through persistent incorporation of DPMO's views into the talking papers of every senior USG official who met with the Chinese, PP kept this issue in front of the Chinese. We remain hopeful they will consider cooperating on this point as they have on WW II and Southeast Asia-related cases.

Since January 1994, when the government of Laos agreed to work with Joint Task Force Full Accounting's archival research team to search Lao archives, libraries, museums and film repositories, we have kept constant pressure on the Lao to provide access to Lao historical films stored in Hanoi. The U.S. had knowledge of approximately 162 film reels of Lao films being stored by the Vietnamese, some titles with obvious POW/MIA relevance. This four-year effort reached fruition on July 8, 1998 with DASD Jones participating in the arrival of 1,081 reels of Lao wartime footage in Vientiane and observing the review of the first of these reels at the Lao National Film and Video Archive Center.

The POW/MIA oral history program (OHP) seeks to interview knowledgeable former adversaries to obtain information about POW/MIA policies, procedures and incidents that could help resolve individual loss incidents or shed light on the live prisoner issue. The establishment of an oral history program in Laos is a critical key in the process of developing new leads related to these unresolved cases. Until recently, the Lao have allowed only three interviews, all occurring prior to 1994. In July, the Lao government arranged an OHP interview with a former POW camp guard. The Lao have promised to continue to support OHP interviews and pledged to arrange another interview in the near future.

DPMO began work on a major DoD policy related to disinterment of unidentified remains from national cemeteries, utilizing forensic identification methods and techniques, such as mtDNA , not available at the time of loss. This policy will provide guidance to the services, emphasizing sanctity of the burial grounds and the DoD commitment to fullest possible accounting. We expect the policy will be fully coordinated and implemented in 1999.

The Plans and Policy Directorate spearheaded the DoD effort to conduct joint U.S.-Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) recovery operations in North Korea. In 1998, there were five joint recovery operations resulting in the repatriation of the remains of 22 American servicemen. This year featured a significant expansion of the total of four operations conducted in 1996 and 1997 that recovered a total of seven remains. It also sets the stage for an even greater expansion of joint accounting efforts.

To this end, DPMO drafted and coordinated an accelerated Korean War recovery plan that provides the basis for increasing DoD recovery assets to conduct a more realistic and aggressive recovery effort. Fenced from other geo-political issues, the joint accounting effort has proven to be the one consistent success story in the developing bilateral relationship with North Korea. It has also encouraged greater interest in this issue by an ever-increasing number of Korean War families of missing Americans and veterans organizations. DPMO has furthered this increasing awareness by sponsoring and coordinating a veterans/family group visit to observe joint recovery efforts and to meet with North Korean officials to express their support for even greater cooperation.

In September, Plans & Policy hosted the first Strategic Planners conference, which brought together key DoD and other government agency members of the POW/MIA community. The outcome of the conference was the development of a U. S. government strategic plan for the POW/MIA issue. The first draft of the plan was submitted for informal coordination in late December to the key stakeholders in this issue.

In 1998, DPMO completed and released the Personnel Missing-Korea (PMKOR) database. PMKOR provides the Department of Defense the most accurate, single listing of Korean War missing since the conclusion of the Korean War. It is a snapshot of the situation in 1954 following the final repatriation of remains under the terms of the Armistice. Through PMKOR, DPMO can track those whose remains have been repatriated since then. DPMO can also develop lists of known POWs who were never accounted for, of servicemen about whom little or nothing is known of their loss and are true MIAs, and of servicemen who were killed in action, but whose remains could not be recovered from either battlefields or temporary cemeteries. Through PMKOR, the individual services have a better guide to reestablishing contact with the thousands of families with which they have lost contact over the years.

The Research and Analysis (RA) Directorate continues aggressively to pursue the fullest possible accounting for more than 2,000 missing U.S. service members from the Vietnam War. During 1998 these efforts culminated in the identification of the remains of 26 personnel. The remains of additional persons are undergoing forensic analysis at the U.S. Army's Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii.

Directorate personnel completed a draft of an extensive, 2-* year study on the organization, systems, and results of Vietnam's recovery and repatriation of American remains during and after the Vietnam War. The conclusions of the Remains Study support one of the President's Four Criteria and are expected to form the basis for a significant policy statement in 1999. While some questions are still to be answered, the study shows that the number of remains recovered and stored by the Vietnamese is lower than previously assessed. The unanswered questions are being addressed by the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for POW/Missing Personnel Affairs (DASD) and the U. S. Ambassador to Vietnam, Douglas "Pete" Peterson, and form the basis for their policy discussions with the Vietnamese government. The directorate briefed the results of the study to members of the National League of Families and interested citizens, providing them with a realistic assessment of current expectations for additional unilateral remains turnovers by the Vietnamese government.

In support of the Remains Study, RA analysts conducted a series of technical discussions with Vietnamese experts on the recovery, storage, and repatriation of remains. Increasingly productive and candid, these talks resulted in an increased level of openness and exchange between the two governments, including the turnover by the Vietnam Office for Seeking Missing Persons of documents never before seen by U.S. government personnel.

As part of the continuing comprehensive case review process, for each of the more than 2,000 unaccounted-for in southeast Asia, the directorate conducts reviews consisting of four steps: thorough analysis of the results of field investigations and excavations; deciding upon "next steps" to move the cases toward resolution; producing lead sheets to support these next steps; and, coordinating these steps with the JTF-FA. This process has received positive support from individual families. Further, it clarifies case resolution issues for congressional members and their constituents. Finally, it has thus far led to identification of 598 individuals for whom no further steps can be taken. For the most part, these are cases in which service members were lost at sea or killed in catastrophic explosions. We assess that there is virtually no possibility their remains will ever be recovered and those individuals' families have been advised of that outlook. In 1998, RA produced a detailed statistical study of past field recovery operations in Vietnam and Laos. The study identifies trends from the past 12 Joint Field Activities in Vietnam and Laos and provides projections on the completion of joint activity in those nations through 2008. The study dramatized the need to increase the pace of operations, especially in Laos. It also provides a basis for plans for future manning and operations in Southeast Asia for JTF-FA and CILHI. In part, the data developed led to intensified effort to increase the number of field activities each year in Laos, with several changes already in the works for 1999.

In support of the 11 Family Updates held across the U.S. in 1998, RA personnel wrote individual updates and case reviews for each family in attendance. Also, as part of the comprehensive review, RA issued letters to inform families when analysts had reached the conclusion that no further efforts would resolve their family member's case.

RA analysts conducted case specific archival research at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the Navy Historical Center, USMC Archives, and the Bush Library. The directorate found new leads for 40% of the cases researched. Promulgating archival research, one of the President's Four Criteria, RA provided support for DASD Jones' initiative to provide cooperative support to the Vietnamese government's search for its own KIA-BNR (killed in action-body not recovered).

Developing a new mechanism to support another of the President's Four Criteria, that of improving trilateral investigations, RA conducted a study and produced a paper reviewing the strengths and weaknesses of the trilateral program in Laos. Changes resulting from the study are now being implemented. A computer program now profiles all trilateral cases, enabling the analyst to review a single spreadsheet, assess the program for each case, and determine the best course of action with regard to Vietnamese witnesses.

Early in the year, RA played a key role, through the use of the Comprehensive Review process, in identifying the Vietnam War remains in the Tomb of the Unknowns. RA also briefed the families whose family members' remains were thought to possibly be in the Tomb.

Throughout 1998, RA analysts were sent throughout the nation to a variety of locations, from private homes to VA auditoriums, to conduct briefings on Southeast Asian POW/MIA operations. Groups receiving these updates included the Disabled American Veterans Auxiliary, the Vietnam Veterans of America POW-MIA Committee, the national conventions of Special Operations Groups, the Special Forces Association, high school students, veteran and family organizations, and the American public.

RA built DPMO's comprehensive Lao Oral History List, identifying and profiling Lao likely to have case specific information. During the September 1998 Consultative Talks, the Lao government agreed to push this heretofore-inactive program. In a similar project, RA assisted in the DC-CAM (Documentation Center-Cambodia) Research Project, searching Khmer Rouge and Republic of Cambodia documents for oral history candidates who can contribute to the accounting effort.

During the past year, RA presented analysis to a policy review board that determined the deaths of five last known alive (LKA) servicemen in Vietnam, fulfilling the first of the President's Four Criteria. In addition, all remaining LKA cases were reviewed and aggressive steps for each case were adopted to determine their fates - if and how they died. The directorate is conducting analyst to analyst discussions on all outstanding LKA cases from Vietnam.

RA charted, monitored and resolved one live sighting investigation (LSI) from Vietnam over the past year. For a second LSI case, RA developed and directed an investigation in Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, and Europe. Preliminary results are now being analyzed. For firsthand live sighting reports, RA presented their analysis of efforts to resolve 52 of these reports to an interagency intelligence committee. The committee verified and approved RA's analysis on each report, lowering the number of firsthand live sighting reports from 116 to 64.

Through RA encouragement and coordination, the Joint Task Force-Full Accounting Research Investigation Team (RIT) expanded its joint efforts from Vietnamese cases to Lao LKA cases with Vietnamese association, resulting in more effective case resolution for Lao cases. Developing the focus and database for the important unilateral investigations

by Vietnam and Laos, RA enabled host country investigators to assist in DoD accounting efforts. RA provided analysis and oversight to encourage the program, which employed four periods of productive unilateral investigations this year. Directorate personnel were instrumental in presenting a series of leads for these investigations, including several productive remains studies leads. DPMO analysts participated in focus meetings with host country team leaders, lending weight to better investigations and reporting. Analysts developed complex investigation leads identifying multiple witnesses for several cases at once, allowing coordination between operational counterparts for both Vietnam and Laos.

Lao war films stored in Hanoi were returned to Laos this year. RA is currently awaiting JTF-FA's assessment of the films' contents to determine possible correlation to unresolved cases. In like efforts, RA received 1,500 reports of identification media of alleged unaccounted-for servicemen. More than 900 reporters were interviewed and 298 informational memoranda released as a result.

RA personnel met with primary next of kin and drafted background information for direct use in responding to over 300 letters from families, Congress and concerned citizens. Preparing background briefings for DoD officials' testimony to congressional hearings, this same team drafted 111 memoranda for record to document POW/Missing Personnel files, and answered 35 separate congressional inquiries on reports of identification media of alleged unaccounted-for service members.

Supporting negotiations between the DASD and his counterparts in every country of Indochina, RA monitored field operational issues by attending all technical level meetings, such as the recent Ten-Year Review discussion held in Dalat, Vietnam. Further, RA provided POW/MIA talking points for each Presidential and DoD delegation holding discussions with leaders in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. The positive influence of this participation is evidenced in the high number of joint remains recoveries. Over the past year, 26 persons were accounted for and announced. Monthly statistics show an increase of resolved cases from 485 on January 1, 1998 to 511 on December 31, 1998.

DoD's POW/MIA efforts in North Korea are clearly unique. No other government program has made such inroads into, or had such access to this nation. Successful negotiations with Pyongyang and the resulting recovery and investigative activities have meant that DoD military and civilian personnel were in North Korea almost continuously between March and November of 1998.

RA personnel initiated dialogue with retired officers from the Peoples Liberation Army. It is hoped this will lead to open communication in the highest levels of the Chinese government. RA also developed a series of talking papers for several meetings between U.S., North Korean, South Korean and Chinese officials.

In a related effort, RA personnel worked with the CILHI staff to develop search team packets to support Joint Recovery Operations (JRO). Additionally, RA conducted archival research in several U.S. archival repositories in support of these operations and found important background information on the 24thInfantry Regiment for use by JRO teams. Twenty-two recoveries resulted from the 1998 JROs. As part of a requested five year remains recovery plan for North Korea, RA developed target locations for future excavations and provided estimates on the work load required and the number of possible recoveries.

In addition to participating in archival research trips into North Korea, members of the Northeast Asia Division conducted interviews of Korean War veterans at ten Korean War veteran organizations' reunions. These included the Ex-Korean POW Association, 1st Cavalry Division, 25th Infantry Division, 24th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, Chosin East, Chosin West, 2nd Chemical Mortar Battalion, and Camp 2 POW associations. This led to the writing of 130 new oral history narratives and the update of another 50. A total of 634 Korean War veterans have provided narratives to RA analysts since the program began.

Other Northeast Asia Division activities in 1998 focused on establishing a solid foundation to support the increase in U.S. operations in North Korea. RA developed an air loss database containing archival information and current analysis on all missing Americans who disappeared as a result of aircraft incidents during the Korean War. When completed, this database will be a key tool for planning recovery operations associated with aircraft losses. Analyzing information from 450 air loss case files, representing 1,193 personnel, RA updated essential databases, assisted in the preparation of 256 scrub sheets for family updates, and answered 234 Congressional and family inquiries. Further, RA corrected unit identifiers in the PMKOR document, standardizing 6,000 line entries for company, battalion and regiment affiliations. RA also built a Korean War research library consisting of 100 works covering all periods and aspects of the war. The library includes several out-of-print books. Finally, RA personnel consolidated and catalogued Chinese order of battle data for the Korean War. This information will guide future archival research in the Peoples Republic of China.

In 1998 several former South Korean Army soldiers held after the war returned to South Korea. DPMO has a standing requirement to debrief these and other defectors from North Korea for the information concerning US POWs in North Korea. The 1998 reporting generated by DPMO requirements contained some hearsay information and in a few cases first hand information about the U.S. POWs who were captured and observed during the war itself. There were reports citing the U.S. defectors in North Korea, however, none of the defectors or the returnees reported live-sightings of the American POWs from the Korean War.

Earlier this year, researchers from the Vietnam War Working Group discovered a brief autobiographical sketch written by the former Russian Co-chairman of the Commission, General Dmitri Volkogonov. Writing in August 1994, the now deceased Volkogonov said he discovered a "sensational" document in a Russian archive that assigned to the KGB the task of "delivering knowledgeable Americans to the USSR for intelligence purposes." Volkogonov later was shown a copy of the actual KGB plan, but he was assured by the chief of the Russian foreign intelligence service that the plan was never implemented. Because the document was dated from the late 1960's, the Joint Commission has concluded that American POWs in Southeast Asia may have been the targets of the KGB plan.

The Vietnam War Working Group has gone to considerable lengths investigating this discovery and in supporting the approach to the Russian government on this issue by high-level American officials, including Vice President Gore and Secretary of State Albright. In addition to pursuing this ongoing inquiry, the working group continues to pursue leads that would enable a better understanding of the "735" and "1205" documents. Efforts are now underway to access the Central Archive of the Russian Ministry of Defense for Vietnam War-era materials that might aid in accounting for missing service members from that conflict.

In September, the Korean War Working Group organized a meeting between American Korean War fighter pilots and Russian members of the Commission. The unprecedented meeting was aimed at helping the Russians clarify the fate of their unaccounted-for from the Korean War. Five American veterans, among whom were famous fliers such as Lieutenant General William "Earl" Brown (USAF, Retired), and Brigadier General Paul Kauttu (USAF, Retired), described air battles that took place nearly fifty years ago. One veteran provided gun camera footage showing the destruction of a MIG-15. The American veterans offered to help the Russians contact other American Korean War fighter pilots who might be able to shed light on the fates of unaccounted-for Soviet pilots. The Russian side enthusiastically welcomed this offer of help.

Colonel Aleksandr Orlov, Russian Co-chairman of the Korean War Working Group, remarked, "This first meeting with American fighter pilots is very valuable and creates a new stage in our work in the Korean section of our Commission. We were able to get more information that will help us determine the fate of our missing pilots from the Korean War."

On December 1, Major General Roland Lajoie (USA, Retired) succeeded Ambassador Toon as U.S. Co-chairman of the Commission. During his 35-year military career, General Lajoie held a wide variety of important national security positions with particular responsibilities toward the former Soviet Union and Russia. General Lajoie served in a civilian capacity as the Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Cooperative Threat Reduction until February 1998. Since then he has been Special Advisor to the Deputy Secretary of Defense for establishment of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. General Lajoie's appointment marks the first leadership change on the U.S. side since inception of the Commission in 1992. His proven leadership in complex bilateral relations with Russian military and security-related institutions portends well for the future work of the Commission.

During 1998, a DPMO team twice visited Sofia, Bulgaria. Team members briefed senior Bulgarian officials within the Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs on the role and mission of DPMO and the U.S.-Russia Joint Commission on POW/MIAs. It also made significant headway in establishing a program to search for archival documents and witnesses who may provide information pertaining to the fate of unaccounted-for American servicemen. The Director General of Ministry Archives is coordinating the archival research effort, and the Union of Retired Officers and Sergeants is identifying retired and active duty military personnel for interviews in that country. The JCSD team interviewed a number of Bulgarians who occupied key positions in Vietnam or North Korea before, during, and after the wars that took place in those regions. The team found great public interest in DPMO's mission in Bulgaria, as was evidenced by significant media coverage during their October visit. All such coverage of the team's efforts in Bulgaria was very positive.

Bulgarian government officials and archivists are eager to support JCSD's search for information. They pledged full cooperation, and the positive interview underway in Bulgaria will be continued. The team believes the scheduled visits for 1999 should focus heavily on interviews to identify the most promising areas of archival research. Toward that end, the positive media coverage of DPMO's mission in Bulgaria should help pave the way for a robust interview program.

In late 1998, a DPMO team visited Prague to reinvigorate its archival research/interview program. The team raised the issue of establishing a formal working group with senior Czech officials from the Ministries of Defense, Foreign Affairs and Interior. However, Czech officials asked the U.S. side of the Commission to address the issue of establishing a working group and gaining access to restricted archives in a letter to the Czech Prime Minister. The Interior Ministry's Office to Document and Investigate the Crimes of Communism produced several noteworthy reports. Their most recent report is being translated and will likely provide a significant number of leads helpful to our interview and archival research programs. At the team's request, the Czechs are searching for information on the American POW transfer issue from the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

The Czech Ministries of Defense, Foreign Affairs, and elements of the Interior Ministry seemed to be very interested in assisting our humanitarian mission. However, the team has been less successful gaining access to current Czech intelligence service archives as well as the previous intelligence service, the STB. Researching the aforementioned archives would shed more light on any Czech government interest in or knowledge of American POWs from both Korea and Vietnam. A future visit is slated for early next year to seek clarification of documentation provided to date and to conduct archival searches and interviews.

A DPMO team visited Budapest three times during the course of 1998 and reviewed sensitive Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Foreign Affairs documents for POW information. The team also interviewed senior civilian and military leaders who were present in North and South Vietnam during the war there. The team did not speak with any Hungarian officials with service in North Korea during the war, as past trips have virtually exhausted any useful information surrounding the only known presence of Hungary in North Korea, that of a Hungarian Field Hospital. Team members were granted access to secret and top secret Hungarian Ministry of Defense documents pertaining to Hungary's participation in the International Control and Supervisory Commission (ICSC) in North and South Vietnam. The team also reviewed 60,000 pages of recently declassified top secret Foreign Ministry documents pertaining to Hungary's participation in the ICSC and the government's dialogue with other Warsaw Pact countries on the Vietnam War. The Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Foreign Affairs provided approval for former ministerial personnel to speak with the team at any time, regardless of previous non-disclosure statements. The team interviewed several Hungarians who occupied key positions in South Vietnam during the war.

Without exception, senior Hungarian officials and archivists were eager to support DPMO's search for information; they have pledged full cooperation. JCSD received important new information that helps us better understand the level of cooperation between the Hungarian contingent of the ICSC and Vietnamese, as well as with Soviet officials, during the war. Some of this information directly supports previously obtained information that the operation's group had a clandestine mission of obtaining American technology from captured aircraft, munitions, and other combat material.

In May 1998, a DPMO team visited Bucharest to brief senior Romanian officials from the Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs concerning the mission of the Commission. Romania's senior leaders pledged their support to search for information by conducting a detailed examination of their archival holdings. The team is confident of the support it received from Defense, Foreign Affairs, Military Intelligence, domestic security, the Central Archives and the Red Cross. The Director of Military Intelligence went to great lengths to assure the team that attaché reports from Korea and Vietnam have not been destroyed. Pursuing information from the external security service continues.

The Director of Military Intelligence pledged to task a special group of historians to conduct a thorough study of the Military Intelligence archives. The team provided Romanian officials a list of names and subjects to help refine the search effort. A retired military attaché assigned to Hanoi during the Vietnam War confirmed that Romanian officials were regularly granted access to crash sites of downed American aircraft. A trip originally planned for October has been postponed to early 1999 at the request of the Romanians. During this follow-up trip, the team will check the results of the Romanian Military Intelligence research study, visit additional archives and intensify the interview program.

During 1998, the Defense, Military and Air Attaché of the Slovak Republic, at his initiative, visited with the DASD and members of his staff. The purpose of the visit was to deliver more information and materials about their search for information on U.S. POW/MIAs from the archives of the Slovak Republic. The documents covered U.S. WW II air losses over the Slovak Republic. Although his government was unable to uncover any information on U.S. personnel from the Korean or Vietnam Wars, the Defense Attaché related that Slovakian veterans who served in Korea or Vietnam may prove useful in our search for information. In that regard, the DASD delivered a letter to the Chairman of the Slovak's Veterans organization seeking his assistance. A visit to Slovakia by a DPMO team planned for fall 1998 was put on hold due to Slovakian national elections.

Slovakian government officials appear eager to support JCSDÕs search for information in spite of their contention that most archival records are located in Prague, Czech Republic, the former capital of Czechoslovakia. Nevertheless, they have pledged full cooperation in actively pursuing documents and potential interviewees from among their veterans' organization. A DPMO team plans to visit Slovakia in early 1999 to further pursue our efforts there.

A team representing DPMO and the Joint Commission traveled to Poland twice during 1998. The team had two objectives: solicit Polish support for a detailed and focused search of their archives for POW information; and interview as many Polish citizens as possible who were present in North Korea and North Vietnam during the wars there. The team traveled to Warsaw, Krakow, Gdansk, Bydgoszcz and Wroclaw, Poland. Their meetings gained interesting leads and information. The team was permitted to interview a number of Poles who held key positions in Southeast Asia during the war there. Among those interviewed were a former Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, a Deputy Minister of Defense, and the Director of Military Intelligence. Former Prime Minister Jaruzelski, former head of the MVD Kiszczak and former Deputy Defense Minister Tuczapski cited a report written by a Polish military delegation after visiting Hanoi in July, 1967. Kiszczak referred to this document as a "gold mine of information." Promises were made to make this report available to DPMO investigators.

Archival research promises have been made by the director of the Contemporary Archives to search through his archives for information on POWs. The director of the Civilian Intelligence Agency also pledged his support for a search of his archives and the Military Intelligence Archives for specific references to American POWs. With few exceptions, the current senior Polish officials were very supportive and pledged full cooperation in the future. A specific example of the current level of cooperation included declassifying a hitherto restricted document relating to American-made Vietnamese Air Force F-5E and A-37 aircraft brought to Poland after the war in Vietnam.

Personnel recovery has become an increasingly important mission area receiving added emphasis from DoD policy makers. It is significant that recent world events requiring military planning options also involved the deployment of combat search and rescue forces. In each instance, recovery assets were among the first to arrive in theater to support combat operations. White House interest in personnel recovery issues remained high as it recently examined impending crises, with the President's staff requesting the Joint Staff provide their concept of personnel recovery for operations for their consideration.

On July 1, 1998, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff signed the first-ever comprehensive instruction on personnel recovery. This key document provides operational guidance to DoD components and implements the policy provisions established by DPMO in June 1997 DoD directive on personnel recovery.

DPMO assumed responsibilities as the primary DoD representative to the Interagency Committee on Search and Rescue (ICSAR), providing a single point of contact for the coordination for all civil search and rescue matters. The ICSAR is composed of representatives of the Departments of Defense, Transportation, Interior, and Commerce, the Federal Communications Commission, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. It develops the National Search & Rescue Plan, coordinates interagency policies and positions concerning search and rescue matters, and provides a forum for improving SAR effectiveness and standardization. In view of the potential impact ISCAR decisions have on the entire DoD community, DPMO established and now chairs a DoD Search and Rescue Working Group composed of representatives from throughout the Department. Its purpose is to develop coordinated positions for ICSAR issues, and those of its technical sub-groups. Prior to forming this working group, no formal mechanism existed to coordinate DoD positions on recovery issues. Establishing this working group ensures equitable consideration of rescue issues.

When the ICSAR determined the National Search and Rescue Plan was in need of revision to account for recent national and international developments, DPMO led the plan's review process within DoD. The outcome was a viable plan for coordinating civil search and rescue services to meet domestic needs and international commitments.

Earlier this year, DPMO assumed primary responsibility for the DoD directive, "Training and Education Measures Necessary to Support the Code of Conduct," further consolidating DPMO's umbrella coverage of personnel recovery. Now providing policy oversight on all matters relating to missing personnel, DPMO began work with the Joint Services S.E.R.E. Agency (JSSA) and the combatant commands to revise and republish this directive to bring more specificity into some of its requirements concerning high risk of capture S.E.R.E. training. Revisions will realign functions within DoD regarding Code of Conduct training, and help to ensure military personnel receive the necessary training commensurate with their "risk of capture."

In late June and early December, DPMO hosted meetings of the Personnel Recovery Advisory Group (PRAG). Formed by DPMO this year in part to fulfill its responsibilities under the Missing Persons Act, the PRAG is chaired by the DASD (POW/Missing Personnel Affairs), and serves as a policy advisory body on personnel recovery matters. It is composed of senior representatives of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, the DoD Intelligence Community, the Air Staff, the Central Intelligence Agency, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Department of State, and the National Security Council. The meetings provided an opportunity for members to address policy-level issues concerning personnel recovery, assess progress, and identify upcoming challenges. The December meeting was also a superb opportunity to analyze the impending crisis in Southwest Asia and the personnel recovery implications of a resumption of a sustained bombing campaign against Iraq, DESERT FOX. These discussions heightened awareness amongst members to personnel recovery considerations which would accompany such operations.

DPMO submitted language emphasizing the importance of personnel recovery matters into the Defense Planning Guidance, FY 2000-2005, the 1998 CJCS Joint Strategic Capabilities Plan, and the Strategic Intelligence Review for Support to Military Operations. Additionally, DMPO submitted inputs to the Joint Strategy Review. The presence of personnel recovery requirements in these key documents ensures the proper level of emphasis throughout the Defense community.

Additionally, DPMO provided policy-level review of joint doctrine pertaining to personnel recovery for several joint publications, including "Personnel Support to Joint Operations," "Doctrine for Joint Combat Search and Rescue," and "Joint Doctrine for Evasion and Recovery." Review by the OSD policy proponent for recovery operations is critical in linking operational direction and policy guidance.

Hosting a well-attended annual DoD Personnel Recovery Conference in October, DPMO officials met with representatives from the combatant commands, the services, OSD, and other key players from the interagency community to identify key challenges for the upcoming year and beyond. DPMO continues to heighten the awareness of personnel recovery matters. As a direct result of the Acquisition and Technology panel meeting, the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Advanced Technologies established a Personnel Recovery Technology Working Group. This will provide the personnel recovery community an opportunity to leverage technologies developed for other applications for the recovery function, thereby enhancing unity of effort between the services by ensuring they and other agencies are not duplicating time and assets to develop like technology.

As a follow-on to the inaugural DoD Personnel Recovery Conference in October 1997, DPMO worked closely with the Defense Intelligence Agency as it spearheaded an initiative to develop a comprehensive DoD Intelligence Community (IC) product that defines the ICO's capabilities and responsibilities in support of the combatant commandeers' recovery requirements. This IC product provides guidance to the DoD Components in defining the role of national IC support to personnel recovery and provides a framework for the commands to more fully understand the IC's contribution to support the commands' operations to recover captured, missing, or isolated personnel from danger. The fully coordinated product will be available in early 1999.

In a related move, DPMO updated intelligence requirements identifying information gaps related to historical accounting efforts, and incorporated information needs of future personnel recovery situations. Fusing DoD's needs to ensure fullest possible accounting from past conflicts with anticipated needs to fulfill the requirements set forth in the Missing Persons Act, DPMO conducted a comprehensive revision of related standing intelligence requirements. The resulting guidance provides direction to drive responsive intelligence collection into the next century.

DPMO coordinated the triennial review of the DoD/CIA Memorandum of Agreement on Mutual Support in Personnel Recovery and found it in need of revision. DPMO coordinated the revision throughout DoD and submitted it to the Secretary of Defense and Director of Central Intelligence who signed it in May 1998 and July 1998, respectively. This memorandum of agreement ensures unity of purpose and coordinates mutual support on matters involving policy, research and development, training, planning and operations for personnel recovery. It has led to a closer working relationship between DoD and the CIA by clearly identifying elements responsible for specific aspects of personnel recovery.

DPMO is also working with the Department of State to develop an agreement similar to the memorandum between DoD and the CIA. We are coordinating with State's Overseas Citizens Services, Bureau of Consular Affairs, to craft the agreement.

DPMO personnel, recognized by members of the personnel recovery community as "subject matter experts," were invited to participate in advisory panels hosted by the Joint Combat Search and Rescue - Joint Test and Evaluation Office. Participating in this type of forum brings concrete evidence of our efforts to "oversee" personnel recovery policy. Using our new "credibility" with the operational side of the house, our representatives helped identify key results of this major test of joint combat search and rescue, and aided in organizing the information to ensure action items actually correct deficiencies the test identified.

The development of a quarterly "Personnel Recovery Update" newsletter has proven to be a popular adjunct to DPMO's outreach effort. This newsletter was first published in March. It is distributed to members of the personnel recovery community worldwide on developments in personnel recovery, and provides a forum for the exchange of ideas.

The mission of the fullest possible accounting, a commitment to constituencies, is most effective when the messages are consistent and credible. We reach family members, veterans, active duty and reserve service members, the media, the general public, the Congress, veterans and family groups, military associations and countless other individuals and groups in our effort.

To maintain consistency, three agencies form the "Outreach Team." They are Family Support and Casualty Liaison; Legislative Affairs; and Public Affairs. The members of this team ensure that messages to the families, to Congress, to the media and to the public are tailored for each consumer, yet remain uniform and credible.

"Families Come First" is more than a motto for the Family Support and Casualty Liaison office. . .it is a solemn promise which the Family "team" strives to meet in every facet of day-to-day operations. A robust 1998 schedule included hosting three DoD Joint Casualty Affairs Conferences; coordinating and presenting 11 Family Update sessions; and providing more than 4,000 copies of the POW/MIA Accounting Booklet to family members, concerned citizens and veterans' groups.

This year's Casualty Conferences, held in Washington DC and Hawaii, brought together DoD support organizations to discuss current issues on POW/MIA accounting efforts. Key officials from DPMO, Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory, Central Identification Laboratory Hawaii, Joint Task Force - Full Accounting, Life Sciences Equipment Laboratory, service casualty offices, service mortuary offices,

Defense Intelligence Agency, JSSA, and those in other support roles, met to discuss and resolve a variety of issues ranging from the strategic to everyday working level problems. At the very heart of DPMO's broad mission are the monthly Family Update programs. The 11 sessions held in 1998 brought together 595 family members, representing 374 unaccounted-for Americans from all conflicts. These meetings, held in major metropolitan areas from coast to coast, were consistently praised by family members for their informal style, substantive content, and the openness displayed by government representatives in addressing their concerns. Opening lines of communication, lessening uncertainty, creating networking, and allowing families access to senior officials, are only a few of the tangible benefits of these meetings. One note of interest is the marked increase of Korean War/Cold War family attendance at the Family Updates. These families now comprise 60% of those families attending.

The Family Support Team submitted a proposal for 1999 that would require a team of experts to travel to more remote areas to meet with family members unable to reach metropolitan sites selected for the Family Updates. This proposal is to support our commitment to the outreach program.

When not on the road informing family members of government efforts to achieve the fullest possible accounting of this nation's missing, Family Support members are "answering the mail." More than 500 written responses to family inquiries were produced, providing personal attention in assisting family members with their understanding of our methodology. This does not include the thousands of electronic and verbal responses given daily to the services and our large constituency.

Family Support facilitated the 1998 U. S. government briefings to family and veteran organizations interested in the comprehensive accounting effort. These briefs include those given at the National League of Families annual convention and Korean/Cold War meetings held in Washington, DC. DPMO team members addressed 230 Southeast Asia family members and 100 Korean and Cold War family members in separate meetings to brief them on a wide array of subjects in an effort to resolve their uncertainties. This direct accessibility allows straightforward illumination of the facts for all concerned.

We coordinated access to 21 DPMO case files for authorized family members. In our office, individuals review their entire DPMO case files and ask Defense experts questions to resolve uncertainties and illuminate facts in an open, honest and personal manner. Additionally, we mail numerous redacted case files to authorized family members.

The POW/MIA Accounting booklet, written and distributed by the Family Support Liaison office, is so widely accepted as the definitive source guide for the government's accounting efforts, it was necessary to contract its printing in order to meet the demand. Service casualty offices now routinely include a copy of the booklet with the correspondence they send when initiating contact with families.

A notable outreach effort is the compilation of the Korean War DNA database. More than 1,500 Korean and Cold War family reference samples have been collected. The successful growth of this database is essential to the Korean War identification process where it plays a vital role in excluding missing service members from consideration when attempting to identify a specific set of remains.

Family Support to the National League of Families Regional Meetings is an integral part of DPMO's ongoing effort to support the families of the missing has included participation in regional meetings sponsored by the National League of Families. Done separately from the Family Update meetings and on a not to conflict basis, the regional meetings are organized and hosted by the various regional coordinators around the country. DPMO was invited to and participated in three regional meetings in Atlanta, Los Angeles and Newport in 1998 with five more scheduled in 1999. DPMO support normally consists of individuals from the Headquarters staff, Policy (Southeast Asia) and Family Support in addition to personnel sent from CILHI, JTF-FA and the service casualty offices.

DPMO casualty liaison officers communicated daily by various means with each of military services casualty offices, State Department casualty branch, veterans, families and family organizations. These communiqués varied in a wide range of support discussing issues focusing on the family and the inter-governmental agencies' support to the casualty office to perform their daily missions.

At times there are cases which require focused effort. The Family Support Team is responsible for making these cases known to the DASD and then providing a recommendation for resolution. In the majority of these cases the FS Team arranges for a team of experts to work with the family to resolve concerns. These meeting may be in person or by teleconference. During 1998 there were approximately 21 meetings of this type. In addition, FS coordinates to chaperone family members to special events to include White House visits, Memorial and Veterans Day ceremonies and many other events highlighting the governments efforts to ensure Family interaction to special events.

In conjunction with the Family Update Program, DPMO provides briefings for Veterans on the Friday night preceding the family meeting. The two meetings each month are integral to the overall outreach effort. Additionally, DPMO hosts visitors in our offices of other agencies and organizations so that we may make them aware of the accounting efforts of the office. Family Support is unwavering in its mission inform the families, the Congress, and the American people of the governmentÕs work to account for Americans missing from all wars.

Congressional and public interest remained high during 1998 as evidenced by the large volume of written and telephonic inquiries. Inquiries were received from members of Congress seeking information on behalf of their constituents on specific issues relating to POW/MIA activity; from the White House on behalf of the general public; and from concerned private citizens writing and calling directly to DPMO. This year differed from past years in that DPMO's approach in disseminating information to members of Congress and their staffs was far more direct and proactive.

With the arrival of Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Robert L. Jones, an intense information dissemination program was initiated with Capitol Hill. Making courtesy visits to a number of key members, Mr. Jones illuminated the ongoing POW/Missing Personnel mission of DPMO. Congressional Year 1998 was unique in that it was the closeout year for the 105th Congress and an election year for the full House of Representatives and a third of the Senate. Efforts to schedule visits to the Hill were complicated by an ever-changing legislative schedule. An aggressive program to meet with members of the 106th Congress will be underway in January 1999. To compliment this effort, an informational tri-fold is being developed to distribute to each congressional office. The tri-fold will cite basic issue information to acquaint the reader with DPMO's organization structure, mission, and points of contact.

In June, Representative Benjamin A. Gilman (R-NY), Chairman, House International Relations Committee, held a hearing on POW/MIA policies and programs. Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Fred Smith testified in conjunction with Department of State officials. On October 2, Mr. Jones testified with Under Secretary Walter Slocombe before Representative Steve Buyer's (R-IN) House National Security Committee's Subcommittee on Military Personnel on POW/MIA oversight. Both hearings provided platforms to detail achievements in the accounting field. There were no legislative bills or language introduced that addressed specific POW/MIA accounting or personnel recovery issues in this congressional session.

DPMO staff members served as subject experts at several White House planning sessions to discuss POW/MIA-related legislative issues. These staff members provided statistics, trip reports, assessments, and briefings to congressional representatives at the request of the White House Legislative Affairs staff. DPMO personnel also served as subject experts at mark ups of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade and the full Committee addressing member's and staff concerns related to cooperation on the POW/MIA issue by the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Along with the Department of State's Asian Affairs and the National Security Council staff, Mr. Jones briefed congressional members and staff on levels of cooperation on POW/MIA issues in Southeast Asia.

Concerned citizens continued to show interest in the overall POW/MIA issue with interest in accounting for Korean War losses increasing. Private Internet sources encouraged citizens to "adopt" a POW/MIA from Southeast Asia, which generated a major portion of White House inquiries, while the opening of the Tomb of the Unknowns from the Vietnam War generated intense public interest. The small drop in congressional inquiries on behalf of constituents over the number received in 1997 can be attributed to congressional focus on the close-out of the 105th session, the budget, the elections, and the investigation of the President.

For the second consecutive year, DPMO responded to more than 1,500 written and oral requests for detailed, substantive information on efforts to account for Americans lost in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Russia, Korea, and the Cold War. Timely, accurate, and inclusive responses to Congress and the general public increased support for the government's efforts. Private citizens who expressed their concerns to the President, the Secretary of Defense, or directly to DPMO were provided first hand information and clarification on this important humanitarian issue.

One of the most important functions of the DPMO is to keep the public informed of the nation's commitment to the fullest possible accounting. That commitment is a vigorous one, with considerable resources devoted to it worldwide. Informing our constituents of that activity generates a public awareness which ultimately leads to mission accomplishment.

With the arrival of the new Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for POW/Missing Personnel Affairs, the public affairs program moved toward new initiatives offering even greater potential for positive outreach, understanding and support by the public, the families, the Congress and other constituents.

It became clear that the DPMO must capitalize on the synergism of combining the messages and techniques of like functions into a unified team. The "Outreach Team" was born, and included the Family Liaison, Legislative Affairs and Public Affairs divisions. While the target audiences of each of these divisions differ slightly, a unity of message is required for credibility among the various audiences. Crossover and feedback occurs regularly as the segments of the audience interact with each other.

The development of the "Outreach Plan" served to focus each of the three divisions on the most important tasks, and to review the "messages" each developed for its audiences.

Traditional public affairs outlets include national and local media, public speaking events, and internal or command information. The writing of the "Outreach Plan" codified each of these areas, and illustrated where public affairs would focus its efforts. But more importantly, it clarified for all members of the team who the target audiences were and what the messages to those audiences would be.

Public Speaking The "Outreach Plan" calls for specific initiatives in reaching the most important veterans and professional organizations. While the DPMO staff could not possibly cover all potential national and local veterans' events, the plan suggested that national audiences would be the prime targets for the DASD and other senior leadership. Consequently, within just a few months of its implementation, the DASD appeared before the national conventions of the American Legion, The Vietnam Veterans of America, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the National League of POW/MIA Families, the National Alliance of Families, the Korean Cold War Family Association of the Missing, among others. Most encouraging, however, is that other staff members of the DPMO are regularly accepting (with PAO approval and support) speaking engagements to public school system events, local and regional veterans and family events, civic club meetings and local chapters of veterans organizations. Success begets success. With exposure of the DPMO message at national level events, we now find ourselves more and more in demand for regional and local events. For 1999, we plan to develop an electronic database which will track public speaking events in order to more closely monitor our effectiveness in reaching targeted audiences with targeted messages.

New ground was broken in 1998 with the addition of regular "Veterans Updates" held in association with our monthly Family Updates in cities across the country. This important community is one of our key targeted audiences. On the evening before our all-day Saturday Family Updates, we meet with assembled veterans for presentations on the worldwide mission of the fullest possible accounting. For the most part, the veterans who attend are gratified that the nation continues to uphold its commitment to this mission. At most events, veterans approach our team members privately and contribute information about missing servicemen based on their own combat experiences. Additionally, our public speaking initiatives to veterans groups has expanded to technical interviews with former POWs who are members of these groups. Such interviews provide solid analytical data, especially in building our database on known Korean War losses and locations of burial sites.

Special events Each year, the nation honors its former POWs as well as those servicemen missing in action. The two commemorations remind the nation of its commitment to the fullest possible accounting of those still missing. Each April 9, national former prisoner of war day is observed with a Presidential proclamation, and veterans' events around the country. The Presidential proclamation was written in DPMO and forwarded through DOD to the White House. Later, on the third Friday in September, National POW/MIA Recognition Day highlights the sacrifices made by America's unaccounted-for, and their families. The Presidential proclamation for this event was also written by DPMO. On September 18, Secretary of Defense William Cohen hosted a formal military event in front of the Pentagon. The ceremony consisted of massed troops of all the services, a 21-gun salute from the old guard at Ft. Myer and a "missing man"flyover. The guest speaker was Colonel Norman McDaniel (USAF, retired), a former POW from the war in Vietnam. All planning for this massive event was led by staff members of DPMO.

One important element of the National POW/MIA Recognition Day is the production of a poster for distribution around the world to military units and veterans agencies. Produced annually by the Department of Veterans Affairs, the poster serves as a reminder to far-flung units and veterans' posts that this nation continues to honor its commitments to our unaccounted-for. DPMO assumed responsibility for the production of this poster, beginning in 1999.

News Media "Getting the Word Out" is not an objective of the DPMO Outreach Plan. Generating specific messages to targeted audiences is. No military pilot would ever be ordered to "go drop bombs on something." Likewise, effective communications requires targeting.

Our contact with "news media" ranges from small hometown newspapers, to large city papers, to national and international papers, to local television stations to international networks. All contact centers on breaking news for that media outlet. For example, our work with small, local hometown newspapers and broadcast outlets usually keys on our announcement of the identification of a hometown

serviceman. This announcement is the vehicle which carries the story to a local, credible, level. We continue to share advance copies of such news announcements with local congressional representatives, to keep them informed on our issue from a constituent perspective.

Other local contacts are generated regularly in our work surrounding the monthly Family Updates. We have told our story through e nationally-recognized newspapers such as the Dallas Morning News, The Pensacola News-Journal; The Portland Oregonian; The Detroit Free Press; The Denver Post; and The Memphis Commercial-Appeal; The New Orleans Times-Picayune; among others. Public affairs support for the overall accounting mission can be illustrated no more clearly than in Memphis. As a result of our work there, the local newspaper carried two stories, one before and one after our Family Update. The first story caused several heretofore-unknown family members to contact us, and to attend the Family Update. Likewise, as a result of the two newspaper stories, two television stations carried stories on the Saturday and Sunday of our visit in Memphis. Over one million viewers and readers were reached in that city centered around that one event.

We continue to generate very positive targeted results when releases are made following the identification of remains from Southeast Asia or North Korea or World War II. Without exception, hometown newspapers portray these stories with the greatest sensitivity and respect. Family members have come to expect this kind of coverage as a fitting tribute to the memory of their loved one. In 1998, 26 individuals were identified from SEA, with the majority of those identifications generating news releases into hometowns.

Clearly, the most noteworthy news media contact during 1998 was as a result of the Tomb of the Unknowns decisions. Public affairs was brought into the issue very early, and that act alone helped to generate positive constituent reaction at every decision point during the process. DPMO public affairs maintained contact with all of the major media outlets throughout the many months of study and deliberation by senior DoD leadership. While the interim and final announcements regarding the execution of the Tomb decision rested with the Secretary of Defense, the national media continued to rely on DPMO public affairs as the credible source for technical information. No one single event in recent years has generated greater credibility for DPMO in the eyes of the media.

We continued our work with two major networks on feature presentations on the recovery of World War II remains in China. ABC's 20/20 has assumed that network's investment in the story ("Primetime Live" has been subsumed). Additionally, the Discovery Channel has purchased footage from ABC, and they plan to air their documentary in 1999. Another Discovery Channel production with which we worked last year won an Emmy during 1998 for their story "Vietnam POWs: Stories of Survival." It was recognized as the outstanding prime time documentary.

Innovations the DPMO Internet home page continues to be a major communications vehicle, reaching upwards of 8,000 readers weekly. The staff has undertaken a major effort to expand information available on the site. Family members, researchers, media, veterans' organizations and others continue to give very positive feedback on the utility of the home page. Not only has it eliminated the extremely slow, antiquated, bulk mailout of newsletters, it provides the only method by which we are able to pass along reports which may contain hundreds of pages. Five major additional sections, now in final draft stages, will be added to the DPMO home page in the coming months. These will include the comprehensive lists of the more than 10,000 Missing in Action servicemen from both the Korean War and the war in Southeast Asia.

Credibility Public affairs serves as the public voice of DPMO. The integrity of the work accomplished by DPMO is reflected in the energy by the staff in maximizing the effectiveness of all the outreach tools. The mission of DPMO is to provide the fullest possible accounting of Americans missing from past, present and future conflicts, across the broad spectrum of conflict. However, in the eyes of our constituent audiences, that mission does not exist É unless it is communicated. The senior DPMO leadership has clearly recognized the criticality of such communications to mission accomplishment, with 1999 promising to be yet another year of expanding our credibility through innovation and energy.

Continuing to make broad inroads in locating research materials in repositories and archival facilities throughout the world, the Special Projects/Archival Research (SP/AR) directorate played a critical role in the agency's efforts toward fullest possible accounting of Americans missing from all conflicts. Discovery of search and rescue logs, operational summaries, aircraft loss data, personnel records and a wealth of original documents missing for decades provided significant added capability to our analytical teams.

Members of this directorate made six trips to the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, reviewing nearly 500 cubic feet of U.S. Air Force Headquarters, Far East Air Forces and Headquarters Fifth Air Force Korean War records. Extensive data provided detailed circumstances on the loss of aircrew members from all services. Copying more than 6,000 pages of information, researchers were able to pass new information to the appropriate service casualty office for dissemination to the next-of-kin. This collaborative effort was also used to update the PMKOR and the Korean War Aircraft Loss databases. The use of this previously unidentified material led DPMO researchers to remove several Air Force personnel from the PMKOR, and greatly amplify case information for numerous family members on the loss of their loved ones. DPMO researchers were the first to systematically review and index these records.

SP/AR personnel traveled to Geneva, Switzerland, home of the Headquarters, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), to begin initial review of records pertaining to World War II and the Korean War, and to lay plans for future access to extensive Vietnam and Desert Storm archival material. Researchers identified significant holdings that should be reviewed and copied during future visits. Through the use of the ICRC's comprehensive database, the status of four individuals listed on the PMKOR was ascertained. The ICRC, which has long served as a clearinghouse for information on POWs from all wars, will be a future source of data on American POWs and MIAs.

Traveling to Pyongyang, North Korea, DPMO research personnel spent one week reviewing military archival material at the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum and The Peoples' Grand Study House. At the latter, more than 3,100 pages of personal accounts and memoirs written by DPRK soldiers, provided our researchers with valuable insight into day-to-day activity of the common soldier participating in the Korean War. At the War Museum DPMO personnel were allowed to view a plethora of personal identification cards and private papers taken from U.S. servicemen during the conflict. The fate of two servicemen, previously unknown, was clarified during this visit. A significant benefit resulting from this trip to North Korea, was much improved working relations between U.S. analysts and their DPRK counterparts. Continued confidence-building by both sides fostered the increase of shared information and planted the seeds for favorable future visits.

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), located in College Park and Suitland, Maryland, remain the center of record research for those assigned to SP/AR. Researchers continued to review U.S. Army, Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy records stored there. In the past year, specific records reviewed include U.S. Army battalion and regimental diaries, USMC and Navy casualty and POW records, and USAF intelligence, personnel, operations, and casualty records. U.S. Army division, regiment, and battalion diaries containing information on battle locations, burial sites, and other operational data were extracted from these files. One DPMO analyst compiled 35 individual binders covering the period from October to December 1950. Previously unindexed in any detail, this information has proven vital to case resolution and clarification. DPMO analysts prepared indices of these files that will greatly streamline future research efforts.

DPMO personnel reviewed Vietnam War search and rescue logs from the years 1966 and 1967. These logs, missing since the end of the war, were discovered in boxes of miscellaneous Vietnam War-era materials. Our researchers painstakingly copied each of the logs, which contained more than 2,000 pages. One copy was forwarded to Joint Task Force - Full Accounting, where the search and rescue logs for 1968 to the end of the war are already maintained, and the other was retained at DPMO for further research and analysis by our Vietnam analysts. This effort widens our ability to pinpoint incidents occurring before 1968 and gives us the potential to confirm loss incident data obtained previously from other sources.

In other accomplishments, SP/AR researchers and 40 reservists spent six man months reviewing more than 850 U.S. Army POW-returnee debriefs (an estimated 1.5 million pages) at Fort Meade, Maryland. These Korean War era records contain specific information on the location, treatment, and condition of United Nations unaccounted-for with whom the returnees came in contact. Analysis of these narrative accounts of loss incidents, POW movements after capture, camp descriptions and maps, physical well being of POWs, and possible burial sites, contributed directly to furthering resolution of field search cases.

SP/AR personnel pursued the establishment of a Joint Reserve Intelligence Unit to provide peacetime support and to augment DPMO during times of crisis/mobilization. Having established contact with all of the Reserve Service Intelligence organizations and with POW/MIA mission related reserve organizations, e.g., USAR Graves Registration Units, SP/AR developed a Joint Manning Document for submission to JCS J-1. While recent legislation calls for a significant manpower ramp-up during crises, a reserve unit, during peacetime, now becomes familiar with the agency's day-to-day issues and provides ad hoc support for these activities. Additionally SP/AR obtained six additional man months of support, at no cost to DPMO, for Reserve support of all DPMO directorates' special projects. This allowed completion of several projects previously postponed due to a lack of resources.

In the past year, DPMO researchers visited the Nixon, Ford, and Bush Presidential Libraries, viewing their holdings for POW/MIA related material. These archives, in conjunction with White House logs, NSC files, CIA files, and State Department records revealed more than 3,000 pages of POW/MIA material associated with the war in Southeast Asia and U.S. government relations with Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Further, the location of hundreds of pages of material related to the Korean, Southeast Asian, and Cold Wars, found at approximately 30 non-government libraries in Texas, Oregon, Michigan, and California, yielded valuable case-specific information and further leads for future research in the National Archives and other government repositories. Also contributing to our knowledge of POW camp information on deaths and burial sites, was a series of interviews conducted by SP/AR personnel with Korean War veterans and ex-POWs.

Finally, the directorate's initiative to review historical documents in an effort to identify missing U.S. personnel in Cambodia intensified over the past year. Documents collected from the 1970 -1975 Lon Nol era reflect the period of most of the U.S. losses in Cambodia. In addition, the Khmer Rouge era also includes the genocide period in Cambodia and documents include those atrocities at the Tuol Sleng prison compound. More than 7,000 Lon Nol dossiers reviewed have been summarized into English and are undergoing analysis and review. An additional 800 documents, written in French, are being translated and evaluated for information germane to accounting efforts.

The Correspondence Management Team (CMT), composed of one civilian and four military enlisted personnel, distributed and managed all correspondence for DPMO. Processing 1,251 Office of Secretary of Defense and DPMO suspenses this year, personnel in this office supported the administrative needs of the agency with 480 courier distribution runs to five mail centers in the Pentagon and other selected points. The chronological file established for 1998 consists of 12 linear feet of correspondence to families, Congressmen, veterans' organizations, researchers, and concerned citizens. Five daily "read files" are constructed each week for Headquarters and DPMO-wide review.

In addition to controlling the daily flow of correspondence for 120 personnel, CMT members supported a number of special projects throughout the year. They provided complete administrative support to two major conferences; the Second Annual Personnel Recovery Conference, and the Strategic Planning Conference, both held at Ft. Belvoir, Virginia. On short notice, CMT prepared and distributed 250 invitations for the annual POW/MIA Recognition Day to Members of Congress and senior DoD officials.

The Declassification/Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Division (DF) undertook several major projects in 1998. In collaboration with the DPMO General Counsel, the Division completed a review of classified materials contained in Korean War files on unaccounted-for personnel. Two thousand files were examined in a thorough declassification review. Of these, 35 were found to contain classified documents. Following an extensive review, six files remained classified in accordance with Executive Order 12958. This effort brought DPMO into compliance with requirements imposed by the Missing Persons Act.

Personnel in this division also completed an extensive revision of administrative instructions, which detail the responsibilities and procedures for redaction, and declassification of Korean and Cold War documents. This was necessary to ensure DPMO's compliance with requirements and guidance outlined in the "McCain Bill," the Missing Persons Act, the Freedom of Information Act, and various Executive Orders and DoD instructions. Newly written internal administrative instructions establish a centralized system for collecting, indexing, and filing of Korean and Cold War documents acquired from external sources. Further, they formalize a support process in keeping with DPMO outreach policies.

DF also developed a site for the DPMO Internet home page. This section contains references to laws, executive orders, and presidential directives that pertain to implementing declassification procedures; a textual description and decision logic diagram of the declassification process; the Freedom of Information Act process with a hyper-link to the OSD FOIA home page; and hyper-links to the Library of Congress' Vietnam-era POW/MIA database home page for Korean and Cold War documents. The purpose of the DPMO home page, and the DF section, in particular, is to communicate with family members, concerned citizens, veterans service organizations, government organizations, and Members of Congress about the DF division's activities.

An important project was the publication of the Next-of-Kin Casualty List for Southeast Asia unaccounted-for that reflects primary next-of-kin responses to the exclusionary provisions of public law. Additionally, DF developed a Personnel Missing Cold War (PMCOLD) database to mirror the Personnel Missing Southeast Asia (PMSEA) and Personnel Missing Korea (PMKOR) documents. This significant database is a key analytical tool for the Joint Commission Support Directorate and the Family Support Division as well as the service casualty offices.

In late fall, the JCSD directorate forwarded 1,000 pages of electronic records to DF for review and redaction. The MOU between the Library of Congress and DPMO requires these records be transmitted to the Library of Congress electronically, thus requiring electronic redaction. In addition to these 1,000 pages, JCSD notified DF to expect some 6,000 pages of material recently passed to the United States by the Russians. As a result of these current and expected documents, DF is soliciting support to expedite the process of acquiring an electronic redaction capability for DPMO, independent of any scanning project.

In addition to requesting Information Systems (IS) assistance for the electronic redaction software, DF solicited IS support to locate, evaluate, and purchase software capable of "searching" the DPMO e-mail system. The absence of this capability renders DPMO unable to comply with the "e-FOIA" (electronic FOIA) legislation passed in 1996 requiring agencies to search e-mail based on such criteria as key words, subject, sender, receiver, and contents within the body of the email.

The Declassification/FOIA division also provided input to the development of a DoD directive to implement the provisions of the Missing Persons Act. Observations garnered from the review and declassification of unaccounted-for personnel records clearly indicate a future need to develop a system of mechanisms to identify, collect, store, provide access and preserve documents, tapes, files, reports, and other materials required for recovery and accountability and other specified tasks of the MPA. DF provided the drafters of implementing policy directives a "strawman" listing of such materials. Included was the suggestion that policy documents direct the formulation and installation of an integrated system of mechanisms that serve the recovery and accountability missions and the interrelated but disparate support organizations.

Within the Reference and Document division of this directorate, a 50% reduction in manpower due to retirements and transfers greatly impacted day-to-day operations. High tempo situations will require additional manpower in the form of intelligence technicians, assistance from other directorates, or reserve augmentation. The personnel reduction severely limits the division's ability to support Declassification/FOIA and Research and Analysis taskings in an efficient manner. The Reference and Document division chief carefully prioritized work to ensure an acceptable level of support is provided to all DPMO directors.

The Reference and Document division updated approximately 45% of the Southeast Asia casualty files. This resource-intensive project reaped significant benefits since both JCSD and Research and Analysis directorate analysts now find it much easier to review only relevant case-related material. This process provides the capability for DF to review and declassify the files in a structured and coherent manner, allowing DPMO to forward a professional file to the families of the unaccounted-for from Southeast Asia. Additionally, updating these files lessens the time needed for file preparation when the director's scanning initiative is underway.

This division updated and published monthly statistics associated with Southeast Asia unaccounted-for personnel. Statistics are used by members of the DPMO staff and distributed to the service casualty offices, JTF-FA, CILHI, veteran and family organizations and key members of Congress.

Division personnel updated 23 files of Southeast Asia individuals whose remains have been identified. These files will be declassified by DF and sent to the Library of Congress's Vietnam-era POW/MIA collection in compliance with public law and executive orders. Additionally, the division coordinated the reprinting and wide distribution of the seven volume "Report of the 1992-1993 Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs."

In compliance with annual requirements, RD updated and produced the 1998 Personnel Missing Southeast Asia (PMSEA) which was distributed to military and civilian organizations that deal with the POW/MIA issue, family members and concerned citizens upon request, veterans service organizations and members of Congress. An electronic copy also resides in the Library of Congress's POW/MIA home page with updates submitted quarterly.

The division declassified more than 15,000 pages of documents, files and records pertaining to Vietnam-era unaccounted-for servicemen, and added them to the special collection in the Library of Congress. We have released more than 860,000 pages of relevant materials to this collection for public access.

Finally, this division coordinated a 1999 memorandum of understanding with the Library of Congress providing for public access of declassified Vietnam-era materials.

Through the use of overtime and assistance of other DPMO personnel, the division reorganized 20,000 of the 29,000 photos sent to DPMO from the JTF-FA's Archival Research Teams in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. This unique collection of photos, and those from other sources, will be available for use of all DPMO analysts in support of case resolution. Development of a new database to support use of the photo collections is expected to be complete in June 1999.

Division members began cataloging many Southeast Asia wartime 8mm, 16mm, and 35mm films now converted to VHS. Because DPMO cannot maintain the required environmental controls to safeguard these film products, they will be transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration's Video and Still Photo Studio for preservation. This projected will be completed by March 1999.

To date, contractors have scanned 100% of the directorate's 452 reel unclassified microfilm collection. Ten additional reels will be scanned after purchase from the Library of Congress. The next goal is to scan the 20,000 sheets of classified and unclassified microfiche now held. Projected completion is June 1999.

The High Density Storage Area continues to hold a large number of uncataloged unique reference materials related to the Vietnam War. Intelligence technicians will catalog these items in order to provide better support to DPMO's analytical effort. Projected completion of this project is anticipated to be October 1999. These unique items, including Vietnam era monthly statistics, Cilia's monthly remains identification letters, and the Joint Task Force's databases will also be displayed on an Intranet web site being developed for display throughout DPMO.

Action # of Pages # of Requests/Cases

Declassification for PNOK 7,913 75

Declassification (Other)* 9,221 33

On-site Family File Review 494 4

Scrub Sheets for PNOK 151 15

Family Update Requirements 1,068 361

Status Changes for the LoC 1,950 6

Bio Site Reports for the LoC 3,925 N/A

McCain/Privacy Reviews 1,072 53

Totals 25,794 547

Action	# of Pages	# of Requests/Cases
Declassification for PNOK	7,913	75
Declassification (Other)*	9,221	33
On-site Family File Review	494	4
Scrub Sheets for PNOK	151	15
Family Update Requirements	1,068	361
Status Changes for the LoC	1,950	6
Bio Site Reports for the LoC	3,925	N/A
McCain/Privacy Reviews	1,072	53
Totals	25,794	547