320. Report by the Chief of the Far Eastern Division, Directorate of Plans of the Central Intelligence Agency (Colby)1
Washington, August 16, 1966.
[Here follows a report on the war in South Vietnam and the war in Laos.]
Thailand
- 11.
- In Northeast Thailand, the Communists are clearly in Phase I, subversive operations, of a Peopleʼs War. Despite some underlying differences, the similarities with Vietnam of 1958–1959 are startling: armed propaganda teams circulating through the country villages, agitating, taxing and recruiting; the murder of village leaders and attacks on police posts; a radio “Voice of Free Thailand”; a Thai Patriotic Front and the circulation of leaflets in Bangkok itself; the infiltration of cadres, local boys trained in North Vietnam and China, repatriated to NVN under the Red Cross over the past few years but returned under clandestine auspices. The RTG reaction on the ground is also not dissimilar from that of Vietnam at that time: isolated police posts asserting (unbelievably) that they patrol every night, the use of direct military force against reported Communist camps and concentration on the “enemy.” A heartening item is the presence of a very few senior, although not top level, officials such as Dr. Chamnan, General Saiyuth, etc., begging to be told of techniques to avoid the Vietnamese history and repeating almost by rote the key doctrine that the principal target is the people, not the enemy. [4 lines of source text not declassified]
- 12.
- It is clear that we are engaged in a race in Thailand and that the enemy may initially outstrip us. Our model should be our history and technique in Laos, however, rather than Vietnam. Our eventual success will come from effective organization on the American side, for which the appointment of Mr. deSilva is a welcome step, the rapid development and application of “people” techniques, including the necessary education of various levels of the Thai bureaucracy in them, and avoidance of the type of political explosion which occurred in Vietnam as a result of the Buddhist uprising. [5 lines of source text not declassified] The question of a Constitution and popular elections will probably drag along without clear resolution for some time between those who believe the government vulnerable to charges of authoritarianism and those who fear the result of unleashing competing political forces.
- 13.
- [2–1/2 lines of source text not declassified]
[Here follows discussion on Indonesia.]
- Source: Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Harriman Papers, Kennedy and Johnson Administrations, Far East General. Secret.↩