POW Investigative Project (PIP)

The POW Investigative Project (PIP) is participating in a pair of lawsuits against the CIA and National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) suits have been filed by the family of Captain Harry Moore, USAF, an American aviator from the Korean War reported to have been captured by Soviet forces and possibly sent, along with many others, to the Soviet Union.

The Moores, PIP and other plaintiffs seek documents -- some kept secret for over 60 years -- on the shipment of American POWs to the Soviet Union/East Bloc and their detention in secret camps in the Soviet Union, China and North Korea, including after the end of the war.

The lawsuits have been filed by DC-area attorney John Clarke, known for his FOIA work, including over many years in a suit against the CIA for documents on Vietnam War POW/MIA.

The suits are being presided over by Judge Royce C. Lamberth, a Vietnam veteran. Judge Lamberth is also in charge of Mr. Clarke's lawsuit against the CIA, which the Judge ordered to pay legal costs due to years of foot dragging, which continues today. "'The CIA is not entitled to drag its feet on a FOIA request until the records sought are publicly available, and then deny plaintiffs their fees because the documents are now publicly available,' Lamberth wrote. 'After fighting tooth and nail over every issue in this case for over a decade, arguing that the documents were already publicly available in an attempt to avoid paying attorneys’ fees is sour grapes:'” he said (2015 article by the Courthouse News Service.)