LETTER TO WILLIAM J. CASEY FROM DENNIS S. DRIGGERS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP87M00539R002504160014-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2009
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: October 14, 1985
• Content Type: LETTER

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EXECUTIVE SECRETARIAT ^
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Remarks
PO #14: For your response as appropriate.
STAT
x rve Secretary
2 OCT 85
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 Approved For Release 2009/08/24: CIA-RDP87M00539R002504160014-6
txecutlve Registry
October 14,
Syracuse, New York
Hon. William J. Casey
Director -
Central Intelligence Agency
Washington, D.C. 20505
Dear Mr. Casey,
I am writing to you in regard to the issue of whether or not there are
still American servicemen (POW's) being held in Southeast Asia against their
will. Even ignoring Hollywood's hype on the issue, there appears to be much
credible information/intelligence to support the position that Vietnam is
still holding American servicemen in captivity. I have enclosed one such
article for your review and comment.
As a Vietnam era veteran, and a current active duty officer, this issue
is very close to me -- both personally and professionally. It is an issue
of such significant merit, that I have decided to prepare a research paper
on the subject in conjunction with my doctoral studies at Syracuse University..
Specifically, I would appreciate your opinion (personal and/or profes-
sional) on whether or not there are still American servicemen being held in
Southeast Asia against their will. If you believe there are, what should
the United States do to gain their release? Please be specific. Your views
may be included in my paper unless you request otherwise.
I will thank you in advance for your time and--e.fforts on my behalf and
that of American servicemen everywhere.
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 Howard, who then was chief of
the Special Forces Combat Sup-
port Coordination Team in Seoul,
WASHINGTON - Two Special
Forces officers who in 1984 gath-
ered intelligence on possible pris-
oners of war in Southeast Asia
have charged that their superiors
quashed reports that more than
100 Americans were being held as
POWs as recently as last year.
In separate affidavits, one offi-
cer accused an Army major gener-
al, while the other cited unnamed
superiors and Defense Intelli-
gence Agency operatives.
Maj. Mark A. Smith, who com-
manded Special Forces Detach-
ment-Korea from 1981-84 and re-
tired February 1, alleged in a
court affidavit that an Army ma-
jor general advised him in Seoul
during April 1984 to "shred" a
briefing booklet containing intel-
ligence reports of numerous POW
sightings in Indochina.
While the affidavit did not
name the officer who allegedly
urged the booklet's destruction,
Smith, in recent interviews; has
identified him as Maj. Gen. Ken-
neth C. Leuer, who at the time
was Assistant Chief of Staff for
Operations of the United Nations
Command, Combined Forces Com-
mand and Eighth U.S. Army in
Korea.
Smith also accused Leuer of
scuttling the delivery of three
-POWs from Laos before the mis-
sion could be completed in May
1984 Shortly after Smith reported
that the prisoners were available
for pick-up, Leuer barred Smith's
unit from traveling to Southeast
Asia, Smith said in his September
affidavit
Leuer, now commanding gener-
al of the 5th Infantry Division
(Mechanized) at Fort Polk, La., de-
clined. to comment on the allega-
tions while a lawsuit is pending.
A suit was filed September 4 in
U.S. District Court in Fayetteville,
N.C., by Smith, a former POW in
Cambodia who served for 22 years
in the Army, and'SFC Melvin C.
McIntire, who served with Smith's
unit in Korea and now is with B
Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Spe-
cial Forces Group at Fort Bragg,
N.C.
Smith's supervisor in Korea, Lt
Col. Robert L. Hbward, accused
two military officers in an affida-
vit of a "blatant security viola-
tion" in revealing publicly in
Thailand in January 1984 that a
Thai general had been relaying
POW information to the U.S.
officers - Col. Stephen I. Alpern,
the U.S. military attache for Thai-
land, and Air Force Lt Col. Paul
D. Mather, who works for the tri-
service Joint Casualty Resolution
Center in Hawaii but is attached
to the American Embassy in Thai-
land - sought to "undermine the
successful intelligence gathering
activity of Special Forces Detach-
ment-Korea."
Mather and Alpern could not be
reached immediately for
comment
In addition, Howard, who re-
portedly worked directly with De-
fense Intelligence Agency field
operatives, accused the DIA of
"an ongoing effort . to ignore"
POW reports. He added in the af-
fidavit that he was "shocked"
when his superiors in Korea
showed "no interest" in his re-
ports about POWs in early 1984.
Howard, who now commands the
VII Corps Special Troops Battal-
ion in Stuttgart, Germany, did not
identify his superiors.
Howard was awarded the Medal
of Honor for his heroism in Viet-
nam on Dec. 30, 1968, while on a'
mission intended to rescue a sol-
dier who was missing in action in
enemy-held territory.
The Department of the Army
and the Defense Department, cit-
ing the pending suit, declined
comment
The U.S. government's position
is that it has "been unable to
prove" that any American POWs
are being held in Southeast Asia,
.
said DoD spokesman Maj. Keith
Schneider. However, he said, the
government has not ruled out the
possibility that there are POWs
being held and routinely investi-
gates first-hand reports of sight-
ings, most of which have come
from Indochinese refugees.
The U.S. has not been able to
resolve 111 of the 791 eyewitness
reports of POWs that it has re-
ceived since 1975, Schneider said.
The DIA and the Joint Casualty
Resolution Center in Hawaii (for
which Mather works) are now in-
vestigating these reports.
Air Force Lt. Gen. Eugene
Tighe, director of the Defense In-
telligence Agency from 1977-81
and now retired, stated in May his
personal view that 50-60 Ameri-
can POWs were being held in
Southeast Asia. U. Gen. James A.
Williams, the current DIA direc-
in
tor, testified before Congress claimed
1984 that five people
to have seen American POWs in
Indochina had passed polygraph
tests. Howard, Smith, and Mcln-
tire indicated that they relied for
their information about PO As on
numerous Indochinese sources,
some of whom were senior offi-
cials in the Thai government
Howard cited in his affidavit
"senior Thai military officials". as
the sources of his information.
McIntire said in his affidavit
that he had about 10 "credible
and reliable" sources, including
"the highest level of a foreign mil-
itary power." McIntire said his
sources had field agents of their
own reporting the locations of the
"approximately 200 living Ameri-
cans" in Laos. He added that he
maintained contact with these
sources from February 1982 to
August 1984
Smith mentioned about 50 local
Indochinese as his sources, in-
cluding Thai military agents, Laos
resistance fighters, the Pathet
Lao, the free Vietnamese, and
gun, gold, and drug smugglers. He
said he visited Thailand six to
nine times over a one-and-a-half
year period to collect information
from these sources, most of whom
did not know each other, cross-
checking their reports.
Smith said in a September 16
interview that he learned that
one POW had died in the summer
of 1984 and some were "near
death." He added that the POWs
either were "under restraint" in
prisons or were "just living there
- where do they run to if they
were to run away?"
According to Smith's affidavit,
Leuer blocked all attempts to for-
ward information contained in
Smith's April 1984 report, "Possi-
ble American/Allied POWs in
Southeast Asia." After Leuer read
the cover letters with the report,
which Smith hand delivered, he
"turned white, handed the brief-
ing back to me and said, `this is
too hot for me to handle, big
guy.'...I was told that if I Was
smart, what I would do was to put
the briefing through a shredder
and forget the entire issue. I de-
manded authorization to go to
Washington, D.C., and see another
general in the office of the Depu-
ty Chief of Staff for Opera-
tions... I was given a direct order
not to have any more contact with
that officer."
The suit, filed on behalf of the
nearly 2,500 Americans estimated
to be missing or unaccounted for
in Southeast Asia, names as de-
fendants President Reagan, De-
fense Secretary Caspar Weinber-
ger, Secretary of State George
Shultz, and DIA's Williams. They
and their predecessors are ac-
cused of embarking since 1973 on
"a continuing official or unofficial
policy... intended to discredit or
disprove the existence of living
Americans in Southeast Asia for
reasons presently unknown." Rea-
gan is required by federal law to
demand the release of the POWs
thought to be held in Southeast
Asia, the suit claims.
Jay Finegan contributed to this
report.
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2 Officers Claim Superiors
Impeded Reports of POWs