17 May 2014; updated 22 July 2014.  SECDEF Hagel has directed the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, Michael Lumpkin, to provide him -- within 30 days -- a plan to do something to speed up the identification of remains and lots of other nonsense.  Here are my comments. 

17 March 2014:  Here we go again.   A recent SECDEF memo is the latest in a long line of actions -- stretching back over three decades -- intended to reorganize, reinvigorate, and "fix" the "MIA accounting process."  Nothing to see here.  Move along.

25 April 2013:  Been a long time but now another phony story emerges.  Go to this link and read the description of a new "documentary film."   The filmmakers claim to have discovered  KIA/BNR John Hartley Robertson (SFC, USArmy) living in a village in Laos.  Not true.  Investigators from the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office visited this clown a couple of times, took DNA samples and compared them to DNA samples from Robertson family members . . . not even close.

6 December 2010:  This is the funniest thing I've read in years!!  Former member of Congress and one of the dumbest men in the world, John LeBoutillier, was ripped off for around $800,000 in a "live POW" scam!!!!

30 October 2010:  As of 31 October 2010, it's time to stop.

8 January 2010:  Former Congressman John LeBoutellier appears to have been scammed out of $18.5K by someone claiming to have information about US POWs.  Heh, heh.

2 August 2009:  Remains of US Navy Captain Scott Speicher found, identified.  Speicher was lost on the first night of the Gulf War, January 1991.

14 July 2008:  An observation:  On 10 July 2008, the Military Personnel Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee held hearings on the POW-MIA issue -- the first Congressional hearings on the issue for several years ( 11 years ?).  I note with great satisfaction that the only people testifying were Navy Rear Adm. Donna Crisp, Commander,  Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, and Charles Ray, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for POW and MIA affair.  No mention was made of the "live prisoner" myth or of "live sightings."  None of the usual "activists" were allowed to testify.  Thank goodness -- no Earl Hopper, no Ted Sampley, no Roger Hall, no Billy Hendon -- none of the usual foolishness.   About time.

15 June 2008.  Attacks on the POW record of Senator John McCain have picked up now that he is the presumptive Republican presidential candidate.  In a word, these attacks are nonsense.  The origin of the attacks on McCain is a twisted tale.  Start at this link to read the facts about McCain's POW record and about the attacks on him.  It's a long story, be patient, read all about it.

5 March 2008.  As of early March 2008, a website titled "Vietnam Veterans Against John McCain" has appeared on the Internet.  This site contains monstrous lies about John McCain's behavior as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam.  The site is the work of one Ted Sampley of Kinston, NC.  I will post on the MIA Facts Site responses to Sampley's lies about McCain.  Meanwhile, start at this link to learn the background of Sampley and his attacks on John McCain.

8 July 2007.  More about Hendon's MIA claims.  Check out this item -- it's quite relevant in view of Hendon's new book claiming that hundreds of US POWs were abandoned in SEAsia.  Ronald Reagan's comment on Hendon: ". . . off his rocker."

29 May 2007.  I promised myself I wouldn't do this -- but here goes.  Former Congressman Billy Hendon and his long-time girl-friend Beth Stewart have produced a book titled something like An Enormous Lie -- the book is supposed to be a collection of US government documents proving that American POWs were abandoned in Southeast Asia and that there has been and still is a wide-spread conspiracy within the US government to cover up this fact.  Hendon's claims are nonsense.  I have no intention of reading his book -- because I have heard it all before.  If anyone cares, this is what I recommend:  If you must, read Hendon's book.  Then, come back to the MIA Facts Site and compare Hendon's claims to the articles on this site.  I'm betting that every single incident that Hendon uses to support his claim is covered by an article here.  You may want to start with this article about Hendon.

12 September 2006.  Ambassador Charles Ray named as new DASD/POW-MIA Affairs.  Friends of mine who know him speak highly of him -- glad to see an individual of his background and integrity in the job.  I give him two months before the "activists" want to crucify him -- but that tells us more about the "activists" than about DASD Ray.

8 March 2006.  Roger Hall -- a "POW-MIA activist" is also a certifiable screwball.  For years Hall has been pursuing a FOIA request and a lawsuit against the CIA, claiming the CIA has documents proving the presence of US POWs in SEAsia after the end of the Vietnam War.  In February 2006 an appeals court ruled against Hall mainly because -- get this -- the CIA had released the documents he was requesting.  Hall is too dumb to understand the court's ruling -- here is an article about Hall with a link to his site so you can read the court's decision and Hall's response.

9 January 2006.  Almost one year ago (12 February 2005) the "National Alliance of Families for the Return of America's Missing" (at least, that's what they were calling themselves then) announced in their newsletter that the US government had evidence of "hundreds" of US personnel imprisoned in the Soviet Gulag -- "hundreds"  -- that's their words.  Well -- folks, it's been a year -- where are they?  What are their names?  What is being done to bring them home?  Where is any more information?  Could it be that this is just another crock generated by incompetent "researchers" in DPMO?  I'll report, you decide.

12 December 2005.  On 2 December 2005, DASD Jerry Jennings wrote to the DPMO staff a letter informing them that he was retiring from Federal service and stepping down from his position as DASD/POW-MIA Affairs.  I won't go into the details -- mainly because I don't know most of the details -- but -- Jennings had been under attack by the family organizations for some time.  While the family organizations will give long, involved explanations for their opposition to Jennings, in my experience, their attack on him comes from their not being able to control him and comes from Jennings telling people the truth and not telling them what they want to hear.  A short notice of Jennings' retirement is posted on the DPMO website at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/

27 September 2004.  Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense and Director of DPMO Jerry Jennings recently made statements relative to the possibility of US POWs being transferred from Vietnam to the USSR that are, in a word, nonsense.  I don't know who Jennings is trying to impress but he would do better to stick with the facts -- which do not support his claims.  Read about it here.

18 September 2004.  This article will be of interest only to a few who are "insiders" to the issue of Americans missing in SEAsia.  Beginning on 11 September 2004, the National Alliance of Families started publishing claims made by an "inside source."  I know the source and in this article I reveal his name and discuss the phony claims he makes.  He is a good guy; I don't know what has happened to him; it's a shame that he will be used, abused, and tossed aside. 

August 21, 2004. The 2004 U. S. Presidential campaign is underway and the Republicans are launching vicious attacks on John Kerry, the Democratic candidate.  In the main, the attacks focus on Kerry's record in Vietnam -- a war that George W. Bush avoided by using his father's connections to get into the Texas Air National Guard.  Some of the attacks on Kerry are coming from the same individual who has been instrumental in spreading false claims about missing Americans and about Senator John McCain. Read about this individual here.  Here is a link to several articles that debunk the lies being told about John Kerry.

February 4, 2004.  Excellent column in the Chicago Sun-Times -- the author will likely be attacked by the "activists."