CIA SEEKS MEN FOR LOATIAN WAR, MCCLOSKEY SAYS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-01601R000900100001-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 94
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 8, 2000
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: September 29, 1971
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 200410310)42: CIA-RDP80-01601R0
29 SEP 1971
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Washing,ton liurcau of Sac
Washington ? Representa-
live Paul. N. MCCInskey
Calif.) yesterday accused the
,Central Intelligence Agency of
recruiting American incrcinai,--
les to fight in.Laos.
The. accusation was based on
information from an electrical
engineer who reported he was
itold at an Oakland (Calif.) em-
ployment agency that such jobs
were available at $1,000 a week;
Not Verified
Mr. McCloskey, a critic. of the
administration's war policies
who will. challenge President:
Nixon in the New Rampshire;
primary, admitted he personally
had not checked out the charge.
independent inquiry stzggested
the incident indeed took place,
but the employment agency
president said he doubted
whether his ?Oe nd .office
manager, since fired, would
have mentioned either merce-
naries or the CIA.
Clarence C. Rolben, of Lafay-
ette, Calif? the engineer, insist-
ed that he did.
Contacted at his home, Mr.
Holben recalled visiting the
Oakland office of Overseas Serv-
ices in April or May and being
told he could earn $1,V0 a week
working for Air America, an os-
tensibly private airline operated
by the CIA, handling logistical
tsupport for guerrilla operations
in Laos.
Worked At Laboratory
UntilJunc 30, Mr. II-olden was
employed at the Lawrence Ra-
diation Laboratory in Livermore
which is run by the University
of California.
? Discouraged by the interview-
er's comment that "I might
come ,back in a box," Mr. Hol-
ben Said he never' 'asked for de-
tailed job specifications but "got
.he picture of running around
with a gnu Slung over your
shoulder,"
Richard Lester, president of v/
the Los Angeles-based Overseas
Services, said it was "unlikely
any office manager would even
know what Air America does for
a living."
. lie said the company places
about 1,C00 persons a year 'in
jobs M 134 countries. It has
filled slots for Air Am'erica, he:
added, but only pilots and [avi-
ation] technicians, not troops.
"McCloskey is blowing
smoke," Mr. Lesterradded,
Almost Ar;-Aside
Mr. MeCloske.y's 'charge was
made at a breakfast meeting
cwith reporters yesterday during
which he Criticized the adminis-
tration for "concealment and
deception" in its relations with
Congress. ?
At One point, almost as an
aside, he observed that "we
caught the CIA in Oakland re-
cruiting mercenaries to fight
in Laos." - ?
lie seemed surprised when the
reporters pressed him for de-
tails, conceding he had not fob
lowed through on the. allegation.
because `..`it's so consistent with
their [the CIA's],procedtires," -
, It developed the informalion
' had been sent not to Mr. Mc-
Clicacy but to Representative
Jerome R. Waldic (D., Calif.) in
a letter dated July 11 from a
constituent who knew Mr.
b
A spokesman for Mr. V,7aldie
said as far as the congressman
was concerned, the letter con-
tained "unverified information
and that be had turned it over to;
Mr. _McCloskey for checking.
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SSSSS ass.
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17;;?: YOYK
Approved For Release 2001/4/94stpl,MtDP80-01601R0009
C .17, T
ktio./
PV:i.rqn Prisrri-cr
flocruits U. Mercenaries
? for. Laos, He Says -
? 71y JAMES Ni. Y,t^.1.1tIGIITON
?
Yori 7!cnn
WASHINGTON, Sept. 28--
Representative Paul N. McClos-
.
L7,97. Jr. of California said today
.that the Central Intelligence
:Agency was recruiting Ameri-
cans to become combat mer-
cenaries in Laos.
- "We caught the C.I.A. a
couple of months ago recruiting
people in Oakland," he said:
Officials .of the intelligencc.
agency privately dismissed the
charge.
Mr. McCloskey, a candidate
for .the Republican- Presidential
nomination, made the allege-
:3M to reporters during a
breakfast. meeting .at which he
trsserted Ilnit the Nixon Ad-
ministration habituajly engaged
in "concealment and decep-.
tio.n." ?
The -charge was based on the
account of a job-seeking en-
gineer from California who told
of being offered "$1,000 a
week and, a box to come homc.
tu"- when he answered -a news-
paper advertisement for over-
seas Work. Mr. McCloskey cod-:1
'ceded that he had not made.
an: attempt to verify the alle-
gation. .since learning- of it in
July.
The engineer,- Clarence C.
Holbert of Lafayette, Calif., said
in a telephone interview today
that he went last April to the
Oakland branch of Overseas
Services, -a Los Angeles-based
job plaCe.me.nt company, after
finding that he was to be laid
off by the Atomic Energy Corn
mission's radiation laboratory
. in Livermore. . .
Decided to Stay Home
lie said that the .branch
manager had told him he could
make "real money" di he would
sign on with .Air America, a
flight: charter cornpauy that
works for the Intelligence
Agency in Southeast Asia. Mr.
Dolben said he was told that
if he took the job he would
actually be working for the
C.I.A. He added he turned
down the chance because, "at
47 I can't visualize myself run-
ning around with 'grenades and
Approved FOFIRtfeaS612001Y03/04 : CIA-RDP80-01601 R000900100001-4
? According to Mr. Honor), the'.
job was only one .of several
suggested by Overseas Services,
.whose Oahland representative
pointed out a number of places
on a map and said, "we've even
placed people at the [United
States] Embassy in Moscow." .
At the Oakland office of
Overseas Services today, the
present manager, Kenneth Mc;
Donald, said it was "news to
me" and that he had "never./
seen anything for the C.I.A."
I;ut Mr. McDonald who took
over the office only-tWo weehs
ago, said he could not discount
the possibility that Mr.Holben's
account was correct. He said
that he himself oriee had sought
a job as a pilot With Air Amei.-
ica with the understanding that
"they have some 'divisions that
get a little ?rough once in a
while." lie said he \vas rejected
because he wears glasses.
"I don't know what's wrong
with McCloskey,". Mr. McDon-
ald added. "People are shoot-
ing at other people all over the
world."
He said his predecessor in
the Oakland office, whom hc.
identified as Grant Bryan, was /
recently dismissed and could,
)lot. he located. Richard Lester,:
president. of Overseas Services,:
said he did not know where to
find Mr. Bryan. ,
Mr. Lester said that his
party had helped to place, hun-
dreds of pilots and technicians
with Air America, one of 1,000
or more American companies
to which his concern submits
resumes for job applicants.
"But 'never a mercenary," he
said,
Medals of the C.I.A. declined
to speak for the record, but one
official commented privately of
Mr. Holben and his account:
"What would we ?dc' with mer-
cenaries in Laos? All the fight-
ing there is done by Moo tribes-
men. Is he Moo tribesman?"
Mr. Holben's account was
first related to Representative .
Jerome. R. Waldie, Democrat of
California, by a constituent ac-
quainted with the engineer. Mr.
Waldie passed it on to Mr. Mc-
Closkey.
Mr. Holben said that neither
Congressman had got in touch
with him. He-added that report-
ers were lucky to find 11:m to-
day because he was leaving
California tonight for a newjob
---- running a sporting - goods
store in Lake Havasu City, Ariz.
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DULUTH
631i, 371.
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)131 TH.CDIAS MARLowE,
Special to The Bulletin
-Vientiane, Laos --- Last
tpring, two Arrierican teen-
aged dependents of, foreign aid -
en.-Vbyes were caught mailing
20 kilograms of pure heroin-:,
tly,(.1u..gh. the Army Post Office
- The drugs were destined for
Saigon, to be picked up by
other dependents for use or
eAsta result, no one under 13
years of ago iS now -allowed
.t,o_mail anything larger than
't- letter through the Vientiane
ABO, Dependents Over 13 can
be prosecuted.. if caught mail-
ing drugs.
Several days later,- the son
of an embassy oflicial d-
',milted confidentially that "I
was all ready to mail 10
pounds of heroin :to the
States." ?
'I had it all packed' and a
buyer waiting at the other
end," he said: "But it is just
too risky now. The APO is
checking every package."
Heroin and other drugs are
? not onlydeeply entrenched in
_
the American military, but in
much of the American eiviliafl.
community in Southeast Asia.
Centered in Compound
? Among those who will prob-
? ably return to the United
States with a habit are. Ameri-
can teen-aged dependents of
civilian and military officials.
Many live at K-MO, a com-
pound outside of Vientiane for
? 'American officials and their'
families. At the K-MO high
school.. one ninth-grader said:
"Almost everyone past the
sixth grade smokes grass
1
r,
0 LI :10 e.21,
'here. A-lot of the older hids
are using speed and heroin.'
The hard drug problem in
'Laos has its roots in the so-
;called "fertile triangle" which
bottlers Burma and Thailand.
More than half the world's
popoy crop is harvested there
each year.
problem in ,Thailand .
?
The poppies are harvested
primarilyby Moo tlibesincn,
Some of the opium is report-
ed to find its way to the se-
cret Central intelligence
Agency base at Long Cheng,
where it is said to be trans-
ported via planes of the CIA-
subsidized Air Ai.nctica to
Bangkol,? Saigon, Hong Kong,
z.nd even San, Francisco.
Americans in Laos are not
the only ones .hit with the
spreading drug problem. In
Thailand, at least one Ameri-
can student at the Bangkok
Iuternational School died from
an o.verdose of narcotics dur-
ing the past school year, and
14 others were expelled for
drug usage,
, "Those were only the Con-
stantviolators," explained One
student. "Yon know, the kids
who go into the bathrooms
and shoot up between class-'
Cs."
The psychiatric ward at
Bangkok's 5th field hospital
has grown accustomed to
American dependents.
Little Girls, Too
"There's almost always ?a
13- or 14-year-old kid in there
for smack," a medic, said.
"They usually b-ing them in
at night and give them a urine
test in the morning."
' A hospital psychologist salch
_ _
? ? .
',; 4
ci
f 0
f:
CPT pLu
"1:1: hurts when or 13.N
year-old girl is brought in with'
an overdose. I've seen" little -
girls with needle mark.o.r,
their. arms. Their parents -
often cry and 'want to know
why."
To support their. habits, or
just .to make Money, some
kids sell drugs. They ration-
alize- that "somebody vill do
it, why not me?" -
Shortly after last Christmas,.
the 17-year-old son of a U. S.
foreign aid employe was shot
to death in a Bangkok alley.
"He had not," according to
one of his former associates, .
"paid his, Thai supplier the full'
amount for the last shipment
(of heroin) he received."
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Approved For Release 2001110310C.5.Z1A=RDP80-016
(f.', 8 SEP 1971
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By PAUL 'HOPE
sianSLa.if Writer . from Vietnam or to discontinue iben of Lafayette, Calif.
/ Rep. Paul N. McCloskey Jr? all American bombing in South-1 The letter, dated July 11, said
. .
charged today that the Central cast Asia. ? i?
. lin part: ,
Intelligence Agency is recruiting Pie rfitC.::: VC.C.: charge .againsI- ? ,, '
Do yolA know that 'Air AlTicr:-
American mercenaries to fight cle Cr!, while cisnlis,.:11-:,7 NiNc?-;?,' 1 ?
? - 0 ' ' 6 ca ' an ar ,n of Cl is A hiri,,,,- v
in Laos., ? -oli-, with. ^ 'to -1) of r,no-,t^- I ' '? '. ' . ,>. ? '-
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By D.E. Ronk
Spect-al to The'Vjashinutals Post
VIENTIANE,. 'Laos; -Sept. 5 Barnes said, their investigation'
?The U.S. Agency for Inter- did not cover the question.
national Development has re- However, he said Long Pot
surned supplying relief rice to was declared. "insecure", early
a group of Laotian tribesmen this year and "U.S. AID does
after withholding the food for not drop rice into high-risks
six months, AID officials said areas-." ?
last. week. . . . Barnes said Long Pot was
The resumption of supplies listed as controlled by Pathet
followed publication of a re- Lao and North Vietnamese .
port ? by an American writer army forces since last Iiiebru-
that AID waS using thence in any, when there was fighting ,
an effort to force tribal villag- in the area and 12 persons
ens at Long Pot, 80 miles were killed. . ..
north of Vientiane, to cooper- McCoy, of New Haven,
ate with the U.S.-financed Moo Conn; said however, that
army of Gen. yang Pao. there has been no fighting in'
Two AID officials, Charles the Long Pot area since that
Mann.
and Norman Barnes, time. Ho also said that a six-
said the rice supplies were no- man detachment of Meo sol-
sumed when it was deter- diers, equipped with a-radio,
mined that the Long pot area has been in the area since the
was "secure." The fact that fighting. .
Village leaders and the Moo.
the area was secured a few
days after the report by writer troops themselves reportedly
.\(
? Alfred W. McCoy was pub- told McCoy they had been in ?
lished was "coincidental," constant radio Communication
Barnes said. with -the base at Long Chong
mccoy, No} 0 spent five days and had frequently requested
at_. Long Pot researching his rice drops.
second book on Laos, said H.S. 11?IcCoy also said helicopters
and Moo authorities had operated by Air America, a ,??
stopped supplying rice to the U.S, Central Intelligence
village because the tribesmen Agency-backed airline in Laos,
refvsod to allow any more of made periodic visits to Long,
their youths to be pressed into Pot.' One touched down there
Vang Pao's forces or, alterna-- while he. was in the village,
tively; to move . their. village McCoy said.
into the Cheng-Sam Thong Village leaders told McCoy
. military complex. ' their relations .with the iNii,:o
' Publication of McCoy's alle- headquarters at Long Cheng
gation resulted in a query fell 'off when the villagers re
from AID headquarters in fused to allow 14-year-old boys
Washington to Mann, the to be pressed , into military
agency's local director. Mann service with the Moos. The 15-
and .Barnes -reportedly 'went year-olds they had.turned over
? immediately .to ,Lang Pot and to Gen. yang . Pao bad. been
airplane drops of rice were re:. wiped out, they said. .
-
sullied. .."They simply decided they
' .
The first -drop of grain con- had lost too many killed al-
tabled -10 days worth of food ready, that they could not af-
for the seven villages in the ford mare," McCoy said. -
Long- Pot area, Barnes said. In He added that following this
addition, he ? said, . a local refusal, the villagers were
medic and moire . than 350 asked to move to the Chong-
. pounds of ? me.dicines have Sam Thong complex. When
been supplied. - - . they refused ,to leave their'.
Commenting -- .on. McCoy's home of the last 30 years, he
claims about why the rice had, said, their rice supplies were
been withheld for six months, _cut. off.
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By TO:01701,FX
Tent?' Kissinger's trip to Pek-
ing and the forthcoming visit of
President Nixon to the People's
Republic of China are EOW get-
ting tremendous ?publicity in the
U.S. news media. But many ques-
tions about this apparent 0.S.-PlitC
rapprochement remain tiIainswer-
cd?at least, publicly?and the de-
tailed speculation in the U.S.
press deliberately seems to. avoid
these areas. They are the follow-
ing: ?
1) Northern Burma and Laos:
ever since the Chinese civil war,
the U.S. Central Intelligence
-Agency has been deeply involved
in this region just south of the
Chinese province with the roman-
tic name of Yunnan, or "Cloudy
-South" province. In 1949, the,de-
feated remnants , of Chiang Kai-
slick's army crossed. over into
north Burma and Laos, seized
control of these outlying areas,
and began calling themselves the
Yunnan Anti-Communist, and Na-
tional Salvation Army. Actually,
they are the biggest opium deal-
ers in Southeast Asia and they
have been financed and armed
since 1919 by the CIA. . ?
In. -Laos, the CIA organized,
trained and equipped the 50,900-
man secret army led by Gen.
Vang Pao, compose.d of his Mm
tribesmen followers, who arc the
biggest Opium smugglers in South-
east Asia. 134 everybody knov,s
that. the CIA created this ivieo
:military force not only for use in
Laos: in Yurntan, there are 4.5
million Meo tribesmen who form
the most important national min-
ority in south China and who have
maintained their ties with .their
relatives across the Laos border.
. ? 2) Tibet anti northern Nepal: in
_1959, when revolt broke out among
the Amdo and Khampa tribesmen
of Tibet, it did net require great
insight to see the CIA hand involv-
ed in it. The Khampas were arm-
ed. with brand .new U.S. equip-
ment, including GI fatigue uni-
forms and thermoboots. Since beth
Tibetans and Chinese hate and
fear the Khampas, the CIA made
a' serious political mistake in
backing them, because everybody
. else allied against them. They did
get the , Dalai Lama, however,
robably because he is .of Amdo,
lomedoFpr Release12001/03/04 : CIA-RDP80-01601R000900100001-4
in China. About 20,090 Khampas
and Amdos fled mainly into north-
ern Nepal after .the 1959 revolt
and simply took over the country
in .conjunction with the CIA and r
U.S. military ill Nepal. As far as 1
anybody knows, most of them are
still there.
-
3) Taiwan and CIA air bases:
as everybody except the ordinary
American citizen knows, Taiwan
is headquarters for the CIA's vast j
air operations in Asia: The CIA
base ? is at Tainan and is run by
a front organization called Air
Asia, which also has an office in -
downtown Taipeh. Air Asia .in -
turn is n subsidiary of Air Ame-
mica, the CIA line which provides
all supply and transport runs for
CIA operations in 'Laos, Burma,
Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.
Air America has its offices in
Okinawa; it is a Delaware corpo-
ration with about 4,000 employees
listed on its records as working
in Asia. -
The CIA base at Tainan, in
southwest Taiwan, was the launch-
ing' point for all CIA operations
against the Chinese mainland, in-
cluding parachute. drops and re-
connaissance flights. This is also
well known- to everybody except
the American people.
But the Curious fact is that the
U.S. news media have not men-
tioned a word about any of these
areas, and 'neither has the U.S.
government. The Chinese side has
been completely silent ,about them.
as well: -
Any real normalization of U.S.-
China relations demands that all
these .CIA operations be ended?
and not only in China?ancl that
the American people finally be
told the truth about them in de-
tail..
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77 0 ,
By Trucly Rubin
He said the incursions ware made at Lai
. . Staff correspo71deret of Chau in the northern tip of Laos and Muong
The Christiarz. ci.2nce Mor,itor Sing, also in northern Laos and that the
-Fort Collins, Colo
The United States Central Intelligence
Agency "equipped and dire.cted" -incursions
by mercenaries into Chinese territory from
'northern Laos, according to a former Green
Beret captain.. ?
?
Lee Mond, now a student at Newark, N.J.,
State Collage and a delegate to the National
/Student Association Con,gress here. says
"no Americans have crossed the C',?-,ese
border." However, the CIA recruited ethnic
Lao's and Chinese for. the crossings: In ad-
dition, .he maintains the CIA "dir'ected re-
connaissance missions and monitored oper-
ations along. the Chinese border."
Eanotionnl speceli
'
units moved about 50 to75 kilometers north
? and north.ve.st into a large open area touch-
ing on the town of Lent Sang in Yunam
Province in the People's ,Republic of China.
? Mr. Mond repeated in an interview with
the Monitor ? charges he first aired at a
forum on war ,crimes sponsored by the
Vietnam Veterans Against the War as; part
of the congress last Saturday.
The tall, black vete-ran of seven yews,
Seven months service who loft the Army in
June, 1970, after being wounded three times
?winner of the Silver Star and three Bronze
Stars ? struggled with his emotions as he
told the cheering NSA delegates on Monday
that he had "made up my mind after a year
of deliberations to disclose this information
because these things were part of an on-
going philosophy of. . . the executive branch
of this country."
Mr. Mond said that about 3,030 Chinese
were. in northern Laos when he was in
Thailand from June, 190, to June, 1970, and
that they then controlled the quarter of the
country north of the royal capital Luang
Prabang.
The majority were engineers, building a
*north-south road from.China to Luang Pra-
bang. He said "studies indicate" that they
hoped to push down to Vientiane, the pres-
ent provisional capital.
Chinese infantry units were in Laos to
protect the road builders, he added, and
antiaircraft installations were built in Lacs
to protect them,
Inc-ors!ortsec.--.,?01?1?).ati ?
Mr. Mond said his information was based
on studies he had read while serving as a
plans officer in Thailand on the U.S. Army
general staff and in conversations with mil-
itary personnel.
He also served with the 101st Airborne in
Vietnam.
The former captain cited as one main
reason for his disafiection with American
policies the massive flood of drugs pouring
out of Laos into Thailand and. then into the
hands of American troops.
added "it is inconceivable that this much
opium could be transported on American
aircraft without their superiors knowing it."
Mr. Mond said he had never personally
witnessed such shipments. However, he
said, that while he was in Bangkok doing
research for his study on Thailand "I talked
with several young Air America pilots. They
had been helicopter or fixed-wing pilots in
Vietnam?and they told me that the drug
trade from Vientiane to Bangkok was vast.
They indicated that it was being flown in.
I took it for granted that since they were
relating this, they had firsthand knowledge."
While in Thailand Mr... Mond's unhappi-
ness with the drug problem led him to
write a letter in April, 1970, to the com-
mander of U.S. Army Support Forces in
Thailand in which he indicated that be-
tween 10 and 15 percent of the junior enlist-
ed men on his base used hard drugs daily.
He also initia:ted a drug rehabilitation
He charged that the CIA "actively encour-
aged the growing of poppies, the flower freirn'4/program on his base.
which opium is made, by -f,:ontagnard tribes-
men (on-the opium rich Plain of Jars) whom
the agency recruits as mercenaries.
He later qualified this statement by add-
ing, "perhaps they (CIA) don't always need
to encourage them (the IV:antagnards) to
grow poppies because it is so lucrative." He
added, "But I am sure they don't discourage
them. If they cut .off this source of -income,
they would have to 'support the tribesmen
far beyond what they are paying them now."
Mr. Mond also charged that the opium is
often flown illicitly to major populations in
Laos by Air America, a. private airline said
to be controlled by the CIA. "Opium comes
out of the Plain of Jars catch as catch can,"
he said in an interview with the Monitor,
from Hosing Suoi, a major CIA bac.e
which has an airstrip, . . . I am aware that
pilots would fly it down to Vientiane for
their own profit."
Plz-ra-es .cam dr.,-ags
He said he "knew" that Air America was
flying opium from Vientiane to Udon Thant
on the southern Lao border from where it
would be. transported to Bangkok and per-
haps on to the United States. He said that
the base at UdOn had one of the biggest drug
problems of any-U.S. base.
The incursions were aimed ? at watching Mr. Mond said he could nbt say whether
Chinese movernAPpreskledgFEcir Retells 20011034041:CIA4RDP80101601R000900100001-4
? ? (i "Tl afar ra 7 AT Tr, '')TY-r
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By.Riehard Ward qv,?
The official curtain of secrecy surrounding, U.S. aggression in
Laos was lifted slightly with the recent publication of a Senate
subcommittee staff report, "Laos: April 1971."
The heavily censored report of the Subcommittee. on U.S.
Security Commitments of the Foreign Relations Committee
presented a darkly pessimistic view of U.S. military effort S and
joclicated that the initiative was in. the hands .of the liberation
. forces. The staff report was written by James G. Lowenatein and
Richard M. Moose, who made an on-the-spot study of U.S.
activities in Laos from April 22 to May 4. ?-
? "Most observers in Laos," they wrote, "say that from the
military point of view the 'situation there is growing steadily
worse and the initiative seems clearly to be in the hands of the
enemy. There are apparently no plans for retaking and holding,
any of the two-thirds of the. country no longer under government
control but only a hope, not too firmly held in some quarters,
that the one-third of Lao territory IlOW -tri-Kler government control
can continue to be held. Since Lam Son 719,anore Lao territory
has come under enemy cOntrol...."
Lowenstein and Moose: re-veal that CIA-sponsored forces,
formerly known as the. Armee Clandestine, which .now go by
another French term, Bataillons Guerriers, have suffered particu-
larly. heavy casualties since 1968 and ,the Nixon. administration
has tried to make up for the losses lay the introduction of Thai
"volunteers"--actually mercenaries. .
At a secret June 7 Senate session, when the report on Laos was
:discussed, -Sen. J. W. Fulbright (D-Ark) and other Senator
T-harged that the use. of Thai troops constituted a viOlation of a
Congrecsional prohibition against U.S.. financing '7cif outside
mercenary troops in Laos. An expurgate A version of the June 7
session was published in the Congressional'Record on Aug. 3, the
same day the staff report was released..
. Thoi troops ? -
In releasing the report, which also appcare.d in the Aug.-3
Congressional Record, Sen. Stuart SymingtorrADsMo.), chAirman
of the Subcommittee on US.. Security Commitr-hents, nOted that
one of the aspects of the U.S. " 'secret war' in LaciS"- that the
executive branch refuses to divulge to the public concerns details
of arrangements for using 'Thai troops.
The report indicated, however, that the Thai troops are
recruited in Thailand, .rained and entirely financed by the CIA,
apparently completely bypassing the authority of the Royal
Laotian government in Vientiane. The. U.S. claims that the Thais
are commanded by 'Gen. Vans; Pao, the head of principal
CIA-mercenary army recruited in Laos, hut there is Cvidenee?that
he does not exercise command over the Thai troops..
Eulbrigdit stated in the Senate that Thai?generals were secretly
present in Laos to head their forcesaThis was verified in the Aug.
9 Washington Post by D. E. Ronk, who wrote that llIc Thai forces
were regular units and not "irregulars," as they were referred to
in the Senate repOlt which xyalbaseason. the te.rminolomy used by
he exe.eutive aplicovoatitoraKeieasei2OC11403/040c
soldiers, Rook wrote from Vientiane as follows: -
"Theimunits are formed
and non-commisSioned offi
Laos?!
. "They arrive in Laos aboard CIA-supported Air America
planes from Udorn airbase in northern Thailand. All orders frOm
battalion level down are issued by Thais, the soldiers said....
?
CIA 11,cso, offi=?s" .
"Vang Pao does not command the .Thais, they said, but
consults with Thai officers ? and the CIA 'case officers' who
actually make the decisions.
"The Thai soldiers agree with press reports that there is at least
one Thai general in Laos using the code name Nai Caw. This is the
equivalent of John Doe. The Thai troops say he is. a lieutenant
general.
"Code names are frequently used by and for Thai troops in
Laos.....Recent visitors to Pakse say that Thai soldiers are very
much in evidence in hotels and bars. They do not wear Thai army
markings on their uniform's.. m" ?
The, fact that the Thai commander is a lieutenant general,
usually the rank of a divisional commander, is an indication of
the substantial size of the Thai contingent which the U.S. is
attempting to keep secret. Estimates from the press and senators
refer to 4800-6000; with the numbers, increasing, while Pathet
Lao sources say that. the Thai interventionary forces ? may total
10,000 or more.
? .
The Senate report states that Laotian imagulars under the CIA
had 6873 killed in action from 1968 through April 1971. The
losses of Vang Pao's units in the same period were almost 3300
dead and more than .5400 wounded. The irregular units now
totalling- 30,000 have suffered catastrophic losses for their size.
The. figures do not include the lover but significant losses of the
Vientiane royal army (also entirely U.S. financed) nor losses from
sickness and desertions?the latter being extremely high. The,
report observes that the military manpower base in Laos "is now
exhausted... .Thus additional military manpower can only Collie
from outside Laos."
?
? a
Shifting stratogy? .
The only possible conclusion is that Washington is again
shifting its strategy in Laos. First it attempted to build up the
?Vientiane army for use against the Lao Patriotic Front (Pathet
Lao) and that effort .failed. Now that Vang Pin's and other
CIA-sponsored forces from Laos have been decimated, the U.S.
.apparently hopes to prolong the war with the use of Thai troops.
It is noteworthy that the l'hai commander outranks Vang Pao,
whose Meo minority troops were considered until last year to be
the backbone of the U.S. military effort in Laos. Because of
losses, according to the Senate report, 40% of yang Pao's troops
are no longer from the Meo.
Further evidence of the difficulties confronting the U.S.
results from a quasi-disintegration of the royal army. Lowenstein
and Moose write .that it has "become increasingly difficult in the
past year Of so to maintain an adequate level of .inanpower in the
Royal Lao Army." Recruitment, they continue, "is said by some
to resemble a press gang operation in_ which only those ? without
political connection end up in the-Army. We wrere told that 30%
of all-new recruits desert."
Later in the report, the authors write: "Royal Lao Army units
are all controlled by individual military region commanders who
are frequently likened to warlords. We were told that Vientiane
authorities are thus not at liberty to move them from one region
to another as the overall in situation may eequire. Appar-
ently each such move requires negotiation with regional author-.
ides."
C I A-,R1:081:go140 eft001
Olitgrwci'me? has even less
Jurisniction over t YPII17.ffy it has none.
1Y6114..
. .
MIAMI YIIMATID STAT INTL
iit;Usw 1911
-:Ap p raved For Re ease 2001/03/04 CIA-RDP80-01601
ITh - 11
r11',Cr "We should. be 9utraged," Fairbank sal( , "al?ou
ocjo I } the way in which the military, had their CET set madei
the aigument of secrecy.". . . . .
. . ? ??
HE SAID WHITING'S testimony indicated the.
.CIAis able "to conduct wars whieh in turn produced
responses from the People's Republic (China) without
the American public knowing about it."
It is not known whether the United States Is con-
tinuing secret 'operations against China since Presi-
dent Nixon announced plans to visit the RE. _
There have been reports that the Nixon Adminis-
tration has ordered a halt to the dispatching of spe-
dal, CIA-supported teams of Laotian tribesmen into
China on reconnaissance patrols.
But Whiting described much more. elaborate a.c-
tiv i ties. ? ? _ . . .
_
lIESA.ID 'ME "SHADOWY involvement" of the
United States grew rapidly after the Korean War and
the Geneva?Conference. of 1951.
.He identified a Formosan airline, Civil Air TrallS:-
port (CAT), as being connected with the CIA.
CAT, he said, provided a "commercial cover"?foi
CIA and other secret government activities.
These included "more than 2,000 overflights of
mainland China and Tibet, according to Whiting.
"These included "more than 2,000 overflights of
mainland China and Tibet, according to Whiting.
. "These were not reconnaissance, but airdrops of
supplies and possibly men for guerrilla warfare." :
. _
. .
IN THE l'AOS, according to. Whiting, CAT "gave
way" to a new "cover."
?
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?
- By JAMES McCARTNEY
Porm . A-
WASHINGTON The story of clandestine. U.S.
military activities against mainland China has unfold-
ed here before a joint I-Iouse-Senate committee.
A former Chinese expert for the. State Depart-
ment testified that the
. ?
United States, in 20
years, has played a hey
: Yole in mounting "espio-
nage, sabotage and guer?
rilla." activities against
? China.
j;?
,'?a. ?
I LA
made it in possible for hue
The witness, Allen S.4
Whiting, now with the
Center for Chinese Stud-
ies at the University of
Michigan, said "secrecy
and censorship" have
public to know what was
' on.
. ?
He blamed the secret activities for starting a
whole, series of wars in the Far East -- and contribut-?
? 'thg heavily to the start of the Vietnamwar.
?Whiting's descriptions - are :believed to be the
.most detailed made public of secret activities against
China mounted by the United States in cooperation
with Formosa. ?
' .He blamed the U.S.-Taipei efforts for:
... ? ? ?
0 Creating crise'S- in the Taiwan. Strait in 1054 ?
and 1956. ;
? ?
-Adding -to the palms of a revolt in Tibet in
1959..
.Heic,htenincraChinese "alarm'' - of Indian ad-
.vance-s.on-. the Tibetan frontier in 1962, which led to a?
Chinese-Indian war in .the fall of ,1962.'
. HE ?SAID THESE -CRISES -"triggered Chinese
, ? .
Con-inniniSt MilitaryTeactions Which, in turn, have
been used to justify a vast expanse of -U.S. military
bases, alliances and military assistance -programs
throughout Asia, ostensibly to contain the threat .of
ChineSe Communist aggression."
-?
?
? These. expenditures, he said, -have been Made
'-"largely in response to a nontlareat."
Whiting's testimony was praised by john Fair-
b 1. - f ? , 1 LT i ? r. '
an Ny to s director o ar\ arc n vet ty s East
Asian Research Center and considered the nation's
top Chinese expApi'.proved For Release 2001/03/04: CIA-RDP80-01601R0009M0001-4
it; has been' Called China Air Lines, which began
operations in Laos and later moved to South Vietnam.
China Air Lines has carried out "clandestine in-
telligence operations" as well as "more dangerous
missions," Whiting said. ?
He saidyormosa has also provided the .headquar-
ters for Air Asia, a subsidiary of Air America, a CIA.-
operated airline in SoutheastAsia. . . .
? HE l')ESCIMED AIR ASIA as the "only facility
in the Far East excluding japan ---, with modern jet.
fighter maintenance and overhaul contracts."
. "Well over 6,000 combat aircraft were serviced
there in the fiscal year 1969," he said. . a...
China Air Lines, Air Asia and' Air America, he
said, work' together to support U.S. attacks in Laos
mounted from bases in Thailand. All, of course, are
secret.'
?
?
. These activities, he said, help to explain China's
road-building activities in northern Laos as well as its
efforts to provide anti-aircraft facilities. ?
. .
STATI NTL
IPAR ?1itsP:oitn )ctO'O.icU TTIEreY .
Approved For Releage 20W1/01/04 : CIA-Rti$8T311191601
1A,v
',I,
PIUM growing and heroin marketing are not new to
Asia or the world. Nor are efforts to control them.
". Yet last month US President Richard Nixon was prompt-
ed to declare a national emergency in hispountry, bluntly
?a stating: "If we cannot destroy, the drug menace in Amer--
, .
'ca, -then it will surely in time destroy us." America, he
admitted, has the highest number of heroin addicts of any
nation in the wor-lci, although no opium is
;grown there and no heroin processed. "This
deadly poison," Nixon said, "is a foreign
im-
I port". ? . ''??? ? ?
? .
:-::ISuch words Must ring ironically in those
Asian capitals which are targets of a new inter-
? national effort to stern drug marketing. And
Peking, forced just over a century ago to open
?-!
;.:?Its borders to foreign trade after attempting to
t?''aprevent Westernars from destroying its people
with the "foreign mud", now seies the wheel
tr come full circle.
: Recently a UN mission accompanied by
US observers investigated outlets in northern Thailand ?
ta. following charges by Taipei that China devoted S million
acres annually to the production of 10,000 tons of opium
for export. It declared China innocent of any involvement
in the production or export of opium, heroin or any other
narcotics. Marshall Green, US assistant secretary of state
la,:
for East Asian and Pacific affairs, did not mention China
:
. .
. at a July 12 press conference on the drug problem. -1 le
pointed instead to the "golden triangle" --? the border
'areas between Burma, Thailand and Laos. .
." Experts estimate that in this area 1,000 metric tons of
ray,/ papever .sonmiferom the "opium poppy" ? are
-harvested every year, 80% of it in Burma, the remainder in
Laos and Thailand. Far above the legal limit authorised by
the UN, the crop realises 30 tons of heroin in
world markets. The route to such markets-was
directly through Rangoon in the years im-
mediately following world war- 11, then
through Bangkok until 1957, and finally by
way of Vientiane, Phnom Penh and Saigon.
The Indochina War, despite creating prob-
lems of distribution, has not slowed the flow
of .drugs. Social workers in South Vietnam
now ,report many of the nation's large street
turchin population are hooked on the cheapest
form of opium by-product ? a clerk watery
. T
lc) S of
By D. /\llmciri, Bnnjkok
EXEROIN addiction among American soldiers in Vietnam
if It has finally prompted White House orders for .US
.missions in Southeast Asia to crack down on drug traffic. But
these new efforts to curb the clandestine trade in thugs are
.not America's first incursion into the murky area of South-
east Asia's most secret and profitable business enterprise,
Though . the exact details :have been well-guarded secrets,
several US clandestine agencies and a number of allied Asian ,
military leaders have been involved in the traffic for years.
Until the tragedy of opium and heroin addiction began to
strike US soldiers, the reason for American involvement in.
the .trade was ruthlessly simple.. Opium is a major basis of the
power wielded by several of the area's most influential pro-
American leaders, and' US influence with them has depended
_partly on American ability to influence the flow of opium
within the region.
'? The remote northern mountains of Vietnam, Laos, Thai-
land and Burma are among the world's prime oplurn growing
areas. Traditionally; the local warlord, governor or military
commander has controlled the drug?trade for his own profit7
hi their efforts to dominate these regions, American person-
nel have become involved in a sordid business that goes back
? to the opium wars of the last 'century.
'trade, takes clif7r 10)
As( erie01001. v6'11
siTTo rlf!if Ys, trF
- The depreegpi 41, go rii1/2 A
by a congressional committee if Asian government officials
?
?substance' which is heated and then injected
into the veins. As Green noted, heroin traffickers need to
seek new customers as 'American troops Is.sve Vietnam:-
"The youth of Asia are a prime target," ha concluded
"and this disturbing possibility is Leginning to come home
to Asian leaders". Perhaps they, like their American coun-
terparts, now realise that if they do riot destroy the drug
menace, ii will surely in time destroy them.
were involved US -? ' ?
John Mitchell re-
the matter is there .
1
?j
STATINTL
Attorney General .
plied "the fact of
has
ment of government
officials in some of
these countries.. ;..:
Mitchell refused to ta,
name publicly any r.:?.; ?? .
i.?
of the - suspected
figures, but Con-
gressman Robert
Steele, a former CIA
(Central Intelligence
-? Agency) officer who
i (
h'as personally inves-
tigated ? ? Southeast
-, -
Asian ? drug trade, 7,1
.said a fortnight ago ...-... 7
the US had "hard (31. ----- ?
intelligence" that
.--.
Major General Ng?. Vientiane marijuana market: Traffic is
Dzu, commander of hardest to control in Imps, tocausa of in-
-
vital military zone voivernant at the top.
. .
?
in northern Sou di Vietnam was "one of the chief traffickers
in heroin hi Southeast Asia". Although Dzu promptly denied
04-140447k1f04 0
efeitis&JAieQiAstera..and the US state
Vdr,RWAYMgOltr4nediately .
. ,
Rut when similar accusations were made against Vice Presi-
Tiblili
Approved For Release 20013/6/61f:VIA-RDP80-01601
LAOS
The Twilight Zone
The total budget for the Kingdom of
Laos this year is a paltry $36.6 million.
,To fight. a war there, the U.S. in fiscal
1971 spent $284.2 million--or $141 for
every one of the approximately 2,000,-
000 men, women and children under
government control. (The gross national
product totals only $66 per capita.)
These bizarre statistics are contained
in 'a once secret staff report released
last week by the Senate Foreign Re-
lations Committe.e, after five weeks of
haggling with the Administration over
declassifying its salient points. The fig-
ures become even more bizarre when
the cost of air operations?one of the fig-
ures still classified, but reliably estimated
at $1.4 billion?is included, bringing
per capita expenditure up to an in-
credible 8900. The report was compiled
1 after a visit to Laos last spring by Rich-
ard Moose and James Lowenstein, both
former Foreign Service officers, who
are the committee's staff experts on
Southeast Asia. Their findings at least
partially lifted what Committee Member
Stuart Symington called "the veil of
secrecy, which has long kept this 'se-
cret .war' in Laos officially hidden
from the American people." The study
also came to the discouraging conclusion
that despite vast expenditures by the
U.S., the military situation in Laos
"is growing steadily worse, and the ini-
tiative seems clearly to be in the
hands of the enemy."
War by Proxy. Though the. 23-page
document focuses on the clandestine na-
ture of U.S. operations in Laos, the
fact is that quite a few nations are in-
volved in the same way. The reason
for the secrecy is that none of the na-
tions ;,vant to be accused of violating
Laotian neutrality, which is guaranteed
by the Geneva accords of 1962.
The North Vietnamese have always
considered Laos vital in their struggle
to unify Viet Nam. As early as 1953,
an MIA division invaded Laos and
slashed all the way to the Mekong.
The Chinese have been working on an
extensive road project in northern Laos
since 1962, with a sizable military pres-
ence for protection. According to the
Moose-Lowenstein report, that presence
has increased from 6,000 two years
ago to as many as 20,000 today, and car-
ries with it a Concentration of anti-
aircraft and radar installations, Which
makes the area one of the most heavily -
'defended in the world.
.There is little doubt that the North
Vietnamese were the first to viola. te the
territorial integrity and neutrality of .
Laos. But for a viiriety of reasons, in-
eluding domestic politics, the U.S. never
responded openly to this situation. In-
stead, Communist clandestine operations
in Laos were matched?and often sur-
passed--by the 'U.S: and its allies.
Not all of the secret adventures are
mentioned in 'the Foreign Relations
Committee's report. But they include:
American, bombing missions in northern
and southern Laos from Thai air force
bases in Thailand; probes by U.S. Spe-
cial Forces teams from South Viet Nam
along the Ho Chi Mirth Trail in Laos;
secret forays into China from north-
ern Laos by specially trained CIA
teams (now reportedly halted); the for-
mation, funding and training by the
CIA of an irregular army of up to
15,000 Meo tribesmen; large-scale op-
erations throughout Laos by Air Amer-
ica, the CIA's unofficial flag line in
Asia; and the recruitment, training
and payment of at least 4,800 Thai vol-
unteers to fight in Laos.
The result is. a curious war by proxy
whose protagonists are the North Viet-
namese and the American-backed ir-
regulars. The cost has been particularly
heavy for the Meos. Says .Edgar ("Pop")
Buell, AID coordinator for northeastern
Laos: "Back in 1960 we told the Meos
they would only have to hold out for a
year. They've held out for more than
ten. They're tired and badly cut up,
and still we're telling them to hold out.
They think it's time for someone else
to do the dying."
Heavy Cost. The main argument for
this costly effort; as Symington pointed
out last week, is that it "will buy more
time for Vietnamization" by pinning
down North Vietnamese troops in Laos.
Without this effort, The North Vietnam-
ese would have unrestricted use of Lao-
tian supply lines to support their effort
in South Viet Nam. "But what about
Laos?" asked Symington. "The United
States is using the people of Laos for
its own purposes, at a startlingly heavy
increased cost to our ?taxpayers in mon- p
ey, andao the Lao people in terms of de-
stroyed hopes, destroyed territory, and
destroyed lives." .. .
V.
STATI NTL
Approved For Release 2001/03/04: CIA-RDP80-01601R000900100001-4
Lt (.7,. -11
SiX.1
Approved For Release 2001/0iO4ii U. bi;OR1311g0T-1816101R0
f , r C"'
?1.3,(.71
(1,fLf",-:
4-*Ie r(I
C:1 II ti
_
Saigon CM---A in i c ens
.eharged with the task of com-
batting the herointraf fie in Viet-
nem find themselves with few
'real weapons for a fight that; is
only now beginning.
"We didn't give a damn about
the; drug business as long as
'only Asians were using the
stuff," commented an American
< v.) ? I
the narcotics pipeline run by rdl "But then what we will end up
Chinese ring that buys the raw!, with is, rules, just rules," coin--
opium in the hills and pays off mented a: U.S. official in Vienti-
all down the line, from the time ape. "Now who is Ping to en-
the black gum is processed into force -thein?" -
Iletoin to its being. sold in tiny I American officials say that a
plastic vials to GI's on the ? conceited police effort in Laos
streets of Saigon. could run to ground the Chinese
The huge profits of the racket operating the processing plants,
have kept the narcotics pipeline and the dealers. But this would
running for years. And the Unit- be a massive task involving re-
investigator in Saigon. "IN"w' ! ed States has even become in- training, the police and breaking
that American GI's are hitting ; volved in it. temporarily for po- up a century-old way of life.
heroin we just don't have ;Hem roams.
And. in Bangkok, Americans
enough hard facts, to adequatelyi "Why, in the mid-60's when say that the Thais just do not.
crack down."
? the war disrupted the traditional? ave 1_,the police resources to
12,000 To 37,000 Users haulage routes. the CIA 0idieiCd1Jcl0vote - to a realistic drug-sup-
the first three months of! Air America to assist the loyal 'pression effort.
this year-J.Jnited States military Meo tribesmen by flying their Thailand is the major drug
authorities apprehended 1,031 opium crops to Lao collecting, !transshipment point to Vietnam,
users, nearly the same number ; points," commented one Amer- Hong Kong and Singapore, but
RS they had taken in the \''ll01:l can involved in .druL,, suppres?i Thai police must give priority to
.of 10/0. The estimate of Cf shun in Vientiane. "That fact can fighting Communist -insurgents
- drug-users ranges from I 2,000 toi be documented. The CIA have ill On: countryside. .
. _as many as 37,000 of the quar-is.inee got out of the business." Overlaying the whole suppres-
! ter-million-man American force What the United States finds sion problem is the tolerance
; iin Vietnam.
! itself hest able to do is first t() among Asians - toward drugs,
1 Americans in Thailand say i \\ arn (Is against drug usage, and the integral place the nar-
that even though the death pen-! then to treat those addicted, and colic's- bmjness occupies in the
city for opium Processing has forcefully prevail upon the Viet_ traciiciond patterns of 'smug-
-.been in effect for 10 years, i, namese government to toughen gling in Southeast Asia.
;drugs roll through that country l? the weak narcotics suppression 'To effectively stamp out her.
in ton lots past border check-, laws. . . oin, we would have to change
points and roadblocks, and ulli-!i ; ,... ? . , ? ? - .
?. ., .et o .. Jou ..,,, the eCOMlliC Nitterns of Asia.
mately to fishing trawlers lb it . :.. .2. - ' ' ? - - - / ? 1
? - . 'The governments of Laus, Thai-
. ,1 .. i . a ..1 ._ .0 0,, ,..
rifti.c- the shipments on to Viciii-ii death penalty for importers and land and South Vietnam are run
I'
ll peddlers belonging to organized by officials who are requited to
i;,ii.
And in Laos, a major growing, trinr.,-a.
..? scoop out large doses of cash
collecting and processing arcial American officials in Laos from - the system, to buy elici-
tor the Vietnam trade, Amen-:! have helped draw up a bill that glance and pay political fa-
cans are shaking their heads ir finally outlaws opium gro-?ying -
vacs," said a U.S. official with
perplexity over ways to bring,;, and stnolcing, and this is expect- hang experience in Vietnam.
about the crackdown demandedi e.d to ba ? passed soon by the -At 'this stage of the game,
by the Vhile. House. 1 National Assembly,with Americans getting out of .,
Senior Lao generals have beeni -Vietnam, we have less leverage
named as being incriminated in ?than ever before. Maybe the
only way to handle the problem
is to pay officials the cash they
would lose in cutting out the
drug traffic, and I doubt the
U.S. Congress would go along
with that,"; he ackled, ..;
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N3;;1,'
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By 31.1.7,NOME CAHILL
Washington, Aug. 11 (NEws Bureau)---The United
States and lilt,. Chinese Nationalists for 20 years launched
espionage, sabotage and guerrilla forays against Cmitmu-
nist China from Chiang :K.Sai-slal'S. island bastion of Tai-
wan, a. former State Department official told Congress to-
day.
Allen S. Whiting, m?ofessor of
political science at the University
of Michigan, who served in the
State Department's Bureau of
intelligenee and in the U.S. Con-
sulate in Hong Long from 1901
to 1998, said the covert "opera-
tions included support of the ill-
fated uprising in Tibet in 1959.
Increased After Korean War
Whiting said America's "sha-
dowy involvement" in the clan-
destine operations grew sixadily
after the Korean war and the
1954 Geneva Conference. lIe said
they triggered the. Formosa
Strait crises of 195-1 and LOS
and helped set the stage for the
Sino-India war in 1902 along the
"Tibetan frontier.
. Testifying before a subcommit-
tee of the Senate-House Joint
Economic Committee, Whiting
said the publication of the Pen-
tagon papers provided partial
dothimentation of the operations,
particularly U. S. and Nationalist
. Chinese screrfiights of mainland
China. .
Quoting from a top-secret mem-
orandum from Brig. Con. Edward
Lansdale to Gen. Maxwell Taylor,
Whiting said a Nationalist Chi--
nose airline called Civil Air Trans-
port carried out "more than 200
overflights of mainland China
and Tibet." ln addition, the line
provided aircraft for an abortive
CIA effort to overthrow the Su-
karno regime in Indonesia in 1958,
and helped transport sabotage
teams into North Vietnam as
early as 1954, the witness said.
. Airline.Linked to CIA ?
In 1960,- Whiting told the sub-
committee, a new Taiwan-based
airline, China Air Lines, came in-:-
to being-, and engaged in "clan-
destine intelligence operations"
as well as commercial flights to
Laos and Vietnam. He linked the
airline to the CIA-backed Air
America, which raided Northern
Laos in the course of the CIA's
"secret war in Laos."
times, he said, the bombers
strayed over the border, hitting
mainland Chinese territory. This
may explain "mneh of Peking's
expanding military presence in
road construction and antiaircraft
activities in Northern Laos," he
went on.
STATI NTL
Approved For Release 2001/03/04: CIA-RDP80-01601R000900100001-4
NjirO'ciRY
Approved For Release 20.w9pt:f791A-RDP80-01601 R0009
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