Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense
(POW/Missing Personnel Affairs)
before The House International Relation Committee
The Cuban Program
November 4, 1999
Good morning Chairman Gilman and distinguished Committee Members. As Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Prisoner Of War/Missing Personnel Affairs and Director of the Defense Prisoner Of War/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO), I welcome today's opportunity to address the Committee on the role my office, and its predecessor, the Defense Intelligence Agency's Special Office on POW/MIA Affairs, has had in the so-called "Cuban Program." I ask that my statement, in its entirety, be entered in the record of this hearing. As you are aware Mr. Chairman, we became aware of the Cuban Program immediately following Operation Homecoming and have shared our knowledge with the appropriate agencies and the Congress.
Mr. Chairman, I am humbled to follow the group of former POWs who have addressed your Committee. None of us can fully understand the trying experiences and inhumane treatment that they endured while in captivity. These men sacrificed greatly for this nation; they are truly American heroes whose sacrifices stretch the limits of one's imagination.
The mission of my agency is to account for those American heroes who were lost while serving in foreign lands and have not returned to American soil. Currently, 2,047 Americans remain unaccounted for in Southeast Asia. My office pursues the resolution of those cases by using a number of investigative tools. We have received more than 21,000 reports possibly pertaining to Americans in Southeast. Unfortunately none have led us to the return of a single live American. We also employ robust Archival Research and Oral History Programs, as well as unilateral and trilateral investigations in each of the three Southeast Asian countries. These methods have produced significant investigative leads that have led to a number of resolved cases. We continue to pursue all avenues with live Americans as our number one priority.
As my staff explained in their September briefing to Representative Ros-Lehtinen, our ability to accomplish this humanitarian mission is wholly dependent on the willingness of foreign governments around the globe to allow American POW/MIA specialists access to their territory, their citizens, and their historical records. I firmly believe that any attempt on the part of the Department of Defense to merge investigations of war crimes into our accounting activities may jeopardize our ability to accomplish our humanitarian mission. DPMO is not a criminal investigative arm of the federal government; our mission is separate. We are charged with the fullest possible accounting for U.S. military and certain American civilian personnel who became missing as a result of hostile action. Our mission is humanitarian in nature, not linked to other bilateral foreign policy concerns.
DPMO's role with regard to the "Cuban Program" has been to act as a repository of historical information and to insure it is available to the appropriate federal agencies. The sensitivities associated with our humanitarian accounting mission clearly prohibit us from any involvement in the pursuit of the perpetrators of these misdeeds.
I was informed that on October 29th, Ambassador Peterson met with Mr. Hung, Director of the Americas Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to request the assistance of the Government of Vietnam in supplying information about the Cuban interrogators of American POWs from 1967 to 1968. Mr. Hung listened with interest and responded that he would research the questions presented in the talking points that the Ambassador left with him. We all look forward to his response.
Closing remarks
In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, we share the same sense of outrage that you and the members of your Committee do regarding the tortuous abuse endured by our Prisoners of War at the hands of these three presumed Cuban interrogators. However, pursuit of these criminals by my agency has the real potential to disrupt our mission to return our men, or their remains, to their families-many of whom have waited for more than 50 years for such answers. Put simply, I do not recommend my office taking such action when it has the potential to jeopardize the hopes, of the families of our missing.
I recommend that requests for further investigation of the "Cuban Program" be directed to the appropriate agencies that are chartered to pursue violations of the law of armed conflict. DPMO eagerly stands ready to continue to provide information to this interagency group as necessary. We will continue our policy of transparency - making available our historical files on these issues.
Before I close, I would like to introduce a member of my staff, Mr. Robert DeStatte, a senior Southeast Asia POW/MIA analyst. Mr. DeStatte can address any technical questions you or the committee may have in detail.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes my statement.
Testimony & Transcripts: There were 2 different Hearings, running concurrently. One in the House, one in the Senate.
The Cuban Torture Program Hearing Transcript - Senate
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
The Cuban Torture Program Hearing Transcript - House 5 Meg PDF
COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Other Testimony on The Cuba Program -
Ray Vohden, Cuban Program Survivor
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, US House of Representatives
Robert Jones, DASD DPMO
Robert Destatte, Analyst DPMO
Michael Benge, Ex-POW
CANF Challenges Cuban Official to Answer POW Accusations of Vietnam
Investigative Report :: Cuban torturers hiding in Florida?
Colonel says Cuban official led team that tortured him
Why Not To Let Cuba Off The Hook
Torturers' aim was `total surrender'