Saturday, April 16, 2005

The Investigation

Below is general information on responsibility for the investigation.

The U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command (HQCID) in Fort Belvoir, Viginia, oversees all Army criminal investigation activities and resources worldwide. The Commander is directly responsible to the Chief of Staff of the Army and the Secretary of the Army.

U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command (HQCID)
6010 6th Street
Fort Belvoir, VA 22060-5506
http://www.cid.army.mil/
Headquartered at Fort Belvoir, Virginia and operating throughout the world, CID Special Agents conduct criminal investigations that range from death to fraud, on and off military reservations and when appropriate, with local, state and other federal investigative agencies.
Mission, history, command structure, and the various investigation units of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, can be found at their website.
Each CID group and region, battalion and district, and major procurement fraud field is assigned a specific geographic area of responsibility (AOR) which it apportions among its subordinate field units.
The initial investigation into the disappearance of Kirk von Ackermann was first handled by the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) of the U.S. Army's Fourth Infantry Division, based in Tikrit.

Since May of 2004*, the Major Procurement Fraud Unit (MPFU) at HQCID, has taken over responsibility for investigating both the disappearnace of Kirk von Ackermann and the death of Ryan Manelick

An article from 2003 describes the MPFU.

CID Special Agents Looking for Recruits by Chris Grey, Army News Service, May 16, 2003
Major Procurement Fraud Unit

The U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command's Major Procurement Fraud Unit is the only 100-percent civilian investigative element of CID. The MPFU special agent workforce consists of more than 100 Criminal Investigators (1811 series) in grades GS-9 through GS-15. CID agents assigned to MPFU investigate major fraud crimes associated with the Army's procurement and contracting process. MPFU also protects Army logistics from "factory to foxhole."
Chris Grey is a spokesperson for the Criminal Investigation Command.

* Suspicion surrounds missing Bay Area man by Colin Freeman, San Francisco Chronicle, February 13, 2005