The Prisoner of War Medal is a military award of the United States Armed Forces which was authorized by Congress and signed into law by President Ronald Reagan on 8 November 1985.

The Defense Department told Herbert that the pin "could have an adverse impact on the morale and pride of those families whose members are or were missing in action," and also claimed that it was inappropriate to seem to reward soldiers for having suffered with "such an undesirable status" as prisoners of war.

Congressman G. William Whitehurst (R-VA) proposed the medal again in 1975, and was informed by the Department of Defense that "the present hierarchy of military awards is adequate for recognizing valorous and meritorious acts" performed by former POWs.

Specifically, DoD policy stated that "hostages of terrorists and persons detained by governments with which the US is not actively engaged in armed conflict are not eligible for the medal.

[12] A congressional inquiry on behalf of the former crew of USS Pueblo, who were detained in North Korea in 1968, resulted in a 1988 DoD General Counsel opinion authored by Kathleen A. Buck.

"[15] Bucher's petition eventually resulted in the Navy's supporting an amendment to the POW Medal statute to allow eligibility for service members taken captive during situations other than armed conflict.

In addition, Berteau argued with regard to granting the medal to people captured outside formal armed conflict, i.e., being detained by those who are not officially enemies of the United States.

"[18] This amendment was the result of congressional recognition of multiple groups of individuals who were not originally authorized to receive the medal after Department of Defense review,[19] such as the USS Pueblo crew detained in North Korea in 1968,[20] the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army Air Forces flight crews interned in the neutral USSR during World War II,[21] the U.S. Army Air Forces crews interned in neutral Switzerland during World War II,[22] U.S. Marine Corps Colonel William R. Higgins who was kidnapped in 1988 and executed by Hezbollah-affiliated terrorists,[23] and the U.S. Marines from the U.S. Embassy in Teheran, Iran who were held hostage by terrorists from 1979 to 1981 in the Iran Hostage Crisis.

Boorda, the (then) Deputy Chief of Naval Operations, made a policy statement to the House Committee on Armed Services on behalf of OSD and OMB: "Within the Department of Defense, the general counsel has determined that the Pueblo crew does not, under the current statute, qualify for the POW medal…Additionally, persons detained by governments with which the United States is not engaged actively in armed conflict are not eligible for the POW medal.

Cranston stated explicitly that the amendment was intended to "include [as] eligible for the medal those individuals who were held captive in neutral or allied countries in situations similar to those of prisoner-of-war conditions during armed conflict.

This clarification is intended to cover the individuals taken prisoner as a result of the USS Pueblo seizure, as well as any similar occurrence that the Service Secretary concerned deems comparable to the circumstances under which persons have generally been held captive by enemy armed forces during a war or conflict.

From 1991 to 1993 the Air Force and the Navy Secretaries awarded the POW Medal to all U.S. aircrew members interned in neutral Russia during World War II, a total of 291 personnel.

[39] While staffing one of the Navy awards, the Assistant Vice Chief of Naval Operations, Rear Admiral Raymond M. Walsh, explained that an internee of the Soviet Union was previously denied the POW Medal under the older version of 10 USC § 1128 "because he was not a prisoner of an enemy of the United States."

"[41] In 1996 and 2006 the USAF awarded POW Medals to USAAF T/Sgt Daniel Culler and Lt. Richard Pettit for illegal incarceration during World War II in prison camp Wauwilermoos, in neutral Switzerland.

By November 1944, over 100 U.S. airmen were confined in Wauwilermoos, and were only released after the U.S. Legation in Switzerland presented a protest authorized by the acting U.S. Secretary of State, which accused the Swiss Army of violating provisions of the 1929 Geneva Convention relative to the treatment of prisoners of war.

The first hostage award under the amended statute was possibly the case of Donald R. Blair, a sailor based in Okinawa in 1946 who was sent to Tsingtao, China, to train Nationalist Chinese forces.

According to the Marine Corps Deputy Commandant for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, Mr. Blair was "a member of the US Navy [who] was interned from 3 December 1946 to 15 January 1947 by Chinese guerilla forces.

'"[49] Similarly, in 2003 USAF Secretary James G. Roche authorized the POW Medal to all "U.S. Air Force personnel taken hostage anytime during the period of 4 November 1979 to 22 January 1981, at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran."

He concluded that hostages of terrorists qualified for the medal because "Americans captured there were clearly held captive (vice merely being under house arrest, for example)," and "the law does not require that the captors be members of the military of a recognized state, but only that they be organized as an armed force hostile to the US."

All Army soldiers were approved with the exception of Staff Sergeant Joseph Subic Jr., who was denied because "his character of service was determined not to be consistent with POW Medal policy.

Several other U.S. Army soldiers received the POW Medal after the 20 January 2007 Karbala provincial headquarters raid including 1LT Jacob Fritz, SPC John Chism, and PFC Shawn Falter.

Interim DoD policy articulated in 1988 concluded that only military captives taken prisoner by enemy states during active armed conflict were eligible for the award.

The OTJAG attorney concluded his report by recommending that "it may be advisable to examine the possibility of further defining qualifying criteria in the SECNAV Awards Manual in line with the statutory guidance for the purpose of simplifying future decisionmaking regarding the POW Medal," but this step was not taken.

"[66] Although the original Senate bill that produced the 1989 amendment intended to make the treatment of captives the operative qualifying condition for those held outside formal armed conflict, this intent was only sporadically enforced.

[28] A conservative interpretation of the hostile force requirement sometimes resulted in denial of the medal for internees of neutral countries and hostages of terrorists, since in both cases ill-treatment during captivity is not necessarily condoned at the level of state policy.

[56] Since the attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in 2001 the Office of the Secretary of Defense has promoted a broader definition of "opposing armed force" that now includes individual actors or terrorists.

"[40] The attorney referenced a VA POW approval that stated "a decision has been made that [an internee's] detention by Russian forces was under circumstances comparable to those under which persons generally have been forcibly detained or interned by enemy governments during wartime.

For this reason, the conferees recommend amendment of current law to give the service secretaries the authority to issue an award in appropriate cases where the conditions of captivity are comparable to those in which a POW is held by enemy armed forces.

"[87] Due to a provision in the FY1996 National Defense Authorization Act, service secretaries are required to award the Purple Heart to any POW Medal recipients wounded in captivity.

"[89] Prior to October 2011, federal law provided that any false verbal, written or physical claim to the Prisoner of War Medal, by an individual to whom it has not been awarded, shall be fined or/and imprisoned not more than six months.