433. Memorandum from Bell to Executive Secretary, Special Group (CI), August 221
SUBJECT
- A.I.D. Progress Report on Counter-Insurgency Activities (January 1–August 1, 1963)
Civic Action and Other Counter-Insurgency Programs
Civic action constitutes a major counter-insurgency effort in Latin America with the level of funding for civic action projects increasing considerably in the last seven months. Important new projects funded include: assistance to Chilean National Police to expand a program furnishing medical assistance to remote areas, assistance to the Colombian Army in constructing a highway to open up a priority violence area, and assistance to the Brazilian Army Engineers to construct an important road link in the Northeast.
All A.I.D. projects identified in the Thai Internal Security Plan are proceeding on or close to schedule. To concentrate and accelerate rural programs in security threatened areas, the A.I.D. Mission in Thailand has organized all rural programs under a new Office of Rural Affairs. This coordination of program will allow for more effective coordination of the Thai-initiated Mobile Development Unit operations (military civic action) with other important A.I.D. rural development programs. A.I.D. is funding the installation of a radio transmitter to be installed in northeast Thailand and funded a civic action project carried out by U.S. forces during the recent SEATO exercises. [text not declassified] The program of aid to the tribal montagnards in Vietnam is being broadened to include schooling and vocational training to promote permanent ties with the government. Commodity support for the Vietnamese Army’s medical civic action programs is continuing.
In the Korean civic action program $1.7 million has been provided for road and bridge projects and support continues for the Brumece Army’s resettlement project at Namsang, a civic action program designed to resettle loyal veterans in an insecure area. A.I.D. has continued large shipments of refugee supplies to the [illegible in the original] and to other non-Communist groups in Laos and, in April, funds were provided to purchase rice and other subsistence items for Laos armed [Typeset Page 1730] forces and the Neutralist forces. The Indonesian Army civic action program received $670,000 in equipment during the reporting period, and plans were developed to [Facsimile Page 2] provide American university training for senior military officers now in key government jobs. A new project in the field of civic action in Iran was initiated in June 1963 with a $45 thousand procurement of medical supplies to support a gendarmorie program of medical aid for villagers. Also in June, an agreement with Algeria was signed providing for a major work relief program utilizing PL 480 foodstuffs as partial payment for some 60,000 otherwise unemployed on public works projects in four sections of the country and for U.S. technical assistance to support implementation of the various projects. A.I.D. has agreed to furnish materiel to the Central African and Malegasy republics to support development projects by civilian youth organizations in those countries.
Public Safety Activities
There are now programs in 31 countries, of which four are new and four expanded, and there are limited activities in 9 other countries. The substantially increased funds made available in FY 63 have proven adequate and funds requested for FY 64 would be sufficient to maintain current or expanded emphasis. A.I.D. has 247 personnel in the public safety program as compared with 189 on December 1, 1962. Assistance in filling vacancies has been provided by several agencies including the Department of Defense which, at A.I.D. request, is providing 20 qualified military officers, 9 of whom are on duty, for two-year tours of duty with A.I.D.
The Agency’s capability to respond to emergency requests for police assistance in Latin America has increased significantly with establishment by DOD of a stockpile of standard riot control equipment for A.I.D. in the Canal Zone. Complementing this forward deployment of police equipment are newly instituted administrative procedures designed to greatly reduce request-to-delivery times for procurement of public safety commodities. Since January 1963, emergency airlift delivery of riot control equipment was made to Pakistan, Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. The student capacity of the Inter-American Police Academy has been nearly doubled and plans for the December 1963 opening of the International Police Academy in Washington, D.C. are on schedule.
Training
Fifty-two A.I.D. officers attended the Interdepartmental Seminar during this reporting period and two participated in counter-insurgency programs [text not declassified]. Production began in June on a [Typeset Page 1731] joint A.I.D./DOD training film, First Line of Defense, stressing the complementary roles of civil police and military forces in counter-insurgency.
- “AID Progress Report on Counter-Insurgency Activities, January 1–August 1, 1963.” Secret. 2 pp. Washington National Records Center, RG 286, AID Administrator Files: FRC 67 A 1530, Special Group (CI).↩