Veterans group presses Congress to act on Secret Air War recognition before Memorial Day

By AI, Created 10:38 PM UTC, May 18, 2026, /AGP/ – The Coalition of Allied Afghan & Vietnam War Veterans is urging Congress to take three steps before Memorial Day 2026 to advance recognition for Secret Air War veterans in Laos, including Col. Philip J. Conran. The group says CIA records, Air Force file destruction and a stalled 2015 review leave Congress as the last path to correct the record.

Why it matters: - CAVWV says the fight is about more than one award case. The group frames the issue as a broader test of whether Congress will correct recognition failures tied to America’s covert war in Laos. - The group says the window is closing because Col. Philip J. Conran is 89 and the effort is tied to Memorial Day 2026. - CAVWV also says the same political and administrative failures affect allied Southeast Asian communities and Special Guerrilla Unit veterans.

What happened: - CAVWV asked Congress to take three actions on behalf of Secret Air War veterans before Memorial Day 2026. - The first ask targets the Medal of Honor case for Col. Philip J. Conran, USAF (Ret.). - The second ask seeks a formal review of the Conran case through the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. - The third ask calls for federal and state fixes to what CAVWV describes as an SGU veteran equity gap. - The group highlighted support from Rep. Salud Carbajal of California and Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut.

The details: - On May 11, 2026, the CIA responded to FOIA case F-2020-00434, filed in November 2019, involving operational records tied to Conran’s Medal of Honor recommendation. - The CIA pointed the requester to pages 359-365 of document C05303949, “Undercover Armies,” in the CIA Electronic Reading Room. - Those pages, approved for release in February 2009, identify Operation Junction City Junior, Moung Phine in Laos, the September-October 1969 timeframe, and helicopter rescues under fire. - The CIA withheld two additional pages of operational records under classification exemptions. - CAVWV says the six-year delay in CIA coordination on the FOIA response has not been publicly explained. - The Air Force Military Personnel Center told Major General Philip Conley, USAF (Ret.), that the USAF file on Conran’s Medal of Honor recommendation had been destroyed sometime before 2013. - A 2015 USAF Board of Corrections refused to correct Conran’s record after the file was destroyed. - CAVWV says DoD awards review standards require corroborating documentation when original award files are destroyed. - The organization says the CIA’s partially declassified history now provides that corroboration. - CAVWV cites an Etchberger upgrade in 2010 as precedent for correcting award decisions affected by political classification. - The group says a systematic review of valor citations from the covert air war in Laos is documented at the Forgotten Warriors research page. - Minnesota’s HF3919 establishes Special Guerrilla Unit veteran eligibility under MN Statute 197.448. - CAVWV says a companion bill is documented on the organization’s website. - The group says Vietnamese (Kinh), Montagnards, Lao Loum, Lao Theung, Lao Sung (Hmong), Nung, Khmer and other allied communities are excluded from some VA benefit eligibility programs. - CAVWV links that exclusion to the same structural failure that led to sanitized award citations. - The CIA appeal deadline is August 9, 2026. - Rep. Carbajal serves on the House Armed Services and Veterans’ Affairs committees. - Sen. Blumenthal serves on the Senate Armed Services and Judiciary committees. - CAVWV says those committee assignments make both lawmakers well positioned to press the CIA, the Air Force and the Joint Chiefs.

Between the lines: - The press release uses the CIA’s partial release and the destroyed Air Force file to argue that the documentary record is already strong enough to justify action. - The group is pushing Congress because the normal administrative process has not resolved the case. - The message also broadens the issue from one veteran’s award to recognition and benefits for allied Southeast Asian communities who served with U.S. forces. - CAVWV is trying to convert a historical-justice campaign into a committee-level oversight and review effort.

What’s next: - CAVWV wants Blumenthal’s office to send a letter to the CIA Information and Privacy Coordinator and the Secretary of the Air Force. - The group wants Carbajal’s office to ask the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for a formal review of the Conran case. - Congressional offices can contact Tom Briggs at cavwv.president@gmail.com for a briefing package. - CAVWV says full research documentation, the FOIA case history, the CIA confirmation, the Etchberger analysis and allied community equity materials are available on its website.

The bottom line: - CAVWV is asking Congress to use the available records, not create new ones, to finish a decades-old recognition fight before Memorial Day.