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Establishment of the Prisoner of War Policy Committee

July 26, 1967

Secretary Clifford (far left) and his “8:30 Group”—the trusted advisors he met with daily. From left
Secretary Clifford (far left) and his “8:30 Group”—the trusted advisors he met with daily. From left
Secretary Clifford (far left) and his “8:30 Group”—the trusted advisors he met with daily. From left to right: Colonel Robert Pursley, George Elsey, Phil Goulding, Paul Warnke, and Paul Nitze.

The Department of Defense establishes the Prisoner of War Policy Committee under Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Paul C. Warnke. The committee’s objective is to provide centralized direction of all POW matters and to develop official U.S. policies for the recovery, return, and treatment of American POWs.1

1Vernon E. Davis, The Long Road Home: U.S. Prisoner of War Policy and Planning in Southeast Asia (Washington, D.C.: Historical Office of the Secretary of Defense, 2000), 43, 47–48; Michael J. Allen, Until the Last Man Comes Home: POWs, MIAs, and the Unending Vietnam War (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2009), 66; Carl Berger, ed., The United States Air Force in Southeast Asia, 1961–1973 (Washington, D.C.: Office of Air Force History, 1977), 326–27.