The Vietnam-Era Prisoner-of-War/Missing-in-Action Database
United States Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs
On August 2, 1991, the United States Senate approved a resolution
introduced by Sen. Robert Smith providing for the creation of a
Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs to serve during the remainder
of the 102nd Congress. In October, 1991, a Chairman (Sen. John
Kerry), Vice-chairman (Sen. Robert Smith), and ten additional Members
were appointed to the Committee. A resolution providing funding
was approved. The hearings began on November 5, 1991. The Committee’s
Final Report was issued on January 13, 1993.
The Committee's task was to investigate the events, policies,
and knowledge that guided U.S. Government POW/MIA-related actions
over the previous 20 years and to do so in order to advance the
following goals:
- to determine whether there was evidence that American POWs
survived Operation Homecoming and, if so, whether there was evidence
that some may have been alive in captivity;
- to ensure the adequacy of government procedures for following
up on live-sighting reports and other POW/MIA related information;
- to de-mystify the POW/MIA accounting process so that the families
and the public can better understand the meaning behind the numbers
and statistics used in discussions of the issue;
- to establish an open, comprehensive record, and to provide
for the broad declassification of POW/MIA materials in order
to enable both the Committee and the public to make informed
judgments about questions of policy, process, and fact;
- to lend added weight to Executive branch efforts to obtain
cooperation from foreign governments in Southeast Asia and elsewhere
in accounting for missing Americans;
- to review the activities of private organizations who participate
in fundraising and educational efforts related to the POW/MIA
issue; and
- to examine, to the extent time and resources permit, unresolved
issues pertaining to missing Americans from World War II, Korea,
and the Cold War.
U.S. Senate
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