Leadership from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), along with several other distinguished visitors, veterans and DPAA personnel gathered for a re-dedication ceremony on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, Dec. 14, 2018.
The ceremony, hosted by DPAA, re-dedicated the agency’s previous building to accommodate more lab space and the newly established DPAA Academy. The year-long, $1.1 million renovation project now allows for the housing of the new DPAA Academy in addition to new lab space.
“Our efforts have added an additional 12,000 square feet of lab space and 60 additional tables for our forensic scientists to utilize as they work to identify the over 82,000 Americans missing from past conflicts,” said Rear Adm. Jon Kreitz, DPAA deputy director of operations. “Here in Hawaii, these 60 additional tables for analytical work increase our total capacity by over 37 percent.”
The lab expansion also allows for certain projects to be organized in certain areas of work space. The newly refurbished building will host DPAA’s disinterment projects, to include the Cabanatuan, USS West Virginia and USS Oklahoma projects, as well becoming the new location for Hawaii-based material evidence and life support equipment sections.
“One of the most repeated phrases I tell our personnel at DPAA is that we have to continually find ways to do more, faster,” Kreitz said. “This increase in lab capacity will allow us to do just that.”
Building 220 will now also be home to the DPAA Academy. The academy will serve as the focal point for training DPAA staff members. It also allows adequate space and training tools needed to prepare partners and augmentees, who are relied on heavily to conduct field recovery operations.
“The fundamentals taught by our academy will increase our ability to research, investigate and recover missing Americans,” Kreitz said.
Now up and running, the new building promotes more efficient operations, which DPAA members hope leads to more families with answers.