LANSDALE TEAM IN VIETNAM CAREFUL TO AVOID LIMELIGHT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00001R000300430025-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 17, 2003
• Sequence Number: 25
• Publication Date: December 11, 1965
• Content Type: NSPR

'4WAASHTINGTON POST 1 ~G~~
Approved For Release 2WAF RDP76%44RUt)tT`300430025-1
elements of the U.S. Mis='
a s.ale i eaPj-(i.in Vietnam sign in the past who did not
~-~ ~i/ see eye, to eye with. their ,
methods or their obj ti
ec ves.
There is still a fair
amoun
t of reidual suspe
refq l to Avoid Limelight
Y~.iiLL cion about the Lansdale
mission in Saigon, which is
one of the reasons for its' By John Maffre Aims to Avert Chaos This of itself ' is by no studied effort in. remaining
Washington Post Foreign Service This will take some doing. The ns the wbelt. answer., inconspicuous.
SAIGON, Dec. 10 - The The Vietnamese are being people around Lans- r Lansdale, . a slow-spoken
quietest American in South advised and prodded on ev- dale, who act as follow. 'and philosophical type of
Vietnam Is a retired Air cry conceivable field of hu- through men for Lodge, man, is fully aware that this Force general who wishes man activity here. Over the know. from years of expo. quiet operation invites some.,
he could vanish into the years, this has generated a rience that . a government startling speculation about.
Vietnamese woodwork. degree of resistance and at: which does not produce, his mission and the weight
Ever since he returned times open resentment. material benefits - regard- he can throw around.
here in August, he and his Basically, the Lansdale less of any popular mandate Ile and his colleagues
team of 13 associates have group regards Itself as a cat- I -will go the same way of groaned about a recent ar-
been,virtual hermits as far,"! alyst in Vietnamese society. all previous ones here. title in London's Economist
as public attention is con- It does not regard the Viet- This means land-'reform, 'magazine,?'Which suggested
corned. They want to keep namese social revolution as begun again after a four- that'- they could call upon
things that way. a lost cause, but it is pain- year lapse, but far from the '.vast ? resources of the.
Even the designation of fully aware that time is run- being off the ground yet. It !'.U.S. Mission, including
their mission is a master- ning short. In fact, there are' means rural electrification, ! . American troops and the
piece of vagueness. The sole a 'number of Vietnamese in which presents , enormous 1., minions of the CIA, ,in their
pronouncement from the responsible positions who' physical o b s t a c I e s. It j objective of making . the,
U.S. Embassy came on Aug. believe that only chaos can! means price stabilization, South Vietnamese. govern,
- u..~. ??~?,.y %.,du- .A?INt ions to remake the! uemg twistea out of shapp.L_,
of Lodge today announced count i b V ' ?
r
t
t
y n
o a viable pohti-. Y ie
nam s own war ef?!
the appointment of Mr. Ed- cal and social entity. fort and by the huge mllita-
Group to the Secretary Gen- that if basic national insti- Viet Cooperation Needed ! J~ .O
eral of the Central Rural.! tutions do not take t b ;
roo
e- li/ n -C
Construction 'Council," hind whatever limited de.: Among other things,.these
The Council in question ? gree of militar t and other. benefits ld
t
ion cou :,~
deals with " Y pro ac
Pacification," the is available,- any kind of materialize only through a
endeavor to bring peace and peace that may come to this, : heroic exercise In some
the benefits of government country will find it hope- thing which is notably lack
authority to a torn-up coun- lessly vulnerable to political; ing in members of the Viet..
tryside. This has been going sabotage. namese government-coop
on in frequently misguided Right now there Is some, oration among themselves
fits and starts for ten years .earnest politicking going on The concept of cooperating % .
or more, in the positive sense, whichh freely'. amoneo' departments
Retired Intelligence Officer was certainly not the case without referring everything
~ less than two months ago. to some higher authority In.
The "Mr." is Maj. Gen. ( , . Saigon which invariably re-
Edward Lansdale, USAF Ky s New Outlook acts with glacial speedis
(Rot.), one-time intelligence The government is report-I alien to the Vietnamese cus. i
officer, 'a legendary in- ' edly laboring on the estab-; tom. This unhappy ~ situation '
fluence in the Philippines' lishment of an advisory ' s as much a legacy of
fight against the Huk reb- group, of selected Viet French colonial rule as it Is
els, and an alumnus of the namese; perhaps 70 or 80, to of Vietnamese character.
school of frustration direct- advise the Military Direc-' ' Lansdale and his . col-
ed by President Ngo Dinh tory. There is also the pros leagues claim they arrived:
Diem. Peet of a national consti-' , here with, no radical new
Intelligence officers as a tution being drawn up to be ideas to sell. They say they;.:
breed are not given 'to Publicly examined and de; would like to help generate,:,'
shouting about their activi- bated in the coming year,l action on many old and gen-'r
ties fro the rooftops, and with the hope that national,' erally simple ones that haver
there am re pointed reasons elections for an assembly or! never been given a fair:
for lansdale and his associ- legislative body may be:- 'trial.
ates to maintain a discreet held the year after that. ' Many of these salesmen''
silence. It is anyone's guess how' are old hands at the game,'
For one thing, they are much of this energy Is due' here and In fhb Philippines
bending over backwards to ~ to quiet American per. and elsewhere,' Men like re-
reassure Saigon officials 1 suasion. Certainly Prime: tired Cols. Charles T. R. Bo-
that they are here to help Minister Nguyen Cao Ky, a hannan and Napoleon D,'
the officials strengthen young air force general who' Valeriano labored for years
their authority, to help had been untutored in ci-: in the Philippines, Valeri-
them uncover and develop , vilian administration and un- ano being a Native of that their own resources of nat- til recently deeply mistrust' country.
ural leadership, and not to l ful of It, has matured in his They've Had Problems`
try to Impose an American-:, office and Is concerned; ,
written course of )rational 1 about basing ,authority on' Some, of them', had their
conduct on' them. 'the expressed acceptance of; . problems, not. only. wit~ ,the
the ? people. South V t
Approved For Release 2003112/01 `DfA-RDPf9-8 RW' 430025-1