DESPITE COURT, THERE WAS DAMAGE TO U.S. SECURITY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-01601R000300360088-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 17, 2000
• Sequence Number: 88
• Publication Date: July 16, 1971
• Content Type: NSPR

STATINTL
aort liulz~RP PY or Release 2001/03/04: CIA-RDP80-01601
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381331,
i) I e iI k n o on Pcti; 1 c i A -t` hi f
ti t1 LI G ,-i U 0
(On page one of The.. Times
1I(rald ?e nesday, l~?I A col-
tnnist Bruce Bias,.t presented
a scholarly review on the si-?-
nific~ Irce of the Pentagon
papers. Here is a corn mentary
in the same vein, presented by
an analyst with a military
background.)
1_;~, ikRI . ~7r 1~. (ret.)
S. L. A. I13ARSl TALI,
(Gannett News Service. Special)
1,10
C'f?
F~ t. l
ly reflecting the viewpoint of for:,
mer Defense Secretary Robert S.
btclrnara at a time when he had
come to sec all things through a
glass darkly, possibly exclusive of
his own blunders" Of the related
White House, State Department,
Joint Chiefs of Staff and Central
Tia_telli once A~ ency papers, t 1erec,
is enough of a smattering to dis-
count any pretense of a thorough
search.
No one who is capable of relating
cause and effect or has any knowl-
edge of the voluminous correspond-
ence generated by the decision-
making process during war will be
deceived by the papers.
That is to say that perhaps one
American in a thousand will under
stand that instead of at last read-
ing the hard truth about the con-
duct of the war he is, in fact,
seeing only a. (leceptive shadow.
What (hoes come forth supports
the contention that I: gain strategic
decisions in the Vietnam War were
made more by civilian "crisis
managers" than by uniformed pro-
fessionals. But even that pore-
clusion is not to be fully trusted
short of a complete search. Nor
will it tale the heat off the mjli-
tary. The public, out of dis-
enc:hantment, has already a.ssigned
to it the role of whipping boy.
Though the Supreme Court de-
cided otherM5% the recent publi-
cation of the so-called Pentagon
papers was not a contribution to
history, It was, in fact., just the op-
posite.
Official documents are not his-
tory. They are source materials
from which historical narrative
may be, in part, derived. The
source documents im.ist be put into
proper - perspective shown in the
light of prior and subsequent. cir-
cuna.stances.
In the public presentation of the
Pentagon papers no such respect
for the historical process was evi-
dent. The documents were present-
,cd as if they should be accepted at
face value, If this is history, then
history is a confused heap of non-
f a c t s , t o paraphrase . Lord
Chesterfield.
It is claimed that" the Pentagon
papers on the conduct of the Viet-
nam war were published, so that
the public may at last know the
truth. If this is the case, then being
bulled is bbet.ter, than being gulled
and premeditated distortion is
preferable to vagueness.
The joint chiefs, according to one
paper's story, were promoters of
the bombing, of North Vietnam.
They are ca,.st as the villains. Yet.i.t
was not their prcroghrtive to abort
national policy. Left. unsaid was
the fact drat: they had rejected the
harsher alternative of committing
not, four and one-half infantry divisions
even in I self baiw cc 1, well- to combat. n fl r do l if is official de-
roundc(I orA#~f ;~"J Vedj. 9~ (lease 2001/03/04: CIA-RDP80-01" o`jIk60 10360088-7
Lion was organized from files large-
Former President Lyndon 13.
Johnson is being) publicly termed a
liar for going along with ten.tathve
planning of more extreme inilitary
measures against North Vietnam
while talking with chalk in . his
throat during the political cam-
paign.
Is there any other choice for a
war President under those circurn-
stances to speak any other way
than ambivalently? Franklin D.
Roosevelt had to do it in 1940,
Woodrow Wilson. in 1.9161
It:-is not a question of deliberaU:
deception. A. President must pre-
pare contingency plans for any
eventuality and exposing his hand
to the enemy would be the extreme
folly.
Moreover, there is ample evi-
dence, not included in the Penta-
gon. papers, that. Johnson had not
made up his mind. During that 1964
campaign, Ambassador Maxwell
1). 'T'aylor was recommending to
the President maximum. Vietnam-
ization of the war in 1-965 and a
drastic cutback in the American.
effort. For budgetary reasons, the
Defense secretary was even then
proceeding With the disrnentling of
the 11th Experimental Airmobile
Division, raised at the cost of mul-
tiple millions to be the cutting U 41,e,
of any U.S. ground effort in V prix
nam. If Johnson had already set
Course, his left hand did. not Com-
mune with his right.
So far, the holy water showered
on the publication of the documents
is done in the name of the people's
right to know. There is no such
right unlimited. Neither the United
States govcrni-nent nor any other
itl..'- god