News

ACCESSION NUMBER:244149
FILE ID:EPF305
DATE:09/23/92
TITLE:SENATE COMMITTEE'S FOCUS TURNS TO LAOS (09/23/92)
TEXT:*92092305.EPF
*EPF305   09/23/92 *

SENATE COMMITTEE'S FOCUS TURNS TO LAOS
(Text:  POW panel release 9/23)  (300)
Washington -- Top officials and first-hand witnesses to America's efforts to
account for servicemen missing in Laos will testify on Thursday, Chairman
John Kerry (Democrat of Massachusetts) and Vice Chairman Bob Smith
(Republican of New Hampshire) announced September 23.

The Committee also will examine if and why there was a change in U.S.
Government policy -- from mid-March 1973 statements (contained in recently
declassified documents) discussing the possibility of up to 350 missing in
Laos, to declaring publicly in mid-April 1973 that there was "no
indication" of Americans held captive in Southeast Asia.

The hearing begins on Thursday at 9:30am in Room 216 of the Hart Senate
Office Building.  It is open to the public.

Following is the text of the witness list for that hearing:
(begin text)
SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE ON POW/MIA AFFAIRS
Expectations about POW's in Laos & Questions Re Operation Homecoming
September 24, 1992
PANEL 1:  Expectations about POWs in Laos
Admiral Thomas Moorer (USN, Ret.)
Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1970-1974
G. McMurtrie Godley
U.S. Ambassador to Laos, 1969-1973
John H. Holdridge
Assistant Secretary of State, East Asia/Pacific, 1981-1983
China Specialist, State Department, 1948-1985
Admiral Daniel J. Murphy (USN, Ret.)
Deputy Director of Intelligence, CIA, 1977-1980
PANEL 2:  Laos Questions
Major General Richard Secord
Laos Chief of Air, CIA, 1966-1968
Laos Desk Officer, Pentagon, 1972-1975
Elliot L. Richardson
Secretary of Defense, 1973
PANEL 3:  Questions re Operation Homecoming in Spring 1973
Governor William Clements
Deputy Secretary of Defense, 1973-1976
1r. Roger E. Shields
Deputy Assistant Secretary for POW/MIA Affairs
Department of Defense, 1971-1977
Col. Lawrence Robson (USAF, Ret.)
POW Subcommission of 4-Party Joint Military Commission
(end text)
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