Agency Name: | Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency |
Type: | Department |
Seal: | Defense POW MIA seal.png |
Seal Size: | 140 |
Seal Alt: | Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency official seal |
Jurisdiction: | Federal government of the United States |
Headquarters: | 2600 Defense Pentagon, Washington, D.C. |
Budget: | 112 million (2016) |
Chief1 Name: | Kelly McKeague |
Chief1 Position: | Director |
Chief2 Name: | Fern Winbush |
Chief2 Position: | Principal Deputy Director |
Chief3 Position: | Deputy Director for Operations |
Parent Department: | U.S. Department of Defense |
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) is an agency within the U.S. Department of Defense whose mission is to recover unaccounted Department of Defense personnel listed as prisoners of war (POW) or missing in action (MIA) from designated past conflicts, from countries around the world.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency was formed on January 30, 2015, as the result of a merger of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office, and parts of the United States Air Force's Life Sciences Lab.[1] Scientific laboratories are maintained at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, and Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam, Hawaii. Currently, DPAA is in a cooperative agreement with The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc., which provides operational support during worldwide recovery operations.[2] Following the 2023 wildfires in Maui, the agency assisted in identifying victims' remains.[3]