THE ACCURACY OF MACV'S REPORTING ON INFILTRATION AND ORDER OF BATTLE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00610R000200110010-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 1, 2003
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: June 27, 1966
• Content Type: MF

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25X1 Ap roved For Release 2003/10/22 CIA-RDP90-00610 00i0200110010-3
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IIatil two ya rs ado, howver, MAC'S relisd headily oz South
Vi~taa,~asa intelligence, wuch of -jhich v haphazar4ly
acquired and often irproporly explored. ??lithin the last
two years procedures for measuring in:ii'it.; ation have been
rc''13ed and standardi2ed in coordination a1- h US adviGers
and the reliability of tho official South Vietna.~Usa
studies has been =: xedly Lmp= owed. in addi a.ion, C?
has established itz own Nell nsa-fed unit to osa:4'no ia-
forration obtained from the interrog a?aa of 1:~...> 3
of captured ~ a .. ; ~a AU.~L~r3
4prisoners" a11-rs, and docu ;ants. Corsegtieae y
a rather go data base going bacig to 1-959 baz b-39a 3at3b,-.
li.3b,od.
2. ~3et'een 1939 and 1964, !1
anaaysts morally
felt that LC? s intiltra tioA fig-urns vmr.g on the fio ,ere
dative sides Since 1964 , ho Byer , 'with the incroaaing
involve ant o2 US 3orc=.a in sorbet operations and with
i proved procedur,-s for the exploitation o a 7 , b1e in..
telligence, s.1AC9's estizatas $aY9 ceccme =r-a siz
we bellavs, arv providing a raa.gca.a ., and,
=.bsy nc ,,ura pi-t :L .
Of the cu; .: aat
lprovi,n infi3tr.ationpory1-,n
~. IIespita our ov,Oxail
in3iZt. at .an ~por i g, "i~er 9 r ~s i ion a. a
:hiss reporting coui be t a
tat;Z31^'a~c~ Oder aeA bo Write- : ; won
anAly. z, Thi 'U24 1-1?i 1tZ a>inz
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110010-3
 Approve
groups in to simplified Categories rather than the pre senQ
five rather complicated onoa. CV'3 five categories
and the involved critaria which s.etor wher-a an dnuil-
ta'ating unit fits into then are a3 follow:.
Category l: InZiltrati~ gronps thica havV been n__
by t.io or nors- sour:.as.
a te-'ory ,.a: Gro 3 "other tbai :a63 or7 3, der t v53d
$son he stata ants of captives, the ajor portion of
~Yh%.ch i2 conf it aid by other. sources."
Category 3: Groups "other than catsgorias 11. and
210
derived from a statent of a cap yivq 'who has been int-er-.
rog.ated by the :dilitar7 _ntte: r oga; roc C, alter of the Na--
tional Iaterrog tioa Center and 'hoe, iafor yion is
probAbly true but a major portion of tic as not been
coal it :psi by other sou ces . "
Groups dari-'od :~o "ot^zar c.Zpyi.YQ
is ta'e-a a ts
, for axa ;ple Corp i t$; rsaga }ion rsrort ."
Catagory 5: "aport~d beat not accep tod," This
rscQntly Introduced category i nclndoa e on es j. d ed by
LC? to be too tenuous to be Carried any of the other
Zou' c a t$gor iez.
5. It is difficult to trar.Sxat infiltration
reported according 3o these conplica ed catogorias into
zeaain;ful lan as a for consu7 zs of national is iell.i ^e ca,
It could be helpful if I CV 'ould r3por t ynflitration
Under just t-ito categories; "coz:.;irnod " and "r ~p o_ tod. "
The confi ed wou3L include the p.; sen; yataaori2s and
chile all the rob-4- 'ifluld -all i -:o the :r per}ad
cat ,>Or J? if the ~~ shed inte1l~"` c products of t`..
DDZ ainpiy lump the field Apo.; tiny Z o tie a eve 4'.-,70
ca:e oriel vvithout changes in field r or7in ':.7es'i3ac~
indicates that it *zrill 6"b- .ax 'rhe DI product out of ph S, a
pith :3tudies produced by Dj.A and o he in lI nc inn: b3
5ith clone ~ervic. 1i.n3 yo CY,
Ordor of Battl
~? ~ ~u~r ~Z~ _' C`J9 t 3~T'?...~X' -of
71 Gong and forth Ali ?: a~ :~;~ u tsn 30 u;b
xp u~o be ace a . At 12as ~o th
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Vietna ese strength is Coutb Yietm=- at p 2 1 L 1~
33, 000 and 7i4t Con;, wain force strength at so 3, 040.
L ACV has aac:e as e.Ziora in the last t -,o ye:xa to e
it+a criteria or t.ha accop to -q o. CoL' un_1_s ' unit z morn
reatli3tic. Pre iiousl7 thQ Was i+~;- cn t il.i Cy ca
iaunlty had balieved that LLC'I's sys.nda ds were to yL3>:;o..
tiv_0 and cou squently its order o: ba :tle il~u ss :,Lae
fax too 1o?l. At )resent w$ ,4,o7 n Lti, ~n,n ?i S ax e
?a,~ Qbabl accu, a,a. I ;.ihould noted, boaev~:. , that -`.
~A 3 ~t SOti~, ~ teaa addi aio .,s..? t 2 . a Z , s .
C -.zn.. =i~_ ~ar7 units
in Zouth Vieth. not het car-.32d in the order of battle,
_... .........
7. There are, for exa. plo, a number of North Viet-
ua:.ese and Viet Coz.-
units 'him Save bjaen reported by
prisoners, returnees, and In captured docu ienta but not
accep led is the order of battle because tha evidence is
Irs-u '? cian to t cr i ear ;a. I the x?9^ Or 4n
aX'R accx: ash, and p, 3.,r}~j fence sugge i3 vim: many o;
men are, t.^vE? of n`,:. r 1) north =0'?
rOOP3 in 3-01.1th V# etna_3 -Oo(uldb~.n 0176 a
.33 azz
= _b7...-1AC7.~
Ji h, 'C7,_~o , ,, tha t};sos~... ,,- bou d not ba added
to the order oZ yaSil?e unyi I C>att r 7~1 ~1~1n ' ~Ji'as
3vaj lsbI8.
~. 1'or tha accept :nom of uaii>s in yho order oj?
battle, CV has established c i sari% sQja ate lfgym :hose
used Po.: oa~i n.g in?iltration, We 4ael a .aw the order
of bas : e cat er r las are also tc ] C0,:+7l4c:tbed 90 easy
us.a as bington, hero a z C ~'ri z3n ly rata
u3V41 order 01 bq t..t'4 a r 3 :ng
a) L~ it ed u3i t 1 ne r tic- e a>e: i a.'q?.~ 3.;a.o.1~ 1,A 1 ~ -',a,
ubox~t~.ra lion has ben established, a :d loca blon de d- an S
.r--A a Qinim olf two reports 2.: oa vti b ?ne a ,
p. , cF a2_RAb~ X32
(b) Probable. snit---ono whose des, ua>ix~n is
5E1 rdi io ;11{3 been e3 3 L;abl i h d a n-`~.~ l:.cation a7?" i.".3d
s'ro one '4"C oapti-/e, retu here 9 or capt:ursd
~Ioct
i.icate that ? unit mists, oxen uga n,oC.
~i r$~ ~ $~ ~: a`al."n 3rd or c
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(d) Reported unit-.-ono .ihosa designation has been
mentioned -' captured docuent, or intor.
rog.tion report,, u available inror ation i3 insu _
ticient to include the unit in accepted 13 bolding. Az
in 'he case of ia- it yratioa : eoorts we ~ae1 it ti,ould be
Nettar for dazhiBgton analysts, if these ca Bari sr
t:3lascoged in'tot o; con2ir' d and aor Led.
0. .-other probiaa aroa in regard to !.4%C-Vtz order
of battle reporting which should be noted is the cue,a t i on
of tae subtraction of Cc -anist casualties fro the order
oa battle 2i;ures. MAC7 does not educe the order of
battle until it receives a report o; reduced satrength frc~
a prisoner it o that unit or from a docu en t. Since theso
sources are not alvays ~,~ailable, actual Corunts t strong yh
on any given day may be se-feral thousand Zeal than % -%CV'z
figures zbov. Ac tical con; :nders in 'dieter are ,'.7s3re
of this fact* and take it in-';,o co:.sideration, but here In
7a.;ahiagto:a this gap is often over looked. ;here zee:zz to
be no good alternn%i7e to '..L C7's curront sue tuod of count .
ing casualties., since att3aaiaia body cou=ta %~r s often
unreliably. The order oX battle, therefore, 'ill nn?se to
continue to be r sad ai a general ztr ength f ly ire r a? her
than ,as a curs an; and c onpi- t 17 accura sty t ten s o
nu bar of C . nist soldi r in south 7ietn .
10. one other difficulty which had esis yed in " C7'o
order of battle 143 tie has nov been at leas, partially
over oo;z.3 ? T,int1l a Xeew nonths ago, =C71 cone' nu?d to
ca. =- tz in its order of tattle which bad ..o, been r -
port-2d on for relatively long pe.icrds of oa.: . owever,
'' C7 Jas nor ,e t up a ne' category or its order o~'
battle, called the Laat Contac Cato:?gary. i:i procedure
a31o'ts ''' C7 to draw atto:nti'onto units which ~'a not
kin verified or referred to as mist:, :S rani ys by
Gap su..r d prisoners, returnees, or cap surcd docunen t,
cWriny n relv:e onyh period. aX red-~rence or verifica
ion the ilnaa 4 i not r$cei'ied ~. -11-114;1 three wonth
3
alter bein. placed in this :ats~ro ~ e nail 1 ro;p.a
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