MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD FROM L. K. WHITE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80R01284A001800120058-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 23, 2005
• Sequence Number: 58
• Publication Date: October 6, 1969
• Content Type: MFR

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6 October 1969
Morning Meeting of 6 October 1969
ADD/I noted that the NSC will meet on 9 October on SALT and
that the Director is not scheduled to brief. He added that the Review
Group is scheduled to meet this week and will probably consider the
Rockefeller report on Latin America.
ADD/I called attention to the piece by Joe Alsop in today's
Washington Post, "Figuring Strength of the VC is Just One of DC
Lunacies. " He commented that the figures used in the article are
confusing and should not be believed, an observation seconded by
Carver later on in the meeting.
In response to the Director's question Godfrey noted that the
only word we have of the situation in East Germany in connection with
shooting along the border is that which has been on the radio.
Godfrey pointed to the possibility that the Cuban MIG pilot who
defected and landed at Homestead Air Force Base flew under our radar
deck.
DD/S noted that the National Businessmen's Aircraft Association
has presented an award for the maintenance of "highest standards of
safety" to three of the Director's pilots
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Carver noted that the level of violence rose in the Delta provinces
over the weekend.
Maury reported that he has provided Ed Braswell for Senator
Stennis a copy of a paper on Panama prepared by OCI.
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Maury mentioned that the Daniels bill as amended has passed
the Senate. A discussion followed on whether this legislation might be
vetoed. Maury mentioned that we, the Foreign Service, and the FBI
will each require separate enabling legislation.
Houston reported on his meeting with Reverend Lindstrom,
Charles Bennett, and a Mr. James Stewart. He noted that he was
provided with a long list of questions and that Stewart's preoccupation
seemed to be that "something has gone wrong in Washington. "
Parrott mentioned that Admiral Anderson has now requested the
data pertaining to Estimates on Soviet ICBMs (see Morning Meeting
Minutes of 24 and 26 September) and has added additional requirements
pertaining to bombers and submarines.
DD/P mentioned that he will be appearing before the Senior
Seminar in Foreign Policy today and that
I auestions may be raised with respect to the Green Beret
case.
The Director asked those concerned to take note of the fact that
on 23 October the White House Fellows will be here for their annual
visit commencing at 6:30 p.m. He recalled that last year DDCI,
Executive Director, DD/P, DD/I, DD/S&T, DD/S, and Carver partici-
pated and that they will probably constitute an appropriate group for
this year's session. He asked that efforts be undertaken to organize
for this event.
The Director noted that he spoke to Secretary Laird and advised
the ADD/I that it is all right to sanitize the report on Soviet swept-
wing aircraft.
The Director provided the ADD/I with a letter from Paul Nitze
concerning Larry Lynn's interests in preparation for SALT.
The Director advised Maury that he had a long talk with Senator
Russell regarding all the questions which are being asked with respect
to Laos.
The Director advised that, in the event he receives any
questions with respect to Homer Bigart's piece in today's New York
Times, he can properly respond by observing that Bigart apparently
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received a full account of the transcript of the Article 32 investigation
of the Green Beret case and go on to suggest that the inquirer obtain
same from the Department of the Army.
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 Approved r ReleasiN g1''F/ Pt-M-RDP80R~84A00800200582
5 OCT 1969
Joseph Aisop
p Figuring Strength of the "K
N n~ Is Just One of DC Lunacies
HAVING BEEN from the table of organization, plus r ? FURTHERMORE, even:'
: the current 1M1ove House fig.'
DMZ to the point of Ca Mau the numbers of Vietnam's
urea "are still over-estimates.'.
(quite literally, and, for the villages and hamlets, plus a 11 To cite only one example,
first time in 18 visits), this few other bits and pieces of 1 1 the two most northerly prow
reporter has come back information. They thus ! races, Thua Thien and.;
from Vietnam with a ? bulg-' came up with what can only Quithang neaTri. rly rest ill credited
ing briefcase. It is 'really' be called a human sea-esti-' 'apiece. But in reality, the,.
hard to know where to mate, which thereupon be- guerrillas still hanging on in
begin the summing up; but -came holy writ in this crazy the populated areas of those
perhaps it is best to begin City. ;'provinces number only a-
with the lunacy in Washing- The Washington analysts few score-if that! The rest,`
' ? ~f they are not mere names,
ton. in fact, credited the' Viet- on . intelligence lists now
The simplest proof of tong with 190,000 'nearly rendered fictitious by mor
Washington's lunatic system full-time armed guerrillas, tality, have long since fled',
of judging events in Viet- plus 100,005 "secret self-de. from the' populated areas.:
nam is a key official esti= Tense"-altogether,, no less . They have, therefore, ceased-.,
to play a true guerrilla role
mate of 'VC strength. This
estimate has, , incredibly
enough, been divided by
about five in the last 12
months. And this division by.
about five has. occurred,
moreover, primarily because
silly, over-pessimistic theo-
rizing has at length been;re-'
placed by growing acquaint-
ance with the real facts.
The , story apparently
began about three years ago.
It seems that President
Johnson then made an impe-
rious demand to be told
"how many Vietcong guer-
rillas there are, since we're
fighting a guerrilla war."
than 290,000 organized guer- In truth," the most star
rilla-fighters in the villages .1 tling feature of the new'
and hamlets. The U.S. head.', scene in Vietnam is the pro
quarters in Saigon correctly gressive erosion of Hanoi's;
countered that the "secret most precious asset, whichi
is the native VC syru.cfure in,,
self-defense" types were .!.South Vietnam.. The best,,
largely imaginary, but ;measure of this ` erosion is
named an armed" guerrilla }the number' of guerrillas;
figure of 120,000. still in the business. ? And'
Neither the Washington. this number js.._every_where:,.
figure nor the Saigon figurej; declining, while in a few
had any solid foundation.,: provinces ,VC guerrillas are
But they at once caused a:' becoming as rare as whoop
bloody bureaucratic row bet .ing cranes.
tween the, Saigon military, But this erosion of the na-
and . the Washington ana .. .
lysts. I, tive VC' structure of Soutii
Last' autumn, finally, we! Vietnam is a separate pheri
really did begin to fight the! omenon, which must be ex
guerrilla war, mainly be ` amined in a separate report.
cause of the Saigon govern- Even if ther
h
d b
n
e
a
een
o.^
we were not fighting a guer- ment's vigorous if belated;
r;lla war. We were necessar outward movement into the, erosion, the 290,000 esti-..:
ily fighting a big-unit war,
since enemy divisions have
to be dealt with first, as
long as they are freely
charging about the military
'landscape.
Precisely because we were
not yet fighting a guerrilla
war, no one then knew very
much about VC guerrilla
strength, except for one set
of data. The ideal Vietcong
table of organization was
well known, providing a
guerrilla platoon per vil-
villages and hamlets. And mate, in official use so long,`
of course, the -best way to: -would still be about four..!
take the real measure of, times too high. ?
your enemy is to fight him. So when. the analysts',
Before long, it became ap-, warn, as they constantly do,
parent that both the Saigon!. that "Saigon Is always too';
-and the- Washington esti-1 optimistic" , .President Nixon`
mates of VC . guerrilla: had better remember the ;es-~
strength were' ludicrously timate that had: to, be di-'.
high. As the hard evidence!' vided by five.
' - ;
poured in from the districts,; 0 1969rL09 Angeles Timed, :??
the villages and hamlets, en
forced recalculation of the'
?
estimates. began last winter..
Today, 60,000 to 80,000 is the'.
lage, a guerrilla squad per figure in use in the White'
hamlet, so . many "secret , House ' for VC guerrilla. ?
self-defense' per h-amlet; strength, in' place of 290,000,'
and so on and on. only ten months ago.''.. ,_ .
THE CIVILIAN analysts
Washington iherefote,..3
i
n
;
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 Approved Release 206WA 1YDN (9lA RDP80R 4A001800120058-2
W 6 00 11" 1969
I now Beret Affair Unfolded.
By HOMER BIGART
"Return agent to duty. If'
unable to' do so, we must in-;
:form Abrams and Bunker. Has'
highest moral and flap poten-'
United States Embassy at Sai posed as Mr. Chuyen and flew
that if Mr. Chuyen was indeedlir., the Green Beret otticer in
cer Edward M: Boyle. After the
initial interrogations, Major
Crew went to the Special
proved a double agent, the charge of intelligence, to Sai-1?Forces commander, Col. Robert
pprroves had the following _;gon, the.supposed j.Imping-offB. Rheault, and related the de-
Berets oP ;place for Mr. Chuyen s perilouslvelopments.
tions: I solo mission. etas
of N ..,. _T-
us
`sent by a high official of the could turn him over to thelaison came suspicious. ine %,.L.A. u-
in man at Nhatrang thought
l I
lli
nc
A
enc
'C
t
t
ge
g
y
en
ra
n
e
e
'Saigon to the headquarters of
'the Army's Special Forces, or
'rived. -too late to save vThaia"" """ networ in lull know! of the Special Forces. 1i recall
edge that he was dealing with agent," C.I.A. headquarters ected susp Khac Chuyen, a 'Vietcong and North Vietnamese notified its man. in Nhatrang.
double agent, from execution execution i
at the hands of the Green Be- agents, obliging him to plant A Request for Asylum
false intelligence' with them. The cover story was finally
retMr. Chuyen, employed by Finally, although the intelli-) "blown" on June, 30 when Sgt.
the Berets as part of an Intel- Bence agency could never offi- Alvin L. Smith Jr. of the Green
li epce net operating in Cam- cially sanction. murder, perhaps Berets, who ran the intelligence
g network in which Mr. Chuyen
bodia, had been given what one that was' the last alternative,
as emnloyed,, went to the
of his executioners called' ""a the C.I.A. official was, reported C.I.A. office in Nhatrang and
wet disposal." to have said. requested 'asylum. Sergeant
. New ' information which Three days before the execu- Smith said he suspected that
sources close to the incident tion, the Berets asked the in- Mr. Chuyen had been executed,
t 11' and by the Green Berets. Now,
k
Sergeant Smith had told the
!investigators that his Cambo-
dian network was "drying up"
1 he was getting a reduced
'trickle of information, and two.
of his new agents had simply,
vanished. He felt he knew why,
when he recognized Mr. Chu:l
yen 'consorting with enemy;
agents in the film.
But Sergeant Smith was 'ap-,
parently never consulted on
,the disposal of Mr. Chuyen. Al
though convinced that Mr. Chu-
1 yen was a double agent, he is
said to have opposed execu-
Colonel Rheault, after'getting
his first briefing on the Chuyen
case, ordered his subordinates
to continue their investigation
and to "cue in" the C.I.A.
At a second conference Col-!
{onel Rheault was informed by
(Major Crew that the C.I.A-
seemed reluctant to become in-'
volved and had refused to take:
Mr. Chuyen off the Berets'i
,hands.
The Options Discussed
The options were discusssed.
One of them was "termination
with extreme prejudice," the
euphemism employed when an
agent is to be destroyed. This
was strongly opposed by Lieut.
Col. Kenneth B. Facey, execu-
tive officer of the Green Berets.
e a
made available after the Army a ~gence agency to ma
final check on ' Sergeant Smith said, he felt
'
abruptly dropped its case Mr. Chuyen s himself in danger of being slain
background. The C.I.A. liaison for "knowing too much."
against six Berets- accused officer at Nhatrang, having This behavior was curious,,
the slaying, establishes the fol- been : told : , that the ? Berets for it was Sergeant.Smith him-
?lowing version of what hap- - self who had. "fingered" Mr.
pened to Mr. Chuyen and how planned to send Mr. Chuyen
"flap" on a one-way mission" to Chuyen. It happened this way:'
the feared by the C.I.A. .. In late April or early May
came to develop. "test his loyalty," . suspected a Vietcong camp in Cambodia
that the Berets had reached was overrun. In the booty
After 10 days of solitary con-1 the fateful decision. seized was a roll of film. The
finement, during which Mr. I He transmitted this informa- film was developed and circu
Chuyen was subjected to lie? tiom to Saigon along with the laced among intelligence per
detector tests and was re-, ? . sonnel. One shot displayed a
peatedly interrogated while un-; Berets request for a final group of men, and among them
Any +h. inflnonro of ' ,,,,,,.!check. Finally the ? answer was spotted a known officer
~pentathol (truth serum) and '1Q1?G .., . ,ne~urn agent, w in the ivortn vietnamese mtel-.~ ' No decision was made. A
'duty ligence operation: the Central high-ranking Beret offficer in
]other drugs, he was disposed of'
f But .on ae previous night, Office for Research and5tudies..isai on was scent to the em
lf~in Nhatrang bay. June 20, Mr. Chuyen had been. Sergeant Smitl , perusinglbasssy for a chat with an offfi-
Fl According to sources close to,
slain. the faces of the other men,;icial of the Central Intellligence
the case, Mr. Chuyen was given; gave a cry of recognition. He ,Agency. The Beret offficer re,
"The Green Berets are notlsaw Mr. Chuyen in the group-:;ported back that the. C.I.A-
a massive dose of morphine.' trained in resurrection," an of-, he was sure of it. 'official had told him the "elim-
Unconscious, he was carried to ficial connected with the case
an outboard motorboat. When' noted dryly.
the boat was some miles from . A Cover Story
shore in water 150 feet deep, The officers involved in the
he was weighted with tire rims;, slaying of Mr. Chuyen con-
hit on the head with a. pistol cocted an elaborate cover story.
butt, shot .twice in the, head They reported that on June 21,. promised any security . mat-
M
r.
with a .22-caliber --pistol and the day after the execution,
thrown over the side. Chuyen had departed on a dan-
gerous
h b mission equipped with a
d
l
the official said he would have
.to clear it with his superiors.
(Later he informed the C.I.D.
.agents that he could not sign
the statement.
(But when the official was
again asked by a C.I.D. agent,:
in the presence of the C.LA.
chief in Saigon and a rep-
resentative from 'the staff of
,..ii the. United. Sates ,commmander,l
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ere a
ten severa
meet-. one-way radio set - stn mg! volved in the investigation of
hogs, between. Green Beret offi- only. He hadn't been, , heardi Mr. Chuyen were Major Crew,
cers and C.I.A. officials to dis-, from, they said. Major Middleton, Capt. Robert
cuss what to do 'with Mr.; To support this story, aj F. Marasco, Capt. Leland E.
Japanese-American soldier at-; Brumley, Capt. BE. ,Wilt
Chuyen, At one meeting in the tached?; to, the_.LGreen..,.Berets`Bru, and_ Capt. Budge u arrant Offi-
"double him back"-continueldouble agent on such a mission.
to use him in the Cambodian! "Use all pressure possible to
Mr. Chuyen was sent to.Sai-?!ination" of Mr. Chuyen."might
gon on a sham mission. He be the best course of action.".
was arrested there and flown(When agents of the Army's
to Nhatrang. Criminal Investigation Division
On the lie detector tests he approached the C.I.A. official
was said to have "blipped" on and asked for a signed state-
two questions: "Have you com-!ment confirming that advice,
Special Forces officers in-
continued
 ?Approveor Release 2005/11/23 : CIA-RDP80F84A001800120058-2
Gen: Creighton W. Abrams, if In the boat were Captain So the Nixon 'Administration
he had in fact offered such Brumley, Captain Marasco and advised Army Secretary Stan-
advice, he replied yes, elimina- Captain Williams. They had ob- ley R. Resor to dismiss charges
Lion might be the only course' tained a 25-foot length of heavy against the Green Berets.
of action.) i chain, and when the boat was In his terse statement Sept.
Impatience in Nhatrang far offshore, hidden by dark- 29, Secretary Resor said the
Back in Nhatrang, Mr. ness, they used the chain to Central. Intelligence Agency-
Chuyen's captors were getting secure the tire rims to Mr. "though not directly involved
impatient. They reported to Chuyen. The chain had six in the alleged incident"-had
Colonel Rheault that Mr. locks. refused to make available any
,Chuyen had beeen under inter-! Captain Marasco struck Mr. of its personnel as witnesses.
'ro at.ion for 10 days, that bell pistol. on the head with his This refusal, which the C.I.A.
was "climbing the walls" and pistol. Then, while Captain Wil- said was made "in the interest
we can't hold him forever."' liams propped Chuyen to a of national security," made a
The decision was made to standing position, Captain Ma- fair trial for .the Green Berets
rasco fired a bullet into the impossible, Secretary Resor
kill. Mr. Cuyen. A cover story agent's head. said.
was approved by Colonel The plan called for two shots . Mr. Resor said the Green
Rheault. t. GThe en colonel s himself hoa in gun jammed. head. Captain
He Captain stripped Marasco' the s Berets must be presumed in-
reportedly became furious at'pistol (Special Forces men are Ition of guilt could only be,
the trickery when the truth; trained to do this in total dark- made by a court that had ac-;
was exposed. ness), cleaned it and aimed cess to all information regard-!
The general's displeasure at': again. This time the pistol fired. ing the alleged offense.
being lied to has been cited as ~ Mr. Chuyen was dumped into But he . warned: "The Army.