By The Honorable Stephen J. Solarz
Chairman Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Affairs
July 17, 1991
Before we begin, I would like to welcome the veterans and other concerned citizens who are joining us today to observe these proceedings and who, in many cases, have traveled considerable distances to do so. We are pleased to have you with us and hope that you will leave here today knowing that your concerns are being addressed seriously - and that those concerns are also our concerns.
The Members of Congress who are participating in today's hearing - Members of the Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Affairs and Members of the House Task Force on Prisoners of War and Missing in Southeast Asia, chaired by Mr. Lagomarsino - represent over 15 years of Congressional involvement and experience in the POW/MIA issue.
And yet, if we are to believe what is being said - and if we are to believe what is being written - not only by those who are understandably frustrated with the slow pace of progress on this issue, but mostly by those who have discovered the profitability of exploiting this frustration - we are participants in some grand conspiracy to cover-up the truth.
Never, in all my years working on this issue in Congress, have I encountered such skepticism, cynicism and virulence as I have these past few months as reflected in the; hundreds of letters and phone calls that have poured into my Congressional office. This skepticism is not directed at Congress alone - but at all sectors of our government.
Our system of government is not without its flaws - but it is certainly one of the best systems of government mankind has ever devised for itself. Our P.0.W.s and M.I.A.s who fought for this country certainly believed this to be true. Some of their fellow servicemen now sit in Congress and serve on the Foreign Affairs Committee and on the House Task Force for POW/MIAs.
They also serve in the various branches of the Defense Department, including the Defense Intelligence Agency. And they serve in the State Department - and in many other sectors of our government.
It goes beyond mere credulity,to believe that as part of some concertedÙÉ cover-up, they would impede, stonewall, or simply look the other way from information that involved a comrade-in-arms still being held in captivity in Southeast Asia.
Now, just this week, we hear word of a photograph that appears to show three American servicemen possibly being held against their will in Indochina. They have apparently been positively identified by their respective families.
Members of the Administration are, at this moment, on their way to Hanoi to question the Vietnamese about this photograph and the Department of Defense is analyzing it with the full range of technical means available. Kenneth Quinn, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs and head of the Interagency group on POW/MIAs will be raising this issue in Hanoi- along with other POW/MIA issues. We will be following these developments very closely.
Although each passing year pushes America's experience in Vietnam further back in the pages of history, we cannot tolerate complacency now. Nor can we tolerate any mindset - Not until we know with absolute certainty that no live Americans remain in Southeast Asia against their will. Not until the warehouse in Hanoi is empty.
But neither should we tolerate the mindless, reckless innuendoes that have been in circulation recently. It jeopardizes the unity of purpose which is so necessary if we are to achieve our goals. What we seek are facts - not fantasies.
But if we must, once again, stop and examine the process - we will. If we must, once again, examine the agencies - we will. No matter how much time it takes until we feel that this issue is indeed being pursued as a matter of the highest national priority.
The purpose of today's Subcommittee hearing is two-fold. First, we wish to receive from our witnesses a status report on progress being made to resolve the POW/MIA issue. We look forward to hearing about the new office for POW/MIAs in Hanoi and how this new facility will function. We are also interested in knowing how cooperative the Lao and the Vietnamese are being concerning the joint investigations currently underway.
Our witnesses today played a critical role in the comprehensive POW/MIA program currently underway with the Lao, which includes expanded survey/recovery operations in areas of Laos not previously available to U,S. teams and an increased number of joint excavations of crash sites.
Concerning Vietnam, we will be interested in hearing how protected the POW/MIA issue is within the administration's "road-map" for bilateral normalization of relations with that country.
But first, we will wish to question our witnesses about the allegations made by Colonel Millard Peck, the former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency's Special Office for POW/MIAs in his letter of resignation from that office and in his testimony before this Subcommittee on May 30th.
The explosive charges made by Colonel Peck have raised concern that the issue of POW/MIAs is not being treated as a matter of the highest national priority - as the past two Americans Presidents have stated it would be. While I remain skeptical about same of Colonel Peck's allegations, I do not take them lightly. I intent to have each of our witnesses address each of this allegations thoroughly. Colonel Peck's resignation has served as a wake-up call to the administration that the American people expect them to keep their word when they say - highest national priority.
Our witnesses today are: Carl Ford, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs and concurrent Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asian and Pacific Affairs.
Ann Mills Griffiths, the Executive Director of the National League of Families, an organization comprised of over 3,700 family members of missing American Servicemen. Mrs. Griffith's brother, Lt. Commander James B. Mills, USNR, has been missing since September 21, 1966 and is one of the 2,200 other Americans unaccounted for.
Colonel Joseph A. Schlatter, the former head of the Special Office for POW/MIAs at the Defense Intelligence Agency and who served in that office directly prior to Colonel Peck. He is currently Chief, DIA Liaison in Japan.
We will also hear from General John V. Vessey, Special Presidential Envoy to Hanoi for POW/MIAs.
I am pleased by the extent of interest there continues to be in this issue and moved by the level of commitment that exists at all levels, and in all sectors, public and private, to resolve the fates of those Americans who never returned from Southeast Asia. For reasons that willÙÉ hopefully become apparent at today's hearing, I truly believe 1991 could be a watershed year when the answers we seek will not elude us as they have so often in the past.