Congratulations – to Carry the Flame, Run For the Wall and Rolling Thunder for another successful "Ride for Freedom." The Memorial Day event saw a record number of bikers riding in the 18th Annual Washington D.C. event.

Recovery Operations in North Korea Cease – Once again, this nations "highest national priority," finding the truth about our POWs and MIAs, has taken a backseat to political concerns. On May 25th, the Pentagon abruptly ceased all recovery operations in North Korea citing concerns for the safety of U.S. recovery teams deployed in North Korea. Among the concerns cited was the inability of recovery teams to remain in contact with those outside North Korea.

We would be among the first to say that the safety of recovery teams is paramount. However, we must ask why this non-communication condition was acceptable, as part of the negotiated agreement for access to North Korea and acceptable as recently as last month but not now?

The following is excerpted from Reuters, May 25 – "....It is a force protection issue," said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Jason Salata a spokesman for the U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii, shortly after the command issued a terse, surprise announcement on the suspension. "We are concerned that the environment that North Korea has created is not conductive to the effective operation of the missions and we want to ensure the safest conditions for our recovery teams," Salata told Reuters by telephone."

"The announcement came as joint teams from the United States and North Korea were conducting a 10th year of joint searches for remains and as tension continued between Pyongyang and Washington over the North's nuclear program. Salata was not specific on the causes of the move or what specific steps North Korea needed to take to allow the searches to resume. But he noted that U.S. teams - under a previous agreement between the two countries - were not allowed to communicate with points outside North Korea during searches."

"They are cut off," the spokesman said. But he did not explain why the previous agreement was not now acceptable. The command said that the United States was ready to resume operations "after they (North Koreans) have created an appropriate environment."

"Wednesday's announcement came a day after the Defense Department announced the latest discovery of remains believed to be those of American troops missing in the North since the 1950-53 Korean War. Those remains are being sent to Hawaii for positive identification. "The Department of Defense today announced that the U.S. government is temporarily suspending U.S. remains recovery operations in North Korea," the brief Pacific Command announcement said."

"The United States is prepared to continue Joint POW/MIA (Prisoner of War/Missing in Action) Accounting Command humanitarian missions to locate, recover and repatriate the remains of Americans still missing in North Korea after they have created an appropriate environment. The U.S. government remains committed to achieving the fullest possible accounting for Americans still missing from the Korean War as well as all past conflicts," it added." "Larry Greer, spokesman for the Pentagon's POW/MIA office, said U.S. personnel have worked inside North Korea every year since 1996, undertaking five one-month missions annually to search for remains of Americans missing since the Korean War. During that time, U.S. teams have recovered more than 220 sets of remains, Greer said. Of those, 25 have been identified and returned to their families for burial with full military honors, Greer said."

"The latest contingent of 27 U.S. officials, split into two teams working in two different locations, left North Korea on Tuesday after spending a bit more than a month in the communist country, Greer said. He said the 27 Americans did not face any "force protection" issues while in North Korea."

Following the Pentagon announcement North Korea announced an end to all future recovery operations. Pyongyang's response was reported by Voice of America. Full text of that story follows:

"North Korea has declared an end to efforts to recover the remains of American soldiers missing in action since the 1950-1953 Korean War. A statement released by Pyongyang Thursday said the action follows a U.S. decision to temporarily suspend the program. The statement says now U.S. remains lost on old North Korean battlefields can never be recovered."

"Pentagon officials said last week they were suspending the recovery mission in the communist state, accusing North Korea of creating an atmosphere dangerous to U.S. workers. North Korean officials say no member of a U.S. recovery team had ever been at risk, and accused the Bush Administration of politicizing the humanitarian effort. Since the recovery operation began in 1996, more than 200 sets of remains have been found.

How We See It – The U.S., in an effort to force North Korea back to the table on the nuclear issue, suspended POW/MIA recovery operation, thus cutting off the many millions of dollars paid to the North Koreans for access to battlefields and former Prisoner of War Camps. One source has told us that the North Koreans are paid far more than the Vietnamese for access to these sites and the ability to conduct recovery operations.

So, once again our POWs and MIAs are expendable. Once again, the families are forced to wait and once again the U.S. government proves the POW/MIA issue is not and never was this nations "highest national priority."

POW Petition Drive – Due to logistics and volume, signatures gathered in Washington D.C. are still being counted. As are petitions brought cross country by Carry the Flame and those received in the mail, before and after Memorial Day. We should have a final count in our next newsletter.

The Petition Drive reminded us that not everyone is on the Internet. That lesson was driven home by the number of phone calls received by individuals wishing to assist in the POW Petition Drive, but were only learning of the effort, from the various mailed newsletters publicizing the effort. For that reason, we are continuing to collect signatures, to reinstate the Prisoner of War designation. We ask that all petitions be mailed in no later then June 25th, to the address at the bottom of the petition.

Special Thanks – to all those who gathered signatures for the POW Petition. You know who you are and your efforts and dedication to our Prisoners of War, past, present and Heaven forbid... future, is deeply appreciated.

JPAC Speaks – One of the guest speakers at Rolling Thunder was JPAC Lt. Col. Mark Brown. During his speech, an appeal was issued for POW/MIA family members to provide blood samples for mt-DNA testing. According to Lt. Col. Brown there are over 1100 remains at JPAC with no dental, personal effects or other evidence to offer a clue to identity.

With no clue to identity, the use of mt-DNA testing would be a "sole and primary" means of identification. We were assured by former Assistant Secretary of Defense for POW/MIA Affairs Robert Jones that mt-DNA would never be used as a "sole or primary" means of identification. According to the letter received from Mr. Jones strong circumstantial evidence had to exist. Under those circumstances, mt-DNA would be used as a confirming tool.

With no dental remains, personal effects or other evidence of identity, what's the strong circumstantial evidence that would justify the use of mt-DNA testing for identification purposes?

Question #8 – Among our 2004 unanswered questions, submitted to DPMO, was the following:

With regard to mt-DNA identifications, we would like to know how many multiple loss incidents have been encountered where testing revealed that one or more individuals from the same loss have had the same mt-DNA?

The Answer – There have been two cases where individuals from the same multiple loss incident had the same mt-DNA testing. In one case two individuals from the same aircraft had the same mt-DNA. In the second case, three individuals from the same loss incident had the same mt-DNA.

This information was provided to us, during a January 2003 briefing, by the head of the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL).

Imagine how many unrelated matches could be found and presented as an identification if 1100 remains were compared to reference samples from all families involved? That's not identifying remains. That's a roll of the dice.

Why does Johnie Webb still have a job?

Speaking of JPAC – There's a new commander at JPAC, just in time for the annual meetings. The new Commander is Brig. Gen. Michael C. Flowers. Gen. Flowers assumed command June 4th as reported by the Associated Press;

"Flowers last served in Kosovo where he was the chief of staff of the NATO force for the past year. He said he would continue the work of his predecessor, Maj. Gen. W. Montague Winfield, to recover and identify remains from around the world."

"We're very sensitive to the needs of the families, to their wanting to come to closure, to know exactly what happened to their loved ones," Flowers said after the change of command ceremony. "We devote a lot of time to talking with the families, meeting with the families and informing the families of what our proposed future actions are."

Don't Forget H.Res 123 – calling for the establishment in the House of Representatives, a Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs. As of now, we have 11 cosponsors. Contact your Congressional Representative and ask that they cosponsor H. Res 123. For more visit www.nationalalliance.org

June Meeting in Washington D.C. – DPMO has scheduled a briefing for Veterans and Concerned citizens for Wednesday June 15th at 8:30 AM at the DoubleTree Hotel, in Crystal City Va. We know this is late notice, but if you haven't made your travel plans or you can change them and can afford a couple of extra nights in the hotel we urge you to attend this briefing.

National Alliance of Families 16th Annual Forum is scheduled for June 16th - 18th, 2005. Our forum is conducted to coincide with the Governments annual Vietnam POW/MIA Family Briefings. We urge all family members to attend this years' government briefing. The government will provide free airfare to two family members to attend the government briefings. There is no charge or registration fee to attend the government briefings and you do not have to belong to an organization to attend these briefings.

This year we will meet at the Crowne Plaza Hotel located at 1489 Jefferson Davis Highway. The Crowne Plaza is a short walk from the DoubleTree Hotel, site of the government briefings. Room rates for the Alliance is $109.00 per night plus tax. Parking is $7.00 per day. Call 1-800-2CROWNE. The deadline for reservations was May 20th. However, you can still get the Alliance rate if you call, now!

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: