Navy Changes Status of Gulf War Pilot

W A S H I N G T O N, Jan. 11 -- In an unusual move, the Navy has changed the status of a pilot shot down in an F/A-18 fighter on the opening night of the 1991 Gulf War, from killed in action to missing in action.

State Department Deputy Spokesman Philip Reeker today said the United States suspects the Iraqi government holds additional information on what happened to the pilot and Wednesday sent demarches, or official requests, asking Iraq to provide that information.

"They're obligated to do this under international law andunder the relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions, so we're awaitinga response," he said.

Navy Secretary Richard Danzig notified the family of Lt. Cmdr. Michael Speicher of the redesignation on Wednesday. Speicher, of Jacksonville, Fla., then 33, was shot down over Iraq, north of Baghdad, on Jan. 17, 1991 during an air battle with an Iraqi fighter. He was the first American lost in the war and the last still unaccounted for.

The Pentagon said today it was changing its determination based upon fairly new, highly classified intelligence information that it will not release to the public. Officials say they still suspect Speicher is dead, but in the words of one senior military official, "on the small chance he is alive you don't want to provide information publicly that would then get him killed."

Underscoring the unusualness of the case, the decision to reclassify Speicher was made at the White House, the official said. Usually the Pentagon would make such moves.

A Navy official tells ABCNEWS.com the MIA determination will entitle Speicher's wife, now remarried, to approximately $300,000 in backpay since 1996 and $7,000 a month for the pilot's pay until he is returned or evidence is obtained which proves his death.

Evidence of Ejection

In 1995 Navy investigators, under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross, visited the crash site, also north of Baghdad (the exact location remains classified by the United States), and uncovered evidence that they believed confirmed he was dead. Based upon that evidence, the Navy made a second determination of Speicher's death in 1996.