62. Editorial Note
In telegram [document number not declassified], February 3, 1966, Director of Central Intelligence Raborn sent the following message to the CIA Station Chief in Saigon:
- “1. Under Secretary George Ball has asked [less than 1 line of source text not declassified] to undertake ultra sensitive covert political action program targeted against National Liberation Front. Project designed to turn myth of NLF against its creators by playing on and exacerbating regional tensions within Lao Dong/NLF control apparatus and attempting to induce ethnic Southerners within this mechanism either to act as if they were independent or, at least, to chafe at heightened awareness of the fact that they are not.
- “2. Objectives this program include (1) exploiting and increasing tensions between indigenous Southerners whose names and faces are necessary to preserve fiction that NLF is spontaneously created South Vietnamese political group and Tonkinese Lao Dong cadre running show both in South and from party and DRV reunification committees in Hanoi, (2) inducing outright defections of key NLF personnel to the GVN, (3) inducing NLF personnel to complain about Northern control even though they do so within the fold and do not break away to join the GVN, (4) where possible, doubling such personnel to serve as additional sources of information and centers of political agitation within the NLF, (5) inducing detachment from NLF, if not outright defection or switch to GVN, of key groups or individuals at provincial and district levels to fragment NLF in local areas.
- “3. HQS well aware difficulty and complexity this program, its high risk and flap potential and its limited chances of success. These have all been stressed to Messrs. Ball and Alexis Johnson and acknowledged by them, but they want us to try anyway.”
Raborn then discussed implementation of the project. (Central Intelligence Agency, GAC Chron, Job 80–R01720R)
In a follow-up telegram to the Saigon Station, [document number not declassified], February 10, Raborn amplified the fourth objective, stating that the persons mentioned therein “might perhaps also be useful as discreet channels for future political communications from the US and/or GVN.” Raborn also outlined the groups to be targeted:
“(1) Upper echelon NLF figures whose names are in some measure known to the world at large (e.g. Nguyen Huu Tho, Huynh Tan Phat, Phung Van Cung, Nguyen Van Hieu, and Tran Buu Khiem). (2) NLF overseas representatives outside the bloc. (3) Middle echelon figures such as lesser known members of the Central Committee and staff officers in COSVN or regional headquarters elements. (4) Actually or potentially [Page 203] affiliated groups or organizations, particularly ones composed of ethnic or religious minorities such as Cao Dai and Hoa Hao factions, Khmer Krom, and Fulro. (5) Provincial, district, village and hamlet leadership and cadres.” (Ibid.)
In a telegram sent through CIA communications facilities on February 15, Deputy Under Secretary of State U. Alexis Johnson notified Ambassador Lodge that the Department of State had developed with CIA “some new thoughts” on channels through which approaches to the National Liberation Front might be attempted. Johnson indicated that the Saigon Station Chief could brief Lodge on the details and asked the Ambassador for his comments and suggestions. (Ibid.)
In a March 18 memorandum for the record, George Carver of CIAʼs Vietnamese Affairs Staff noted that the project “had been approved at highest levels within the CIA and the Department of State.” (Ibid.)