CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP81M00980R002100020079-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Sequence Number: 79
• Content Type: MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD

Approved; For Release 2006/12/15: CIA-RDP81 M00980R002100020079-1
18 April 1978
MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD
SUBJECT: Congressional Briefing
i OLC #78- /.109 @
1. On 17 April 1978, .25X1
I (NIO/EAP) , 25X1
went to Capitol Hill o brie mere ers of the House
Committee on International Relations on current conditions
in Indochina.. Attending the closed session for the Congress
were Lester Wolff (NY), Anthony Beilenson (CA), Helen Meyer
(NJ), L.H. Fountain (NC) and Tennyson Guyer (OH), as well as
several staff members and the CIA congressional liaison officer.
2. The two hour session was keyed to an analysis and
discussion of Indochinese refugees and especially to the
political, environmental and economic forces that cause their
continuing flight from Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. After
short, prepared presentations by OGCR, ORPA, and OER, the
briefing opened up to a question and answer session. Within
OER's bailiwick, Members were most interested in agricultural
production and food problems in the three countries.
3. The meeting closed on two specific notes. The
Committee noted that at Some point the US would have to face
reality and develop an aodive foreign policy toward Indochina,
especially because Vietnam is the third largest Communist
country in the world. The Members said that Congress, not
the Executive, was the major impediment. Finally, Chairman
Wolff pointed out that in retrospect Congress would have
benefitted from closer attention to the CIA's correct analysis
of events during the war with Vietnam instead of the frequently
biased analysis emanating from other quarters.
Southern Asia Branch
Orig. & 1 - D/SA
1 - D/OER, DD/OER, Ex/OER
1 - D/D
OER/D/SA: 18 Apr78.
t
Approved For Release 2006/12/15: CIA-RDP81 M00980R002100020079-1