THE SITUATION IN VIETNAM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00826A001700010012-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 16
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 30, 2004
• Sequence Number: 12
• Publication Date: February 27, 1967
• Content Type: MEMO

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DIRECTORATE OF
INTELLIGENCE
MEMORANDUM
The Situation in Vietnam
State Dept. review completed
Top Secret
112
27 February 1967
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Information as of 1600
27 February 1967
HIGHLIGHTS
Groups protesting peace negotiations leading
to a coalition government have mounted two demonstra-
tions in Saigon in as many days with the encourage-
ment and support of the South Vietnamese Government.
Viet Cong guerrillas used Soviet designed 140-mm.
barrage rockets for the first time to attack the US
air base at Da Nang on 27 February. According to
press reports, a North Vietnamese delegation arrived
in Rangoon on 25 February, coinciding with the visit
of UN Secretary General Thant to that city, but no
reports of a meeting have been received.
I. The Military Situation in South Vietnam:
Viet Cong guerrillas, using a Soviet-designed rocket,
attacked the US air base at Da Nang early on 27
February (Paras. 1-4). Operation JUNCTION CITY
continues to scour northern Tay Ninh Province with-
out major contact with enemy forces;
II. Political Developments in South Vietnam:
The government is not only encouraging utfostering
the efforts of Vietnamese groups protesting peace'ne-
gotiations'leading to a coalition government (Paras...
1-5). Two prominentcivilian'political figures are re-
portedly lining up civilian support for Premier Ky's
presidential candidacy (Paras. 6-7).
III. Military Developments in North Vietnam:
The mining of the Song Ca and Song Giang rivers in
southern DRV by the US has been protested to the ICC
by the DRV (Paras. 1-4).
IV. Other Communist Military Developments:
There is nothing of significance to report.
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V. Communist Political Developments: A dele-
gation of North Vietnamese officials has arrived in
Rangoon at the same time that the UN Secretary Gen-
eral is visiting the Burmese capital (Paras. 1-3).
Hanoi has announced several governmental adjustments
including the appointment of politburo member Le
Thanh Nghi as minister of heavy industry (Paras. 4-7).
The DRV Council of Ministers has called for elections
at the district and village level to be held in the
DRV in April (Para. 8).
27 February 1967
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 Am Ak
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CSavannakhet
NORTH .Gong Hoi
VIETNAM
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SOUTH VIETNAM
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0 2 5T5 i Kilometers
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WAR ZONE
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I. THE MILITARY SITUATION IN SOUTH VIETNAM
1. Viet Cong guerrillas used rockets to at-
tack the sprawling US air 'base at Da Nang early on
27 February. Eleven Americans were killed and 27
inured during the predawn attack. Another 70-90
Americans received minor wounds, but have returned
to duty. Seventeen US aircraft: were damaged and
five communications vans were destroyed. In addi-
tion to the damage to the US base, several of the
51 rockets fired during the attack struck a neigh-
boring village and killed 32 South Vietnamese civil-
ians and injured 40. An estimated 200 civilian
homes were damaged or destroyed.
2. This is the first reported instance of the
use in Vietnam of Soviet designed 140-mm. barrage
rockets. This weapon has not previously been iden-
tified in the inventory of the North Vietnamese
Army.
3. Multiple firing positions about four and
one-half miles southwest of the US base were iisPr3
4. The introduction of rockets which can be
fired with devastating effect at a target almost
five miles away creates increased problems of de-
fense. It can be expected that the Viet Cong will
use more of this type of equipment in future at-
tacks against US installations.
Operation JUNCTION CITY
5. Allied forces are continuing to press their
major offensive--Operation JUNCTION CITY--against the
Communists' War Zone "C" in northern Tay Ninh Province
but without significant contact with the enemy.I
27 February 1967
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II. POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS IN SOUTH VIETNAM
1. Some 500 members of a Vietnamese student
group staged a 'torchlight parade in Saigon on the
evening of 27 February protesting the alleged for-
mation of a coalition Vietnamese government in Paris.
The demonstrators climaxed their activities by
storming the French Consulate, breaking ground
floor windows and damaging automobiles in the com-
pound.
2. The student organization involved, the
Progressive Youth Group, is funded by Premier Ky and
police director Loan, a fact which is known to most
knowledgeable Vietnamese. The US Embassy, which
received prior warning of the demonstration, also
reported many indications that the government was
the prime mover in the affair. The Progressive
Youth Group received considerable publicity in the
government-controlled press several weeks ago for
its criticism of Constituent Assembly proceedings,
criticisms which closely followed those made by
General Loan.
3. Thus far, there is no evidence that any
coalition government-in-exile has actually been
formed.
US officials
in Saigon consider the report of the coalition gov-
ernment to have been contrived by the Saigon gov-
ernment to discredit both the pro-neutralist exiles
in Paris and the concept of accommodation with the
Communists.
4. On 25 February, another demonstration with
the government blessing was staged by about 5,000
Vietnamese Catholics in Saigon protesting "false
peace." The crowd burned effigies of such political
figures as President de Gaulle, UN Secretary General
Thant, Senator Fulbright, Chairman Mao, and Ho Chi
Minh, but otherwise was orderly and peaceful. Leaders
27 February 1967
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of the demonstration later told embassy officers
that General Loan had urged them to march on the
French Consulate, but that they had refused. US
Embassy officials commented that the demonstration
appeared to be aimed at.an international audience
rather than the Vietnamese themselves.
5. The Catholic community near Saigon,
especially its northern refugees, has been attempt-
ing during the past several weeks to counter public
ciscussions about peace which have emerged over the
past few months. Government officials, including
Premier Ky, adopted a more flexible line on nego-
tiations in deference to these public peace senti-
ments, but now are apparently balancing this by
supporting some of the more militant anti-Communist
groups.
Civilian Support for Premier Ky's Presidential
Candidacy
6. Tran Quoc Buu, president of South Vietnam's
largest labor confederation, and prominent politician
Dang Van Sung have begun to lay the groundwork for
a convention to draft Premier Ky to run for the
presidency,
Buu reportedly hopes to marshal the support o is
labor organization while Sung works for Cao Dai and
Hoa Hao support. Buu feels that Ky should have broad
civilian support before he announces his candidacy,
and also is reportedly concerned about the activities
of some southern-born military officers who are trying
to drum up support for the candidacy of former premier
Tran Van Huong.
7.
supporters of chief of state General T ieu have
begun to form a civilian political front which would
endorse the military's presidential candidate. Thieu's
supporters, however, reportedly are trying to arrange
the front to favor Thieu personally, although Thieu
did not request that they do so. Both efforts under
way among civilian groups constitute parallel steps
forward for the candidacies of Chief of State Thieu
and Premier Ky.
27 February 1967
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1
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L, Son La
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NORTH VIETNAM
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Xiang Khouang ?
Cao Bung
,Thai Nguyen
c. Phu Tho
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Son Tay'
HANOI
THAILAND 1~1.
Muang Nakhon Phanom #,Khammouane
Mang Cai
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Haiphong
Phu Ly;
Thai Binh
Nam Din1T'j
Ninh Binh.(
Ba Ho Su Quang Tri
` ? ^ SOU
Hu
? VIETNAM
Muong Nong' .
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1, The mining of two key rivers in the southern
DRV by the US has evoked a sharp protest from North
Vietnamese authorities to the International Control
Commission, The mouths of the Song Ca and Song Giang
rivers were mined during the night of 26 February by
US Navy A6 aircraft.
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Vietnamese succeed in c earing the river mout s by
some other means, they still must meet the problem
of periodic replacement by US aircraft.
4. Mine warfare against river traffic has been
employed by the Communists in South Vietnam with
some success during the past three years. A Viet
Cong demolition team sunk the US aircraft cargo ship
Card at dockside in Saigon in 1965 and have mined
several other vessels in an attempt to block the
shipping channel to the South Vietnamese capital.
Until recently, all of the unexploded Communist mines
captured in South Vietnam have been small land mines
adapted for maritime use. On 31 December 1966, how-
ever, US Navy personnel discovered and disarmed a
half-ton Soviet naval mine floating in the Long Cau
shipping lane south of Saigon.
27 February 1967
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1. There is nothing of significance to report.
27 February 1967
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V. COMMUNIST POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS
1. A four-man North Vietnamese delegation arrived
in Rangoon from Hanoi on 25 February,-according to
Western press reports. The delegation reportedly in-
cludes the chief of the North Vietnamese Liaison mission
to the International Control Commission (ICC) Col. Ha
Van Lau, and the DRV Consul General in Burma, Le
Tung Son. Its arrival in Rangoon coincides with the
presence of UN Secretary General Thant in the Burmese
capital.
2. Despite their general rejection of a UN role
in a Vietnam settlement, the North Vietnamese might
well make contact with Thant in the hope that he could
be made more receptive to the DRV position on the war.
One French press report has quoted the consul general
as saying that Thant "is always welcome if he wants to
see me." In the past, Hanoi has made favorable ref-
erences to the secretary general and to those portions
of his three-point plan for a Vietnam settlement which
coincide with the DRV position.
3. Col. Lau is not a high-ranking member of the
Hanoi hierarchy. In his role as chief liaison officer
with the ICC, however, he is a principal regime spokes-
man on the war and in Hanoi's view-would probably be
the person best qualified to outline for Thant the al-
leged repeated US violations of the Geneva Accords
and to impress upon him Hanoi's contention that a
settlement of the war must be along the lines of the
DRV's interpretation of the accords.
DRV Governmental Changes Reported
4. North Vietnam announced adjustments in its gov-
ernmental structure on 25 January, the most significant
of which was the, appointment of.politburo member Le
Thanh Nghi as minister of heavy industry. This is the
second time in recent years that the DRV-has upgraded
a ministry by replacing a central committee member
(Nguyen Van Tran was the incumbent) with a politburo
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member. In April 1965, politburo member Nguyen Duy
Trinh replaced central committee member Xuan Thuy
as minister of foreign affairs. In the ORV govern-
ment structure, politburo members now hold the im-
portant portfolios of defense,, public security,
foreign affairs, and heavy industry. It is not
clear why the Ministry of Heavy Industry should be
upgraded at this time. The country's agriculturally
oriented economy has a,small heavy industrial base
and since the inauguration of the US bombing program
Hanoi's long-range industrial development has had to
be reoriented to more immediate war-related needs.
It is possible that the DRV is engaged in a major
recasting of its prewar long-range plans fo.r..indus.-.
trialization in the light of its wartime experience.
5. The Hanoi announcement. indicated that Le
Thanh Nghi had given up his job as head of the premier's
industry board.--one of five such boards which report
to the premier on the activities of a group of similar
ministries.
6. These boards appear to have been consistently
downgraded in the past few years, and Le Thanh Nghi
was the only remaining politburo member to head one.
Politburo member Pham Hung, for example, gave up his
position as head of the premier's finance and commerce
board last November, but he still speaks frequently
and with authority on a wide variety of economic
matters. The new head of the industry board is al-
ternate central committee member, Tran Dan Tuyen, a
trade union official with frequent contact with
international Communist labor fronts.
7. Former minister of heavy industry Nguyen Van
Tran has been assigned unspecified duties, according
to the Hanoi broadcast. Tran is a member of the party's
important secretariat, and in recent months has been
active in DRV discussions with high level European
Communist leaders. In early January he headed the
North Vietnamese delegation to the Congress of the
French Communist Party.
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Local Elections Announced in the DRV
8. North Vietnam has announced a call by the
Council of Ministers on 19 February for local elec-
tions--at the district and village level--to be held
in the month of April. Such local elections are
held every two years according to the DRV constitu-
tion, and were last held in July 1965. The elections
will probably be given extensive publicity and will
be used in Communist propaganda to balance the elec-
tions scheduled for village and hamlet officials in
South Vietnam late this spring. The scheduling of
the elections may reflect Hanoi's sensitivity to
the achievements being made in South Vietnam toward
establishing a popularly based civilian government.
Hanoi undoubtedly hopes to avoid unfavorable com-
parisons with the South-where provincial and mu-
nicipal peoples councils were elected in March 1965,
a Constituent Assembly was elected in September of
1965, and village and hamlet officials are to be
elected this spring. Hanoi's last election for
national level officials was the National Assembly
election in 1964; such an election is not scheduled
again until 1968.
27 February 1967
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