Article about CIA activities in North Vietnam and Laos

Item

derivative filename/jpeg

363-07804 to 363-07807.pdf

Digital Object Identifier

363-07804 to 363-07807

Title

Article about CIA activities in North Vietnam and Laos

Description

Original title: "CIA", Keever's title: "CIA Secretly Airdrops Fighters into North Vietnam and Laos", Article drafts about CIA operations against North Vietnam and Laos's communist rebels, for the New York Herald Tribune

AI Usage Disclosure

Draft transcripts were automatically generated via Google Document AI and are currently under review. Please report significant errors to Archives & Special Collections at archives@unl.edu.

Transcript

Beverly Deepe 101 Cong Ly Saigon Page 1 CIA--1 SAIGON--The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency cancelled in mid-July its part of a multi-million dollar contract with a private American aviation company which had the undercover mission of airlifting guerrillas and supplies behind enemy lines in North Viet Nam and Communist-held sections of Laos. Reliable military sources said that pilots of [deletion: the fifteen] more than twelve highly mobile aircraft [XXXX indicating deletion] included Chinese and Turkish nationalities, but [deletion: no American] not Americans. American civilians were used for ground support, administrative and maintenance functions. The American government, through the CIA, had [XXXX indicating deletion] about two years ago signed jointly with the Vietnamese government a contract with a private American firm called American Aviation Investors Inc. The CIA broke their contract several weeks ago. The cancellation of the American co-signature was interpreted here as a rebuke to South Vietnamese Premier-General Nguyen Khanh, who has in recent weeks launched a “Go North” campaign to attack [insertion: Communist] North Viet Nam. Khanh’s campaign contradicted American policy at the time. Presumably the American government broke the contract in order to limit Khanh’s capacity to send Vietnamese Special Forces guerrillas [illegible] deepe cia--2 Since the cancellation of the contract, Gen. Khanh has toned down and re-defined his “Go North” policy to mean simply a means of finishing the war “instead of letting it drag on.” And since then, three PT boats attacked an American destroyer in [deletion: the] international waters off the coast of North Viet Nam. The CIA contract with American Aviation Investors Inc. called for a highly mobile undercover air operation involving several helicopters, six to eight C-45 and C-47 transport aircraft, [insertion: some of them [deletion: equipped with] radar] and [XXXX indicating deletion] some L-28 helio-courier planes. [deletion: All the aircraft, silvery in color,] None of the silvery-colored aircraft carried identification markings or insignia, except black [deletion: numbering] numbers. The C-45 and C-47 transport aircraft are often used to drop paratroopers behind enemy lines; helicopters have the capabilities of landing in small jungle clearings and [deletion: L-28] the four-seater L-28 helio-couriers have the capabilities of landing [XXXX indicating deletion] on short clearings and pastures. While pilots of the aircraft were known to include Chinese and Turkish nationalities, American participation in the company was limited to civilian accountants, maintenance crews and other administrative and technical personnel. [XXXX indicating deletion] These American civilian personnel quietly, but hastily transferred from Saigon about the time that Gen. Khanh launched his “Go North” campaign. It is unknown at this time the disposition of the aircraft. Other private American aviation companies [insertion: with missions] comparable to American Aviation Investors are presumably still in operation The American government at times contracts private firms to implement programs [XXXX indicating deletion] for which the [insertion: U.S.] government officially can not be [illegible] deepe cia--3 [XXXX indicating deletion] Information concerning the The [XXXX indicating deletion] dropping of South Vietnamese guerrillas, agents and [XXXX indicating deletion] saboteurs behind enemy lines is fragmentary and undetailed [deletion: which] since it is not the official policy of the United States or the South Vietnamese government. However, such activities are known to been launched in the past and are continuing now. [deletion: Premier General Nguyen Khanh] When asked about such activities, Premier General Nguyen Khanh simply smiles and says “we can not discuss that.” American military sources confirm that South Vietnamese Special Forces, trained by [insertion: their] American counterparts, are dropped behind enemy lines, but details “are classified.” The wives of South Vietnamese Special Forces troopers sent to North Vietnam also sometimes inadvertently drop information. The wives say that call the mission into North Vietnam an “express train to death.” Casualties [XXXX indicating deletion] on such missions are considered high, although one [insertion: Vietnamese] Special Forces officer has been dropped into [deletion: Sout] Communist-held sections of [deletion: Laos] Southern Laos six times and has fought his way back to safety. Within the past six weeks, reliable Vietnamese sources confirmed that a [deletion: Special For] South Vietnamese Special Forces unit landed [deletion: by sea] on the South China Sea coast near the North Vietnamese city of Dong Hoi, [XXXX indicating deletion] about thirty miles north of the 17th parallel separating North and South Vietnam. They succeeded in sabotaging the city water system. [deletion: hun] (Informatively only--Source for Dong Hoi information is Vietnamese general; [XXXX indicating deletion] a friend of mine talked with wife of a Special Forces trooper captured and tried in North Vietnam and she blabbed it all over town; I’ve seen the South Vietnamese Special Forces officer who’s been to Laos six times--) deepe cia--4 The most detailed information regarding South Vietnam sabateurs and guerrillas operating in North Viet Nam comes from North Vietnamese radio broadcasts, [insertion: and] newspapers, but the accuracy of the information is difficult to assess. The North Vietnamese government last year published a thin white book listing all such activities. On April 22, 1964, the North Vietnamese government reported on a “spy trial” in which a Communist military court [deletion: several days] two days earlier tried a group of seven “spy-commandos of the U.S. and its henchmen in South Vietnam who had been airdropped on a mountain region of Cam Xuyen district, Ha Tinh province.” [XXXX indicating deletion] The North Vietnamese report listed names and ages of the seven [deletion: spies] “spies” and their sentences which ranged from three years to life imprisonment. Duties of the seven were listed as chief of the group, [deletion: radio Operations] deputy chief, radio [deletion: operations] operaters and psychological warfare expert. The report said that from November, 1962, the seven were directly trained by American officers in spying activities. They were airdropped into the North Vietnamese province during early morning hours of on October 8, 1963 [insertion: report said]. The report continued: “According to their declarations, these commandos were entrusted by the U.S. and its stooges in Saigon with carrying out intelligence work and sabotaging activities and psychological warfare in North Viet Nam. “This is the 14th spy-commando group of the U.S. and its stooges in South Vietnam arrested and duly punished in North Vietnam within the past 11 eleven months.” -30-

Date

1964, Aug.

Subject

Vietnam War, 1961-1975; United States. Central Intelligence Agency; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Campaigns--Laos; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Vietnam (Democratic Republic); Airdrop

Location

Saigon, South Vietnam

Coordinates

10.8231; 106.6311

Size

20 x 26 cm

Container

B3, F7

Format

dispatches

Collection Number

MS 363

Collection Title

Beverly Deepe Keever, Journalism Papers

Creator

Keever, Beverly Deepe

Collector

Keever, Beverly Deepe

Copyright Information

These images are for educational use only. To inquire about usage or publication, please contact Archives & Special Collections.

Publisher

Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries

Language

English