The Pentagon's effort to find missing service members from past wars is wracked within inefficiencies, lacks a clear mission and fails to differentiate remains that can be recovered from those lost forever, an inspector general's report charged Friday.
As a first step, the Pentagon needs to limit its MIA search to those whose bodies might still be found, identified and repatriated, the report said, citing investigators who looked into the recovery process.
The Pentagon lists 83,000 American troops missing in action going back to World War II. But at least 50,000 of them are almost certainly beyond recovery since they were aboard ships or aircraft lost over deep ocean waters, the inspector general report said.
The report recommends that the Pentagon conclude that these remains -- mostly from World War II -- will likely never be recovered and notify the families.
Another problem is caused by confusion over who in the military can approve disinterring remains of service members buried as unknown casualties to try to determine their identities, the report said. As a result, some MIA cases that could be resolved remain open, the report said.
This includes an estimated 300 sailors killed in the sinking of the USS Oklahoma during the Pearl Harbor surprise attack on Dec. 7, 1941. Those remains were recovered and buried on land as unknown casualties. But the Navy has been reluctant to approve disinterring the remains, the report said.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, responding to the 108-page report, concurred with its recommendations and said he has already initiated changes.
Friday 17 October 2014
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/10/17/mia-inspector-general-report-assessment-pentagon/17442187/?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=usatoday-newstopstories
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