Everything New Is Old Again - On September 21^st, 2001, POW/MIA Recognition Day, an item appeared in the "Inside The Ring- Notes From The Pentagon" column of the Washington Times. Written by Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough, the item reads:

"The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) this week set up a new unit to deal with the issue of prisoners of war and those missing in action."

"A DIA spokesman said the unit is a "standing group" of intelligence analysts created under pressure from Congress to focus on prisoner of war issues in both peacetime and wartime. "It was accelerated as a result of events of last week," the spokesman said."

"Initially, the DIA "cell," made up of intelligence analysts, was to investigate the kinds of issues raised by cases such as U.S. Navy pilot Lt. Cmdr. Michael S. Speicher's. Cmdr. Speicher was listed as killed in the Gulf war after his F-18 fighter was shot down in 1991. Evidence he may have survived the shoot-down prompted the Pentagon to reclassify Cmdr. Speicher as missing in action."

"A second official said one new focus of the intelligence unit is Southwest Asia. Translation: Afghanistan. The unit is expected to rely on Russian intelligence cooperation, based on Moscow's past experience in dealing with POWs from the Soviet military occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s."

"The special unit has been created outside of another POW unit, the Defense POW Missing Persons Office, known as DPMO. Pentagon officials believed DPMO had become too "politicized" and would not be as effective in conducting intelligence work on military prisoners and missing in action from the coming conflict."

"The office will gather and analyze intelligence that could be used to find and rescue any missing military personnel. Potential losses: downed pilots or captured commandos."

On The Surface - this might appear to be a good thing. We have long complained about the inefficiency and lack of trained analysts within DPMO. Now, the POW/MIA investigations, according to this article, is out of DPMO. The DPMO function will now be search, rescue and recovery. This comes as no surprise. For two years we have reported that DPMO would be getting out of the POW/MIA business.

Simon Says.... Take One Giant Step Back 10 Years - The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), is the very agency that POW/MIA investigations was taken from, when DPMO was formed. The reason for the shift, DIA failed miserably at their job. A scathing memo on DIA letterhead, dated 25 September 1985, signed by Commodore Thomas A. Brooks, USN, Deputy Director for Collection Management, states DIA's work was:

"...incomplete, sloppy (all mixed-up, loose papers, undated scribbled analyst notes, misfiled papers, etc.) and generally unprofessional."

"... follow-up actions had not been pursued. In some cases, obvious follow-up actions were called for but were never taken and years had passed."

"...no tickler system to ensure that we followed up on our own tasking. Thus, we might have tasked imagery or tasked JCRC years ago, never got a response, and never followed up."

"...efforts to recontact sources in the U.S. were perfunctory at best and normally amounted to merely trying to contact them by telephone rather than using local DoD or law enforcement agencies to track them down and then calling on them in person."

"...we never employed some of the most basic analytic tools such as plotting all sightings on a map to look for patterns, concentrations, etc."

"...there is a great element of truth in General Tighe's statements that we have done a sloppy job. I come to the same conclusion after having looked into the issue probably in somewhat more detail then General Tighe."

"With regard to the allegation of "a mindset to debunk", I must conclude that there is an element of truth to this as well, although probably not as much as has been publicly stated. In fairness to DC-2, a good measure of this is attributable simply to human nature. The analysts have seen so many fabrications for so long that their first subconscious reactions is "this is just more of the same garbage". And most of it is. But some may not be. Frustrating as it all is, they have got to run all the leads to the ground. They have not been doing this [words unreadable ] Thus, the "mindset to debunk" charge and the "sloppy analysis" charge are closely related. The former causes the latter. The leadership fo DC-2 (the D-6, Deputy and senior analyst) must be the conscience of the organization to preclude this mindset taking hold and to closely monitor the work. This they definitely have not done well over the years."

"A key area which requires attention is DIA's image - how we are perceived to be doing our job rather than (or in addition to) how we really are doing it. We need to portray an image of open-minded, objective professionals who take this business very seriously and are willing to talk to any who might be able to provide us information. This includes the Baileys, Garwoods, and the lunatic fringe."

"I see the most important thing we must do right now is to be cementing relationships on the Hill. We have not done as well there as we should. It is clear that Congressman Hendon will be using our files to discredit us ( and he will have lots of ammunition there.) We need to ensure that we have formed the necessary alliances with HPSCI and the Asian-Pacific Affairs committees, their staffers, and their chairmen that we receive support in our efforts to damage-limit Congressman Hendon."

The memo ends saying: "I am afraid we are in for some troubled times. We have not done our jobs a well as we should have in days passed and we will not withstand scrutiny very well. Yet, we will receive plenty of scrutiny in days to come. We must make all preparations to minimize the criticism this scrutiny will bring. I have attached a list of action items which I believe are required to accomplish this..."

To view the full memo and recommendations visit http://www.nationalalliance.org/vietnam/brooks.htm

By February 12^th, 1991, it seemed none of Commodore Brooks recommendations were acted upon and it was business as usual at DIA. Business as usual was something one Army Colonel would not tolerate. So on that date, Col. Millard A. "Mike" Peck, USA, submitted his resignation as Chief of the Special Office for Prisoners of War and Missing in Action at DIA.

In the weeks and months after his resignation much was done to discredit Col. Peck. The qualifications which got him the job, became qualifications that did not suit him for the job. However, a careful reading of his letter of resignation reveals the same concerns expressed six years earlier by Commodore Brooks. The difference, the Brooks Memo remained secret until 1992, while Col. Peck's resignation was made public almost immediately.

Col. Peck was kinder in his assessment of DIA, than Commodore Brooks. Col. Peck felt DIA's progress was impeded by outside sources. In ending his 5 page letter of resignation, Col. Peck stated: " I feel that the Agency and the Office are being used as the "fall guys" or "patsies" to cover the tracks of others."

The following is excerpted from the Resignation Letter of Col. Mike Peck:

"The Office's Reputation. It was interesting that my previous exposure to the POW-MIA Office, while assigned to DIA, both as a Duty Director for Intelligence (DDI) and as the Chief of the Asia Division for Current Intelligence (JSI-3),was negative. DIA personnel who worked for me, when dealing with or mentioning the Office, always spoke about it in deprecating tones, alluding to the fact that any report which found its way there would quickly disappear into a "black hole."

"Highest National Priority. That National leaders continue to address the prisoner of war and missing in action issue as the "highest national priority" is a travesty. From my vantage point, I observed that the principal government players were interested primarily in conducting a "damage limitation exercise", and appeared to knowingly and deliberately generate an endless succession of manufactured crises and "busy work". Progress consisted in frenetic activity, with little substance and no real results."

"The Mindset to Debunk. The mindset to "debunk is alive and well. It is held at all levels, and continues to pervade the POW-MIA Office, which is not necessarily the fault of DIA. Practically all analysis is directed to finding fault with the source. Rarely has there been any effective, active follow through on any of the sightings, nor is there a responsive "action arm" to routinely and aggressively pursue leads. The latter was a moot point, anyway, since the Office was continuously buried in an avalanche of "ad hoc" taskings from every quarter, all of which required an immediate response. It was impossible to plan ahead or prioritize courses of action. Any real effort to pursue live sighting reports or exercise initiatives was diminished by the plethora of "busy work" projects directed by higher authority outside of DIA. A number of these grandiose endeavors bordered on the

"Duty, Honor and Integrity. It appears that the entire issue is being manipulated by unscrupulous people in the Government, or associated with the Government. Some are using the issue for personal or political advantage and others use it as a forum to perform and feel important, or worse. The sad fact, however, is that this issue is being controlled and a cover-up may be in progress. The entire charade does not appear to be an honest effort, and may never have been."

"POW-MIA Officers Abandoned. ....Since the normal mix of officers from all Services is not found in my organization it would appear that the issue, at least at the working level, has, in fact, been abandoned. Also, the horror stories of the succession of military officers at the 0-5 and 0-6 level who have in some manner "rocked the boat" and quickly come to grief at the hands of the Government policy makers who direct the issue, lead one to the conclusion that we are all quite expendable, so by extrapolation one simply concludes that these same bureaucrats would "sacrifice" anyone who was troublesome or contentious as including prisoners of war and missing in action. Not a comforting thought. Any military officer expected to survive in this environment would have to be myopic, an accomplished sycophant, or totally insouciant."

The DIA Involvement. DIA's role in the affair is truly unfortunate. The overall Agency has generally practiced a "damage limitation drill" on the issue, as well. The POW-MIA Office has been cloistered for all practical purposes and left to its own fortunes. The POW Office is the lowest level in the Government "efforts" to resolve the issue, and oddly for an intelligence organization, has become the "lightening rod" for the entire establishment to the matter. The policy people manipulating the affair have maintained their distance and remained hidden in the shadows, while using the Office as a "toxic waste dump" to bury the whole "mess" out of sight and mind to a facility with the limited access to public scrutiny. Whatever happens in the issue, DIA takes the blame, while the real players remain invisible. The fact that the POW-MIA Office is always the center of an investigation is no surprise. Many people suspect that something is rotten about the whole thing, but they cannot find an audit trail to ascribe blame, so they attack the DIA/POW-MIA "dump", simply because it has been placed in the line of fire as a cheap, expendable decoy."

"Smoke and Mirrors". From what I have witnessed, it appears that any soldier left in Vietnam, even inadvertently, was, in fact, abandoned years ago, and that the farce that is being played is no more than political legerdemain done with "smoke and mirrors", to stall the issue until it dies a natural death."

"DIA's Dilemma. Although greatly saddened by the role ascribed to the Defense Intelligence Agency, I feel, at least, that I am dealing with honest men and women who are generally powerless to make the system work. My appeal and attempt to amend this role perhaps never had a chance. We all were subject to control. I particularly salute the personnel in the POW-MIA Office for their long suffering, which I regrettably was unable to change. I feel that the Agency and the Office are being used as the "fall guys" or "patsies" to cover the tracks of others."

The full text of Col. Peck's resignation letter may be viewed at http://nationalalliance.org/vietnam/peck.htm

Incompetent, patsies or fall guys, whatever the problem at DIA's POW/MIA Office, no one should be happy that the POW/MIA issue is moving back to DIA, as there is absolutely no evidence to conclude that the problems outlined by Commodore Brooks and Col. Peck have been corrected.

Based on DPMO performance since its inception in 1993, we would conclude that the problems were not corrected and probably got worse. The problems, along with the POW/MIA investigations, simply moved from DIA to DPMO. We have no reason to believe that the DPMO problems inherited from DIA will not follow POW/MIA investigations back to DIA.

During DPMO existence, it was subjected to two investigation that we know of. The first was a "White Paper" prepared by the Inspector General, Department of Defense, in August 1995. The second was the still secret "Mission Area Analysis" (MAA) done by Anser Corp.

The conclusion of the August 1995 investigation reads: "...Our initial research at DPMO led us to conclude that the organization lacked (1) well defined missions and tasks, (2) a planning system to see that major goals were accomplished, and (3) a stable organizational structure that supported effective management."

Everything Old Is New Again - 1985, 1991, 1995 the message is the same. The job is not getting done. It's our guess that when DPMO finally processes our 14 month old FOIA for the release of the "MAA", it will restate the same concerns expressed by Commodore Brooks, Col. Peck and the Inspector General.

Serviceman Accounted For - From the Department of Defense - Sept. 28^th - "Remains of a U.S. Navy pilot missing in action for more than 36 years from the Vietnam War have been identified and are being returned to his family. Identified is Navy Lt. Edd D. Taylor of Heber Springs, Ark. On August 29, 1965, Taylor flew off the Navy aircraft carrier USS Oriskany on a search and rescue mission into Son La Province, North Vietnam. While on his third pass over an area from which an emergency beeper signal was heard, his A-1H Skyraider was hit by enemy ground fire. As the pilot of a nearby A-1 aircraft watched, Taylor's aircraft struck a ridge and exploded into flames. No parachute was observed..."

"... Among the forensic tools used by the CILHI to confirm the identification was that of mitochondrial DNA, in which DNA from a skeletal fragment was matched to that of a family member of Lt. Taylor."

War or OOTW - The Washington Times article by Gertz and Scarborough, quoted on page one, states "Pentagon officials believed DPMO had become too "politicized" and would not be as effective in conducting intelligence work on military prisoners and missing in action from the coming conflict. The office will gather and analyze intelligence that could be used to find and rescue any missing military personnel. Potential losses: downed pilots or captured commandos."

Will DPMO recognize the coming conflict as a war or will they refer to is as an OOTW "Operation Other Than War?" Will captured pilots and commandos be Prisoners of War or IP's "Isolated Personnel?"

In the February 12^th, 2000 edition of Bits, we wrote about our concern over the shift in terminology from War to OOTW and from POWs to IP's. The terminology comes from the 1999 Department of Defense Personnel Recovery Conference Report dated October 26 - 28, 1999.

It is going to be up to us to keep them honest. We must hope for the best and be prepared for the worst.

Report Of Capture Of Five American Soldiers Is Denied - from MSNBC Staff and Wire Reports - Sept. 29 - "Pentagon officials and Afghanistan's ruling Taliban on Saturday denied a report that U.S. soldiers had been arrested within Afghanistan. Qatar's al-Jazeera television had reported that Afghan security forces near the border with Iran arrested five members of American special forces. On Friday, U.S. officials acknowledged that

there were U.S. military scouts in the region."

"The report cited a source in Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida group, who told a TV correspondent that three of the arrested were members of the U.S. special forces and had modern weapons and some maps of al-Qaida sites. The other two were naturalized U.S. citizens, originally from Afghanistan, who were trained by the U.S. military, according to the report."

"They had some modern weapons and some maps of al-Qaida sites," the al-Qaida source was quoted as saying. "They were on a reconnaissance mission to know the territory of al-Qaida."

"On Friday, Bush administration sources speaking to NBC News acknowledged that scouts from U.S. special forces were scoping out the battlefield for a possible attack on Afghanistan, where bin Laden and other suspected terror leaders are thought to be in hiding. But Pentagon officials early Saturday denied that any Americans had been taken into custody in Afghanistan, NBC News correspondent Jim Miklaszewski reported. "We have no information that would lend credence to that report," one source told NBC.

"The Taliban also denied the story. Mullah Obaidullah Akhund, the Taliban defense minister, denied that American troops were on Afghan soil at all. "It is totally wrong. We deny this news that they have come to our

areas."

"Kabul's official news agency Bakhtar followed that denial with another denial of the al-Jazeera report: "It is not true and has no basis. We contacted the authorities in Kandahar and Nimroz provinces about it and they denied it."

"U.S. officials from President Bush on down say that bin Laden and his al-Qaida organization played a role in the Sept. 11 terror attacks that killed thousands of people in New York, Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon. Afghanistan's Taliban leaders have provided safe haven for bin Laden since 1996, and they have refused U.S. demands and Pakistani requests to hand him over, leading to the U.S. preparations for military action."

Only In America - New York Post article, dated Sept. 28^th, titled "U.S. Officials Postpone Military Strikes"

states in part: "...Also contributing to the delays has been Saudi Arabia's reluctance to allow raids to be staged from its giant Prince Sultan air base - built with U.S. funds by a construction company owned by bin Laden's billionaire father..."

From Errol Bond, father of POW/MIA Ronald Bond - " Hi!! I'm sure you know about the Virtual Vietnam Wall----but this is something special----read on. Parade Magazine dated September 23, page15 (inside back cover) had the following, and I quote: 'More than 58,000 names are etched on the wall of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C. Through November 11, family and friends can add a portrait to the name of

the deceased at an online version of the memorial wall, sponsored by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund.

Simply bring a photo to any Kinko's store and ask for help with "Put a Face With a Name" Photos also can be added at http://www.thevirtualwall.org via home computers with scanning and internet capabilities. For details, call Kinko's at 1-800-254-6567.' You might have seen this, but many people I talked to hadn't. Since you

all send out e-mail to a large group of interested parties I thought it best to bring it to your attention."

From Robert Rice, Rolling Thunder National Chapter #1 - "Help us display this 30 ft x 60 ft POW-MIA flag in every state at least one time. The flag is shipped out to locations via UPS shipping is COD. The flag is now in Kentucky and my web site is at: http://memorialflags.homestead.com/memorialflags.html"

If you are interested in displaying this flag contact Bob Rice at memorialflags@juno.com