POW/MIA Update - Key Panel Approves McCaskill Plan to Establish Single Agency

Armed Services Committee approves annual defense bill including Senator’s amendment to strengthen recovery efforts, establishing a single agency charged with POW/MIA matters with a single federal official in charge

WASHINGTON - The Senate Armed Services Committee has approved a plan by U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill to strengthen POW/MIA recovery efforts by establishing a single agency responsible for those efforts, with one federal official in charge.

McCaskill's amendment-included in the annual defense bill that received committee approval today-would create one Department of Defense agency responsible for POW/MIA matters, with one federal official in charge. This would be the first official step in restructuring POW/MIA accounting following McCaskill's investigation last year into the troubled recovery efforts.

The amendment addresses the key deficit identified by the Government Accountability Office and McCaskill, which is that there was no one agency or official in charge to coordinate and be held accountable for POW/MIA recovery. It follows a similar recommendation by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel earlier this year.

"Harry Truman had a sign on his desk that read, ‘the buck stops here,' and that's the first lesson of strengthening accountability in government," said McCaskill, the daughter of a World War II veteran and a senior member of the Armed Services Committee. "With a single agency responsible, and a single federal official in charge, we can stop the finger-pointing and know exactly who to hold accountable for fixing this troubled program, and honor our POW/MIA personnel and their families with a transparent and responsible recovery effort."

McCaskill has led the fight to address systemic mismanagement of the Pentagon's POW/MIA recovery efforts, helping shape last year's defense bill to include a measure giving the Pentagon a six-month deadline to release a comprehensive plan to address the mismanagement in its recovery efforts. That plan is due this summer.

Click HERE to read highlights of McCaskill's fight for military veterans.

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