The Department of Defense has expanded the criteria for Purple Heart eligibility by allowing prisoners of war who died in captivity to receive the award. Unless compelling evidence is presented to the contrary, DOD’s new policy presumes that the death of service members in captivity as POWs incurred either as a result of enemy action, as a result of enemy action during capture, or in action with the enemy during capture, DOD said in a statement issued Monday. The revised policy allows for retroactive award of the Purple Heart to qualifying POWs since Dec. 7, 1941, DOD said.
While U.S. defense officials have spent much of the past decade warning that China is the nation’s pacing threat and its People’s Liberation Army represents an urgent threat in the Indo-Pacific, several defense researchers are skeptical that the PLA has the human capital, the structural ability, or the political appetite…