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FOIA Case
In 1993, the Senate Select Committee on
POW/MIA hearings adjourned and concluded that:
"We acknowledge that there is no
proof that U.S. POWs survived, but neither is there
proof that all of those who did not return had died.
There is evidence, moreover, that indicates the
possibility of survival, at least for a small number,
after Operation Homecoming"
During the course of those hearings, the
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) supplied "tens of
thousands" of documents for committee review.
These documents are detrimental in determining the fate of
hundreds, if not all of our POWs and MIAs.
In 1992, then President of the United
States, George H.W. Bush issued Executive Order No. 12812, which
ordered the CIA (and all other Government agencies) to
release all information pertaining to our POWs and
MIAs. President Clinton further reaffirmed EO12812,
by issuing a Presidential Directive (No. 8) which required all governmental
agencies to complete their audits by Veterans Day,
1993. However, the CIA has continually denied the
release of or access to a large portion of these
documents.
On May 28, 1998, a Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA) civil action (No. 98-1319 PLF) was
filed in the U.S. District for the District of Columbia,
by Plaintiff Roger Hall. Plaintiff Hall pressed for
the case to go to trial, while the defendant (the CIA)
moved for a summary judgment so that the case would be
dismissed.
In August of 2000, the courts found that
the CIA had documentation on the last known location of at
least one live Prisoner of War and then ordered the CIA to
increase its search for additional documentation relating
to POWs and MIAs, including satellite imagery. Thus far,
the identity or identities of the last know alive have yet
to be revealed. However, the court also allowed the
CIA to withhold some documentation under the covert operations protection of the National Security Act of 1947 and for
reasons of national security.
In May of 2004, Roger Hall and two
additional plaintiffs, Studies Solutions Results Inc., and
Accuracy in Media, filed a new case with the U.S. District for the District of Columbia to
address shortcomings of the original suit, that was thrown
out of court by the Judge. You can view documents
related to the new case here. |
