Were Vietnam POWs Transferred To The Former Soviet Union - Don't Rule It Out says Nikolai Bezborodov, the Deputy Chief of the Parliamentary Defense Affairs Committee and a member of a U.S.-Russian Joint Commission. The following is excerpted from an Associated Press Article dated Feb. 14^th.

"Russian military archives that could hold information about U.S. prisoners of war in Vietnam have remained largely classified, hampering a joint U.S.-Russian probe into the men's fate, a Russian lawmaker said in an interview published Friday."

"The work has been difficult because the bulk of the Defense Ministry's archival documents have remained classified," Nikolai Bezborodov, deputy chief of the parliamentary defense affairs committee and a member of a U.S.-Russian panel on POWs, told the daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta. Bezborodov said that the General Staff had allowed the panel to look through the files relating to the Vietnam war for possible clues to what happened to the Americans, allowing U.S. and Russian experts to learn the fate of 26 American POWs...."

"Bezborodov voiced hope that the search would become easier as the military archives from the Vietnam war are expected to be declassified this year, 30 years after the war's end."

"Bezborodov voiced skepticism about the claim of Dmitry Volkogonov, the late Russian military historian and one-time co-chairman of the U.S.-Russian panel on POWs, who said he had found a KGB order to send U.S. POWs from Vietnam to the Soviet Union. "Bezborodov said no such document or reference to it had been found in the archives. Volkogonov might just have made an assumption that such a document existed, and the phrasing could have been changed when his book was edited after his death, he said."

"Bezborodov said the U.S.-Russian panel had found information about five cases of Soviet intelligence officers questioning American POWs in Vietnam but no evidence that any Americans were transferred to the Soviet Union."

"Asked whether Russia categorically rejects the possibility of U.S. POWs from the Vietnam war being brought to the Soviet Union, Bezborodov answered "As of today, yes. But on the basis of the information that we have gathered, the possibility of such a transferal can't be totally excluded."

The above AP article was followed by a February 17^th story stating "A U.S.-Russian panel on prisoners of war has found information in Russia's military archives that could help account for 51 American pilots missing from Vietnam, a lawmaker said Monday."

The article continued: "The information has already helped identify seven of the pilots, said lawmaker Nikolai Bezborodov, deputy chief of the parliamentary defense affairs committee and co-chair of the POW panel."

``The fate of 19 more servicemen can be determined by the Americans on the basis of the lists presented to them,'' Bezborodov was quoted as telling the Interfax-Military News Agency The information documents 38 incidents involving the capture of 51 Americans...."

"The panel has found information about five cases of Soviet intelligence offices questioning American POWs in Vietnam, but no evidence has been found that any Americans were transferred to the Soviet Union...."

Five American POWs Questioned By Soviet Intelligence Officers - Who Are They? During the life of the Senate Select Committee On POW/MIA Affairs, the CIA admitted their employee, civilian POW Eugene Weaver, was questioned by Soviet Intelligence Officers. So, who are the other four American POWs?

Doing The Job The Right Way... The JCSD Way - Only one government agency charged with investigating the POW/MIA issue has ever taken the "transfer issue" seriously. That group is the Joint Commission Support Directorate, the investigative arm of the U.S./Russian Joint Commission. Perhaps, the recent statement by Mr. Bezborodov that the "Possibility of such a transferal can't be totally excluded" will motivate DPMO to provide the support the JCSD needs to throughly investigate the possibility that POWs from Vietnam, as well was the Korean War, Cold War, and World War II, were transferred to the former Soviet Union.

The Bezborodov Statement - Is but a third in a series of statements issued by Russian officials, indicating the possible transfer of American POWs from Vietnam, to the former Soviet Union. Both former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, and General Dmitri Volkogonov, Co-Chair of the U.S./Russian Joint Commission, until his death in 1995, spoke of a possible transfer.

Additionally, the unclassified summary of the National Intelligence Estimate, titled "Vietnamese Intentions, Capabilities, and Performance Concerning the POW/MIA Issue" dated July 1998, addresses the subject of POW transfers, to the former Soviet Union. That report states; "A few reports of transfers of US POWs to Russia and other countries are unexplained, and the books remain open."

What Volkogonov Had To Say - the following is from Bits N Pieces Nov. 21, 1998 - "When Russian General Dmitri Volkogonov passed away in December 1995, we all hoped that he left some message or information behind indicating that American POWs were transported to the former Soviet Union, during the Vietnam War.

The message we hoped for was located in January 1998, among the General's personal papers, donated to the Library of Congress. In his native Russian, General Volkogonov wrote of his efforts to help resolve the fate of American POWs.

"I am not certain that we have fully clarified everything. I know that quite a few documents were destroyed. However, one document, probably sensational, is still in storage. I have a copy of it. It's content is as follows: at the end of the 1960s the KGB (external foreign intelligence) was given the task of "delivering informed Americans to the USSR for intelligence gathering purposes." When I found this sensational paper in a "special pouch," I immediately went to Y. M. Primakov (Director of Foreign Intelligence). He called in his people. They brought in a copy of this project signed; it seems to me, by Semichastny (I will explain). For a long time, there was a search underway to find traces of this task. These, the traces, as I had expected "were not found." They said that the task had not been accomplished. So how did this happen in fact? The regime was such that one could speculate on the wildest of variants. This remained a secret, which I could not penetrate. I also did not report this to my much-esteemed Ambassador, M. Toon. I am speaking about this now in the hope that these notes will make it into my book Reflections. (Note: in the text the word Reflections is underlined.)"

General Volkogonov's notes continued: "History, especially Soviet history, is full of secrets, and very often evil. With the exception of this incident, I can say that I have done something in order to raise the mysterious curtain from them...." [Note: to see English translation and original Russian text of the Volkogonov Diary visit http://www.nationalalliance.org/transfer.htm

On November 9th, 1998, in an article by Bill Gertz, the Washington Times broke the story of the document's existence. According to the article, "Moscow is refusing to turn over a secret KGB document suggesting captured Americans were taken to the Soviet Union in the late 1960s for "intelligence-gathering purposes..."

The article continued, "The Russian government has told U.S. officials the plan was never carried out, and Moscow recently turned down U.S. government requests to study the intelligence document, saying it is classified and will not be released, the officials said...."

Confusion - In the days that followed the Washington Times Nov. 9th article, some confusion arose. The Russians first claimed that the document did not exist, then stated the document would not be released because it is classified. Further reporting indicated that Russian officials admitted the existence of the plan to transfer American POWs to the former Soviet Union but insisted the plan was never carried out."

"Never Carried Out" - Helloooooooo - During the Vietnam War, the Soviets provided North Vietnam with advisors, troops, supplies, munitions, and aircraft. U.S. airmen were routinely dodging SAM missiles and destroying their launch sites. These were the same SAM missile sites defending the former Soviet Union. Who doesn't think the Soviets had a passing interest in the technology that could easily destroy their defenses and the men who operated that technology? Were the Soviets pouring millions of rubles into the North Vietnamese war effort with no expectation for a return on their investment? Hardly!

Let's Not Forget - In June of 1992, Russian President Boris Yeltsin arrived in the U.S. making a stunning claim about American POWs transferred to the Soviet Union. During an interview with NBC's Dateline, Yeltsin stated - "Our archives have shown this to be true. Some of them were transferred to the territory of the former U.S.S.R. and were kept in labor camps. We don't have complete data and can only surmise that some of them may still be alive."

With this statement, the Bush White House panicked. First they claimed that Dateline had translated the Russian Presidents remarks incorrectly. NBC verified the translation. Then, the famous unnamed source surfaced inferring that perhaps the Russian President had too much Vodka on the trip over and mis-spoke.

Finally, in his memoirs former Secretary of State James Baker stated he advised Yeltsin to speak about POWs before Congress, as it would make a favorable impression. It would also increase chances of a favorable vote on the issue of aide to the struggling Russian Republic.

Yeltsin made the mistake of thinking the U.S. government was really interested in POWs and spoke to the media prior to his appearance before Congress. We believe Yeltsin spoke the truth during his Dateline interview. With the subsequent debunking of his statement by unnamed White House sources, Yeltsin got the message -- Just because we ask about POWs doesn't mean we want the answers. End Bits 11/21/98

So Says - Russian President Boris Yeltsin in 1992, General Dimitri Volkogonov from the Grave, Nikolai Bezborodov, Deputy Chief of the Parliamentary Defense Affairs Committee and a member of the U.S.-Russian Joint Commission, a National Intelligence Estimate prepared by the Intelligence Community of the United States Government, and the JCSD all entertain the possibility of the transfer of American POWs to the former Soviet Union.

What will it take to get DPMO on board and provide the support needed for JCSD to thoroughly investigate this aspect of the POW/MIA issue?

What The DIA Says About Speicher - the following is from the Feb. 14^th 2003, "Inside The Ring" column by Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough. " DIA says Speicher alive - Defense Intelligence Agency Director Vice Adm. Lowell Jacoby told Congress this week that missing Navy pilot Capt. Michael Scott Speicher is believed to be alive and held prisoner in Baghdad."

"During a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on worldwide threats, Adm. Jacoby was asked by the committee chairman, Sen. Pat Roberts, Kansas Republican, about the pilot, who was reclassified for a second time in October to "missing/captured" based on intelligence that Iraq has been holding an American pilot since the 1991 Persian Gulf war."

"We have a number of leads ...," Adm. Jacoby said, noting there is no conclusive information on Capt. Speicher's fate. "Our assessment is we are pursuing it as if Captain Scott Speicher is alive and being held by the Iraqis," he said. "We continue with our assessment that the Iraqis know of his fate and that they are not forthcoming with the information that they have available."

When Did America's Involvement In Vietnam Really Begin - The official start date of American's involvement in Vietnam is 1955. As with so much relating to the Vietnam War, that date is misleading. America suffered her first known casualty on May 6, 1954. You will not find the names of these Americans on any government list of POW/MIAs. Until very recently these two American employees of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) were unacknowledged MIAs of the War in Indochina, that's the First Indochina War or the French Indochina War.

An Associated Press article, by Richard Pyle, from December 5^th 2002, describes to the event surrounding the recovery of these CIA employees. From the A/P "The discovery of a skeleton in a remote corner of Laos may mark the beginning of the end of a fabled chapter of the Cold War, when an American soldier of fortune known as "Earthquake McGoon" became a household name for his daring exploits in China and Southeast Asia. The recent finding by a U.S. task force has raised hopes for identifying James B. McGovern, or possibly his co-pilot, Wallace A. Buford, who were shot down in 1954 in the last days of the French Indochina war...."

"James McGovern, 31, a 260-pound former World War II fighter ace, and 28-year-old Buford were flying under secret contract to the CIA when they were killed on May 6, 1954. Their C-119 Flying Boxcar was about to drop an artillery gun to beleaguered French colonial troops at Dien Bien Phu when the plane was riddled by ground fire, staggered 75 miles southward into Laos and crashed near a river."

"Dien Bien Phu surrendered the next day to Vietnamese communist forces led by Ho Chi Minh, spelling the end of France's colonial era in Indochina and setting the stage for the "American war" in Vietnam a decade later."

"The discovery of remains came after three previous surveys of the area and a site excavation last September produced no results. The latest effort was based largely on information from about a dozen eyewitnesses to the crash. The bones found are those of only one person, according to officials involved in the case. Determining which one - McGovern, Buford or a French flight engineer who also died in the crash -- could take weeks, or months, of forensic analysis at the Army's Central Identification Laboratory Hawaii (CILHI)."

"The remains were flown to Hawaii on Tuesday. The name of the French victim is not known, but investigators said it may be in CIA or French government records. Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara, spokesman for the Hawaii-based Joint Task Force-Full Accounting, an arm of the Defense Department said the U.S. embassy in Paris is pursuing the matter. "If it's the Frenchman, we'll do something to get him back into French hands," O'Hara said. O'Hara also said there was "no doubt that we have the right site and the right plane." Debris found at the site was consistent with a C-119 cargo plane, he said."

"The searchers also collected about 15 pounds of wreckage to be given to the CIA's museum. A dental bridge was found, which could rule out the remains being Buford's. The pilot's brother, Roger Buford, of Kansas City, Kan., said that "to my knowledge, Wally didn't have a bridge."

"...The latest search, lasting nearly a month and plagued by heavy fog and rain in rugged terrain, was welcome news for relatives of the two pilots."

3036 - Based on copies of various emails we received relating to the case of McGovern and Buford, we beleive that their assigned Refno or reference number is 3036. So how did we get from 2060 to 3036 and who are the men represented by case numbers 2061 to 3035?

Do the 975 + cases represented by the gap in refno's relate to CIA employees lost in during the First and Second Indochina War? Does this gap represent losses from all wars, where we now know of a possible recovery location?

Or, do they represent servicemen and civilian employees originally declared Killed in Action/Body not Recovered and never assigned a refno at the time of their loss incident. Men like Clemie McKenney, captured in April 1972 but not assigned his refno of 2044 until well after the 1973 signing of the Paris Peace Accords.

Are their 975 + POW/MIAs whose names are not on the lists of American's Unaccounted for as a result of America's involvement in the Vietnam War?

The National Alliance Of Families Fourteenth Annual Forum is scheduled for June 26th - 28th, 2003. Our forum is conducted to coincide with the Governments annual POW/MIA Family Briefings. We urge all family members to attend this years government briefings, for Vietnam family members. The government will provide free airfare to two family members to attend the briefings. There is no charge or registration fee to attend the government briefings.

We are working on a hotel and will let you know where this year's meeting will be held, as soon as possible.

The Alliance is an all volunteer organization. Our meetings are open to all, without charge. At this time of year, we actively seek contributions to finance our forum. If you wish to contribute, donations may be mailed to: