The phoenix program

NOTES

CHAPTER 1: Infrastructure

1. "Vietnam Policy and Prospects 1970" (Hearings before the Committee on Foreign Relations, U.S. Senate, February 17-20 and March 3, 14, 17, 19, 1970), p. 723.

2. Stanley Karnow, Vietnam: A History (New York: Viking, 1982), p. 60.

3. Karnow, p. 76.

4. Karnow, p. 82.

5. Karnow, p. 87.

6. David Galula, Counter-Insurgency Warfare: Theory and Practice (New York: Praeger, 1964) p. 80

7. Robert Slater, "The History, Organization and Modus Operandi of the Viet Cong Infrastructure" (Defense Intelligence School, March 1970), p. 3.

8. Richard Harris Smith, OSS: The Secret History of America's First Central Intelligence Agency (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1972), p. 347.

9. Nguyen Ngoc Huy, Understanding Vietnam (The D PC Information Service, the Netherlands, 1982), p. 85.

10. Interview with Jack.

11. Edward Lansdale, In the Midst of Wars (New York: Harper & Row, 1972), pp. 70- 72.

12. Lansdale, p. 72.

13. Kevin Generous, Vietnam: The Secret War (New York: Bison Books, 1985), p. 94.

14. Generous, p. 66.

IS. Lansdale, p.211.

16. Huy, p. 85.

17. J. J. Zasloff, "Origins of the Insurgency in South Vietnam 1954-1960" (Rand Memorandum RM-5163), p. 8.

18. Noam Chomsky, Counter-Revolutionary Violence: Bloodbaths in Fact and Propaganda (A Warner Modular Publication, 1973, USA), p. 57-18.

19. Huy, p. 85.

20. Lansdale, p. 340.

21. Lansdale, p. 343.

22. Lansdale, p. 344.

CHAPTER 2: Internal Security

1. Graham Greene, The Quiet American (New York: Viking, 1956), p. 8.

2. Jeffrey Race, War Comes to Long An (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1972), p. 19.

3. Race, p. 67.

4. Race, p. 52.

5. Ralph Johnson, Phoenix/Phung Hoang: A Study of Wartime Intelligence Management (Washington D.C.: American University, 1985), pp. 37-38.

6. Lansdale, pp. 82-88.

7. Interview with Clyde Bauer.

8. Don Schrande, "Father Hoa's Little War, " The Saturday Evening Post, February 17, 1962, p. 76.

9. Schrande, p. 76.

10. Interview with Bernard Yoh.

11. Slater, pp. 38-39.

12. Slater, p. 56.

13. Johnson, A Study, p. 64.

14. Johnson, A Study, p. 72.

15. "Vietnam Policy and Prospects 1970," p. 724.

16. Karnow, p. 410.

17. Race, p. 196.

18. Interview with William Colby.

19. Karnow, p. 284.

CHAPTER 3: Covert Action

1. Interview with Stu Methven.

2. Ralph Johnson, Phoenix/Phung Hoang: Planned Assassination or Legitimate Conflict Management! (Washington D.C.: American University, 1982), p. 5.

3. Methven interview.

4. Ralph Johnson, Phoenix/Phung Hoang: A Study of Wartime Intelligence Management (Washington D.C.: American University, 1985), p. 441.

5. Methven interview.

6. Race, pp. 239-240.

7. "Vietnam Policy and Prospects 1970, " p. 245.

8. "Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders" (94th Congress, 1st Session, Senate Report No.94-465: Church Select Committee, Senate Select Committee on Government Operations with Respect to Intelligence [U.S. G.P.O., 1975], p. 278.

9. "Alleged Assassination Plots, " p. 139.

10. "Alleged Assassination Plots, " p. 336.

11. "Vietnam Policy and Prospects 1970, " p. 722.

12. Interview with Frank Scot ton, July 1986.

13. Ngo Vinh Long, "The CIA and the Vietnam Debacle" in Uncloaking the CIA, ed. Howard Frazier (New York: The Free Press, 1978), p. 72.

14. Scotton interview.

15. Scotton interview.

16. Karnow, p. 281.

17. Huy, p. 97.

18. Huy, p. 101.

19. Huy, p. 110.

20. Scotton interview.

21. Interview with Walter Mackem.

CHAPTER 4: Revolutionary Development

1. Scotton interview.

2. Peer DeSilva, Sub Rosa (New York: New York Times Books, 1978), p. 249.

3. DeSilva, p. 247.

4. DeSilva, p. 245.

5. DeSilva, p. 250.

6. Lansdale, p. 75.

7. Seymour Hersh, Cover-Up (New York: Random House, 1972), p. 85.

8. Interview with Tom Donohue.

9. Huy, p. 123.

10. Buy, p. 123.

11. Scotton interview.

12. William A. Nighswonger, Rural Pacification in Vietnam (New York: Praeger, 1966), p. 298.

CHAPTER 5: PICs

1, Galula, p. 117.

2. Slater, p. 21.

3. Galula, p. 124.

4. Scotton interview.

5. John Marks, The Search for the Manchurian Candidate (New York: New York Times Books, 1979), p. 178.

6. Marks, p. 179.

7. Johnson, A Study, p. 400.

8. Major General Joseph McChristian, The Role of Military Intelligence 1965-1967 (Washington D.C.: Department of the Army, 1974), p. 14.

9. McChristian, p. 71.

10. McChristian, p. 50.

11. McChristian, p. 26.

CHAPTER 6: Field Police

1. Interview with William Grieves.

2. Letter to the author from Nguyen Van Dai.

3. Interview with Douglas McCollum.

CHAPTER 7: Special Branch

1. Interview with Nelson Henry Brickham.

2. Interview with Tom Donohue.

3. Warren Milberg, "The Future Applicability of the Phoenix Program" (Research Study, Report #1835-74, Air Command and Staff College, Air University, Maxwell Air Force Base, May 1974), pp. 33-34.

4. Galula, p. 120.

5. The Herald Tribune, October 21, 1965.

6. Anthony Herbert, Soldier (New York: Bolt Rinehart & Winston, 1973), pp. 105-106.

7. Berbert, p. 106.

8. Milberg, p. 50.

9. Milberg, p. 34.

10. Galula, p. 110.

11. Interview with James Ward.

12. Interview with Sam Drakulich.

CHAPTER 8: Attack on the VCI

1. The Pentagon Papers (Washington D.C.: U.S. Department of Defense, 1971),

Vol. V, p. 58.

2. Brickham interview.

3. The Pentagon Papers, Vol. V, pp. 120-122.

4. Nelson Brickham, "Attack on the VCI" (Saigon: November 1966), p. 1.

5. Brickham, "Attack," p. 1.

6. Brickham, "Attack," p. 4.

7. Brickham, " Attack," p. 4.

8. McChristian, p. 72.

9. McChristian, p. 72.

10. McChristian, p. 74.

11. Interview with Tulius Acampora.

12. Interview with Dang Van Minh.

13. Interview with Lawrence Tracy.

14. McChristian, p. 78.

15. Interview with Robert Wall.

CHAPTER 9: ICEX

1. Brickham interview.

2. Nelson Brickham, " A Proposal for the Coordination and Management of Intelligence Programs and Attack on the VC Infrastructure and Local Irregular Forces (Saigon: June 1967), p. 1.

3. Brickham, "Proposal, " p. 3.

4. Brickham, "Proposal, " p. 4.

5. Interview with Evan J. Parker, Jr.

6. Johnson, A Study, p. 174.

7. McChristian, p. 76.

8. Interview with Edward Brady.

9. Johnson, A Study, p. 110.

10. Ward interview.

CHAPTER 10: Action Programs

1. Johnson, A Study, p. 196.

2. Parker interview.

3. Acampora interview.

4. At Santoli, Everything We Had (New York: Ballantine Books, 1984), p. 202.

5. Johnson, A Study, p. 200.

6. Johnson, A Study, p. 200.

7. Brickham interview.

8. Interview with Robert Brewer.

9. Ward interview.

10. Johnson, A Study, p. 198.

11. Johnson, A Study, p. 197.

12. "Project Take-Off" (Saigon; U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, November 1967) p. 3.

13. Johnson, A Study, p. 391.

14. Letter to the author from Randolph Berkeley.

15. Milberg, p. 60.

16. Milberg, p. 61.

17. Interview with Robert Slater.

18. Milberg, p. 61.

19. Tran Van Truong, A Vietcong Memoir (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1985), p. 108.

20. Truong, p. 110.

21. "Project Take-Off, " p. 3.

CHAPTER 11: PRU

1. Scot ton interview.

2. Donohue interview.

3. Ward interview.

4. Raymond Bonner, Waltzing with a Dictator (New York: Random House, 1987) p. 75.

5. Interview with Robert Peartt.

6. The Pentagon Papers, Vol. V, p. 120.

7. Grieves interview.

8. McCollum interview.

9. David Welch, "Pacification in Vietnam, " Ramparts, October 1967, p. 39.

10. Milberg, p. 39.

11. Interview with John Wilbur.

12. Parker interview.

13. Brickham interview.

14. Santoli, pp. 203-204.

15. Santoli, p. 204.

16. Santoli, p. 205.

17. Santoli, pp. 217-218.

18. Interview with Louis Lapham.

CHAPTER 12: Tet

1. Brickham interview.

2. Acampora interview.

3. Lapham interview.

4. Lapham interview.

5. Interview with Renz Hoeksema.

6. Wilbur interview.

7. Interview with Howard Stone.

8. Karnow, p. 514.

9. Interview with Tom McCoy.

10. Interview with Warren Milberg.

11. Karnow, p. 523.

12. Interview with Rudy Enders.

13. Karnow, p. 532.

14. The Pentagon Papers, Senator Gravel edition (Boston: Beacon Press, 1971), Vol. IV, p. 578.

15. Slater, p. 48.

16. Buy, p. 129.

17. Interview with Robert Inman.

18. Letter to the author from Lionel Rosenblatt.

19. Interview with George French.

20. Slater, p. ix.

21. Brady interview.

22. Buy, p. 130.

23. Buy, p. 136.

24. Buy, p. 130.

25. "Status of Phoenix/Phung Boang for Period January-June 1968" (Saigon, MAC CORDS, Phoenix Fact Sheet, August 10, 1968, LTC Lemire).

26. Johnson, A Study, p. 275.

27. John Cook, The Advisor (Philadelphia, Pa.: Dorrance, 1973), p. 195.

28. Wall interview.

CHAPTER 13: Parallax Views

1. Brewer interview.

2. Milberg interview.

3. Manzione interview.

CHAPTER 14: Phoenix in Flight

1. Milberg interview.

2. Milberg, p. 62.

3. Milberg, p. 44.

4. Milberg, p. 50.

5. Milberg, p. 51.

6. Milberg, p. 53.

7. Milberg, p. 57.

8. Interview with Douglas Dillard.

9. Letter to the author from Bruce Palmer.

10. Ward interview.

11. Santoli, p. 204.

12. McChristian, p. 100.

CHAPTER 15: Modus Vivendi

1. Dillard interview.

2. Slater, p. 56.

3. Interview with Jack.

4. Interview with Brian Willson.

5. Dinh Tuong An, "The Truth About Phoenix" (Saigon, Tin Sang, 1970-71).

6. An, "Truth."

7. An, "Truth."

8. An, "Truth."

9. An, "Truth."

10. An, "Truth."

11. An, "Truth."

12. An, "Truth."

13. Milberg interview.

14. An, "Truth."

15. An, "Truth."

16. An, "Truth."

17. Dillard interview.

18. An, "Truth."

19. An, "Truth."

20. Truong, p. 113.

21. Truong, p. 117.

22. Truong, p. 117.

23. Frank Snepp, Decent Interval (New York: Random House, 1978), p. 31.

24. Snepp, p. 38.

CHAPTER 16: Advisers

1. Dillard interview.

2. Ward interview.

3. Letter to the author from George Dexter.

4. Milberg, p. 46.

5. Interview with Henry McWade.

6. Johnson, A Study, p. 265.

7. Brady interview.

8. Truong, p. 136.

CHAPTER 17: Accelerated Pacification

1. "Vietnam Policy and Prospects 1970, " p. 716.

2. Thomas Thayer, A Systems Analysis of the Vietnam War 1965-1972, Vol. 10: Pacification and Civil Affairs (Washington D.C.: Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense, 1975), pp. 40-43.

3. Peartt interview.

4. Wilbur interview.

5. William Colby, Honorable Men (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1978), pp. 260-263.

6. Huy, p. 141.

7. Cook, p. 113.

8. Race, p. 239.

9. Race, p. 239.

10. Race, p. 240.

11. McCoy interview.

12. Letter to the author from Frank Walton.

13. Colby, pp. 207-208.

14. Dillard interview.

15. Interview with Richard Bradish.

16. Interview with Walter Kolon.

17. Cook, p. 208.

18. Race, p. 238.

19. Brickham and Ward interviews.

20. Colby, p. 269.

21. Jack interview.

CHAPTER 18: Transitions

1. Brady interview.

2. Brickham interview.

3. Interview with Shelby Roberts.

4. John Berry, Those Gallant Men on Trial in Vietnam (Novato, Calif.: Presidio Press, 1984), p. 56.

5. McWade interview.

6. Dillard interview.

7. Interview with Ralph McGehee.

8. Ralph McGehee, Deadly Deceits (New York: Sheridan Square Press, 1983) p. 141.

9. McGehee, p. 142.

10. McGehee, p. 142.

11. "Hearing on the Nomination of William Colby" (Committee on Armed Services, U.S. Senate, July 2, 20, 25, 1973), p. 56.

12. The New York Times, November 10, 1984.

13. The Boston Globe, November 14, 1984, p. 10.

14. The Boston Globe, November 14, 1984, p. 10.

15. The New York Times, November, 21, 1984, p. B2.

16. "Hearing on the Nomination of William Colby," p. 57.

17. McGehee, pp. 127-128.

18. McGehee, p. 128.

19. McGehee, p. 84.

20. McGehee, pp. 82-83.

21. McGehee, p. 145.

22. Colby interview.

23. Colby, p. 266.

24. Johnson, A Study, p. 370.

25. Lapham interview.

26. Interview with Ted Shackley.

27. "Phoenix Reorganization" (Saigon, MACCORDS, February 6, 1969), cited in Johnson, A Study, p. 370.

28. Parker interview.

29. Johnson, A Study, p. 372.

30. Johnson, A Study, p. 304.

CHAPTER 19: Psyops

1. "Phung Hoang/Phoenix 1969 End of Year Report" (Saigon, MACCORDS, February 28, 1970), p. D-3.

2. Scott Breckenridge, The CIA and the US Intelligence System (Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1985), p. 170.

3. William Turley, Far East Asian Economic Review, May 2, 1985.

4. 1969 End of Year Report, p. B-6.

5. An, "Truth."

6. Ward interview.

7. 1969 End of Year Report, p. B-6-1.

8. 1969 End of Year Report, p. B-3-1.

9. "Phung Hoang Results Due Directly to Psyops" (Saigon, MACCORDS, Phoenix Directorate, December 6, 1970).

10. Cook, p. 182.

11. Johnson, A Study; p. 355.

12. 1969 End of Year Report, p. B-10-3.

13. An, "Truth."

14. "Phung Hoang Results Due Directly to Psyops."

15. "Phung Boang/phoenix Program" (Washington D.C.: The Joint Chiefs of Staff, Memorandum for the Secretary of Defense, JCSM-394-70, August 15, 1970, from Major General Frank B. Clay, Deputy Director, Joint Staff).

16. "Phung Hoang Results Due Directly to Psyops."

17. Joseph Treaster, "The Phoenix Murders, " Penthouse, December 1975, p. 147.

18. 1969 End of Year Report, p. B-I-2.

19. 1969 End of Year Report, p. B-2-1-6.

20. 1969 End of Year Report, p. B-2-1-6.

21. 1969 End of Year Report, p. B-l-l to B-I-3.

22. 1969 End of Year Report, p. D-7.

23. Treaster, p. 147.

24. Colby, p. 269.

25. Johnson, A Study, pp. 304-305.

26. "Special Collection Program BIG MACK" (Saigon, MACCORDS, MACJ212-2
Fact Sheet, December 8, 1970).

27. Dillard interview.

28. 1969 End of Year Report, pp. 8 and C.

29. 1969 End of Year Report, pp. 8 and C.

30. "Tracking of Arrested Individuals" (Saigon, CORDS Public Safety Fact Sheet, L. M. Rosen, November 27, 1970).

31. "National Police Redeployment Concept" (Saigon, CORDS Public Safety Fact Sheet, L. M. Rosen, December 8, 1970).

CHAPTER 20: Reforms

1. Johnson, A Study, p. 406.

2. Ministry of Interior Circular 757, "Classification and Rehabilitation of Offenders, " Saigon, March 21, 1969.

3. Johnson, A Study, p. 406.

4. Ministry of Interior Circular 2212, "Improvements of the Methods of Resolving the Status of Offenders," Saigon, August 20, 1969.

5. Interview with Lien Johnson.

6. Interview with Harry Johnson.

7. Interview with Lien Johnson.

8. Interview with Tom Polgar.

9. Brady interview.

10. Kamow, pp. 440-441.

11. Johnson, A Study, pp. 374-375.

12. Enders interview.

13. Cited in "The Phoenix/Phung Boang and Provincial Reconnaissance Units (PRU) Programs, " undated Memorandum for the Secretary of Defense, from General Abrams.

14. "The Phoenix/Phung Boang and Provincial Reconnaissance Units (PRU) Programs."

15. "The Phoenix/Phung Boang and Provincial Reconnaissance Units (PRU) Programs."

16. "The Phoenix/Phung Hoang and Provincial Reconnaissance Units (PRU) Programs."

17. Interview with Jack.

18. Interview with Michael McCann.

19. Interview with Fred Dick.

CHAPTER 21: Decay

1. Buy, p. 139.

2. Huy, p. 146.

3. Lansdate, p. 343.

4. Snepp, p. 15n.

5. Scotton interview.

6. "Bearing on the Nomination of William Colby," p. 58.

7. McGehee interview.

8. McGehee, pp. 153-154.

9. McGehee, p. 154.

10. McGehee, p. 154.

11. McGehee, p. 153.

12. Michael Maclear, The Ten Thousand Day War (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1981), p. 261.

13. "U.S. Assistance Programs in Vietnam" (Foreign Operations and Government Information Subcommittee, Committee on Government Operations, July 15, 16, 19, 21 and August 2, 1971), p. 105.

14. "U.S. Assistance Programs in Vietnam," p. 105.

15. Maclear, p. 263.

16. Snepp, p. 12.

17. Interview with Ed Murphy.

18. Erwin Knoll, "The Mysterious Project Phoenix," The Progressive, February 1970.

19. Knoll.

20. Georgie Anne Geyer, "The CIA's Hired Killers, " True, February 1970.

CHAPTER 22: Hearings

1. The New York Times, February 17, 1970.

2. State Department Telegram 024391 from Clayton McManaway to William Sullivan, Subject: "Senate Hearings, " February 17, 1970.

3. Grieves interview.

4. Letter to the author from Nguyen Van Dai.

5. "Vietnam Policy and Prospects 1970, " p. 200.

6. "Vietnam Policy and Prospects 1970, " p. 201.

7. "Vietnam Policy and Prospects 1970, " p. 201.

8. "Vietnam Policy and Prospects 1970, " p. 201.

9. "Vietnam Policy and Prospects 1970, " p. 201.

10. Geyer.

11. Colby interview.

12. Neil Sheehan, "An American Soldier in Vietnam, Part III: An All-Round Man," The New Yorker, June 20, 1988, pp. 54-55.

13. "Vietnam Policy and Prospects 1970, " p. 212.

14. "Vietnam Policy and Prospects 1970, " p. 118.

15. "Vietnam Policy and Prospects 1970, " p. 119.

16. "Vietnam Policy and Prospects 1970, " p. 120.

17. "Vietnam Policy and Prospects 1970, " p. 120.

18. Michael Drosnin, "Phoenix: The CIA's Biggest Assassination Program" (New Times, August 22, 1975), p. 19.

19. "Vietnam Policy and Prospects 1970, " p. 205.

20. "Vietnam Policy and Prospects 1970, " p. 205-206.

21. "Vietnam Policy and Prospects 1970, " p. 206.

22. "Vietnam Policy and Prospects 1970, " p. 206.

23. "Vietnam Policy and Prospects 1970, " p. 207.

24. "Vietnam Policy and Prospects 1970, " p. 104.

25. Buy, p. 141.

26. The New York Times, February 22, 1970.

27. "Phung Hoang/phoenix Program" (Washington D.C. : The Joint Chiefs of Staff, August 15, 1970, Memorandum for the Secretary of Defense from Major General Frank B. Clay, Deputy Director, Joint Staff) (hereafter called the Clay memo), p. 2.

28. Clay memo, p. 8.

29. Phung Hoang Adviser Handbook (Saigon, MACCORDS, November 20, 1970), p. 10.

30. Colby, p. 268.

31. Johnson, A Study, pp. 341-342.

32. Brady interview.

33. Murphy interview.

CHAPTER 23: Dissension

1. Karnow, p, 606.

2. Interview with Lucy Nhiem Bong Nguyen.

3. Kamow, p. 608.

4. Interview with Thomas P. McGrevey.

5. Karnow, p. 610.

6. Chomsky, p. 57-26.

7. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations: Cambodia, May 1970 Staff Report, p. 5.

8. Interview with Philip Agee in Playboy, March 1975, p. 60.

9. "Phung Hoang 1970 End of Year Report" (Saigon, MACCORDS, Phung Hoang Directorate, May 11, 1971), p. 43.

10. 1970 End of Year Report, p. 13.

11. Karnow, p. 611.

12. Karnow, p. 612.

13. Karnow, p. 634.

CHAPTER 24: Transgressions

1. McCollum interview.

2. Parker interview.

3. "Calley Defense Asks Disclosure of Top-Secret Data on Song My," The New York Times, August 25, 1970.

4. Wall interview.

5. Hersh, p. 87.

6. Hersh, p. 88.

7. Bersh, p. 88.

8. Hersh, p. 88.

9. Hersh, p. 88.

10. Myra MacPherson, Long Time Passing (New York: Signet, 1984), p. 625.

11. Joseph Goldstein, The My Lai Massacre and Its Cover-up (New York: The Free Press, 1976), p. 256.

12. Hersh, p. 93.

13. Hersh, p. 93.

14. Hersh, p. 95.

15. Goldstein, p. 145.

16. Hersh, p. 95.

17. Goldstein, p. 339.

18. Goldstein, p. 270.

19. Goldstein, p. 277.

20. Goldstein, p. 278.

21. Goldstein, p. 288.

22. Goldstein, p. 313.

23. Hersh, pp. 188-189.

24. MacPherson, p. 625.

25. Interview with George Davis.

26. Jeffrey Stein and Michael T. Klare, "From the Ashes: Phoenix," Commonweal, April 20, 1975, p. 159.

27. "U.S. Assistance Programs in Vietnam," p. 53.

28. Drosnin, p. 24.

29. Drosnin, p. 24.

30. Drosnin, p. 23.

31. Don Luce, Hostages of War (Indochina Resource Center, 1973) p. 26.

32. Luce, p. 27.

33. Luce, p. 24.

CHAPTER 25: Da Nang

1. Interview with Daniel Jerry Bishop.

2. Interview with Bill Taylor.

CHAPTER 26: Revisions

1. Clay memo, p. 2.

2. 1970 End of Year Report, p. v.

3. 1970 End of Year Report, p. 51.

4. "National Police Redeployment Concept."

5. Dillard interview.

6. Luce, p. 30.

7. 1970 End of Year Report, p. 19.

8. Thayer, p. 82.

9. Thayer, p. 99.

10. Grieves interview.

11. Thayer, p. 95.

12. Clay memo, p. 8.

13. Clay memo, p. 3.

14. Letter to the author from Harold Child.

15. Interview with Chester McCoid.

16. Kolon interview.

17. Interview with James Bunt.

18. Colby interview.

19. "Response to Ambassador Colby's Check List" (to William Sullivan, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, from Richard Funkhouser, Office of the Deputy for CORDS, II Field Force Vietnam, December 1, 1970).

20. Interview with Walt Burmester.

21. Enders interview.

22. Interview with Donald Gregg.

23. Clay memo, p. 7.

24. "Internal Security in South Vietnam-Phoenix," December 12, 1970.

25. Interview with Paul Coughlin.

26. Acampora interview.