Scope and Contents

Two linear feet of Uncorrelated Information Relating to Missing Americans in Southeast Asia donated to the Vietnam Archive by Wayne Jefferson contains information possibly relating to missing Americans in Southeast Asia. They constitute the documentation in this category held by the Department of Defense, the Department of State, and the Central Intelligence Agency as of 1 July 1978. This material is of varying reliability and even after intensive analysis could not be associated with specific Americans who were lost in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam Conflict. This information is published in a limited quantity in response to Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act requests received by the Department of Defense from the families of Americans lost in Southeast Asia and from Members of the United States Congress. The entire substance of eleven documents has been withheld under one of more of the statutory exemptions set forth below; they also are listed under Section V of the index with citation of the applicable statutory basis for each exemption. In cases where segregating portions of documents to protect classified intelligence sources and methods would not leave an intelligible or meaningful remainder, summaries have been provided to convey the clearest possible explanation of the substance of the information contained in the classified record. The index references specific exemptions that apply to particular deletions from listed documents otherwise provided.

Exemptions include:

Title 5 U.S.C. 552 (b) (1): Matters specifically authorized under criteria established by an Executive Order to be kept secret in the interest of national defense or foreign policy and are in fact properly classified pursuant to such Executive Order.

Title 5 U.S.C. 552 (b) (3): Matters specifically exempted from disclosure by statute.

Title 5 U.S.C. 552 (b) (6): Personnel and medical files and similar files the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.

In the determination made in each case the concerned agencies have sought to comply with both the letter and the spirit of the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C 552 (1976); the Attorney general's Memorandum on the Public Information Section of the Administrative Procedures Act, dated June 1967; and the Attorney general's Memorandum on the 1974 Amendments to the Freedom of Information Act, February 1975.