The warmest of greetings to all family members, veterans, and friends. In the past few months, I have been involved in many events that have allowed me to speak on behalf of our families and their loved ones. I'd like to take a little time to describe to you those events as well as the results. These events include attending the U.S. Russia Archival Conference, interview with POW/MIA Freedom Radio, the National Family Update, Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO)-Department of Defense Personnel Accounting Conference. In addition, my husband Frank and his Army Reserve Unit, (378th CSB) from Fort Indiantown Gap Pennsylvania have safely returned from their tour in Kuwait.

On April 13-15th a U.S.-Russia Archival Conference was held at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland. The conference was attended by the U.S.- Russia Joint Commission as well as archivists from around the country. Some of those represented the Library of Congress such as Dr. Harry Leich, and from institutes of higher learning such as Dr. Mark Kramer of the Harvard Institute on Cold War Studies, Kathy Lloyd and Dr. Edward J. Marolda from the Naval Historical Center. Representatives from family organizations and Veterans Groups were also in attendance.

The Russian Archivists that were present mainly represented the area of Russia from the Ministry of Defense in Podulsk. Our U.S. Joint Commission staff praised the Russian archivists, and their staff on their consistent assistance in helping to determine the fate of many U.S. soldiers. More broadly, the issue of contention seems to be the need for the agencies that represent the KGB and GRU files to be come actively involved in the commission. In addition, the U.S. side of the commission is interested in a more comprehensive understanding of how we can access files that are still classified, broadening our area of search, and transferring of aging documents held at the Russian archives at Podulsk.

I expect a summary will be forthcoming following the conclusion of the 19th Plenum of the U.S.-Russia Joint Commission on POW/MIA's held in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany (May 25-28, 2004). At this meeting, the report on the Archival Conference will be reviewed and discussed and strategies developed to further the advancement efforts for both the American and Russian sides of the commission. Like many of you, I attended the Annual Government Briefing in McLean Virginia April 30-May 1, 2004. I can guarantee you that work occurred behind the scenes as several of your board members met with Government officials to discuss moving forward on many issues that have seemed to remain stagnant (generic file access, providing more information to families at the onset, chronological data base, representation of family members within the JC and DPMO.

May 9, 2004 I was a guest on the American Freedom Network, POW-MIA Radio show also available on the Internet at, www.americanewsnet.com. Mr. Rod Utech was the host of the show. We discussed issues of concern and future events involving the Coalition. I will be a guest again in the near future, so look for this information on our site at: www.coaltionoffamilies.org for a date, time, and topics.

DPMO sponsored the second annual Department of Defense Personnel Accounting Conference on May 18-20 at the Doubletree Hotel in Arlington Virginia. I was invited to attend and present the Coalition's vision of the future for the POW/MIA mission. It was an honor to represent our family members and suggest ways in which many of the issues we have been pursuing could be accomplished together. Utilizing the information gained at the above conferences, I developed a presentation highlighting those unresolved issues. I am expecting to receive feedback in the near future regarding the points brought forth in my presentation.

I am encouraged with the many positive responses I received at this Personnel Accounting Conference from the various government and military staff members of DPMO, Joint Commission, causality offices, etc. Mr. Jerry D. Jennings, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, POW/Missing Personnel Affairs personally promised me a response to my many issues presented at the conference.

Now the real work begins. It is a matter of keeping "the powers that be" accountable to their tasks and promises. Please feel free to contact me at Robin@coalitionoffamilies.org with any concerns/suggestions that can be utilized in future meetings. I hope that you find this issue informative as well as a help to you. As always, it is an honor and privilege to be your president.