On March 8, USAID/Vietnam Mission Director Michael Greene joined Vietnam’s Deputy Defense Minister, Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh, to attend and deliver remarks at a ceremony marking the establishment of the Office of the National Steering Committee on the Settlement of Post-war Unexploded Ordnance and Toxic Chemical Consequences (Office 701). Deputy Ministry Vinh suggested that the new Office 701 would be particularly focused on public relations efforts. Office 701 will likely replace the Military Science Department as USAID’s focal point on dioxin remediation at Bien Hoa Air Base Area.

So What? The new Office 701 provides an improved platform for the USG to communicate the impact of its war legacy programming and help achieve our strategic objective of overcoming these legacies.