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NSIAD-96-91R 1 (1996-02-01)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaclbc0001 and id is 1 raw text is: GUnited States General Accounting Office Washington, D.C. 20548 National Security and International Affairs Division B-261888 February 1, 1996 The Honorable Strom Thurmond Chairman, Committee on Armed Services United States Senate The Honorable Sam Nunn Ranking Minority Member Committee on Armed Services United States Senate This responds to your request for our views on the issues raised in correspondence to the Committee from Colonel Danny Piper, USAF (Ret.). Colonel Piper's daughter, First Lieutenant Laura Ashley Piper, USAF, was among the fourteen U.S. service personnel who died in the downing of two Blackhawk helicopters over Northern Iraq on April 14, 1994. Other casualties of the shootdown included a State Department employee and ten foreign nationals. You asked for our comments on the issues Colonel Piper has raised regarding U.S. payments to the families of the foreign victims. As you know, the helicopters were shot down by American forces enforcing the no-fly zone maintained to protect Kurdish civilians. The shootdown occurred when U.S. Air Force personnel erroneously identified the Blackhawks as Iraqi Hind helicopters. The Secretary of Defense authorized payments of $100,000 each to the surviving families of the foreign victims as a humanitarian gesture intended to convey this government's regret over the incident. The payments were authorized under section 127 of title 10, United States Code, which permits the Secretary to pay unanticipated expenses of an emergency or extraordinary nature incurred in connection with activities of the Department. Colonel Piper's first concern is that the payments to the families of the foreign victims would not have been authorized under regulations implementing the Military Claims Act and the Foreign Claims Act. These Acts and their implementing regulations prescribe conditions for the payment of claims against the U. S. government for property loss and damage and for personal injuries or death that result from the noncombat activities of U. S. armed forces. Neither these Acts nor GAO/NSIAD-96-91R Blackhawk Incident Legal Questions 6§Q ?

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