Other Presidential Documents 4) providing further assistance in implementing trilateral investiga- tions with Laos. I further determine that the appropriate laboratories associated with POW/ MIA accounting are thoroughly analyzing remains, material, and other in- formation and fulfilling their responsibilities as set forth in subsection (B) of section 609 of the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judi- ciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999, which is incor- porated by reference in section 610. The Department of Justice has advised that section 6\1770 is unconstitutional because it purports to use a condition on appropriations as a means to di- rect my execution of responsibilities that the Constitution commits exclu- sively to the President. I am providing this determination as a matter of comity, while reserving the position that the condition enacted in section 6\1770 is unconstitutional. In making this determination, I have taken into account all information available to the United States Government as reported to me, the full range of ongoing accounting activities in Vietnam, including joint and unilateral Vietnamese efforts, and the concrete results we have attained as a result. As we look to further strengthen cooperation, Vietnam's unilateral provi- sion of POW/MIA-related documents and records should be improved, fo- cused initially on archival data pertaining to Americans captured, missing, or killed in areas of Laos and Cambodia under wartime Vietnamese control. Vietnam should also focus greater attention on locating and providing in- formation on discrepancy cases, with priority on those last known alive in captivity or in immediate proximity to capture, and to locating and repa- triating the remains of those who died while in Vietnamese control that have not yet been returned. Finally, in making this determination, I wish to reaffirm my continuing personal commitment to the entire POW/MIA community, especially to the immediate families, relatives, friends, and supporters of these brave indi- viduals, and to reconfirm that achieving the fullest possible accounting of our prisoners of war and missing in action remains one of the most impor- tant priorities in our relations with Vietnam. You are authorized and directed to report this determination to the appro- priate committees of the Congress and to publish it in the Federal Register. GEORGE W. BUSH THE WHITE HOUSE, Washington, March 20, 2002. 291
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