COMMENTS ON ATTACHED LETTER (DATED 12 JANUARY 1976)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91M00696R000100080004-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 1, 2004
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: January 1, 1976
• Content Type: MF

Approved For ReleaswQ004/05/13: CIA-RDP91 M00696R000'08e9Qry 1976
MEMORANDUM FOR: George A. Carver, Jr., D/DCI/NIQ
SUBJECT Comments on Attached Letter
(Dated 12 January 1976)
1. In general, most of the points in the attached
letter are accurate, but they tend to gloss over some of
the important nuances in the situation.
-- the spring,1970 memorandum was on "prospects",
.not "political prospects --.a minor point.
as memory serves (and I do not have a copy of
the memorandum), the point made in the memorandum
on military intervention into Cambodia was not
that it would not significantly affect the
ability of the communists to expand their
control in Cambodia. Instead, the point was that
for such a military action to have great impact
would probably require a large force to be
committed and to be sustained for a considerable
length of time.
-- the memorandum never said that a US military
incursion would fail.
-- by the time the memorandum hit the DCIts'desk,
it was practically the eve of the US military
action; the publication of the memorandum
would have inevitably appeared to have been
"writing for the record" -- the decision had
already been made.
2. The remarks in the letter concerning the draft. estimate
on the results of the US incursion into Cambodia are correct-
Even so, it should be pointed out that between the time of
the draft and the decision not to proceed with it several
factors were pertinent.
Approved For Release 2004/05/13 : CIA-RDP91 M00696R000100080004-4
 Approved For Releas 2004/05/13: CIA-RDP91 M00696RO0 0080004-4
the conditions surrounding the incursion
changed, i.e., the operation was terminated
at the end of June.
with the operation terminated, it did not
make much sense to rush into print with what
had to be incomplete data -- information on.
the results and -- more important -- on their
impact were still coming in. Moreover, the
key question then became that of "impact", and
it was too early to offer anything but very
tentative judgments on this score.
STAT
A/NIC)/SSEAAF
Approved For Release 2004/05/13 : CIA-RDP91 M00696R000100080004-4
 25X1 Approved For Release 2004/05/13 : CIA-RDP91 M00696R000100080004-4
Next 4 Page(s) In Document Exempt
Approved For Release 2004/05/13 : CIA-RDP91 M00696R000100080004-4