DEFENSE OFFICIAL DENIES RAID OVER LAOS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000700180027-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 27, 2004
• Sequence Number: 27
• Publication Date: May 14, 1966
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2005/01/0Y CR%0i 1W149ROOO7OO18OO27-0
MAY 14 1966
0
Letters to the Editor of The Times
i7 fpncP Offi .ial Denes'l spokesman -queried' by Mr. built-hi political point of view.
---i. t Apple. Colonel McGinty reports'I The virtues of detachment and
Rai Over Laos that after double-checking the Caliber of I.A. ..staff objectivity are no less Important
for an Intelligence agency than.
fact that the raid had been in Tot 1.
To the Editor:
I On April 13 The Times pub-
c lished a dispatch from Saigon
,
pp
.
an
W. Apple under the byline of R.
reported on ! formation was absolutely false., trol, which are critical, it failed timely: "One has to remember
th. which by B-52 bombers B-52 boms Colonel McGinty says he tried in one very important sense to !.that when one's interest Is q
the first raid by to imnress on Mr. Annie that follow up the point of that oh- keenly excited evidence gathers.:.
of th
e v u g.c -11 ........a". ; publication of such a false re-1
,against a target in n North VAN- port would. be harmful to the
nam. United States. Colonel McGinty
t' The official communique of the Military Assistance Corn- reports that Mr, Apple thanked'
Itnand, Vietnam (M.A.C.V.) onhim,' but stated he was satisfied
his "source" was accurate. this raid stated: "U.S. Air The end result was that The;
o
Frce B-52's struck in North
Vietnam this morning for the
first time, hitting the Mu Gig
Pass, abopt 65 miles south of
Vinh."
Mr. Apple did not choose to
,
use this official report anywhere, the information provided by
In his story. On the contrary, { Colonel McGinty of the Seventh
he said that "usually reliable Air Force, and chose instead to
sour c a i that the B-52's a, ; report a falsehood which The
ii-dropper theit..h0-pOUnd_and Times displayed at the top of
1 oQl-p.cluni ...bo tbs....1w- North
Vietnam .at..all,..but.,on_a_section
of .
MugiaPass that..:lles in,Laos."
This statement by Mr. Apple
Is utterly false, The B-5211
.."gCiuc7L, as stated in the commu
North Vietnam only, he went; While your series on the C.I.A. Lhey are for a coui t, and in this
to The Times office in Saigon;, quite properly notes that it Is regard the admonition of Jus- .1
and not the forms of con- lice Holmes" seems remarkably
A
le his In- men
d informed Mr
servation. For it is not only the from all stiles around the mag-
at the top who count, but, netic point." This danger, Jus-
men
perhaps even more importantly, tics Frankfurter wisely noted,
the men in the field. "should be particularly heeded
What worries a good Many at times of agitation and anx-
,W. personnel practices, geared
New York Times correspondent! to"a~iltifJiii;l'L'w~t11t$L se-
refused to report the official, ii ity-.peeds, t_end to roduce a
United States communique 01 11 rgpresentin . a ry~lioi-
the raid issued by the Military ited?.aAd parti.Yj,,,jan ee. of the
Assistance Command in Viet-! olitical,-,spectrum. To the ex-
further refused to consider tentiat t~'iis s the case,' the
nam
danger of excessive zeal is hat
nearly so much the result, of
combining Intelligence and op-
erations as it is the product of
creating in agency which -has a
Page 1.
Times have a rignL to rtnuw Lne
truth, Au uitn R1jjV5TER.S'
Assi?ti3p.t.LS ecreta ry
of Defense
'Vnique, In North Vietnam only. ashington, May 1,
1A86
Mr. Apple wrote further that W
iMr A.ppteot.te[use to,
"these sources said the target re ort the Air Force's communi
too is_absolutely' untrue.
Mr. Apple then got around to
state that "an Air Force
spokesman denled-Vre'rerm t-,
rt?
Report. Double-Checked
Col. William McGinty; Dl'
.rector of .Ihfbrtriatloh; Seventh
colonel McGinty. He took
account oi' "the communique
,States planes had, dropped their ,
bombs on the Mugia Pass,, He,
additionally reported from other.,,
sources that- the" bombing was ?
in a' section of the Pass in Laos..-'
He IncludedColonel 'McGinty'.s:)
deniid of this report--Editor,1
h11;\\
pregnate Lne air we oreatne.-
The fact that there may be
liberal analysts in Virginia does
not assuage the concern of those
who wonder about the kind of
men who are planning and car-
rying out the "dirty tricks. " An
article dealing with personnel
hiring practices might very well
be more significant than fur-
ther . rehashing of adventures
which had already largely be-
come matters of public knowl-
edge., ` JOSEPH L. SAX,r
University of California
1 .! ! r Berkeleyr' April 29, 1966
Approved For Release 2005/01/05 : CIA-RDP75-00149ROO0700180027-0