No. 156-09 March 10, 2009Navy Changes Speicher Status To 'Missing-In-Action'
Secretary of the Navy Donald Winter determined today that the status of Capt. Michael Scott Speicher is changed from "Missing/Captured" to "Missing-In-Action" (MIA).
This determination was made after a review of available information; including the report and recommendation of a Status Review Board and comments provided by the Speicher family, as well as a Defense Intelligence Agency assessment.
Speicher was the first casualty of Operation Desert Storm. His F/A-18 Hornet was downed by hostile action on January 17, 1991, during the first manned air strike of the war, and he was declared "Killed-In-Action/Body-Not-Recovered" in May 1991.
His status was changed in 2001 to MIA, and then to Missing/Captured in 2002 based on sighting reports in Iraq. Those sightings have since been discredited.
In October 2008, the intelligence community concluded that Speicher is deceased, though his remains are unlocated. Based on that assessment, the Secretary of the Navy convened a Status Review Board to consider whether Speicher's status should remain Missing/Captured or should be changed.
Media may direct queries to the Navy Office of Information at 703-697-5342.
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