Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office
2400 Defense Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301-2400

MEMORANDUM FOR USD (POLICY)

THROUGH: ASD (INTERNATIONAL SECURITY AFFAIRS)

FROM: DASD (POW/MISSING PERSONNEL AFFAIRS)

SUBJECT: Annual Report of Accomplishments and Impact for Defense and National Policy - INFORMATION MEMORANDUM

PURPOSE: To chronicle the most significant Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) accomplishments for 1996 and their impact on future national policy in support of the Secretary.

DISCUSSION: We continue to search aggressively to determine the fates of more than 10,000 U.S. service personnel lost in the Korean conflict, the Vietnam War, and Cold War shootdowns over Russia. In addition, we are pursing the recovery of remains of Americans missing from WW II. As a result of Congressional legislation and senior leadership vision and initiative, DPMO restructured itself to better resolve the cases of our unaccounted for and instituted changes that prepare the Department of Defense (DoD) to meet future accounting needs.

- Southeast Asia Accounting Efforts (TAB A). We continue to pursue cases for 2,134 unaccounted-for Americans in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Since 1993, we have recovered and repatriated remains for 199 individuals that we believe to be unaccounted-for Americans and have separately made 61 identifications. The Department is using the results of the comprehensive review of all related POW/MIA information to better target DoD resources on the next best steps to advance our accounting efforts.

- North Korean Accounting Efforts (TAB B). The search to learn the fates of the more than 8,100 men missing from the Korean War centers on three objectives: resolving the alleged live sightings of U.S. POWs, recovery of remains, and opening access to Korean military archives and wartime records. In July 1995, the President pledged to families and veterans the fullest possible accounting for our Korean War missing, and we made a dramatic breakthrough this summer with the first successful joint recovery operation in North Korea since the end of the Korean War.

- Russian Accounting Efforts (TAB C). DPMO, as the Executive Secretariat to the U.S.-Russia Joint Commission (USRJC), accelerated efforts to determine whether U.S. POWs were transferred to the Former Soviet Union. Utilizing our access to Russian archives and officials, we made significant advances toward resolving several of the 131 cases involving our missing from Cold War shootdowns.

- Global Efforts (TAB D). On a more global scale, our success spawned broader international support for the humanitarian policy of accounting for a nationÍs missing and promoted our overall military policy agenda. Russian citizens--pointing to U.S. efforts around the world--have demanded their government begin a similar process for losses in Afghanistan and Chechyna. Countries as diverse as Israel, Finland, Bosnia, and Kuwait requested U.S. assistance to help establish their own versions of DPMO. Our initiatives also complemented U.S. diplomatic efforts to expand our diplomatic dialogue in China, Vietnam, and North Korea.

- Missing Persons Legislation (TAB E). In response to legislation enacted with the FY96 National Defense Authorization Bill, the Deputy Secretary of Defense established the Office of Missing Personnel. The USD (P) then classified the office as the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office, designated Mr. Wold as the DASD for POW/Missing Personnel Affairs, and realigned functional responsibilities for Personnel Recovery from ASD (SO/LIC) to DPMO.

- Intelligence Collection (TAB F). DPMO enhanced our national intelligence priorities to ensure all appropriate resources are devoted to resolving the fate of our unaccounted for.

- Making a Good Story Known (TAB G). During 1996, DPMO successfully launched its most pro-active outreach program to provide families, veterans, members of Congress, and concerned citizens critical updated information on operational and policy changes that affected the accounting process.

- Internal Developments (TAB H). To ensure we capitalize on future changes, DPMO devoted considerable effort to honing our organizational Vision, Mission, Values, and Goals.

Attachment(s):

As stated

Southeast Asia Accounting Efforts

This year we achieved significant progress in resolving the fates of unaccounted for personnel, as America laid to rest the remains of 27 service personnel killed during the Vietnam War. We continue to press for answers for the remaining 2,134 individuals. In addition, remains of 35 individuals who we believe to be unaccounted-for Americans were recovered in Southeast Asia and repatriated to the Central Identification Laboratory-Hawaii (CILHI) to undergo identification. Also, two Priority Discrepancy Review Panels confirmed the deaths for 7 of 55 unaccounted-for Americans who were known to have been captured or last seen alive in the proximity of enemy forces in Vietnam and for 6 of 100 unaccounted-for Americans on discrepancy case lists in Laos and Cambodia. Strong cooperation from the Governments of Vietnam and Cambodia have proven critical to this success. Similar support is being sought from the Government of Laos. Indeed, to help in our accounting efforts, the processing of Vietnam War-era documents alone was staggering: we acquired from Cornell University and Primary Source Media more than 430,000 pages of documents, transferred more than 60,000 photographs and documents to the Library of Congress, added almost 13,000 pages to existing case files, and created 395 new source files.

Several other analytical and policy achievements further advanced our accounting efforts:

1. Implementation of the Comprehensive Review of Cases, the first top-to-bottom review of all information associated with each case completed in 1995, enabled our analysts to determine the next best step(s) to successfully account for 67% of those Americans missing in Southeast Asia. As a result, during 1996 the JTF-FA delivered more than 450 requests for unilateral action to the three Southeast Asian governments. The study further indicates that remains recovery is not possible for 26% of the missing. DPMO analysts meet regularly with Joint Task Force Full Accounting (JTF-FA) analysts to update the status of Southeast Asia cases. During these meetings DPMO and JTF-FA review recent activities and agree on the necessary next steps. The report also spawned a more detailed assessment of Vietnamese remains recovery operations and storage processes during the war. This study, which is using more recently acquired information to challenge previous assumptions, will update the United States Government (USG) position regarding Vietnamese remains recovery and storage from the position reflected in the 1987 Special National Intelligence Estimate and the Defense Intelligence Agency's (DIA) 1990 study.

IMPACT: The successful implementation of the comprehensive review results has proven pivotal to advancing our accounting efforts. For example, the JTF-FA is working with the Vietnamese to revamp procedures for how cases are pursued. New procedures will possibly enable the Vietnamese to triple the time currently allotted for conducting unilateral investigations of cases. The National Security Council has requested a year end report to assess the review's impact on our accounting efforts. The report, which should be completed in March 1997, will quantify this change as well as illustrate changes in the status of cases.

2. Updating our accounting policies and procedures ensured that the most comprehensive efforts possible are brought to bear to help resolve cases. DPMO is developing the "third criterion" procedures to enable the USG to indicate that everything has been done in our attempt to account for individuals whose remains are unrecoverable. In addition, to ensure the Department effectively utilizes its DNA capability, DPMO held a conference for all stakeholders in the DNA identification process (Central Identification Laboratory Hawaii (CILHI), Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL), Casualty and Mortuary Affairs Operations Center (CMAOC), and Casualty & Mortuary Officers). Attendees identified problem areas, addressed how to reduce the number of cases awaiting identification at AFDIL, and identified other areas where the system could be improved. A working group was created to resolve these issues and to develop a broader understanding of roles and responsibilities that would enhance coordination and communication among all parties.

IMPACT: For the first time DPMO effectively asserted its role for policy oversight over the personnel accounting/remains identification system. Invoking the "third criterion" will allow the USG to concentrate efforts on cases most likely to result in successful accounting and end unproductive recovery efforts for cases requiring no further pursuit. DPMO is evaluating changes to the Armed Forces Identification Review Board Procedures (AFIRB) to ensure DoD protects the rights of the families of unaccounted-for Americans. Additionally, we envision making additional changes that could reduce the delay and needless anguish for families who do not challenge an identification finding by review boards.

3. Visits by DASD Wold, DASD Campbell, NSC Adviser Lake, and other key senior U.S. officials pressed upon the Vietnamese, Lao, and Cambodian governments the continuing importance of this issue in overall U.S. policy to the region. DASD Wold used trips in January and November to emphasize the critical importance of the POW/MIA issue. During the March Presidential Delegation visit to Southeast Asia, DASD Wold traveled with Deputy Secretary for Veteran Affairs Herschel Gober, DASS Kent Weidermann, and NSC Southeast Asia advisor Sandra Kristoff to stress President Clinton's continued focus on the issue.

IMPACT:These delegations found that since the normalization of diplomatic relations occurred in July 1995, the Vietnamese have continued their strong cooperation in all of the President's four key areas for POW/MIA activity. They also reemphasized the need for continued cooperation by all three governments, particularly in responding to the USG requests for unilateral activity that were identified in the DPMO lead DoD comprehensive review.

4. DPMO contracted with several prominent scholars to launch a Cambodian research initiative that would examine and exploit a major body of Democratic Kampuchea-era documents. These documents provide previously unavailable details about the names and activities of revolutionary and other forces in areas of known American losses. DPMO will use their language skills to conduct oral history interviews with veterans and other persons who might know the circumstances surrounding the incidents of loss of unaccounted-for Americans.

IMPACT:DoD is using a unique academic-DoD cooperative effort to move the POW/MIA issue forward in Cambodia. Ideally this will place every remaining Cambodian loss (76 total) in its own unique historical context, help identify leads for further pursuit, or establish that further efforts are unlikely to lead to case resolution through the recovery of remains.

North Korean Accounting Efforts

This year marked a watershed in our Korean War accounting efforts as DPMO broke a decades-long impasse and began direct talks with North Korea. We first addressed the issue of alleged live sightings of U.S. POWs, although DPMO does not have any credible firsthand accounts of U.S. POWs in North Korea. We continue to raise the issue with North Korea; each time they steadfastly deny having such prisoners. Additionally, DPMO officials led the first DoD visit to Pyongyang since the end of the war and successfully negotiated for an initial joint recovery operation. As we enter the new year, we are prepared to send DPMO researchers to North Korea to work in their military archives and museums and to resume planning for operations in 1997.

IMPACT: The first joint recovery operation resulted in the recovery and subsequent identification of a previously unaccounted-for American and set the precedent for future operations. Although the submarine incident scuttled a planned second operation, North Korean officials have indicated their desire to continue working to resolve this humanitarian issue. Direct contact also provides a means to raise other POW/MIA-related issues, such as live sighting reports and archival investigations.

Additional significant Korean developments included:

1. A renewed emphasis within the Department to learn the fate of our more than 8,100 missing men from the Korean War. Secretary of Defense Perry signed the Department's first Korean War Accounting Priority Statement in May 1996. This statement, which came on the heels of President Clinton's dedication of the Korean War memorial, formally established DoDÍs commitment to the accounting effort for servicemen missing from the Korean War. In response to growing concern over the loss of contact over the years with over 90 percent of the families of our missing, DPMO coordinated with the services the development of a Korean War Outreach Program to reestablish contact with the over 8,100 families of Korean War servicemen whose remains the USG never recovered or identified. DPMO also facilitated an agreement with CMAOC to fund AFDIL's expenses to upgrade its facilities to meet the expected increase in Korean War-related DNA processing.

2. During 1996, DPMO mounted a massive archival effort to locate and review wartime documents that could promote our accounting efforts. Our archival researchers and analysts identified 350 worldwide repositories and visited more than a dozen libraries and archival research facilities in the U.S. and overseas in an effort to obtain information concerning unaccounted-for U.S. personnel from the Korean War. We also began a massive oral history effort to interview Korean War veterans and POW camp survivors.

IMPACT: These efforts significantly enhanced our knowledge on many cases. Our review of Eisenhower Library documents indicates a significant amount of confusion over efforts to account for American military personnel at the conclusion of hostilities. Most accounts consistently suggest that the Administration did press for answers for the fates of several hundred American soldiers, some of whom were known to have been in Korean or Chinese POW camps. Although it does not appear that the Eisenhower Administration had hard evidence the Communists were still holding U.S. soldiers against their will, there are more documents to review that could shed light on the issue.

3. We took the first steps to develop a more accurate listing of unaccounted-for American servicemen, as well as those whose remains were never returned, from the Korean Conflict.

IMPACT: Three major casualty lists were reconciled into one data base designated "Persons Missing Korea" (PMKOR). This data base is now in the final stages of review by the individual Services and will be the DoD approved list of our unaccounted for from the Korean War.

Russian Accounting Efforts

Russia's fluid internal political situation, President Yeltsin's uncertain health, and the death of several prominent Russian members of the USRJC have slowed any real progress in our accounting efforts. Nevertheless, in support of the U.S. side of the USRJC on POW/MIAs, DPMO analysts traveled to Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Tajikistan to meet with the Presidents and top officials of these countries, and conducted television broadcasts requesting that anyone with information on American POWs come forward to assist in our accounting efforts.

Specific achievements include:

1. DPMO published the Comprehensive Report of the U.S. Side of the USRJC on POW/MIAs. This 549-page document, the culmination of four and one half years of USRJC activities in Russia, summarizes discussions between the parties and provides information on the questions of transfers of American POWs to the Soviet Union. The report utilizes data from Russian documents on missing American servicemen, and identifies cases where there is a high probability that unaccounted-for U.S. servicemen died. The Commission presented this document to President Clinton on August 6, 1996 and it is now available on the Internet.

IMPACT: The report provides detailed results of a multifaceted research and investigative program conducted in the United States, Russia, and the Former Soviet Republics. Analysis of several thousand pages of Russian documents and hundreds of interviews with Soviet veterans and other knowledgeable individuals begins to answer some of the many questions regarding Soviet/Russian knowledge of and possible involvement with U.S. POW/MIAs from World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Cold War. In addition to providing a solid benchmark of the work conducted thus far, the comprehensive report identifies critical issues and areas for further investigation.

2. In February 1996, General Wold led a team of analysts to Moscow to meet the new head of the Russian side of the USRJC, Major General Vladimir Antonovich Zolotarev, the first since the death of the original head of the Russian side of the USRJC, Colonel General Dmitriy Antonovich Volkogonov. During their discussions, Generals Wold and Zolotarev laid the groundwork for discussions at the 13th Plenum. Major General Zolotarev also came to Washington, D.C. in May 1996 to meet with the commissioners on the U.S. side of the USRJC.

IMPACT:DASD Wold used these meetings to forge ties with the new Russian leadership. He repeatedly emphasized the importance of improving U.S. access to information that could shed light on unresolved U.S. cases. These meetings also proved critical to assessing the current status of our investigations in several specific Cold War and Korean War cases.

3. We used the 13th Plenum of the USRJC (Moscow; September 24-25), to hold the Russian side to their past promises for information and results:

a. The Cold War Working Group made progress tracking Major Eugene PosaÍs remains in Russia.

b. The Korean War Working Group received 200 pages of Russian archival documents from Podolsk regarding the 64th Soviet Fighter Aviation Corps [FAC]. The Working Group will use this material to identify for interview key Soviet participants who either shot down or flew with airmen who shot down U.S. aircraft or who held key positions in the 64th FAC.

c. The Russian side requested information on Soviet soldiers killed in North Africa during World War II. In addition, they asked for help gathering information that might assist them to account for their servicemen who fought and did not return from fighting in the Spanish Civil War, the resistance movement in Europe during World War II, and the war in Afghanistan.

IMPACT: DoD benefited from the service of numerous archivists, military historians, analysts, linguists, and professional military personnel. Through these efforts, more than 12,000 pages of Russian documents, many once classified, were obtained, translated into English, and made available to the general public at the Library of Congress and National Archives.

Global Efforts

In addition to our efforts in Southeast Asia, Korea, and Russia, DPMO initiated efforts to work with other countries to recover missing U.S. servicemen or to help them establish their national accounting programs. Indeed, bilateral discussions on the issue of unaccounted-for Americans can be used as a conduit for other substantive discussions. The unaccounted-for issue is one that all governments can point to as a "humanitarian" gesture, and so demonstrate compassion in international circles. The POW/MIA issue facilitates communication between divergent political systems and encourages cooperation in other areas of interest.

1. DPMO analysts provided investigative leads to CILHI and JTF-FA units conducting operations in China. Analysts investigated Vietnam-era losses over Chinese territory and interviewed Vietnamese immigrants in China who might have information regarding cases and burials in Vietnam. During Defense Minister Chi Haotian's U.S. visit, DPMO worked with senior U.S. officials to present a proposal allowing U.S. analysts access to Chinese archives and museums to search for information on Korean War POW/MIAs.

IMPACT: Chinese interviewees and officials have provided credible case information that might help resolve several Vietnam-era cases. An archival research program in China will facilitate access by U.S. researchers to records of Chinese servicemen who managed the POW camps during the Korean War. Joint recovery operations with the Chinese have served as a key political element for improving relations between the U.S. and China. A similar discovery of a World War II crash site in 1993 helped improve bilateral relations at that time.

2. DPMO continued support for the Tripartite Commission on the Gulf War Missing and its Technical Sub-Committee. As the DoD representative, DPMO provided technical advice to the U.S. delegation, the Kuwaiti National Committee for Missing and POW Affairs (NCMP), and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). DPMO also helped the Kuwaiti Government develop an archival database, begin DNA identification initiatives, and provided Ground Penetrating Radar technology assistance to help search for the remains of unaccounted-for Kuwaiti soldiers.

IMPACT: U.S. Ambassador Crocker has consistently praised our role on the Commission, citing its value to overall relations in the region. The ICRC and the Kuwaiti Government rely on our advice for negotiations and strategy development concerning Iraq. DoD support has particularly reassured Kuwait, in light of Iraq's aim to isolate Kuwait from the rest of the Gulf War Coalition. DPMO efforts also enhance U.S. access to the region and allows preparatory personnel recovery work in anticipation of future hostilities in the area.

Missing Persons Legislation

The preservation of life and well-being of U.S. service members and civilians, placed in harm's way while defending U.S. national interests is, and must remain, one of the highest priorities of the Department of Defense. Accordingly, these efforts represent a critical element in the Department's ability to fulfill it moral obligation to keep faith with personnel isolated in harm's way, prevent exploitation of U.S. personnel by adversaries and reduce the potential of captured personnel being used as leverage against U.S. national policy.

The Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs (ASD/ISA) sent a message to DoD offices worldwide redesignating DPMO and delineating its new responsibilities under the legislation. This action represented another concrete step in conforming with the Missing Persons legislation's requirement to consolidate responsibility policy, control, and oversight within the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) for the investigation and recovery process. The Personnel Recovery (PR) community is expressing hope that consistent and effective OSD leadership of the issue will foster a unified commitment and support for recovering isolated personnel before they become unaccounted for.

Indeed, for the first time since the signing of the Goldwater-Nichols Act, the Secretary of Defense now has a single office responsible for policy, control, and oversight of the entire process--from the time of loss through search and rescue, to recovery of the individual, their remains, or a conclusive determination of fate.

DPMO has taken several steps to begin consolidating control and oversight of PR policy at the DoD level:

1. DoD Directive on Personnel Recovery. DPMO formed a PR working group with representation from the OSD and the interagency community to draft the DoD Directive on PR. This office has submitted the final draft to the ASD/ISA and the Director of Administration and Management (DAM) for final coordination. Barring significant problems during the final coordination, the directive should go into effect by late-February 1997.

IMPACT: This directive promulgates policy and assigns responsibilities for the execution of PR within DoD. It establishes the framework for interagency discussions and coordination of DoD policies on PR. The directive also identifies ASD(ISA) as the DoD policy proponent for PR.

2. DPMO submitted the final draft of the DoD Instruction on the Personnel Recovery Response Cell (PRRC) for final coordination in concert with the DoD Directive on PR. On 3 October 1996, the USD(P) approved interim PRRC operating procedures pending publication of the DoD Instruction. Upon notification from the USD(P), the DASD(POW/Missing Personnel Affairs) now has the authority to activate and lead the PRRC. If there is a PR incident, this cell will address all PR related policy issues to facilitate informed decision making by OSD principals.

IMPACT: This cell will expeditiously develop coordinated policy options for the Secretary of Defense and the National Command Authorities in DoD missing personnel contingency situations.

3. VEDA Corporation Study. The VEDA Corporation is conducting a study on the whole PR spectrum, including OSDÍs role in the process. There is a widely recognized misunderstanding of the roles and missions of various organizations involved with PR. DPMO, in conjunction with VEDA, will identify who has the lead for specific PR initiatives and recommendations to improve the PR architecture.

Intelligence Collection

Steps to enhance our national intelligence support to our accounting and personnel recovery efforts include:

1. DPMO sponsored efforts to have the POW/MIA/PR issue addressed in Presidential Decision Directive (PDD)/National Security Council-35 (PDD-35). DPMO advocacy for intelligence reporting requirements for POW/MIA ensured priority support throughout the national community.

2. A Memorandum of Understanding between DPMO, USPACOM, and the Defense Intelligence Agency provided policy guidance, control, and oversight that outlines each organization's responsibilities to support DPMO's intelligence requirements and delineates the respective organizations' operational intelligence requirements supporting investigation and recovery operations in Southeast Asia. Additionally, DPMO became a member of the Interagency Defector Committee/Joint Emigre Working Group to help identify POW/MIA requirements to be used in screening of defectors and emigres.

IMPACT: DPMO's efforts will ensure intelligence resources are applied to the POW/MIA/PR issue remaining competitive and equal with other national priorities within the Intelligence Community. Coordination of operational intelligence needs will streamline and provide for the most efficient allocation of resources. Additionally, valuable information pertaining to the POW/MIA issue is collected from defector/emigre sources.

3. Live Sighting Investigation and blood chit policy was updated to include procedures not just for Southeast Asia, but also for the USRJC support, and for sightings in North Korea. To deal with recent, increased inquiries on "blood chits", DPMO clarified its policy to ensure that our posture on rewards remained clear and was communicated consistently. This clarification clearly states U.S. policy to never pay ransom for hostages or prisoners, while recognizing the need to maintain a policy for compensation to individuals who assist American service members evading in combat areas, independent of whether or not the individual was issued a "blood chit". DoD field activities were then instructed to brief their field investigators on the "blood chit" policy.

IMPACT: The USG now has standardized policy that more effectively addresses the possibility of detained Americans from all conflicts. The most critical aspect of this clarification was to ensure that it not be construed by other countries or organizations as a ransom which would result in every American service member becoming a potential hostage, especially when deployed overseas.

Making a Good Story Known

During 1996, DPMO continued to provide our constituents critical updated information on our efforts and initiatives. Extensive analytical efforts coupled with growing access to former battlefields and wartime archives are yielding answers, but family members, veterans, and members of Congress continue to press for results.

1. Family Outreach. In addition to coordinating our annual briefings for Southeast Asia, Korea, and Cold War families, held in conjunction with the National League of Families meetings, we continued monthly briefings for family members, a program initiated in January 1995. Working with the Service Casualty Offices, we send DPMO, casualty, JTF-FA, and CILHI representatives to a major metropolitan area with a high concentration of family members once a month. During the past year, 187 families attended the outreach sessions.

IMPACT: Family members have consistently praised these meetings for their informal style, substantive content, and willingness of USG officials to come to their hometown to answer their questions.

2. Veteran Service Organization (VSO) Outreach Program. In conjunction with the family forum visits in July 1996, DPMO began conducting briefings for state or local VSO members on current USG accounting efforts. These regional meetings supplement briefings to senior organization officials in Washington, D.C., VSOs, and Department of State annual/semiannual meetings ensuring a broader knowledge of USG efforts among our nations veterans.

IMPACT: These forums provide important congressional constituents, from family members to state and local VSO members, current information regarding the USG's accounting efforts involving Americans unaccounted-for from World War II, Korea, and Southeast Asia. They provide an effective forum to counter misinformation, discuss common concerns, and to educate on new developments such as DoD efforts to prepare for recovering U.S. personnel during future conflicts.

3. Congressional Efforts. Traditional strong Congressional Interest in this issue grew throughout the year as public attention on Korea increased and the Missing Persons Act was ratified. Interest remained high regarding the degree of cooperation from the governments of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Peoples Democratic Republic of Laos. We began the year with a series of briefing to key Congressmen and their staffers on the results of the Comprehensive Review and its likely impact on our accounting efforts. As progress with North Korea was realized, we witnessed a notable increase in written inquiries and requests for hearings and briefings to various committees, members, and staff. Throughout 1996 DPMO responded to more than 700 official requests for information, testified before five open and closed hearings, and presented more than a dozen detailed substantive briefings on our efforts to account for missing Americans in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Russia, and Korea.

IMPACT: More frequent interaction with the Hill enabled DPMO to improve the timeliness and quality of our responses to those members who oversee this issue. As a result, we succeeded in enhancing our rapport and professional relationship with key individual members of Congress, their committees and their staffs. Increasing number of members are turning to us first for information, and we are preparing a briefing for new members to educate them on DoD's efforts and the role DPMO can play in helping them respond to their constituents.

4. Media Relations. An aggressive Public Affairs Program produced heightened public awareness and broader media support for our mission. Working with local, national, and international media, DPMO successfully used major opportunities to have DoD's story told. As a result of these efforts, the Associated Press published numerous in-depth stories from their Washington and Hanoi bureaus (1,700 newspaper and 6,000 broadcast outlets in the U.S.; 8,500 media subscribers in 112 countries) and positive stories aired on such network television news and magazine shows as CBS Eye-to-Eye; ABC Prime Time Live; CBS and NBC Evening News; and National Geographic. Hands-on public affairs counsel during delicate negotiations with North Korea and cooperation with China maximized press coverage of these breaking developments.

Other significant initiatives resulting in major successes included:

Publication of two lead stories in Reader's Digest within 12 months (27 million readers in 18 languages);

Development of intense, sensitive, and professional one-on-one relationships with local editors to ensure positive stories in hometown-level news media;

Production of quarterly and weekly newsletters targeted to specific audiences, reaching readers in media, veterans, and family organizations;

Establishment of an electronic Home Page on the Internet, with "hits" numbering as high as 700 a week.

IMPACT: Direct feedback from family members, newspaper and broadcast editors and Congressional staffers demonstrated that DPMO's aggressive outreach paid positive dividends. The USG's efforts to achieve the fullest possible accounting of Americans is a story rich with human interest, and is now generally regarded by mainstream media outside the beltway as very positive. Public and media understanding of the mission now regularly reaches audiences in the millions. Hometown newspaper coverage generates increasing positive Congressional contact, and senior editorial understanding and support ensures more accurate portrayal of the issue and the Department's commitment.

Internal Developments

DPMO leadership launched several Managerial and Planning Initiatives to restructure the organization in order to meet our evolving responsibilities in overseeing the entire process for the investigation and recovery of missing DoD personnel. Although some of these changes were the result of the new Missing Persons legislation, many others were developed by senior leaders seeking to ensure USG accountability and to streamline the flow of information to the families.

1. We began to revise our Vision, Mission, Values, and Goals statements to develop a strategic foundation with which to approach the future. The strategic plan facilitates a cross-functional integration of organizational functions and details major goals and objectives. In concert with these efforts we are developing measurement standards to assess progress and implement necessary corrective action.

2. Our initial Process Action Team successfully reengineered correspondence management procedures governing how DPMO responds to families, Congress, VSOs, and the media. As a result of the teamÍs analysis, several directorates were consolidated into the Communication and External Affairs Directorate.

IMPACT: The new strategic plan will enable DoD to meet the spirit and the letter of the law enacted with the Missing Persons legislation, as well as better position OSD to execute its oversight responsibilities under the law. Similarly, the reengineering changes have had an immediate and direct effect on our correspondence rates. Since the new directorate was formed in July, we have reduced overdue OSD taskers by 66% and witnessed a similar reduction of overall organizational taskers. Equally important, we have begun receiving increasing compliments from recipients, praising our responses as more comprehensive and substantive.

3. A significant number of Personnel were Recognized for their professionalism and dedication through promotions, decorations, and career enhancement opportunities. One military officer was selected as a White House Fellow, another as a National Defense Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and three others were chosen to attend the Armed Forces Staff College. A civilian senior manager received the Distinguished Intelligence Award and another civilian was recognized as the Outstanding DoD Employee with Disabilities for OSD. In addition, several employees were selected for competitive career development programs, including the WomenÍs Executive Leadership Program and the Potential Executive Leadership Program.

4. DPMO also undertook several Technical and Information Systems Improvements to enhance our efficiency and effectiveness. In addition to purchasing laptops for extended TDY personnel, we were connected to the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense Secret-level Local Area Network, entered DPMO personnel data into the Policy Personnel Tracking System, moved to the FAST system for payment of travel vouchers, and smoothly transitioned to the Defense Civilian Pay System with no loss of pay or major disruption to any DPMO employee. In addition to our new Internet Homepage, we established a computer fax capability to distribute automatically our newsletters and weekly updates.

IMPACT: Automation is facilitating routine logistical issues and more rapid yet less costly distribution of POW/MIA information. Despite our physical separation from the Pentagon, computer connectivity is allowing for more timely and complete transmission of DPMO input to such activities as the USD(P) Update, the Secretary of Defense confirmation package, and trip report dissemination. Our travel reimbursement times have, on average, dropped from five or six weeks to several days and many DPMO employees can now take advantage of USD(P)-sponsored career development opportunities.