CBS WITNESS LINKS U.S. LOSSES TO VIETNAM SELF-DEFENSE FORCE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00587R000100090011-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 27, 2011
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: January 23, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2011/04/27: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100090011-2
O'$3 .
THE NEW YORK TIMES
23 January, 1985
CBS Witness Links U.S. Losses to,
Vietnam Self-Defense Force
By M. A. FARBER Senior C.I.A. Analyst and various intelligence agencies, Mr.
4 Gorge W. Allen, a former deputy
Mr. Allen - who served as a senior Adams and some C.I.A. colleagues un-
chief of Vietnamese affairs for the Cen- analyst at the C.I.A.'s station in Saigon successfully opposed the deletion of the
tral Intelligence Agency, testified yes- ' from 1964 to 1966, when he became self-defense forces in the order of bat-
terday that the Vietcong's self-defense deputy head of the agency's Vietnam- tle. But it was not until early 1973,.
forces may have been responsible for ese affairs staff at Langley, Va. - Said, shortly before he resigned from the
as much as "40 percent of American he had been Mr. Adams's "mentor on C.I.A., that Mr. Adams first publicly
-losses" in Vietnam. -order of battle problems since we first;' accused the military of willful decep-
Mr. Allen, who is 58 years old, took -met" in January 1966. At that time, Mr. tion.
the stand in Federal District Court in Adams had worked for six months of a j Besides being used 'for the order of
Manhattan as the second witness for 'two-and-a-half year assignment on the battle, the enemy strength figures set-
-CBS in the $120 million libel trial Vietnamese affairs staff. =
brought by `Gen. William C. Westmore- "I sometimes wished I had the cour- tied upon in late 1967 were used for a 25
land against the network. age of my convictions as Sam had," page special intelligence estimate for
The suit stems from a 1982 CBS docu- Mr. Allen told the jury. "I regard Mr. President Johnson and other senior of-
mentary that charged a "conspiracy" Adams as one having an unusually high ficials. That document-which listed a
by the general's command to minimize sense of professional integrity." total enemy military strength of 223,000
the true size and nature of enemy Mr. Allen said that Mr. Adams's in- to 248,000 - said, in a paragraph, that
strength in South Vietnam in the year tegrity "was commensurate with the the self-defense forces might have
before the Tel offensive of January biblical passage engraved in the en- numbered 150,000 in 1966 and, though
1968. The broadcast - "The Uncounted trance to C.I.A. headquarters - 'Ye declining and not "offensive military
Enemy: A Vietnam Deception" - ac- shall know the truth and the truth shall forces," still "constitute a part of the
cused the military of deliberately dis- make you free.' " overall Communist effort."
torting enemy capabilities by deleting ,' - Earlier in this trial, George Carver, Yesterday, on re-direct examination
the Vietcong's self-defense units from the chief of that C.I.A. unit, testified for by David Boies, a lawyer for CBS, Mr.
the official listing of -forces known as ` General Westmoreland and portrayed Adams said that document was "not an
the order of battle. Mr. Adams as someone who was "sel- honest statement" of full enemy
Mr. Allen, who appeared on the docu- . dom in doubt, often in error." strength.
mentary, is regarded as a particularly ' -General Westmoreland, who com- But his interpretation was chal-
important witness for the network. manded United states forces in Viet- lenged on re-cross examination by
Both George Crile, the producer of the nam from January 1964 to June 1968, David Dorsen, a lawyer for General
A- broadcast, and Samuel A. Adams, a "contends that CBS defamed him by Westmoreland.
former C.I.A. analyst who was a paid -saying he had lied to President Lyndon Q. Are You suggesting that people
consultant for the program, have told .B. Johnson and the Joint Chiefs of Staff like Secretary of Defense McNamara
the jury that Mr. Allen was the "dean" -.about enemy strength in 1967, would not be aware that self-defense
on Vietnamese issues: Mr. Allen him- Arbitrary Ceiling forces were not in the strength
self said yesterday that he had more ~~ totals?
experience on Indochinese matters as ' 'The documentary specifically A. I believe he might be aware, but
an American intelligence officer - - charged that General Westmoreland if he read that paragraph he wouldn't
more than 17 years - than any other ,had imposed an "arbitrary ceiling" on get a proper idea of what those peo.
? person, civilian or military. .reports of enemy strength, mainly by ,l ple did.
.-the' deletion of the part-time, hamlet-' When Mr. Dorsen suggested that Mr.
'Concept' Twisted -based self-defense forces from the or- Adams had "mixed feelings" about de-
On the documentary,' Mr. Allen said ,;der of battle, and had disregarded re- scribing the self-defense units as "mili-
the removal of the "paramilitary" self- -ports from his officers of a higher Viet- tary," Mr. Adams said that "para-
defense forces from the order of battle ?cong presence and a higher rate of military" might be an acceptable term
twisted "our concept" of the war. ? North Vietnamese infiltration than was but that he never doubted the need to
"We were skewing our strategy," he made known. J include them in enemy strength totals.
said on the broadcast. "We were not ac- - General Westmoreland testified that Mr. Allen testified that the self-de-
knowledging that indeed there was an; he. removed the self-defense forces - fense forces "were responsible for
important indigenous South Vietnam- ??then newly estimated at 120,000 - be- sniper fire, preparing booby traps and
ese component; that, indeed, it was a '.cause they were inconsequential mill- terrorist-type grenades and sometimes
civil v'az " tarily and their inclusion in the order of they would actually engage in a fire-
Mr. Allen followed Mr. Adams to the battle at a high figure would mislead fight." He said they were killing South
stand around 4:15 P.M. yesterday, an Washington and the press. He said he Vietnamese and American troops "and
-hour before court adjourned. Mr. also wanted, in 1967, to "purify" the or- were terrorizing civilians. They were
"Adams completed his testimony by re der of battle by "separating the fight- an Integral part of the enemy's mili-
-calling his many years of efforts to tary strength."
ers" -such as North Vietnamese
bring to light what he called the "em- _ regulars said he recalled- "fi?ures as high
barrassing but significant" story of
m litary "deception" in Vietnam. Y, from what e called the "nonfighters," as 40 percent of American losses
;- being
such as the self-defense units.
Mr. Adams said the military's "dis- inflicted by militia self-defense ele-
honest" position regarding enemy At a series of conferences in 1967 be menu."
strength in 1967 was the "kind of thing tween representatives of the military Mr. Allen, who said he wa; one of a
that people want to put out of their dozen intelligence analysts who de-
mind. vised the first American order of battle
"It was the kind of thing people al- - for enemy forces in Vietnam in 1962,
most have to confess to," he said, tell- said he agreed with Mr. Adams that the
ing of his repeated attempts to pry the military's position on 'enefny strength
story loose from former military intel-, figures five years later was not "in
good faith."
ligence officers and to acquire infor- I
mation that was still in classified docu-
ments. .
Approved For Release 2011/04/27: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100090011-2