Overview
Intelligence
Imagery Intelligence (IMINT)
Imagery Recommendations of Senate Select Committee
GX2527
Changing Government Positions
Signals Intelligence (SIGINT)
Live Sighting Intelligence
Access To POW/MIA Records and Declassification
Public Release of POW/MIA Records
The Freedom of Information Act
Minnesota Won't Forget FOIA Lawsuit
Learning the truth

Overview

The U.S. government proclaims they leave "no stone unturned" and provides all information to families. If you take the time to examine documentation, you will those statements and reality are like night and day. Documents still need to be turned over to the POW/MIA families, no matter how much U.S. officials may be embarrassed. The dishonest statements made by our government need to be corrected. Once that is accomplished, information about last known alive Americans needs to be LEGITIMATELY pursued. The answers are with foreign governments, but the solution is in Washington.

Intelligence

While the public has heard much about human intelligence, there has been far less media coverage about imagery intelligence (IMINT) and signals intelligence (SIGINT). At least as far back as the Vietnam War, downed pilots were taught to create symbols on the ground should they ever be downed or captured. Archived satellite imagery needs to be examined to see if the pilots survived. The NSA intercepted millions of communications during the Vietnam War, a number of which detailed the capture of Americans.

Imagery Intelligence (IMINT)

The 1991 Senate Select POW/MIA Committee found symbols in modern day imagery that matched names and distress symbols of Americans missing in Southeast Asia.

GX2527

Colonel Larry Burroughs, former head of the national photographic interpretation Center, said he was 100% certain the GX2527 found in imagery of Dong Vai prison in Vietnam was manmade and no more than one year old.

Imagery Recommendations of Senate Select Committee

The Senate Select POW/MIA Committee unanimously recommended that an imagery task force be created to review archived imagery.

Changing Government Positions on Imagery

Various conflicting and often contradictory responses and statements about imagery have been put out by the U.S. government. A 1988 satellite U.S. satellite took a photo of a "USA" with a possible "K." "K" was the last long term Escape and Evasion code used by pilots in the Vietnam War. The "K" was to have an appendage attached at the lower right. The pilots were to put down such a symbol should they be captured or in a long term evasion situation. Although internal CIA analysis revealed the letters were dug into the earth, the U.S. government says Lao youth created the symbols by piling up rice straw ON TOP OF THE GROUND and setting the rice straw ablaze. The CIA analysis clearly states the water filled letters were dug into the ground. The actual satellite image is classified, but a depiction of the image is on the cover of the New York Times Bestseller "An Enormous Crime. . . " at www.enormouscrime.com

Signals Intelligence (SIGINT)

The NSA has declined to provide a number of intelligence records from the Vietnam War to POW/MIA next-of-kin. POW/MIA next of kin.

Live Sighting Intelligence

Government statements about live sighting information have often been in error or not properly investigated. After the Senate Select Committee, Senator Bob Smith took a live sighting report and easily located a prison the U.S. government had claimed did not exist.

Access To POW/MIA Records and Declassification

1989 Intelligence Authorization Act and Next-of-kin

The 1989 Intelligence Authorization Act requires that Vietnam War next of kin be provided with live sighting reports in a timely manner. Our FOIA lawsuit, discussed below, showed the NSA had not obeyed the law. Likewise, the 2006 discovery by the National Alliance of Families showed even Vietnamese admissions of capturing missing men had been concealed from next-of-kin by the Defense Department.

Public Release of POW/MIA Records

Large volumes of POW/MIA documents remained classified after Presidential Executive orders requiring the release of POW/MIA records. President Clinton finally set a deadline for executive branch agencies. Presidential Directive 8 required agencies to release records by Veterans Day 1993. Despite the fact that agencies certified that they had reviewed and released POW/MIA documents, later evidence showed that many records remained unreviewed for declassification.

The Freedom of Information Act

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) remains as a powerful tool to acquire information. However, agencies have denied holding information that has been the subject of FOIA requests, only to be later found out that the agencies held that information. Agencies have used various tactics to delay the release of documents. For example, as of this writing, one of our FOIA requests has not been initially processed even though it was submitted over ten years ago. In another case, we have waited over five years for a FOIA appeal to be reviewed--we are still waiting.

Minnesota Won't Forget FOIA Lawsuit

Minnesota Won't Forget POW/MIA won access to documents after taking the Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency, and Defense Intelligence Agency to federal court.

Learning the truths about our POWs and MIAs

We have provided links to some wonderful sites where you can view documentation for yourself. The newsletters on the National Alliance of POW/MIA Families website illustrate real life examples of government dishonesty. The American Freedom Network radio station on the Internet
has a three hour radio show available over the Internet. That show often has family member and former POWs as guests. Listen to the families of those known to be captured or last known alive. Once you see for yourself, consider helping by asking your government servants what they are doing to promote an honest and honorable accounting. Put pressure on your servants in the U.S. government to comply with the laws, correct the false information provided to the public, and properly investigate what happened to our missing Americans. Ask that the United States ENGAGES foreign government when they bring up the topic of American prisoners who survived, instead of running away.