Navy to Consider Closing Case of Missing Pilot

In October 2002, the Navy switched his status to "missing/captured," although it has never said what evidence it had that he was ever in captivity.

In this 1991 file photo, an F-18 Hornet flown by Navy pilot Barry Hull flies over the Red Sea. ...

In this 1991 file photo, an F-18 Hornet flown by Navy pilot Barry Hull flies over the Red Sea. Capt. Michael Scott Speicher flew a similar fighter when he went down over Iraq in the first Gulf War. Both men were in the Navy squadron called the VFA-81 Sunliners. In the background is the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga. When Speicher's plane when down, he was declared dead. His widow remarried, his children grew. But after a decade, the Pentagon changed its mind: Speicher, it said, was not dead but missing. (AP Photo/Courtesy Barry Hull)

(AP)

Another review was done in 2005 with information gleaned after Baghdad fell in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, which allowed U.S. officials to search inside Iraq. The review board recommended then that the Pentagon work with the State Department, the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and the Iraqi government to "increase the level of attention and effort inside Iraq" to resolve the question of Speicher's fate.

The Defense Intelligence Agency, which tracks missing-soldier cases and works with other intelligence agencies, submitted its latest report last fall.

"Capt. Speicher's status remains a top priority for the Navy and the U.S. government," Cmdr. Cappy Surette, a Navy spokesman, said recently. "The recent intelligence community assessment reflects exhaustive analysis of information related to Capt. Speicher's case."

The final decision on changing Speicher's status must come from the secretary of the Navy; the review board's decision is only a recommendation, said Lt. Sean Robertson, another Navy spokesman.

Robertson said that once the board meets, it has up to 30 days to complete its report. The family would then have up to 30 days to comment on the board's recommendation before it is forwarded to the secretary for decision.

The board will be composed of three officers, including one who is experienced in F/A-18 aircraft. The board has a legal adviser assigned and Speicher will also be represented by legal counsel to look after the interests of him and his family, Robertson said.

Laquidara said family members would attend the hearing.

"It's really easy to put out a yellow ribbon but not so easy to allocate resources to find a missing serviceman or woman," she said. "If Scott's not alive now, he was for a very long time, and that could happen to somebody else."

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