[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 42 (Friday, April 3, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3224-S3226]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NATIONAL POW RECOGNITION DAY
Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, April 9 is National POW
Recognition Day, and I rise today to pay tribute to all those U.S.
service persons who guarded their country in past wars, who have been
listed as POWs or MIA, and to their families. I especially want to pay
tribute to Col. Richard A. Walsh III, an Air force pilot from Minnesota
listed as missing-in-action in Laos. We must never forget Richard and
the other MIAs for their courageous service and sacrifices. In
addition, we must never forget the sacrifices made by their families.
That is why I also want to recognize Richard's wife and a constituent
of mine, Ms. Sharon Walsh. As the executive director of the Minnesota
League of POW/MIA Families, Sharon has worked hard over the years on
behalf of our POW/MIAs and their families, and I commend her. I can't
imagine how difficult and painful it has been for Sharon and her family
not knowing exacting what happened to Richard in Southeast Asia.
Ms. Walsh asked me to enter into the Congressional Record a document
outlining some of her concerns and questions regarding the issue of
satellite imagery and American POW/MIAs during the war in Southeast
Asia. She, along with a small group of my constituents, are frustrated
with certain federal agencies, including the Department of Defense.
These agencies are responsible for maintaining and publicly disclosing
information about reported U.S. satellite imagery of possible pilot
distress symbols, associated with American service personnel who are
unaccounted for in Southeast Asia.
[[Page S3225]]
The statement contains serious allegations about U.S. government
mishandling of these matters. My constituents claim that since the war
has ended U.S. satellite imagery has detected pilot distress symbols on
the ground in Southeast Asia, and the U.S. government has willfully
ignored key evidence in this matter. The Department of Defense POW/MIA
office has repeatedly indicated to me, and in the media, that they have
fully and carefully investigated these claims and found them baseless,
attributing the reported symbols to unrelated, largely natural causes,
and to mistakes in photographic interpretation of satellite imagery.
Mr. President, I ask that the material from Ms. Walsh be printed in
the Record. I know this issue has been addressed by Pentagon officials
for years, and was carefully studied by the now-defunct Senate Select
Committee on POW/MIA Affairs. Nonetheless, I promised my constituents
to share this information with my colleagues, for the record, at an
appropriate time. I believe POW Recognition Day is an appropriate
occasion for us to consider these issues, and I hope it will contribute
to any further discussion of these matters in the Senate.
The material follows:
Minnesota League of
POW/MIA Families.
I am Sharon Walsh, Minneapolis, Minnesota, the wife of
Richard A. Walsh III Colonel, USAF, a pilot who is or was
missing in action in Laos. I represent the League of
Minnesota Families of Missing and Prisoners in Southeast
Asia.
This letter and the enclosed referenced documents document
the betrayal of branches of the U.S. government toward
America's missing personnel in the war in Southeast Asia. In
my lifetime, I cannot recall such disregard and callous
behavior toward young men who thought they represented an
honorable government. Actually it is criminal felonious
purposeful malfeasance in government that many of us find
shocking.
In 1992, U.S. satellites recorded symbols on the ground in
Southeast Asia exactly matched rescue codes assigned to
pilots missing in the Vietnam War. Other symbols exactly
matched names of POW/MIA pilots.
The official U.S. government explanation is these symbols
were created by vegetation and shadows and it is a
coincidence they match names and classified codes of MIAs. It
does not take a mathematical probability expert to realize
the absurdity of the government story.
Government officials have committed both unethical and
illegal acts to misinform the nation about the satellite
imagery. However, the existence of enough of these rescue
symbols are verified in government documents to show the U.S.
is now an accomplice to slavery and torture of human beings.
The documents Senator Wellstone is introducing into the
Congressional Record show exactly how the government has lied
and mislead the public, the press, and the Congress.
I urge every member of Congress who believes in the
principles of liberty and justice to carefully examine these
documents. The precedents of the POW/MIA issue--rewarding the
corrupt and punishing the truthful, must be reversed if we
are to survive as a free and democratic society. In the name
of justice, please act swiftly to remove and prosecute those
government officials who have betrayed both the missing men
and our nation.
Thank You,
Sharon Walsh,
Executive Director.
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Chronological Table Illustrating Fraudulent U.S. Government Imagery
Stories
Below is a table showing various government stories about
pilot distress symbols found in satellite imagery. GX2527,
SEREX, and 72TA88 were symbols recorded by U.S. satellites
taking pictures of the field next to Dong Vai Prison, Vietnam
on June 5, 1992. Dong Vai Prison is the site of seventeen
live sighting reports of American POWs.
POW/MIA officials lie to the press and Congress in order to
prevent further investigation. These corrupt officials may
eventually admit the truth to a few individuals, but only
after millions have read the fraudulent story in the press or
after serious Congressional inquiry has been stopped cold.
They have a record of making up any story to hide the truth.
No U.S. government POW/MIA official has been prosecuted for
perjury or even reprimanded for putting out false
information.
``SEREX'' is the last name of MIA Henry Serex, lost in
south Vietnam in 1972. ``GX2527'' contains the E and E codes
and personal authenticator codes assigned to MIA Peter
Marthes, lost in Laos in November 1969. The letters ``TA''
were, with other symbols, letters found just below the 1992
``SEREX'' letters and also possibly in 1973 photography. The
``USA'' letters were photographed over Laos in late 1988 and
early 1989.
Examples in the table below include perjury before the
Senate Select POW/MIA Committee (SSC), lies intended to
prevent an investigation by the House Intelligence Committee,
and lies to the press. Quotes are represented by Italics. The
POW/MIA office is the source of correspondence unless
otherwise noted.
serex
October 8, 1992 Deposition of Air Force JSSA Deputy Chief
Robert Dussault before the SSC: . . . very clearly to me
there was the name S-E-R-E-X.
August 29, 1994, to the chairman House Intelligence: the
individual who identified the symbol he thought was made by
Major Serex never identified the letters ``SEREX.'' He
identified what he thought was ``SER.'' Only after examining
an alphabetically arranged listing of missing Americans did
he match ``SER'' to ``SEREX.''
December 6, 1994 to Star Tribune: No member of the Defense
Department has ever observed the word ``SEREX'' on any
satellite imagery or photography maintained by the US
government.
October 10, 1996 to Wellstone: Mr. Dussault testified
before Congress that he had observed the letters ``SEREX'' on
satellite imagery. Mr. Dussault is not a professional imagery
analyst; he was testifying as a Department of Defense
employee.
TA
October 15, 1992 Andrews sworn testimony to Senate: The
first symbol of interest is a 1973 TH. This symbol was imaged
on May 20, 1973 and again on July 10, 1973 on the Plain of
Jars in Laos . . . It has been interpreted as either a 1573
or 1973 and either TA or TH. None of the four possible
combination of these symbols correlate to a classic
distress symbol or to the escape and evasion symbols that
our crews were trained to use.
December 6, 1994 to Star Tribune: To our knowledge, the
letters ``TA'' were never used as an official evasion and
escape symbol during the war in Southeast Asia.
January 6, 1995 letter from Air Force JSSA: According to
PACOM documents covering the Vietnam war period, GX and TA
were issued as classified E&E coded letter pair distress
symbols.
May 1, 1996 to Wellstone: No one questions the fact that T
and A, along with many letters of the alphabet were used
during the Vietnam War as evader symbols.
October 10, 1996 to Wellstone: Available records from the
period indicate the combination of ``T'' as the primary
evasion and escape (E&E) letter and ``A'' as the backup E&E
letter were used from October 1972 to 10 April 1973.
GX2527
December 6, 1994 to Star Tribune: The combination of
letters and numbers in the so-called ``GX2527'' symbol is not
a valid evader symbol.
January 6, 1995 letter from Air Force JSSA: According to
PACOM documents covering the Vietnam war period, GX and TA
were issued as classified E&E coded letter pair distress
symbols.
August 1995 POW/MIA office report provided to Wellstone:
The letters ``GX'' have no known correlation to any American
missing in Southeast Asia.'' and ``Additionally, the
combination GX2527'' is not a valid evader symbol.
May 1, 1996 to Wellstone: Whether the alleged symbol
``GX2527'' is a valid E&E symbol is not relevant . . .
October 10, 1996 to Wellstone: Accordingly to the JSSA,
available records from the period indicate the combination of
``G'' as the primary E&E letter and ``X'' as the backup E&E
letter were employed during September 1971. The loss incident
of the individual linked to these letters had occurred almost
two years before.
USA
December 6, 1988 CIA analysis: The letters form water
filled depressions in the otherwise dry fields.
December 6, 1994 to Wellstone: The ``USA'' and ``KO''
symbols referred to in the Star Tribune article were created
by two Lao youths who shaped the letters out of rice straw
they set ablaze.
May 1, 1996 to Wellstone: When imagery analyst first
reviewed the photography containing ``USA, their initial
analytic findings was that the letters were depressions that
when filled with water would form the dark images observed on
the imagery. They based their initial analytic finding on the
basis that since the surrounding rice field was much lighter
in color, the darkness of the letters was probably caused by
water filled depressions. This initial photographic analysis
was in error.
October 10, 1996 Same as May, 1996 statement.
examination of above statements
These are only examples--the POW/MIA office commonly
changes stories. True statements were obtained by confronting
the POW/MIA office with declassified documents. Confrontation
with irrefutable documents sometimes works. However, in the
case of ``GX2527'' POW/MIA officials still try to discredit
the validity of these symbols. This is not hard to
understand, given that no one with any common sense can
believe the official government story that vegetation and
shadows created a classified six-character valid distress
symbol. Despite years of challenges, and numerous promises
from DPMO officials to provided documentation, not one
document has been provided to support the DPMO position that
``GX2527'' is not a valid evader symbol.
Discussion of SEREX. In response to a story in the Star
Tribune that stated that
[[Page S3226]]
the Air Force JSSA deputy chief saw the letters SEREX, the
head of the POW/MIA office (General Wold) wrote the Star
Tribune claiming no Defense Department employee ever saw the
letters ``SEREX.'' In October 1996 the POW/MIA office
confessed their statement was false. The only excuse for this
offered is a vague statement open to many interpretations.
DPMO has refused to elaborate.
The August 29, 1994 statement by the POW/MIA office to the
head of the House Intelligence committee is a pure
fabrication--with invented details to give it apparent
credibility. This is an outrageous attempt to obstruct
justice and prevent a potential investigation by the House
Intelligence Committee. No excuse for this statement has been
forthcoming by the POW/MIA office to date.
Discussion of TA. The POW/MIA office now confesses that the
letters ``TA'' were used during the war as E&E codes. Their
office previously claimed to the best of their knowledge they
were not. It turns out the codes were not used just for one
month, but from October 1972 to April 10, 1973!
Note the previous dates relate to May 1973 symbols
discussed in the October 15, 1992 testimony of Assistant
Secretary of Defense Duane Andrews. Andrews was sworn to tell
the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, and
did not do so. Had the Senate Select POW/MIA committee
been told that TA were active escape and evasion symbols
for those missing from October 1972 to April 10, 1973,
they may have concluded that the symbols photographed in
May 1973 were made by an American. Again, the government
is entitled to take any position it desires. However, the
law does not allow government officials to lie, mislead,
or conceal information to support their position. Doing so
under sworn oath is called ``perjury.''
Discussion of GX2527. The POW/MIA office has been
confronted with the statement from the SSC final report:
``This consultant had detected, with ``100 percent
confidence'' a faint ``GX2527'' in a photograph of a prison
facility in Vietnam taken in June, 1992. This number
correlates to the primary and back-up distress symbols and
authenticator number of a pilot lost in Laos in 1969.'' Their
office has also been confronted with expert testimony from
the Air Force JSSA stating GX2527 is a valid pilot distress
symbol. JSSA is the very agency that teaches pilots the
rescue symbols. The POW/MIA office on one occasion said
whether GX2527 is a valid distress symbol is not relevant.
They still have not admitted GX2527 is a valid distress
symbol, indeed, they often deny it.
On a second point, the POW/MIA office previously stated
``The letters ``GX'' have no known correlation to any
American missing Southeast Asia.'' They now say GX were valid
for the months of September, 1971 and point out this is two
years after MIA Peter Matthes was shot down. Clearly, they
lied when they said GX correlated to no known missing
American--there are multiple Americans missing in September
1971. The POW/MIA office has refused to respond to numerous
inquiries asking what rescue letters they claim were valid
for November 1969.
Discussion of USA. The POW/MIA office, the same office that
has refused to follow recommendations of the SSC regarding
imagery because they say they are so positive of their
findings, now claims an imagery analyst made a mistake. It
stretches the imagination to believe an imagery analyst could
not tell land from water. The POW/MIA office claims new
analysis showed the unnamed imagery analyst was mistaken. Yet
in my FOIA request, which asked for all documents relating to
the USA letters, I received not one document to support the
POW/MIA office's latest story.
references
December 6, 1988--CIA analysis of USA letters, provided by
DPMO in FOIA request.
October 15, 1992--statement to SSC from Assistant Secretary
Defense Duane Andrews.
August 29, 1994--POW/MIA office letter to House
Intelligence Committee Chairman.
December 6, 1994--letter from General James Wold to
Minneapolis Star Tribune.
August 1995--POW/MIA office report ``Satellite imagery and
Ground Distress Symbols.''
May 1, 1996--letter from POW/MIA office to Senator
Wellstone.
October 10, 1996--letter from POW/MIA office to Senator
Wellstone.
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