UPDATE: September 18, 2014 AMERICANS ACCOUNTED FOR: There are still 1,641 personnel listed by the Department of Defense as missing and unaccounted-for from the Vietnam War, a number that has not changed for several months. The number of Americans announced by DoD as returned and identified since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 is now 942. Another 63 US personnel, recovered by the US and ID’d before the end of the war, bring the official total of US personnel accounted for from the Vietnam War to 1,005. Of the 1,641 total, 90% were lost in Vietnam or in areas of Cambodia and Laos under Vietnam’s wartime control: Vietnam-1,275 (VN-469, VS-806); Laos-306; Cambodia-53; PRC territorial waters-7. Over-water losses on DoD’s list of No Further Pursuit cases number well over 600. ONGOING REORGANIZATION: Senior DoD civilian, Alisa Stack, is continuing work as the head of a transition team, the Personnel Accounting Consolidation Taskforce (PACT). The PACT reportedly includes government specialists in each area to be addressed, from structure of the new agency, to the number of personnel, budget requirements, interface with other departments and agencies, and communication with the families. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations & Low Intensity Conflict (ASD/SOLIC) Michael Lumpkin both stated that communication with the families must be a very high priority consideration in how the new agency performs. Since her appointment, Ms. Stack and PACT members have been actively interviewing interested people, in and out of government, plus appear to be focused on ensuring that a wide variety of voices are heard, responsible and irresponsible, rational and irrational, so the outcome will be interesting. An outside firm, The Clearing, was contracted to obtain input from family members from all wars on their personal experiences in dealing with various accounting community organizations. In addition to DPMO, JPAC and LSEL (specifically named in Secretary Hagel’s restructure directive and by Congress), these include the Service Casualty Offices, AFDIL and DIA’s Stony Beach POW/MIA team. The Clearing can be reached by emailing voiceofthefamilies@theclearing and is seeking views from all who are willing. Family members from all wars are urged to provide their views and, in light of the comparatively small number of Vietnam War family members, the League is hopeful that ALL Vietnam War families take this opportunity to remind members of PACT, The Clearing and senior DoD officials that uncertainty about Vietnam War missing men is still a significant factor for the families, much more so than remains recoveries of known dead from earlier wars and conflicts. The League supports accounting for losses in WWII, Korean War and Cold War, as an add-on mission, not to the detriment of Vietnam War answers. Following review and approval by newly confirmed Undersecretary of Defense for Policy (USD-P) Christine Wormuth, PACT recommendations on implementation were provided to Deputy Secretary of Defense (DepSecDef) Robert Work. With his approval, several timelines were announced and incremental steps were set to begin, including naming of an Interim Director for the new Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (actual name is not yet announced) sometime this fall. The first of many adjustments applies to the budget and to communications, with instructions to begin acting now as one agency, with the agency start-up set for January 15, 2015. Completion and full operational integration is being planned for January 15, 2016. Until the start-up date early next year, DPMO, JPAC and LSEL, plus all other active elements of the accounting community, have been directed to continue work uninterrupted by reorganization/transformation/consolidation plans and implementation. Since Secretary of Defense Hagel personally directed the “complete reorganization” of the accounting community and offered assurance to the League of his personal engagement, it is to him the League will look for confirmation that he is satisfied with the prospects for success of the reorganized community. Several interim briefings have been given, but without details or specifics in which we have keen interest. Hopefully, the PACT will become more transparent and will consult knowledgeable, responsible current and former officials, as well as the League and the major national veteran organizations before plans are finalized. Valid input into the process can help assure acceptance by those most directly affected, the Vietnam War POW/MIA families whom the League represents and family members of US personnel lost in earlier wars and conflicts. JPAC OPERATIONS: On August 26th, JPAC hosted POW/MIA Consultations with the Lao that were underwhelming in terms of results achieved, but important in that views were exchanged and the US request for renewed cooperation by Laos on archival documents was not rejected. Little substantive progress was made on other requests by both governments, but the lack of positive Lao responsiveness was predictable, based on several factors, including the uncertainty brought about by the recent untimely, tragic death of the Lao Ministers of both Defense and Public Security. Another likely reason was the lack of US dependability with on-again, off-again field operations due to budget fluctuations, the sequestration and revised JPAC operational plans. DIA’s Stony Beach Lao specialist, Dustin Roses, has returned to HQ on a scheduled reassignment, but the incoming Stony Beach Lao specialist is due to be on post before the end of December, if all goes well. Field operations are now ongoing, with a larger team, but not yet the full number allowed of 53 US personnel operating in-country at the same time. Operations in Cambodia have been sporadic at best, and only one field operation occurred in 2014, postponed twice in 2013. The Stony Beach Cambodia specialist is permanently in-country and conducts investigations when and where needed, so JPAC investigations are not routinely scheduled in conjunction with field operations. There are no identified sites currently awaiting excavation/recovery; therefore, no JFAs are scheduled in Cambodia until early 2015. For the first time in over 20 years, technical level talks will not be held with Cambodia in FY2014, but plans are being considered for senior level discussions with Cambodia’s POW/MIA Committee leadership before the end of the calendar year. Another series of field operations took place in Vietnam from August 5th to September 7th that included a Joint Forensic Review (JFR), and it was a busy year in Vietnam with regularly scheduled, implemented joint operations. DIA’s Stony Beach is still engaged, but on a rotating TDY schedule that is unacceptable and needs to be made permanent, especially with the ever-increasing, broadening military-to-military cooperation. On September 23rd, JPAC will host annual Technical Talks with Vietnamese counterparts. Chairman’s Comment: With the above record of on-again, off-again field operations, it is no wonder that Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia are questioning US commitment to the accounting mission, especially when the “complete reorganization” is added into the equation. The relatively well-developed working relationship that has evolved since the first joint recovery in Laos in 1984 should mean that field operations are conducted at the pace and scope necessary to achieve long-stated accounting objectives, but such is not the case. There are multiple reasons, including congressionally-imposed sequestration and mandatory budget cuts that hit JPAC disproportionately, due to PACOM “borrowing” some of JPAC’s funding for other uses. Cutbacks and cancellations are also due to an inadequate number of deployable JPAC forensic anthropologists, weather restrictions in some areas, and often complicated by lack of specialists needed for specific recoveries. The list goes on and on, with many complications that can arise unexpectedly. Of immediate concern is the need to change existing policy concerning deployable scientific personnel for field operations. If not changed, there will continue to be sporadic reductions in Vietnam War accounting operations, due to competing attention to WWII recoveries in the congressionally-mandated quest for higher numbers of IDs. Check the League Website: pow-miafamilies.org
Posted on: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 13:40:13 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015