Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, Vietnam, Volume I

19. Letter From the Chargé in Vietnam (Elting) to the President of the Republic of Vietnam (Diem)¹

Saigon, June 10, 1958.

Dear Mr. President: With reference to Ambassador Durbrow’s letter of February 26, 1958,² and the various exchanges of views which have taken place on the subject of the Civil Guard, I have the honor to inform Your Excellency that we now are in receipt of authorization from Washington³ to make specific proposals to the Government of Viet Nam regarding re-equipment, retraining and reorganization of the Civil Guard along the lines with which Your Excellency is already familiar.

Once agreement is reached, USOM will make available for equipment for the Civil Guard, forthwith, the 5.1 million dollars from funds already programmed, less a small portion which has already been utilized for the Civil Guard. This firm commitment will enable a good start to be made on the program. Moreover, subject to the availability of appropriated funds, it is the intention of my Government to allocate a further three million dollars for equipment for the Civil Guard from our Fiscal Year 1959 program, and to seek adequate funds to continue financing equipment and training for such a program. This could involve sizeable additional expenditures by the United States Government to provide equipment for, and the technicians required for training the Civil Guard, following the principles in the study attached to Ambassador Durbrow’s letter.

The proposal of my Government contemplates a gradual reduction of the present enrollment of the Civil Guard, to an ultimate thoroughly trained and well equipped force of about 32,000. The equipment list enclosed with the Ambassador’s letter would be used as a guide for this program, but we believe that in practice the list would require modification by mutual agreement.

It is proposed that some military equipment be made available promptly to the Civil Guard from excess stocks available to the Army of the Republic of Viet Nam, and that this borrowed equipment be replaced promptly by identical or similar equipment ordered under the civilian program financed by USOM.

In view of recent developments relating to the administration of the Civil Guard, I am confident, Mr. President, that you appreciate the reasons which have led my Government to conclude that it is desirable to have the Civil Guard remain primarily a civilian police force, according to concepts expressed in the Ambassador’s letter to you of February 26.

In the full expectation that we may reach an early accord on the foregoing proposals which will enable us to put available funds to use promptly, I have the honor to inform Your Excellency that the Director of USOM, the Chief of MAAG and I are at your disposition as a group to discuss these proposals.

I take this occasion [etc.]

Howard Elting, Jr.

1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 751G.5–MSP/6–2158. Confidential. The source text is a copy which is an attachment to despatch 468 from Saigon, June 21.
2. See footnote 2, Document 12.
3. In Icato 1609 to Saigon, May 30, a State-Defense–ICA message concurred in by Ambassador Durbrow. The decisions in this telegram concerning U.S. policy regarding the Civil Guard are set forth in this letter. A copy of Icato 1609 as forwarded from CINCPAC to MAAG–Vietnam on May 31 (312113Z) is in Center of Military History, Williams Papers, Civil Guard (97).