Inspection of the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Office

The Inspector General, Department of Defense, conducted an inspection of the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Office (DPMO) during October and November 1994. The inspection was a joint venture by the Program Evaluation Directorate and the Inspections Directorate, Office of the Assistant Inspector General for Inspections, Office of the Inspector General, DoD. The goal of the inspection was to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of the administrative processes and mechanisms used by the DPMO. The project was requested by the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for POW/MIA Affairs. We are providing the Deputy Assistant Secretary two reports, one of which is the August 1995 Program Evaluation Directorate evaluation concerning the DPMO requirements determination and planning efforts. This inspection report contains our evaluation of civilian and military personnel management, diversity management, contract management, financial management, information resources management and information systems security. We also reviewed the DPMO internal management control program. The DPMO is a DoD Field Activity established under the authority, direction, and control of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs. The DPMO goal is to attain the fullest possible accounting for those still missing, and repatriating all recovered remains of Americans who died serving our Nation. We found that the DPMO had taken some positive steps to respond to mission requirements such as a faster response to, and tracking of, congressional tasking on POW/MIA issues and Freedom of Information Act requests. However, we determined that certain internal administrative processes needed improvement in the following areas.