Military Forensic Unit Sought for Ground Zero
Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) has asked Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld to send an elite military unit to search for human remains at ground zero in New York City after dozens of bone fragments were found at an adjacent building in recent months.
Schumer echoed recent calls by Sept. 11 family groups for the U.S. military to deploy its Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command unit to augment the work of local agencies.
The unit’s Hawaii-based forensic laboratory is responsible for accounting for Americans missing in the nation’s conflicts, but it sent a forensic dentist to ground zero in the aftermath of the attacks and assisted in Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts.
Schumer’s letter to Rumsfeld follows Friday’s announcement that nearly 150 bone fragments were found in recent weeks on a former bank building’s roof.
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