Why the Pentagon is shutting down the search for POWs and missing troops
 

Why the Pentagon is shutting down the search for POWs and missing troops
By: Mike Glenn - The Washington Times - 03-24-20
Re: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news...s-and-missing/

Be Advised:

A Defense Department agency that tracks down the remains of missing military members and prisoners-of-war has been forced to suspend search missions because of the coronavirus pandemic:

* Officials with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Office said COVID-19 has had a “significant impact” on their worldwide operations.

* All field missions this month have been either been completed or terminated earlier than planned.

* Agency personnel have returned to their home base. All future missions have been postponed or canceled, at least through early June.

* The agency suspended several missions earlier than planned, including recovery operations and investigations in the Republic of Kiribati - location of the Battle of Tarawa in World War II - along with other former battlefields in the Philippines, Poland and Vietnam.

* Other than a privately-funded underwater investigation off the coast of Latvia, there are no search missions occurring anywhere, agency officials said.

* “All personnel are home and in 14 day self-isolation,” DPAA officials said in a statement.

* Most of the agency employees are now teleworking when possible to limit the number of employees in offices.

* Organized meetings for family members planned in Miami and Little Rock have been cancelled. Briefings will still be provided by telephone, DPAA officials said.