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DPAA Family/VSO Quarterly Call and Update Notes

Thursday Feb 10, 2022, 2:00 PM EST

‘Fulfilling Our Nation’s Promise’

Summary: Keeping the families of our missing as well as veterans informed is a primary objective

of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency's (DPAA) mission. This update is intended to

provide an overview of efforts during the previous quarter to account for our missing.

Family Group/Veterans Service Organization Participants:

• Coalition of Families: Mr. Rick Downes

• Disabled American Veterans: Mr. Vince Darcangelo

• Korea-Cold War Families of the Missing: Ms. Sherra Basham

• Korean War Veterans Association: Mr. Rocky Harder

• Korean War POW/MIA Network: Mr. John Zimmerlee

• National League of POW/MIA Families: Mrs. Ann Mills Griffiths

• Special Operations Assn/Special Forces Association: Mr. Mike Taylor

• Veterans of Foreign Wars: Mr. Bob Wallace

• Vietnam Veterans of America: Mr. Grant Coates

The agenda included:

• Director’s Update (Mr. Kelly McKeague) 

• Deputy Director for Operations Update (RDML Darius Banaji)

• Operational Update (Indo-Pacific, Col Matt Brannen/Europe-Mediterranean, COL Jon Lust)

• Partnerships and Innovations Update (Mr. Rocky Gillette)

• Scientific Analysis Update (Dr. John Byrd)

• Armed Forces Medical Examiner System (AFMES) Update (Dr. Tim McMahon)

• Outreach and Communications Update (Mr. Johnie Webb)

• Question & Answer

Director’s Update

Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 Bills. In December, the President signed the FY22 Defense Authorization

Bill which fortunately includes the authorization (no funding) of a $25 million increase to DPAA’s

budget request. However, there is no estimated date for the FY22 Appropriations Bill and all

Federal funding is being provided under the second Continuing Resolution (CR). Expiring at

midnight, February 18th, but there is talk of a 3-week extension. Anything beyond March would

start to strain our planned spring and summer field missions because the smaller allocation of our

$130.7 million (M) budget request limits our ability to execute them. 
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COVID-19 Effects. Like it has with everyone else, the pandemic is still affecting us as we 

continue to respond and adapt to changing conditions. We execute planned DPAA and partner 

missions whenever host nations allow and must meet all their health and safety requirements. The 

Omicron Variant hit us hard with more than 55 positive cases since mid-December, but fortunately, 

all have either recovered or had moderate to no symptoms. To minimize the spread within DPAA, 

we pulled back on our in-office presence through January and increased it in February in accord 

with the base guidance, with continued use of teleworking and virtual meetings.

Congressional Briefings. As directed in language, we briefed staff from the Senate and House 

Armed Services Committees last month. The requirement was to: outline plans on how we account 

for remains in the field, address the extent to which we collaborate with external partners, outline 

innovative means to identify remains, and assess the feasibility of the use of DNA samples for 

comparison to samples in DNA databases. The latter was expertly handled by Dr. Tim 

McMahon. The staffers were pleased and appreciative of the information provided and pledged the 

continued support of their Members.

 

Strategic On-Site. In early December, the entire Agency leadership team (including all Staff 

Directors/Deputies and Key Staff Supervisors) had a successful and productive week-long On-site 

at one of our Hawaii facilities. The first two days were on professional and organizational 

development and the last three included a number of strategic discussions on Agency strategy and 

priorities, and the draft Manpower Study that an Army agency completed. Actioning and 

implementing these discussions are forthcoming.

Key MOUs. We have been working two memorandums of understanding (MOU) to provide us 

host nation access and enable the start of operations. We learned last month that the Government of 

Malaysia approved the latest draft which will be formally signed by their Secretary General and the 

U.S. Ambassador later this month. The MOU with Indonesia has been elusive for a few years, but 

it was included in senior leader discussions during the November U.S.-Indonesia Defense Dialogue, 

with commitments from Indonesian military officials to complete it this spring.

Deputy Director for Operations (DDO) Update

Operations Outlook. As FY22 began, we continued deploying our men and women despite the 

onset of the Omicron variant throughout the country and the globe. In the past three months, we 

deployed 15 organic and private partner field missions in 12 countries. This tremendous success 

was a result of extensive coordination and collaboration with our U.S. Embassies and host nation

counterparts. We remain vigilant in applying our force health protection measures - before, during,

and after missions - to ensure the safety of our teams, partners, and host nation counterparts. We 

remain just as optimistic for field missions for the remainder of FY22. 

USS Oklahoma Project Complete. At a December 7 ceremony at the National Memorial 

Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), the Navy interred the 33 unidentified remains from the USS 

Oklahoma, and the Secretary of the Navy presented the flag from one casket to 101-year-old ship’s

survivor, David Russell. The ceremony culminated DPAA’s six-year project which identified 92% 

of the 394 Unknowns who were highly commingled in 61 caskets.
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Korea War Disinterment Project. Leaders from DPAA and the Armed Forces DNA 

Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) had an extremely productive meeting earlier this week with our 

points of contact at the Office of Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness to review 

our plan to commence Phase 4 disinterments. Applying lessons learned from the first three phases, 

acknowledging the complexity of the chemically treated remains, and assessing both DPAA and 

AFDIL capacity, our current proposal is to start half of Phase 4 this April and conclude the phase in 

FY23. 

Key Leader Engagements. In the last three months, we hosted many senior leaders, including: 

Mr. David Cohen, Deputy Director of the CIA; Ms. Andrea Gleason, Australian Consul General; Lt

Gen Hiroaki Uchikura, Commander, Japanese Air Defense Command; Ms. Isbella Silk, Marshall 

Islands Consul General; and a House Staff Delegation consisting of four HASC staff members 

Similarly, in Nebraska, we hosted Senator Joni Ernst (NE-R) and retired Chief Gerald Murrary, the 

14th Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force. These visits afford us the opportunity to highlight our 

personnel and mission, and visitors gain a richer understanding of our worldwide efforts.

Regional Teams Overview

Indo-Pacific (IP) Region

Republic of Korea (ROK). I traveled to the ROK with members of the IP Regional Directorate and 

Plans and Policy to meet with DPAA’s host nation strategic partner, the Ministry of National Defense 

Agency for Killed in Action Recovery and Identification (MAKRI), as well as counterparts in ROK’s 

Ministry of National Defense and United Nations (UN) Command Military Armistice Commission

(UNCMAC). We strengthened these relationships and coordinated plans for our FY22 missions in 

the ROK and the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).

Field Operations. Over the last quarter, the IP Directorate accomplished Joint Field Activities 

(JFAs) in Laos and Vietnam. The Laos JFA was comprised of three Recovery Teams (RTs) 

focused on three sites in northern Laos, where the team recovered possible osseous material, life 

support evidence, and material evidence. The Vietnam JFA commenced with two HN recovery 

teams (RT-Hs), two RTs, one Investigation Team (IT) that worked 16 cases, and one Investigation 

Team-Light (IT-L) that focused on five Last Known Alive (LKA) incidents. The teams returned 

possible osseous material and life support items from five incidents. Our detachment (DET) in 

Thailand conducted engagements with the Kingdom of Cambodia to facilitate execution of a partner 

recovery in Cambodia, which is currently underway. A JFA consisting of four RTs to Laos 

deployed in early January 2022 as they seek to advance four cases towards potential closure. 

Planned Field Operations. We also have a recovery mission involving a World War II (WWII)

case which launched yesterday to Thailand and is there through May. We have a JFA to Cambodia 

that was postponed to later in the 2nd quarter due to COVID. Two JFAs to Vietnam are planned

with three RT-Hs scheduled to begin work later this month and the second JFA currently funded for 

one IT. We continue to look for opportunities to maximize effectiveness and efficiencies and are 

prepared to execute more if resources become available. We currently have an Agency-wide 

planning effort underway to host officials from Papua New Guinea this quarter (has shifted to May 

since the update) with a follow-on site survey and two underwater recoveries (RT-Us) are in 
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planning for execution later this year. Finally, we have plans to execute a research IT with the 

Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Archives.

Disinterment Operations. FY23 began with a disinterment project of 46 WWII Unknowns 

associated with the Battle of Myitkyina, Burma from the NMCP in Honolulu. We completed 

disinterment of 46 of the 47 Myitkyina remains in January and cemetery officials and are exploring 

options to disinter the final set of remains which are directly beneath a large Banyan tree. One 

disinterment mission scheduled for November/December at the Manila American Cemetery and 

Memorial (MACM) was cancelled due to complications associated with COVID-19, but we have 

one underway through next month with a primary focus on disinterring Unknowns associated with 

the Cabanatuan POW Camp and the Tokyo Prison Fire. We began disinterment operations of USS 

Utah Unknowns on February 7 and are scheduled to complete this project on February 28. 

Planned Disinterment Operations. For the Korean War Identification Project (KWIP), we have 

proposed beginning Phase 4 in April. Our final planned FY22 mission at MACM is scheduled from 

March to April 2022 where we plan to disinter Unknowns associated with Cabanatuan, the 

remaining Tokyo Prison Fire Unknowns, and Individual Unknowns. 

Research and Analysis. IP held its biannual WWII and Korean War Case Coordination 

Conferences in December, where the teams refined research priorities and recommended cases for 

FY23-24 missions. Additionally, the Southeast Asia (SEA) Case Coordination Conference 

scheduled for early January in Hawaii was postponed to later in 2nd quarter due to new Covid travel 

restrictions. Collectively, IP authored/updated a total of 123 Case Summaries, of which 97 were for 

the January virtual Miami Family Member Update (FMU). IP also conducted a total of 26 family 

Case Summary Review meetings during the event.

Recently, the Geographic Information System (GIS) Section organized the wartime imagery and 

tied it to a map as an overlay. GIS is also building footprints of the imager overlays to determine if 

their coverage will help other SEA incidents. In support of the Miami FMU, GIS completed their 

first mapping out of an off-the-scope incident’s Flight Plans and Debriefs to try locating the aircraft. 

Lastly, the GIS Section now has better 3D capabilities with ArcGIS Pro, a tool that will help with 

incident visualization and decision making when planning a mission. 

IP also received promising new investigative leads from MACV-SOG veterans during the recent 

Special Operations Association Annual Reunion in Las Vegas. IP intends to incorporate this 

information into ongoing analysis of SOG cases from the Vietnam War. IP is exploring partner or 

contractor options to assist with FMUs and Case Summaries to facilitate increased time for analysts 

and researchers to advance cases. Finally, we continue to work with Defense Intelligence Agency 

Stony Beach to improve communication, coordination, cooperation, and increased access to files. 

DET Recognition. In November, our DET in Hanoi coordinated Vice Foreign Minister Dung's site 

visit, providing him a deeper understanding of joint operations; his next post is as Vietnam’s

Ambassador to the U.S. Additionally, DET2 coordinated the 156th Remains Turnover Ceremony, 

ensuring proper transfer of custody of 4 sets of remains and 2 cases of material evidence. 

Vietnamese forensic experts also conducted the 6th unilateral forensic review resulting in the 

repatriation of 2 sets of remains to the DPAA Laboratory. Lastly, DPAA and U.S. Army aviation 

experts assessed HN helicopter assets in Vietnam validating their safety for operational use. 
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Europe-Mediterranean (EM) Region 

Field Operations. Despite the general cessation of operations in the European region from October 

until early Spring, we gained permission from a landowner, after several years of work, to access the 

site of a B-25 crash in Sicily. We were able to execute a recovery mission from October until just 

before Christmas with tremendous support from the Italian Government for short notice permits and 

several units in the United States and Europe for manpower augmentation. Additionally, the team 

investigating the crash site of a Navy A-6 lost during a training mission in 1985, completed their work 

and redeployed in mid-December; the Secretary of the Navy requested DPAA assistance, which the 

Navy is reimbursing. Finally, we completed a field investigation in Poland last month.

Planned Field Operations. As we begin the New Year, conditions for entry in our region remain 

favorable despite the general COVID situation. We remain on course to execute a field recovery in 

Great Britain (April start); and investigation or research missions in Italy, Bosnia-Herzegovina, 

Serbia, and Czechia (all in February); and Austria and Denmark (both in April).

Disinterment Operations. We have coordinated our initial FY22 disinterment plan with ABMC and 

project resuming these critical activities in March at the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery and 

moving to cemeteries in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands later in the year as 

weather improves. Finally, we continue to work with the Department of State, to finish the multiyear effort to finalize an agreement with the Government of Tunisia to conduct disinterments at the 

North Africa American Cemetery.

General research activities. DPAA’s coordination with NARA over the last several months has 

restored access to imagery records stored offsite in Kansas and are vital to investigating loss 

locations. Although the NARA II facility in College Park remains at a limited capacity due to 

COVID-19, our historians and analysts have access to these critical records and research continues.

U.S.–Russia Joint Commission (USRJC). We continue to work at all levels with the Russian Side 

and within the U.S. Government to continue the commission’s humanitarian work. Although 

delayed by several weeks, we recently received permission from the Ministry of Defense to resume 

research in the Moscow Archives. The U.S. Chairman has conducted several phone calls with his 

Russian counterpart and across the interagency since October to enable work on both sides to occur. 

He will continue close coordination within the interagency process in the weeks ahead to determine 

if a viable path remains, despite the exceedingly difficult bilateral relationship between the two 

countries right now. 

Partnerships and Innovations (PI) 

During the last quarter of FY21, PI oversaw 5 field missions and initiated or completed 50 separate 

research projects. Regarding the field missions:

- Partners completed terrestrial recoveries in Germany, France, and Papua New Guinea

- Partners also conducted underwater investigations in Australia and Hawaii. 

- Potentially identifiable remains were found at several of these. 

During that same period, we also executed 28 MOUs to either initiate a new partnership or renew an 
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existing one. We also negotiated and drafted 17 other MOUs, so we have a good number of 

additional partners in the pipeline. Currently, we have 113 existing or developing partnerships and 

an additional 75 that are being evaluated. Some of the notable new partners are the University of 

Georgia, Marine Imaging Technologies, and the Strategic Air Command Museum.

Since the start of New Year, we have completed a field activity in Papua New Guinea, with our 

partner the University of Papua New Guinea and they completed extensive excavation work at that 

site. In addition, two new partner field missions are currently underway. One is in Italy with

Cranfield University (England) and the other is in Cambodia with Ohio Valley Archaeology Inc. 

We also are preparing six more partner missions to the Philippines and Saipan this year, with more 

planned. COVID, of course, could be a limiting factor regarding these efforts.

We have initiated, or are continuing, 50 historical research projects with our Hub and Spoke 

research partners, which include The Ohio State University, the University of Wisconsin, Temple 

University, and Texas A&M University. We are developing a handful of new research projects to 

launch this quarter.

On the Innovation side, we have a number of efforts ongoing with partners who offer the 

opportunity to evaluate and potentially utilize new technology, equipment, and procedures. We are 

also identifying options for the Agency to develop a strategic and collaboration innovation program 

to ensure we are utilizing the latest accounting concepts, training, education, exercises, and 

solutions to maximum effect.

For PI and the Agency, we were very sad with the departure of Dr. Tom Holland in December. As 

PI’s Director, he had established a terrific foundation for the Agency to build on as we expand our 

partnering efforts and pursue innovation to increase DPAA’s capacity and capabilities.

Scientific Analysis (SA) Update

Our Laboratory System continued its balanced lab work/telework plan to maintain progress on 

identifications while mitigating risks due to COVID-19. There have been 52 identifications leading 

to a newly accounted for Service members so far this FY; 92% of these originate from disinterments 

with the remainder coming from DPAA excavations and unilateral turnovers. Agency field 

missions, disinterments, and receipt of unilateral turnovers has resulted in 51 accessioning events of 

skeletal, dental, and/or material evidence at this point in the year. 

In November, the DPAA Laboratory began the reaccreditation process to maintain ISO 17025:2017 

accredited status. The ANSI (American National Standards Institute) National Accreditation Board 

(ANAB) evaluated scientific competence and conformance with all applicable accreditation 

requirements. ANAB assigned a team of external assessors and subject matter experts to perform 

in-person assessments at both the Hawaii and Nebraska labs. We successfully resolved six due-outs 

and received final reaccreditation notification from ANAB. 

Since being established in July 2021, the Vietnam War Identification Project (VWIP) has made one 

new identification and four additional portion identifications. Thus far, in FY22, VWIP has made 

one additional portion identification with another potential identification currently in review. The 
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VWIP Project Lead is Dr. Nicolette Parr. As a result of FY22 missions thus far, seven new VWIP 

cases have been accessioned into the laboratory containing possible human remains and are 

currently undergoing analysis. Project cases are divided between Active Case Work, Additional 

Portions Cases, Material Evidence/Life Support-only cases, and Hold Cases, with most devoid of 

osseous material related to missing U.S. Service personnel. 

Additional milestones reached during the first quarter included the completion of the USS 

Oklahoma Identification Project. SA has received exhumations on the Unknowns from the Battle 

of Myitkyina, Burma, representing the newest project for SA and is being worked by staff from the 

Hawaii and Nebraska Laboratories. The project will move to Nebraska later this FY. The first 

Unknowns associated with the USS Utah were recently accessioned and they were added into the 

larger Pearl Harbor Project that is being worked by Dr. Laurel Freas. 

Three scientists - Drs. Carrie Brown, Matthew Go, and Kaitlyn Stiles - recently passed the 

demanding American Board of Forensic Anthropology examination and earning distinguished 

Diplomate status, the highest professional credential in this field. There are not many Diplomates 

in the world, but now 24 of them work in DPAA labs, far more than any other organization.

FY21 Identifications

Total IDs = 142 newly-accounted-for

WWII = 127 newly-accounted-for

Korean War = 14

Vietnam War= 1

(Additional Portion IDs) = 211

FY22 Identifications to date

Total IDs = 52 newly-accounted-for

WWII = 46 newly-accounted-for

Korean War = 6

Vietnam War= 0

AFMES-Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) Update

Although Dover AFB adopted Health Protection Condition Level Charlie and the wing commander 

wanted staffing not to exceed 25% in the buildings, AFMES was granted an exception based on 

mission requirements and robust COVID-19 mitigation protocols. All scientific staff are currently 

in the building daily. 

AFMES-AFDIL has continued support from the Defense Health Agency, our parent organization 

with funding under the CR. AFMES has received full allotments to cover the reagents and 

contracts needed to meet DPAA testing needs.

The Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) instrument will be brought on-line later this month

February with the first fully trained staff. This will increase NGS throughput four-fold and allow 

the growth to 100 NGS samples per month by December 2022.
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There is a lot of information in the news with regards to Investigative Genetic Genealogy and how 

it is being used to support Criminal or Missing Person Cold Cases within the states. I supported 

Director McKeague in presenting to the Senate and House Armed Services Committees on the 

reporting requirement regarding private public databases (Ancestry.com, 23andME...). Key points 

were: Direct-to-Consumer genealogy kits are geared to family reference and modern casework 

samples and not to DPAA samples and are only approximately 50% successful with cold case 

samples and are time consuming; AFMES-AFDIL along with Parabon Nanotech developed a Single 

Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) testing kit and analysis software specific for DPAA samples; and 

we recently published a paper showing that DNA obtained from WWII and Korean War-era

chemically treated and highly degraded samples are of worse quality than 30,000 to 45,000 year old 

Neanderthal DNA. 

Outreach and Communications Update

Regional Family Member Updates (FMU). Current DoD health and travel restrictions limit our 

ability to conduct large gatherings, therefore we held the Miami FMU virtually on January 22. We 

had 134 family registrants with 343 logging in at some point during the 4-hour event; the archived 

video has also been accessed by 190 other viewers. To watch our past virtual FMUs or Government 

Briefings, our Livestream archive may be found at: https://www.dpaa.mil/Livestreams/. We have 

postponed our FMU which was scheduled for Dallas, TX on February 26, until FY23 due to the 

expected large attendance. And our next FMU, which is scheduled for Spokane, WA, on March 26, 

will be held virtually beginning at 9:00 a.m. PDT. 

Year-in-Review. We have mailed each of your organizations copies of the recently received DPAA 

FY21 Year-in-Review. The electronic version can be viewed at 

https://www.dpaa.mil/Portals/85/Documents/Newsletters/YiR%202021%20Web.pdf.

VSO Visits. In early December, we hosted the national commanders from the VFW and the 

American Legion and their delegations at our Hawaii facility. VFW Commander Fritz Mihelcic, an 

Air Force DESERT STORM veteran, said that, as a naturalized citizen, how the visit filled him with 

pride as an American. American Legion Commander Paul Dillard’s theme for his term is “No 

Veteran Left Behind”, which we shared was appropriate as we are searching for Unreturned 

Veterans.

News Releases. Our Public Affairs team released 52 accounting releases, and more than 500 photos 

and videos. The videos included the compelling story of the Barber Brothers as we wrapped up the 

USS Oklahoma project. The total article count from worldwide media was 275, 000 articles 

mentioning DPAA. Finally, the Wichita Eagle debuted their documentary, Finding Father Kapaun, 

around Veteran's Day. It can be viewed at https://www.kansas.com/news/special-reports/fatherkapaun/article255618296.html. 

USS Oklahoma Media Interest. The success of the USS Oklahoma Project generated a great deal 

of interest. The two most significant ones were a documentary from Time Magazine 

(https://time.com/6121892/pearl-harbor-anniversary-unknown-victims) and a Southwest Airlines 
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video on repatriating a Sailor (https://www.facebook.com/SouthwestAir/videos/332400948347021/). 

Major outlets that covered the story included the New York Times, Washington Post, Politico, and 

Inside Edition, among others. The total potential audience reach was 1.2 billon. We livestreamed 

the December 7th ceremony in Honolulu on our website and Facebook page, which had more than 

28,000 viewers, and held a virtual press conference prior to the ceremony. 

Virtual Speakers Bureau. In conjunction with our outreach and media efforts, we stood up a 

Virtual Speakers Bureau, which allows our subject matter experts to discuss our mission. On 

Veterans Day, our Principal Deputy Director, Mrs. Fern Sumpter Winbush, spoke to more than 1,000 

Verizon employees who were viewing it from across the country. Also, our historians and scientists 

spoke to more than a dozen libraries across the country about DPAA efforts to account for Veterans 

who had not returned home from past wars. 

Speakers for Memorial Day. We are currently offering speakers from across the Agency to 

provide remarks for Memorial Day, either in-person or virtually. This year marks the 80th

anniversary of the Bataan Death March. If your organization would like to request a speaker from 

DPAA for your own events or others that you know of for Memorial Day, please contact Ms. Ashley 

Wright at ashley.m.wright52.civ@mail.mil.

News Articles of Note

Family to receive remains of Gonzaga graduate, Navy pilot missing since 1967 | Gonzaga University

https://www.gonzaga.edu/news-events/stories/2022/1/24/family-to-receive-missing-navy-pilotremains

How scientist/detectives work to identify missing service members | Nebraska Public Media

https://nebraskapublicmedia.org/en/series-media/what-if-video/season-3-video-16501/offutt-lab50016759/

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Q & A Session

Disabled American Veterans: Question: Three investigation teams in Laos and other teams in 

Vietnam focused on Last Known Alive (LKA) cases; what were the results and what came out of 

that? 

Answer: The first quarter Vietnam IT-L investigated five LKA incidents. Of those five, the team 

gathered information that we believe will help further two of those cases, but the witnesses for the 

other cases provided information that was inconsistent with the circumstances of loss. There were 

no field investigations scheduled in Laos in either the first or second quarters.

How many LKA cases are still on the books? 

Answer: We have 41 individuals associated with 31 LKA incidents; 6 in Cambodia, 16 in Laos, and 

19 in Vietnam.
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Korean War Veterans Assn: Is there any indication there is any chance to resume JROs in 

DPRK? 

Answer: Unfortunately, none at this time. There have been zero communications with the North 

Korean Army since March 2019. Ambassador Sung Kim, who is the U.S. Special Representative for 

DPRK asked for an update from DPAA, which RDML Banaji will provide him on Monday as well 

as brief him on the historical repatriations and operations with the DPRK and our work with 

MAKRI. 

We would be interested in anything coming out of that meeting --- anything positive about future 

operations.

Answer: We are coordinating with the Department of State on a summary of the meeting which we 

will share with you.

Special Operations Assn/Special Forces Assn: No questions.

Veterans of Foreign Wars: You referred to a $25M increase if appropriations go through; is that 

real money or is that just keeping you abreast of inflation? 

Answer: The $25M is in the NDAA, but we do not yet know what the Appropriators will do. As 

with prior year Congressional adds, the increases predominantly go toward operations. A $25M 

appropriation would bring us to the minimum level of funding we have identified to the DoD and 

Members of Congress whenever asked.

Vietnam Veterans of America: No questions.

Coalition of Families: Congratulations on all you did for the Oklahoma Project and the work you 

are doing for the Korean War Unknowns. That is one of our positive lights. Would like you to 

expand on the status of Cabanatuan and Tokyo Prison Fire disinterments. 

Answer: The in-progress Cabanatuan disinterments will provide the lab remains that could be 

associated with others that are currently in the lab. We are finding the Cabanatuan remains are just 

as challenging to extract DNA from as the Korean War remains, so AFDIL must apply NGS to them. 

Of the 66 samples per month in the NGS queue, half are dedicated to each of these projects. The 

success rate was 28% when we started; now we have a 66% success rate. We are excited about a 

new method coming online in December.

Also, would like you to expand on the PLA Archives engagement and what that entails. 

Answer: Our engagement with PLA Archives will be a virtual research exchange where the PLA 

archivists will provide updates on their research and investigation findings for World War II, Korean 

War, Vietnam War, and Cold War losses, and continue a dialogue on the way ahead for investigation 

and recovery operations in China.

I don’t recall hearing anything about a joint DMZ operations with MAKRI. 

Answer: The ROK completed their operations on Arrowhead Ridge south of the Military 

Demarcation Line (MDL) in June 2021. MAKRI’s planned unilateral DMZ recovery operations on 

White Horse Hill will progress as planned in April. Our planning efforts with UNCMAC and 
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MAKRI are currently focused on Hill 111 in the DMZ, and we hope COVID conditions will allow a 

recovery later this year. 

Regarding contact with DPRK, what kind of interactions have been going on within our own 

government; has anyone spoken with DPRK and what efforts have been made?

Answer: Since the Biden Administration took over, there have been multiple overtures with DPRK

through their Ministry of Foreign Affairs and UN Mission; every one of them has been met with no 

response. Instead, the DPRK has continued provocative actions, raising tensions on the peninsula 

and with Japan. 

Coalition of Families: Regarding the State Dept & UN Communications are any directly related to 

the POW/MIA Accounting Mission? 

Answer: We continue to share our talking points with our DoD and State Department colleagues to 

advocate this humanitarian efforts being a key component to possibly opening the door to dialogue 

of any sort with the DPRK.

Korean Cold War Families of the Missing: No questions, but I’m amazed that despite all of the 

obstacles, you continue to make progress.

National League of Families: Can you provide a copy of the briefing provided to Congress? If not, 

just send your own views on the four requirements from the Committee. 

Answer: Although the briefing is not classified, we need to ask the committee staffs whether it can 

be released.

The Disinterment Program worldwide mostly relates to WWII and the Korean War; how many 

remains have been disinterred and how many identified? Why are you continuing to disinter when 

you already have so many on hand? 

Answer: To date, DPAA (and its predecessors) have completed approximately 1,859 disinterments

and identified 791 individuals. We constantly monitor the capacity of both DPAA labs and are 

modulating how and when we conduct future disinterments. We are also working closely with 

AFMES-AFDIL so our current and future collective efforts are synchronized to ensure the best use 

of scares resources. For DPAA, modulation includes accessioning remains into the lab to begin the 

analytical process and cutting for DNA testing. 

Of all the people I probably know more than anyone and what it’s taken to get there --- but I still did 

not get an answer on the remains that have been turned in by SB; want to know what has been done 

on those. 

Answer: We have been providing case scrubs to Stony Beach, with the recent one this past month. 

Col. Brannen took the initiative to arrange regular meetings with Brad Taylor, which includes Dr. 

Greg Berg. These discussions included achieving fullest possible accounting in Cambodia; lab

updates on Stony Beach accessions; Master Investigation/Excavation Lists; and increased access to 

DPAA files (two additional laptops were provided to Stony Beach personnel). Thirty-five of the 

remains accessioned from Stony Beach are still in testing and all the rest have been closed out; Greg

Berg has provided a status report to Brad Taylor with regular updates forthcoming.
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You mentioned the Panama mission, was it successful? 

Answer: Yes, it was a field investigation intended to finally map the accessible crash area on the 

mountain. The team was able to identify several areas to excavate for a potential recovery mission, 

and we now have work to do internally, with the U.S. Navy, and with the Government of Panama to 

determine the next steps for a recovery in very challenging terrain with limited access.

Korean War POW/MIA Network: When and where will the next in-person DPAA meeting might 

be? 

Answer: We evaluate these each time one comes up and assess local health and policy conditions. 

The next FMU will be Minneapolis at the end of April and we hope we will be able to conduct it in 

person. We also have very strong planning ongoing for the K/CW Annual Government Briefings at 

the end of July. It is being scheduled in conjunction with the dedication of the Wall of 

Remembrance at the Korean War Memorial.

When do you expect NARA to be open to the public? 

Answer: They have not announced it, but we do know they are still operating with limited in-office 

capabilities.