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1 [1] (March 9, 2026)

handle is hein.crs/govettj0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency March 9, 2026 The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) is an agency within the Department of Defense (DOD), which is using a secondary Department of War designation, under Executive Order 14347, dated September 5, 2025. The DPAA's stated mission is to provide the fullest possible accounting for our missing DOD personnel to their families and the nation. The DPAA considers fullest possible accounting as being achieved when all practicable investigations and reasonable recovery efforts are complete; and based upon the evidence gleaned from such efforts, an analytic and scientific conclusion is reached that a person's remains are deemed 'non-recoverable.' The DPAA's authorities and responsibilities are codified in Chapter 76 of Title 10 of the U.S. Code. On January 30, 2015, DOD announced the establishment of the DPAA. DOD Directive 5110.10, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), established the mission, organization and management, responsibilities and functions, relationships, and authorities of the DPAA on January 13, 2017. The DPAA was formed through the merging of formerly separate components of DOD's accounting mission: the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO), the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), and select functions of the U.S. Air Force's Life Science Equipment Laboratory (LSEL). This merging was in response to a February 2014 memorandum from then-Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, which stated that the DOD needed to increase to the maximum extent possible the numbers of missing Service personnel accounted for annually while ensuring timely and accurate information is provided to their families. See Figure 1 for a consolidated graphic of the Department of Defense's personnel accounting agencies and their consolidation since 1973. As of March 2026, the DPAA has three laboratories that conduct forensic identification. Two laboratories are in Hickam Air Force Base and Naval Station Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and one is in Nebraska within Offutt Air Force Base. DNA identification occurs at the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System-Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory, located at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. Major Accounting Projects The DPAA's ongoing accounting and identification efforts fall into five broad categories, which coincide with major conflicts that the United States has been involved in since 1941. These categories include World War II (December 7, 1941-December 31, 1946); the Korean War (June 27, 1950-July 27, 1953); the Vietnam War (July 8, 1959-May 15, 1975); the Cold War (September 2, 1945-August 21, 1991); and the Gulf Wars and conflict in Libya (April 15, 1986-present day). DPAA maintains public Facts and Figures displays for each of these accounting and identification projects, which are periodically updated as unaccounted-for personnel are retrieved, repatriated, identified, or accounted for. See Table 1 for these consolidated statistics as of March 4, 2026. Table I. Accounted and Unaccounted for DOD Personnel, as of March 4, 2026 Accounting Covered Time Missing as of Accounted Unaccounted Project Period Locations 1973 For For World War II Dec. 7, 1941- Global 73,687 1,904 71,783 Dec. 31, 1946 Korean War era june 27, 1950-July Korean Peninsula 8,157 777 7,380 27, 1953 Vietnam War era July 8, 1959-May North and South Vietnam, 2,633 1,067 1,566 15, 1975 Laos, Cambodia Cold War era Sept. 2, 1945- The former Soviet Union, 128 2 126 Aug. 21, 1991 Yugoslavia, Hungary, East Germany, North Korea, Albania, China Gulf Wars and Libya Apr. 15, 1986- Iraq, the Persian Gulf, 6 0 6 era Present Day Libya Total Accounting Dec. 7, 1941- Global 84,603 3,742 80,861 Present Day Source: Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency's Accounting and Identification Project Facts and Figures, https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/ dpaaOurMissing.