From: bergman@AFPAN.PA.AF.MIL (CMSgt Mike Bergman)
Newsgroups: soc.veterans
Subject: U.S. - Russia MIA Initiatives - AFIS Press Pack
Date: 27 Jul 92 15:29:17 GMT
Organization: Hq Air Force News Agency/SCC

U.S., Russia Team To Tackle POW/MIA Riddles

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Information Service

     The fate of unaccounted-for American service members is a
mystery the Department of Defense has strived to solve for decades.
     The issue -- always controversial -- heated up again last year
when photos surfaced, purported to be of American POWs still held
in Southeast Asia.  
     The clamor for answers rose following a May progress report by
the Russian president's military adviser, retired Gen. Dmitri
Volkogonov.  The issue gained even more attention when Russian
President Boris Yeltsin announced then that evidence indicated the
Soviet Union had held Americans prisoner from World War II, Korea,
Vietnam and various Cold War incidents. 
     In a letter to the U.S. Senate summarizing his findings,
Yeltsin said the Soviets held U.S. POWs from World War II, had
information on the interrogation of U.S. service men from Korea and
shot down U.S. aircraft along Soviet borders during the Cold War. 
Yeltsin's statement to the news media about the possibility of
American POWs from Vietnam being transferred to the Soviet Union
has failed to produce any new evidence.
     The disintegration of the Soviet Union has, for the first
time, allowed the United States access to information which may
resolve some cases of American MIAs.  A group, the U.S.-Russian
Joint Commission on POW/MIAs, has been searching archives in the
former Soviet Union and the United States to find some answers.
     Co-chaired by former U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union
Malcolm Toon and Volkogonov, the committee was formally inaugurated
March 26, 1992.  Alan Ptak and A. Denis Clift represent DoD on the
commission.  Ptak is deputy assistant secretary of defense for
POW/MIA Affairs; Clift is chief of staff of the Defense
Intelligence Agency.  Others on the committee include
representatives from Congress, the State Department and the
National Archives.
     The problem for the commission is that while much is alleged,
there is little hard evidence to date.  The U.S. government needs
to analyze and verify information gained from the former Soviet
archives.  Officials said the Russians had turned over more than
300 pages of documents to the American delegates.  
     "Initial indications are that the documents support some, but
certainly not all, of Volkogonov's report," Ptak said during
testimony to the House Foreign Affairs Committee.  "This
shortcoming is particularly significant for the specific
allegations regarding downed aircrews and Americans held prisoner."
     The U.S. Army is serving as executive agent for the
commission.  The analysis of Russian documents must be correlated
with appropriate American records.  Retrieving the relevant
documents from U.S. data bases is a massive undertaking, Ptak said,
but the Army is making progress.
     The search has not turned up live American POWs in the former
Soviet Union.  Ptak said this has not lessened the Russian
commitment to open archives and accelerate the process of full
disclosure.  
     Ptak said the first concern of DoD is for the families.  "It
is especially frustrating for us in DoD to have this new
information and not be able to immediately contact families and
give them news regarding their loved ones," he said.  "But to do so
would be a grave mistake.  It would be premature, and without the
facts it could only lead to more suffering for those who have borne
such a heavy burden for so many years."
     Ptak said the new information from the Russians will not get
buried in some file.  "This unique opportunity to answer the
questions of so many families will not be lost," he said.

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