Foreign Relations of the United States, 1917–1972, Volume VIII, Public Diplomacy, 1969-1972

58. Summary Prepared in the Office of the Assistant Director, East Asia and Pacific, United States Information Agency¹

Washington, December 8, 1969

VIETNAMIZATION OF JUSPAO’S INFORMATION AND PSYCHOLOGICAL OPERATIONS PROGRAMS

(Summary of a presentation made by M. L. Osborne, Viet-Nam Working Group, East Asia and Pacific, USIA at meeting of DOD’s Viet-Nam Task Force, Dec. 1, 1969)

USIA has, from the beginning, considered its psychological operations (PSYOP) support program in Viet-Nam as short-term in nature. Our concept since 1965 has been and now is that functions in this field properly belong to and must ultimately be performed by the Government of Viet-Nam (GVN).

During 1969 the effort to train and equip GVN agencies to perform information/PSYOP functions intensified. Significant developments in Vietnamization of these functions include the following:

—The Joint United States Public Affairs Office (JUSPAO) and the GVN have signed an agreement whereby the Vietnamese will, by July 1, 1971, assume all responsibility for technical operation and programming of the television network being constructed by the USG. Personnel of the national television agency (THVN) are being trained in programming by a team from National Broadcasting Corporation, International under contract with JUSPAO. Six THVN engineers are presently attending a two-year course at the RCA Institute in New York.

—A new four-station radio network being constructed by the USG will be completed in mid-February 1971. Personnel of the national radio system (VTVN) are being trained to operate the existing radio system and will be expected to assume complete responsibility for the new system. JUSPAO will retain an advisory and training assistance function for perhaps a year after turnover of the new network to GVN.

—JUSPAO’s assistance to the Ministry of Information’s (MOI) printing plant (the National Information House) and to the National Motion Picture Center will be substantially terminated by June 30, 1970.

—JUSPAO and the MOI began, during 1969, to publish joint PSYOP policy guidances and information plans. In planning the PSYOP program in support of the annual TET campaign, the Ministry of Information (MOI) took the lead for the first time. The American role in PSYOP policy and planning will continue to decrease as GVN agencies can be motivated to assume greater responsibility and be equipped to do so.

—The MOI is progressively assuming a greater share of the load of producing information and PSYOP materials, including leaflets, posters, newspapers, magazines, tapes, booklets and cartoon books. For example, the GVN has agreed to produce half or more of all materials being prepared for the 1970 TET campaign. Vietnamese personnel are being trained in writing, editorial work, typesetting, page layout, cliche production, preparation of an offset news service for the provinces, and operation of printing equipment.

—During November of 1969, JUSPAO was engaged in shifting to MOI responsibility for delivery of PSYOP materials from Saigon to the provinces. The first phase involves transfer of responsibility for overland deliveries to provinces in III and IV CTZs. The next step will be to arrange greater MOI involvement in air-delivery of materials to I and II CTZs.

—The U.S. Mission plans, ultimately, to eliminate all Assistant Province Advisor/Psychological Operations positions in the 44 provinces, leaving the senior JUSPAO Vietnamese local employee in each province to perform residual functions. Ten such positions were scheduled for elimination by December 1, 1969.

—A key part of JUSPAO’s Vietnamization program is to develop in the Vietnamese Information Service (VIS) the capability of operating the entire field PSYOP program in support of pacification. In pursuance of this objective, information cadre at province, district and village/hamlet levels have been trained at the National Training Center at Vung Tau and at the MOI’s An Dong Training Center in Saigon.

1. Source: National Archives, RG 306, Director’s Subject Files, 1968–1972, Entry A1–42, Box 3, PSY–Psychological Operations. Confidential. Fitzhugh Green sent a copy of the summary to Shakespeare, copying Loomis and Weathersby, under a December 11 memorandum, indicating that Osborn prepared the “excellent brief.” Continuing, Green noted that it “offers you a clear, short picture of how JUSPAO is Vietnamizing some of its key functions.” (Ibid.) The Joint United States Public Affairs Office in Saigon was established in 1965 and headed by a senior USIA Foreign Service Officer and staffed and funded by USIA, the Department of Defense (DOD), and the Agency for International Development (AID).