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Southeast Asia

Judicial Watch Sues Defense Department for Records on POWs and MIAs in Vietnam

2018-11-29

[Judicial Watch] (Washington, DC) ‐ Judicial Watch announced today that it sued the United States Defense Department to obtain government records from 1973 to the present regarding U.S. soldiers who were prisoners of war or missing in action in Vietnam and Laos (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Defense (No. 1:18-cv-02276)).

Judicial Watch filed the lawsuit after the Pentagon failed to respond to two Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

A May 21, 2018, request sought:

Any and all lists of American prisoners of war/missing in action ("POWs/MlAs") provided to North Vietnam as part of the Paris Peace Accords process seeking the return of those
All materials used to brief President Nixon in 1973 about remaining American POWs/MIAs in North Vietnam and Laos.

A May 22, 2018 request sought:

All live sighting reports of American POWs in Vietnam and Laos from January 27, 1973 to the present.
All data and reports derived from data collected from the program known as PAVE SPIKE from January 27, 1973 to the present.

All satellite photographs of possible or suspected rescue symbols seen in the territories of Vietnam and/or Laos from January 27, 1973 to the present.

All electronic messages containing individual code numbers issued to US airmen transmitted from the ground in Vietnam and/or Laos from January 27, 1973 to the present.

"The Vietnam MIA-POW issue is a sore spot for many veterans and concerned Americans. Why is the Pentagon stonewalling our attempts to obtain information that is clearly in the public interest?" said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.

Posted by:Besoeker

#8 Very informative, did not know that back story. Thank you Besoeker.

You learn more here by accident than in any pubic university.

Hoot.

Posted by: Woodrow 2018-11-29 18:43

#7 I watched the Senate Select Committee hearings on the issue many years ago. What the witnesses said was....nuts. A "rocking K" stamped out in a rice field, an authenticator for downed flight crews. In Laos. DoD guy said some local kid was trying to impress his girlfriend. At the time, Kerry was okay on this. Looked as if he was going to come over the table at the guy. Who, to give him credit, kept a straight face. One after another, worse than the last.
Haney, of Delta Force, said they rucked up twice for POW raids into Laos only to find they'd been burned. He didn't say who...but between the lines might have been Kissinger.
Worse and worse.
Friend of mine wondered how Sly Stallone and Chuck Norris knew all this stuff twenty years before.

Posted by: Richard Aubrey 2018-11-29 16:21

#6 The AFG and Iraq 'Burn Pits' being the latest smoking twist. Excuse the nostril burning pun.

Posted by: Besoeker 2018-11-29 15:30

#5 It's like Gulf War Syndrome. After Agent Orange, you'd think they'd know better. Instead the initial report was to be done by a team organized under TDY (temporary duty), which has to be done in 179 days. Any one who's staffed anything that had to clear the Pentagon, knows that with just start up times in the front end for the group and the staffing (mother may I without upsetting someone) time at the end to clear publication, that allowed somewhere around 30 to 45 days to do actual research. The whole mess was DOA at the start. Sure enough, they had to execute a 'do over'. CYAWP

Posted by: Procopius2k 2018-11-29 15:27

#4 Amen and amen to numma 2 above.

Posted by: Besoeker 2018-11-29 14:39

#3 Because they know it was incomplete and slapdash. They just wanted to end the war and walk away.

When the small POW/MIA Pentagon investigation team began pulling together documented evidence of POWs from WWII and Korea sightings behind the 'Iron Curtain' the commission was disbanded. BTW, the NDA's are still active. I doubt the Judicial Watch initiative gains much altitude.

Here's an old story about how things, they just get quashed.

Posted by: Besoeker 2018-11-29 14:38

#2 You can't talk about the POW/MIA thing without going blindfolded into a minefield. It's a holy cause to some (rightly) a garden industry to others (nasty) But never ever talk about group number two or you are lower than the bottom of a latrine for even mentioning it.

Posted by: M. Murcek 2018-11-29 14:36

#1 Why is the Pentagon stonewalling our attempts to obtain information that is clearly in the public interest?

Because they know it was incomplete and slapdash. They just wanted to end the war and walk away.

Posted by: DarthVader 2018-11-29 14:26

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