LETTER TO LOUIS STOKES FROM (SANITIZED)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP89T00234R000300430031-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 4, 2013
• Sequence Number: 31
• Publication Date: December 29, 1988
• Content Type: LETTER

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V
W
1 DFr -- _ )
The Honorable Louis Stokes
Chairman
Permanent Select Committee
on Intelligence
House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
The Director has asked me to respond on his behalf to your letter
of 7 October 1987 requesting the views of the Intelligence Community on
H.R. 2260, a bill that would direct that records concerning live sightings
of American MIAs in Southeast Asia be made public. You specifically requested
that our views include a judgment on the magnitude and usefulness of effectively
declassifying all live sighting documents.
Let me say at the outset that CIA fully supports current policy to provide
information that pertains or may pertain to a specific missing serviceman or
civilian. Enactment of the bill, however, is not necessary for family members
to receive such information since it already is the policy of the U.S.
Government to report to a family member any information that correlates or may
correlate to an MIA.
On the other hand, we believe enactment of the bill would make an
unwarranted extension of current policy by requiring the release of
unevaluated, raw intelligence reports to the public. Our primary concern is
that release of these reports, even if the names of individual sources were
deleted, could jeopardize current priority intelligence efforts to determine if
Americans are still being held captive by exposing sensitive intelligence
sources and methods. Release of the reports could also lead the public to the
incorrect conclusion that hundreds of prisoners are being held when, in fact,
most of these reports either relate to Americans who have returned to the U.S.
or have been shown to be demonstrably false. Further details on both of these
points are provided in the enclosed viewsletter of the Department of Defense on
the bill. The letter was submitted to Chairman Fascell this past summer and
represents the views of the Defense Intelligence Agency, which is the focal
point for all POW/MIA information. The Agency has reviewed this letter and
concurs with the views expressed in it.
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As a subsidiary consideration, I should also note that the bill would
impose a large manpower burden on the Intelligence Community in terms of
review of documents. We are informed by the Defense Intelligence Agency that
they have approximately' 2300 files containing documents of live sightings of
MIAs in Southeast Asia. To just search these files would consume over 4000
manhours of time. There are also other records not contained in files that
would have to be searched as well. The records retrieved would then have to
be reviewed to remove information revealing sensitive sources and methods.
Given the large amount of documents that would have to be retrieved and
reviewed, the 30-day deadline for releasing the material is totally
unrealistic.
The Office of Management and Budget advises that from the standpoint of
the Administration's program, there is no objection to the submission of this
report for consideration of the Committee. I appreciate the opportunity to
comment on the legislation.
A similar letter is being sent to Representative Hyde.
Sincerely,
Enclosure as
stated
Distribution:
Original - Addressee
1 - AD/OCA
1 - D/OCA
Acting Director of Congressional Affairs
1 - OCA Registry
1 Leg/Subject File
1 -Signer
I - OCARead
OCA/Leg
(29 December 1987)
STAT
STAT
STAT
STAT
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L D W S STOKES. O H I O CHAIRMAN L [\ '7 J J V I - Q / ROOM M-106. U.S. CArrta
WAVE McCURDY.OKLAHOUA (Rec' d ER 130Ct ) (202) 225-121
ANTHONY C BEILENSON. CALIFORNu
RL"BE4T W KASTENMEIEN WISCONSIN THOMAS K LIFTMEN STAFF DINECTON
DAN DANIEL %MMINIA
" %:0C NEW U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MICHAEL) ONEITE:HIEFE:OUNSEL
U.S. A MEW JERSEY THOMAS R SMEETON ASSOCUTE COVNSEi
GE 043E E ROWN A. CALIFORNIA
MA^HER ' M.H.GH NEW YORK PERMANENT SELECT COMMITTEE
NERNARC J DW"EN NEW JESSE?
CHANUS W7LSDN TEXAS ON INTELLIGENCE
BAN6tM B KENNELLY CONNECTICUT
HFN41 ; HYDE !.LINO!.
D,CI CHENE? WYOMING
?: LMNOSTON LOUISIANA
BOB MLEWES OHIO
DANIEL E LUNGREN CALIFORNIA
BJO SHUSTER PENNSYLVANIA
?.:',MA_ S FOLEY WASHINGTON EX OFFICIO
ROBERT H MICHEL ILLNOI . EX OFFICIO
October 7, 1987
Honorable William H. Webster
Director of Central Intelligence
Washington, D. C. 20505
Dear Judge Webster:
H.R. 2260, a bill which would require that U.S. intelligence files on
reported live sightings of U.S. POWs and MIAs in Southeast Asia be made
available to the public, has been referred to the Permanent Select Committee
on Intelligence. The Committee has received a request for a hearing and
subsequent action on the bill. Accordingly, I request the views of the
intelligence community on H.R. 2260, including a judgment on both the
magnitude and usefulness of effectively declassifying all live sighting
documents.
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I JUL Li..1
llunorat,lt I):.ant U. 1'ascell
Chairman, Foreign Affairs Comiaittt?t
11uu;c of kcprescntative.
r:ashinytor-, D.C. 20515
This- is in response to your request of May 2G, 19C7 for thc
views of the Secretary of Defense on Il.k. 22G0, 100th Conyyress,
a bill 'To direct the Federal departments and ayc:ncic_'; holding
records, concerning reported live sightings of American military
personnel classified as prisoners of war or missing in action
in Southeast Asia to make such records available to the public."
II.R. 2260 would require the Defense Intelligence Agency
(DIA), the focal point for_POW/t?IIA information, to declassify all
DIA-originated records concerning live sighting reports of pos-
sible Americans still missing or unaccounteu for in Southeast
Asia and to seek declassification by the Services, the Joint
Casualty Resolution Center, and other involved intelliger,ct-
agencies pf relevant documents originated by these organizations.
This legislation would adve-csely impact the ability of
U.S. Government intelligence agencies to collect anti investigate
information pertaining to Americans missing and unaccounted for
in Indochina. Even if sources, collection disciplines and
investigatory methods are excluded from ueclassificatior, there
are instances where it is obvious -that the substance of a
report could have only originated with a specific individual or
been collected in a certain manner, thus being sufficient in
itself to reveal the source or the collection method. Even
more importantly, we must preclude exposing our degree of
knowledge and our investigatory/analytical techniques to those
against whom we are collecting, the governments of Indochina,
so as not to enable them to negate or reduce the intelligence
community's ability to check out future POW/MIA reports. If
released without accompanying DIA analysis, raw POW/N.IA informa-
tion would be meaningless and, worse yet, subject to imaginative
interpretation in the hands of unqualified amateurs lackinc the
ability or means to investigate and analyze properly. To even
begin to try to implement the proposed legislation within the
30-day period stipulated, DIA would be forced to concentrate
solely on this proposed project to the total detriment of its
primary mission of collecting and analyzing POW/PI.A information.
Even with a concentrated and intense effort by DIA, it would be
impossible for then to achieve this time lir..it.
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a,l%? Wg,&uan'j an n ?LLIV 1L In CLbCet Vac)L ?iId SUI,)LCt to
broad lnterl.rctatiun, perhaps; in part uuc? to all incorrect I,rcr:,is,
Sp,:ci 1 ically, the Lecond t incline ("The be:tcnsi? Intell icjenc.? /-Ijency
hu:; records of more than 800 reports of si'7lhtintj:; ul Unit(?c#'
State:; personnel alive in Soutllea::t !-;;ia sine'- 197J.") rci;resc.nt!;
a misuncferstanuincj of DIA's live-::icjlrtin9 cuts,. In fact, ..i-c?
the 1-ill of f aiyon on April 30, 1975, DIA h~, acyuirc.ri almost
1,000 (959 as of June 5, 1987) reports in which the !;ourcc? cit.-
scribed a person or persons believed to be American. A signifi-
cant number of these: were sightings; which occurred prior to 1975
0r rcter to seeing Caucasians or "L?lackc", le,~dinq th' source to
infer that these non-Orientals were Americans.
UI the 959 reports, 830 have been resolved. VI/: has corre-
lated 625 of the sightings to individuals who are accc,untec' for,
such a:: returned U.S. prisoners of war, men whose remains. have
been repatriated, captured foreign nationals, and civilians
detainc?a after Saigon's fall and later released. Another 205 of
the reports were determined to be fabrications after CIT,'s anal-
ysis showed that the reports were not credible or possible.. The
remaining 129 reports, 88 of which describe the individual- in a
captive environment, are under continuing investigatic,r, by D11h
and are commonly referred to as unresolved. Contrary to isolated
misinterpretations of public, statements, these unresolved case:,
hav? not withstood the "toughest scrutiny." Some unresolvc?d
reports are so vague and contain such little information as to
preclude meaningful investigation, despite our "toucglhest scrutiny."
Unfortuntitely, some people have misperceived that the number of
unresolved reports constitute a. body of evidence substantiating:
the captivity of Americans in Indochina rather than being reports
under continuing investigation.
The propo_.ed legislation is misleading regarding that
"Certain class_fied information... concerning reports of sightings
of United States personnel in Southeast Asia since 1973 has been
turned over to the Government of Vietnam." In January 1986, the
Vietnamese Foreign Minister agreed that Vietnam would investigate
live-sighting information provided by the U.S. Government and
report the results back to us. A feu cases, such as reports
which preclude further U.S. investigation, were provided during;
subsequent technical discussions. A11 of this information, as
well as the Vietnamese responses, has been passed to the respon-
sible Congressional oversight bodies. we have and will continue to
work closely with the appropriate oversight 'committees, to include
the House POI:/t?;IA Task Force and the House and Senate intelligence
comri'ttees.
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The reference to We families of wi :;;irry arrun;,ccounte-d Lot
sc?rvicenc?n having the right to sec DIA live sicihtinUj record:;
wuulJ be valid it the sighting reports correlated to tl:c?ir rc::j~cc -
tivc? loved ones. The U.!;. Governraent, during this AcJriinistr:,tior,,
has- operated under the assumption that at least ?oM:le American::
arc- still held captive ayainst their will in Indochina; h oweve?r,
w(' thus for have been unable to confirm this. Also, it is Ucj,art-
ment of Defense policy that any information which correlate:. or
may correlate to a mis:inc or unaccounted for individual will t,(.
provided to the family, regardless 'of the substance or reliability
of the- information. rurthcr, the information will be offered
without the family having to request it. 1?rc fully endorse the right
of a family to 11avc? sill available information on their missint; or
unaccounted for loved one and will continue to providc? thei
pertinent information we acquire.
In conclusion, the Department of Defense objects to the
declassification and public disclosure of any records concerninc;
sightings reported to be of Americans who may be still be alive
in Indochina. Besides effectively undermining serious investiga-
tion of such reports, disclosure of DIA's live sighting data
would fuel unwarranted and harmful speculation and misinformation
on this sensitive and humanitarian issue. One of-the obvious
shortcomings of the proposed legislation is that it fails to
demonstrate how release of live sighting information would lead
to the recovery or accounting of any Americans missing in Indochina.
In fact,/the proposed legislation would work to the detriment of
that goal.
The Office of Management and Budget advises that, from the
standpoint of the Administration's program, there is no objection
to the presentaticn of this report for the consideration of the
Committee.
Sincerely,
a..er u- , , ",
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