Pentagon accused of paying Vietnam millions in ‘extortion’ scheme for POW records

TLDR:

• Vietnam has charged the Pentagon $86 million since 2016 but resolved only 25 cases of missing American soldiers
• Advocacy groups accuse Hanoi of charging up to $10,000 for single-page documents, turning the POW/MIA mission into a “revenue-generating enterprise”
• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited Hanoi Sunday, calling the search for missing Americans a “top priority” of the Trump administration
• More than 1,500 U.S. troops remain missing from the Vietnam War that ended in 1975

Resolving cases of missing Americans from the Vietnam War remains a top priority of the Trump administration, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Sunday during a visit to Hanoi — even as critics accuse Vietnam of turning the humanitarian mission into a moneymaking operation.

The Pentagon has spent more than $86 million since 2016 on Vietnam’s cooperation in searching for missing soldiers, but only 25 cases have been resolved, according to a report by the National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia.

Vietnam has charged the Pentagon as much as $10,000 for a single-page document related to missing soldiers, the report said. The study accused Vietnam of overcharging “to extort money from the United States.”

“Vietnam has transformed the POW/MIA accounting mission into a revenue-generating enterprise rather than a humanitarian obligation,” the report said.

More than 1,500 U.S. troops remain missing from the Vietnam War that ended in 1975. Many are classified as “non-recoverable.”

Mr. Hegseth praised the work of about a dozen service members at the Pentagon’s Defense POW-MIA Accounting Agency office in Hanoi.

“As we say, leave no man behind, and we appreciate your partnership in that,” Mr. Hegseth told Vietnamese defense officials.

Read more:

• Pete Hegseth in Hanoi: Pursuit of lost Americans from Vietnam War is top priority at Pentagon