The first Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command personnel arrived in mid October at Offutt AFB, Neb., to begin establishing the command’s new laboratory annex that will open at the base in 2013. “Now that we’re here, we can focus on the details of setting up the lab,” said Greg Fox, lead JPAC representative at Offutt, in an Oct. 24 base release. Roughly 50 personnel, including anthropologists, archaeologists, forensic odontologists, and support personnel, will staff the new annex, which will be housed in Offutt’s Building D, former home of the Air Force Weather Agency. The annex is expected to be fully operational by mid to late 2013, according to the release. The satellite lab will help JPAC meet a congressional mandate to identify 200 remains of unaccounted-for American POWs and MIAs per year, beginning in 2015. JPAC, headquartered at JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, falls under US Pacific Command.
President Donald Trump’s nominee for Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff touted his highly unusual background for the job as an asset and reaffirmed his commitment to stay apolitical during a confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on April 1.