From the March, 1999 Coalition Newsletter
My Viewpoint
on the
U.S. Russian Joint Commission on POW/MIAs
By Irene L. Mandra
As you know from
our last newsletter, we have a new U.S. side co-chair in the Joint Commission,
Major General Roland LaJoie. I hope that one of the first things the General
will deal with is the shortage of personnel in the Joint Commission. With more
staff the work can be better pursued, particularly in regard to eastern Europe.
I know we are
seeking to expand our cooperation with the Russians in regard to access of
archival records. In that context, a number of documents having to do with
Soviet losses during the Korean War have already been passed along to the
Russians.
My questions are
these:
1. What about Americans?
2. Is General LaJoie going to make sure that the Russians understand that we
are still waiting for their answers
about our losses during the Korean and Cold War?
3. Why have they been totally unresponsive in producing any documents that
would shed light on the disposition of
American Servicemen brought into the then Soviet
Union?
4. Why isn’t the Clinton Administration backing the Joint Commission, to help
make it happen?
It’s high time for the Russians to face this issue, among many others.
We Family members deserve answers.
General LaJoie has given the Coalition an overview of his intentions for
the Joint Commission’s work over the coming months. (For more on General
LaJoie’s comments, see update on the U.S. Russian Joint Commission’s
Investigation into the Reported Transfer of American POW’s to the Former Soviet
Union, elsewhere in this issue.) After the General has had a chance to become
more immersed in the Commission’s work, we would like to know what specific
policies he will support and what agenda he will seek to implement, with an eye
to moving the accounting process to higher and more productive levels. I look
forward to a meeting where the General can hear the families’ concerns and
opinions.
I would like to see the U.S. Joint Commission ...
... remain a distinct and separate entity, with
designated personnel and support resources.
... maintain an ongoing agenda of inquiry into, and
follow-up on , leads and evidence.
... track important intelligence documents forward
and backward.
In other words, go to the sources, and to other
intelligence offices that analyze the same information.
... routinely disperse trip reports to the family
organizations, without our having to request them.
... consult family organizations for their input
before any material changes are made to the JCSD,
both in staffing leadership slots and in categorical
shifts in policy or operational initiatives.
I wish the General much luck. He is at the helm now. We family members
will be waiting and watching and I urge him to keep us informed of his
progress. If this General LaJoie is any thing like General Loeffke (the first
General who ran Task Force Russia) we family members will be in good hands.