In the case of:

Roger Hall,
Plaintiff

Vs

Central Intelligence Agency,
Defendant

Civil Action No. 98-1319

The hearing on pending motions for summary judgment for withheld POW/MIA documentation is set for June 11, 1999 at 9:30 A.M. The case will behead before

Paul L. Friedman
United States District Judge
for the District of Columbia

Suing the CIA
on Behalf of Abandoned POWs
by
Roger Hall

A law suit was filed against the CIA on May 28th, 1998 for the POW/MIA documentation that the CIA was ordered to declassify and release, ordered by two presidents and the Congress. President Bush in 1992 issued Executive Order 12812 for all government departments and agencies to declassify and release all POW/MIA documentation except for matters of national security, sources and methods. President Bush wasn't reelected, the declassification was never completed.

The Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs that ended January 3, 1993, ordered all of its POW/MIA documentation declassified and made available to the public. The CIA has not declassified those documents and has classified that very list of the documents, This is because the Senate did not enforce their promise to have all Select Committee documents declassified, the Senate just turned all documents [both unclassified and those in still classified form] over to the National Archives. The National Archives never processed the classified CIA POW/MIA documentation for declassification as promised by the US Senate and the CIA would not initiate declassification.

On Memorial Day 1993 President Clinton promised America that he would issue an Executive Order for the declassification of all POW/MIA documentation to be released by Veteran's Day 1993. He put a dead line on when government must get the job done. On Veteran's Day 1993 President Clinton informed the American public that all POW/MIA documentation declassification except for national security information, sources, and methods had been completed. It wasn't, much of that documentation was not declassified or released. The Department of Defense, CIA, and State Department didn't even notify their components, i.e., military bases or field stations to search for additional documentation, they just declassified what they had on hand.

That promise was made six years ago on Memorial Day and the CIA documentation is still classified. One reason is because President Clinton did not issue an executive order, the national security council issued a presidential decision directive instead, not an executive order, there's a big difference. A directive does not have the same force in law as an executive order. We were lied to again about POW/MIA documents. An Executive Order must be published in the Federal Register, it can be referenced there by anyone, a directive is not. In fact it took more than six months to get a copy of the directive when they did admit what had happened. Why all the deception about POW/MIA documentation?

Once the directive was given, the President had nothing to do with seeing that the order was complied with. That is up to his staff if they're interested; they weren't. This is because once an order is given it is left to each department or agency to implement an order as they see it should be implemented. The different agencies are responsible only to themselves unless someone makes them comply. The President had taken time to hang a carrot before the public that led nowhere without enforcement. It got him off the hook, it got the public off his and the governments back.

The CIA has a conflict of interest in its POW collection activities. They are the intelligence arm of the State Department in addition to their own activities, and their POW collection activities prevent them from effective performance. The CIA controls the tasking of satellites and intelligence activities in former communist countries. They also receive tasking from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and the Drug Enforcement Agency. This is how pilot identification codes were found in the 1980s and 90s. Acknowledgment of the existence of POWs complicates their other tasking requirements that includes trade with Russia, China, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Such POW information is classified as national security. The release of that POW information is now prevented by the CIA. If it is released to the DIA the DIA does not acknowledge it in that they are only required to reveal documentation that they originate.

If you still expect the government to just declassify POW/MIA documentation, that's just what they want you to do. It won't happen. It won't get done. You need to finish the job you began on Memorial Day 1993. It's up to you.

The CIA did produce some documentation on 19 specific cases we requested, and 30 additional documents that were previously released. They front-end-load their documents as a buffer in dealing with the public, they make you go through a gauntlet of obstacles designed to frustrate you and make you go away, to exhaust your resources and energy. They haven't yet been required to dig into their denied records including other programs on POWs taken to Russia from Vietnam and produce them.

We have identified the existence of more than 574 records being withheld for reasons of national security. We have also identified numerous records over which the CIA has declassification authority, records outside the CIA that contain POW/MIA information. This court case can require them to produce identified documentation and the court can order the search for more. We have government witnesses that require the protection of the court that will identify that additional documentation.

The progress that has been made so far is the result of donations from individuals, veteran's and non veteran's, POW/MIA family members, Veteran's organizations and non-veteran's organizations. That is who I refer to as "we," this is a community effort.

Roger Hall
POW/MIA FOIA Litigation
8715 First Ave., apt 827C
Silver Spring, MD 20910

301/585-3361
rhall8715 @aol