[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 3, Volume 1]
[Revised as of January 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 3CFRMar20]

Presidential Determination No. 2002-11 of March 20, 2002

Cooperation by Vietnam in Accounting for United States Prisoners of War and 
Missing in Action

Memorandum for the Secretary of State

          As provided in section 610 of the Departments of Commerce, 
          Justice, and State, the Judiciary and Related Agencies 
          Appropriations Act, 2002, Public Law 107-77, and laws 
          referenced therein, I hereby determine, based on all 
          information available to the United States Government, that 
          the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is fully 
          cooperating in good faith with the United States in the 
          following four areas related to achieving the fullest possible 
          accounting for Americans unaccounted for as a result of the 
          Vietnam War:

1)

resolving discrepancy cases, live sightings, and field activities;

2)

recovering and repatriating American remains;

3)

accelerating efforts to provide documents that will help lead to the 
fullest possible accounting of prisoners of war and missing in action (POW/
MIAs); and

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4)

providing further assistance in implementing trilateral investigations with 
Laos.

          I further determine that the appropriate laboratories 
          associated with POW/MIA accounting are thoroughly analyzing 
          remains, material, and other information and fulfilling their 
          responsibilities as set forth in subsection (B) of section 609 
          of the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the 
          Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999, 
          which is incorporated by reference in section 610.
          The Department of Justice has advised that section 610 is 
          unconstitutional because it purports to use a condition on 
          appropriations as a means to direct my execution of 
          responsibilities that the Constitution commits exclusively to 
          the President. I am providing this determination as a matter 
          of comity, while reserving the position that the condition 
          enacted in section 610 is unconstitutional.
          In making this determination, I have taken into account all 
          information available to the United States Government as 
          reported to me, the full range of ongoing accounting 
          activities in Vietnam, including joint and unilateral 
          Vietnamese efforts, and the concrete results we have attained 
          as a result. As we look to further strengthen cooperation, 
          Vietnam's unilateral provision of POW/MIA-related documents 
          and records should be improved, focused initially on archival 
          data pertaining to Americans captured, missing, or killed in 
          areas of Laos and Cambodia under wartime Vietnamese control. 
          Vietnam should also focus greater attention on locating and 
          providing information on discrepancy cases, with priority on 
          those last known alive in captivity or in immediate proximity 
          to capture, and to locating and repatriating the remains of 
          those who died while in Vietnamese control that have not yet 
          been returned.
          Finally, in making this determination, I wish to reaffirm my 
          continuing personal commitment to the entire POW/MIA 
          community, especially to the immediate families, relatives, 
          friends, and supporters of these brave individuals, and to 
          reconfirm that achieving the fullest possible accounting of 
          our prisoners of war and missing in action remains one of the 
          most important priorities in our relations with Vietnam.
          You are authorized and directed to report this determination 
          to the appropriate committees of the Congress and to publish 
          it in the Federal eister.

GEORGE W. BUSH

THE WHITE HOUSE,

Washington, March 20, 2002.

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