Vietnam War POW/MIA Southeast Asia FBI - CIA - State Department Files
7,670 pages of FBI, CIA, and State Department documents dealing with American POWs/MIAs in Southeast Asia.
FBI FILES4,900 pages of files copied from FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C., covering American POWs/MIAs in Southeast Asia.
Files document various FBI state side investigations into reported sightings of the remains of and living U.S. servicemen in Vietnam and Laos.
Files chronicle a 1970-1973 FBI investigation of the Committee of Liaison with Families of Servicemen Detained in North Vietnam (COLIFAM), a U.S. antiwar group acting as "liaison" between POWs and their families. The group was alleged by the FBI to be a vehicle of North Vietnamese propaganda whose activities the FBI believed to be detrimental to the health and welfare of the prisoners held in North Vietnam. The FBI was investigating COLIFAM for possible prosecution for solicitation under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
Files show the efforts of the FBI in 1982 to compile information concerning American prisoners of war or American citizens in Vietnam. In 1992, the FBI provided assistance to the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs by furnishing information and/or performing investigations on behalf of the Committee on all facets of POW issues.
CIA FILES2,200 pages of CIA operational files, finished intelligence reports, memoranda, background studies, and open source files dealing with American POWs/MIAs in Southeast Asia from 1962 to 1992, mostly from the late 60's and early 70's. These records concerning Vietnam-era prisoners of war and missing in action were located, reviewed and released as a result of requests from next of kin and other interested parties concerning specific individuals in this category.
Most of the records, however, were released as a result of Executive Order 12812 dated July 1992. This order required all executive branch agencies of the government to review, declassify and release all relevant documents pertaining to American POWs and MIAs missing in Southeast Asia.
DEPARTMENT OF STATE FILES570 pages of Department of State American POWs/MIAs in Southeast Asia files. Files contain memoranda dealing with diplomatic issues from the late 1980's and early 1990's.