The Secret Sentry (59 page)

69. Marolda and Fitzgerald,
United States Navy
, p. 442.

70. Transcript of conversation between Sharp and Burchinal, 5:39 PM EDT 4 August 1964, in
Gulf
of Tonkin Transcripts
, pp. 41–42, Document No. 751, DoD FOIA Reading Room, Pentagon, Washington, DC.

71. U.S. Senate, Foreign Relations Committee,
The U.S. Government and the Vietnam War: Executive
and Legislative Roles and Relationships
, part 2,
1961–1964
, 98th Congress, 2nd session, 1984, p. 296.

72.
Pentagon Papers
, Gravel ed., vol. 5, p. 327; National Cryptologic School,
On Watch
, pp. 49–50.

73.
Pentagon Papers
, Gravel ed., vol. 5, p. 327.

74. U.S. Senate, Foreign Relations Committee,
The U.S. Government and the Vietnam War: Executive
and Legislative Roles and Relationships
, part 2,
1961–1964
, 98th Congress, 2nd session, 1984, p. 296.

75. U.S. Senate, Foreign Relations Committee,
The U.S. Government and the Vietnam War: Executive
and Legislative Roles and Relationships
, part 2,
1961–1964
, 98th Congress, 2nd session, 1984, pp. 296–97.

76. NSA, William Gerhard and Jeanne Renee Jones,
Interview with Lt. General Gordan A. Blake,
USAF (Ret.)
, June 5, 1972, p. 5, November 2005 NSA Gulf of Tonkin document release.

77. Memorandum for the record,
Meeting in the Cabinet Room, the White House, 10:45 a.m., 19 September
1964
, September 19, 1964, pp. 1–3, CREST Collection, Document No. CIA-RDP80B01676-R001400050041-9, NA, CP.

78. Johnson,
American Cryptology
, bk. 2, p. 522; transcript, oral history,
Interview with George Ball I,
July 8, 1971, p. 14, LBJL, Austin, TX.

79. Moïse, “Tonkin Gulf: Reconsidered,” p. 320.

80. “The ‘Phantom Battle,’ ”
U.S. News & World Report
, pp. 63–64.

81. Hanyok, “Skunks, Bogies,” p. 39.

82. Johnson,
American Cryptology
, bk. 2, p. 522.

83. Hanyok, “Skunks, Bogies,” p. 3.

84. Oral history,
Interview with Dr. Ray S. Cline
, May 31, 1983, p. 27, LBJL, Austin, TX.

85. Johnson,
American Cryptology
, bk. 2, p. 523.

7: The Wilderness of Pain

1. Robert J. Hanyok,
Spartans in Darkness: American SIGINT and the Indochina War, 1945–1975
, U.S. Cryptologic History, series 6, vol. 7 (Fort Meade, MD: Center for Cryptologic History, 2002), p. 461, NSA FOIA.

2. Hanyok,
Spartans in Darkness
, p. 149.

3. CIA quote from CIA, interim report,
Intelligence Warning of the Tet Offensive in South Vietnam
, April 8, 1968, p. 2, CIA Electronic FOIA Reading Room, Document No. 0000097712, http:// www.foia.cia.gov. See also memorandum,
Rostow to the President, September 6, 1968, National Security Archive, Washington, DC.

4. State Department, INR briefing note,
North Vietnam: Ashmore and Baggs Given Aide Memoire
, April 9, 1968, p. 1, RG-59, Harriman Files, Lot 71D 461, NND 979509, box 7, NA, CP; NSA,
Technical
SIGINT Report 002-92, NSA Correlation Study—POW/MIA
, August 21, 1992, p. 16, RG-46, Records of the U.S. Senate, Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs, NA, CP; confidential
interviews.

5. The GDRS unit controlling infiltration into the south was known as Military Region 559 or Transportation Group 559 (because
it was created in May 1959). It started life with only five hundred people but over time grew to forty to fifty thousand military
and civilian personnel or-ga nized into sixteen units called Binh Trams, each of which controlled infiltration activities
in its own sector. CIA, Office of Current Intelligence, SC No. 00642/64,
Special Report: Viet Cong
Infiltration into Northern South Vietnam
, October 23, 1964, pp. 3–5, MORI Doc ID: 8460, CIA FOIA; ASA,
Annual Historical Report USASA Fiscal Year 1965
, pp. 308–09, via Dr. Jeffrey T. Richelson; Dr. Thomas R. Johnson,
American Cryptology During the Cold War, 1945–1989
, bk. 2,
Centralization Wins, 1960–1972
(Fort Meade, MD: Center for Cryptologic History, 1995), pp.500, 539, NSA FOIA.

6. CIA, Office of Current Intelligence, SC No. 05780/64, intelligence memorandum,
Communist
Military Posture and Capabilities Vis-a-Vis Southeast Asia
, December 31, 1964, p. 4, Larry J. Berman Collection, Vietnam Archive, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX; CIA, Office of
Current Intelligence, SC No. 00682/65, intelligence memorandum,
Communist Troop Movements
in Laos
, January 13, 1965, p. 1, Larry J. Berman Collection, Vietnam Archive, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX; CIA, Office of
Current Intelligence, SC No. 00989/65, intelligence memorandum,
Report of Viet Cong Terrorist Plans Against US Installations
, February 12, 1965, p. 2, LBJL, Austin, TX; CIA, Office of Current Intelligence, SC No. 04209/64, intelligence memorandum,
Possible PAVN Tactical Command Headquarters in South Vietnam
, March 31, 1965, pp 1–2, Larry J. Berman Collection, Vietnam Project Archive, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX; CIA, Directorate
of Intelligence, memorandum,
The Matter of Communist Intentions Re: South
Vietnam
, April 1, 1965, p. 1, RG-263, entry 35, box 11, folder 1, NA, CP; State Department, INR,
Vietnam: 1961–1968 as Interpreted in INR’s Production
, special annex 1, 1969, pp. 1–3, National Security Archive, Washington, DC; oral history,
Interview with Dean Rusk II
, September 26, 1969, p. 5, LBJL, Austin, TX; Hanyok,
Spartans in Darkness
, pp. 109–10.

7. “Operation Starlight: A Sigint Success Story,”
Cryptologic Spectrum
, vol. 1, no. 3. (Fall 1971): pp. 9–11, DOCID: 3217148, NSA FOIA; Johnson,
American Cryptology
, bk. 2, p. 530; James L. Gilbert,
The Most Secret War: Army Signals Intelligence in Vietnam
(Fort Belvoir, VA: Military History Office, U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command, 2003), pp. 35–36. For the military
aspects of Operation Starlight, see Brigadier General Edwin H. Simmons, USMC (Ret.),
The
U.S. Marines: The First Two Hundred Years, 1775–1975
(New York: Viking Press, 1976), p. 211.

8. Hanyok,
Spartans in Darkness
, p. 305.

9. Johnson,
American Cryptology
, bk. 2, p. 530.

10. Hanyok,
Spartans in Darkness
, p. 306.

11. Ibid., p. 149.

12. CIA, Office of Current Intelligence, SC No. 03777/66, intelligence memorandum,
Evidence of
Continuing Vietnamese Communist War Preparations
, January 24, 1966, p. 4, CIA Electronic FOIA Reading Room, Document No. 0000621146, http://www.foia.cia.gov; untitled CIA
draft estimate with supporting documents, undated but circa June 1966, RG-263, entry 36, HRP 89-2/00443, box 11, file 777A,
NA, CP.

13. Jim Lairson, “8th RRU: Phu Bai 1965–66,” http://www.npoint.net/ maddog/8thin65.htm.

14. William E. LeGro, “The Enemy’s Jungle Cover Was No Match for the Finding Capabilities of the Army’s Radio Research Units,”
Vietnam
, June 1990, pp. 14, 18–19.

15. 6994 Security Squadron, letter, “360 Reconnaissance Missions in Quang Tri Province,” September 3, 1966, in
History, 360th Reconnaissance Squadron: July–September 1966
, Microfilm Roll N0736, frame 1695, Air Force Historical Research Agency, Maxwell Air Force Base, AL; Project Corona Harvest,
USAF Reconnaissance Operations in Support of Operations in Southeast
Asia: January 1, 1965–March 31, 1968
, p. 11, Air Force Historical Research Agency, Maxwell Air Force Base, AL.

16. SI-TS-61/PL-4, memorandum, Carroll to Secretary of Defense,
Release of COMINT Pertaining
to Gulf of Tonkin Incidents of 2 and 4 August 1964
, December 13, 1967, November 2005 NSA Gulf of Tonkin document release; Johnson,
American Cryptology
, bk. 2, p. 539; Hanyok,
Spartans
in Darkness
, pp. 307–08.

17. Memorandum, Rostow to President with Attachment,
Situation in the DMZ, 13 October 1966
, October 13, 1966, Larry J. Berman Collection, Vietnam Archive, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX; memorandum, [deleted]
to Chief, Far East Area,
The Communist Buildup in Northern
South Vietnam
, November 4, 1966, pp. 1–2, CREST Collection, Document No. CIA-RDP78S02149 R000200280007-2, NA, CP; CIA, Directorate of Intelligence,
intelligence memorandum,
The Communist Buildup in Northern South Vietnam
, November 4, 1966, pp. 1–2, Larry J. Berman Collection, Vietnam Archive, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX; Hanyok,
Spartans in Darkness
, p. 306.

18. CIA, Directorate of Intelligence, SC No. 01393/67, intelligence memorandum,
The Communist
Buildup in South Vietnam’s Northern I Corps
, May 11, 1967, p. 1, Larry J. Berman Collection, Vietnam Archive, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX; memorandum, Rostow
to President, May 12, 1967, Larry J. Berman Collection, Vietnam Archive, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX; memorandum, Ginsburgh
to Rostow,
Possible Attack on Con Thieu
, May 12, 1967, p. 1, Larry J. Berman Collection, Vietnam Archive, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX.

19. State Department, INR,
Vietnam: 1961–1968 as Interpreted in INR’s Production
, special annex 1, 1969, p. 6, National Security Archive, Washington, DC; General Bruce Palmer Jr.,
The 25-Year
War: America’s Military Role in Vietnam
(Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1984), p. 79; Bruce E. Jones,
War Without Windows
(New York: Vanguard Press, 1987), pp. 136–37.

20. Military Assistance Command Vietnam,
Operations in the Cambodia/Laos/SVN Tri-Border Area
, circa January 1968, p. 1 passim, NSF: Vietnam, LBJL, Austin, TX; James E. Pierson,
USAFSS
Response to World Crises, 1949–1969
(San Antonio, TX: USAFSS Historical Office, 1970), pp. 102–03, AIA FOIA; John D. Bergen,
Military Communications: A Test for Technology
(Washington, DC: U.S. Army Center of Military History, 1986), pp. 247–49; Don E. Gordon, “Private Minnock’s Private War,”
International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence
, vol. 4, no. 2 (Summer 1990): pp. 204–05; Johnson,
American Cryptology
, bk. 2, p. 560; Hanyok,
Spartans in
Darkness
, p. 317.

21. State Department, INR,
Vietnam: 1961–1968 as Interpreted in INR’s Production
, special annex 1, 1969, pp. 1, 6, National Security Archive, Washington, DC; Johnson,
American Cryptology
, bk. 2, pp. 539–40; Hanyok,
Spartans in Darkness
, pp. 111–12. For Binh Tram 8 communications in Vinh, see CIA, Directorate of Intelligence, TCS 15240/71, “Imagery Analysis
Service Notes,” March 26, 1971, p. 3, CREST Collection, Document No. CIA-RDP78T04759A009900010012-6, NA, CP; Lewis Sorley,
A Better War
(New York: Harcourt Brace and Company, 1999), p. 218.

22. Hanyok,
Spartans in Darkness
, p. 113.

23. Ibid., pp. 114–16; confidential interviews.

24. Palmer quote from ASA,
The Army’s Program for Command Supervision of Readiness: Command
Presen tation by United States Army Security Agency
, September 9, 1969, p. 25, copy of which is in the files of the U.S. Army Center of Military History, Washington, DC. For
SIGINT successes, see U.S. Army Vietnam (USARV),
Evaluation of U.S. Army Combat Operations in Vietnam
, vol. 2, annex A—Intelligence, April 25, 1966, pp. A-12-2–A-12-3, Vietnam Archive, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX; SI-TS-61/PL-4,
memorandum, Carroll to Secretary of Defense,
Release of COMINT Pertaining to Gulf of Tonkin Incidents of 2 and 4 August 1964
, December 13, 1967, November 2005 NSA Gulf of Tonkin document release; Johnson,
American Cryptology
, bk. 2, p. 543.

25. HQ ASA,
Historical Summary of the U.S. Army Security Agency, Fiscal Years 1968–1970
, p. 61, INSCOM FOIA. The “SIGINT with their orange juice” quote is from U.S. Senate,
Final Report
of the Select Committee to Study Government Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities
, 94th Congress, 2nd session, bk. 1, 1975, p. 27.

26. Palmer,
25-Year War
, pp. 63, 167. For a classified version of this thesis, see General Bruce Palmer Jr., “US Intelligence and Vietnam,”
Studies in Intelligence
, vol. 28, no. 5 (special ed., 1984): p. 42, CIA Electronic FOIA Reading Room, Document No. 0001433692, http://www.foia.cia.gov.

27. Johnson,
American Cryptology
, bk. 2, p. 565.

28. Confidential interviews; David Fulghum and Terence Maitland,
The Vietnam Experience: South
Vietnam on Trial, Mid-1970 to 1972
(Boston: Boston Publishing Co., 1984), p. 127.

29. Confidential interviews with a number of senior U.S. Army and Marine Corps commanders who served in Vietnam. Abrams quote
from Gilbert,
Most Secret War
, p. 1; U.S. Army Military History Institute, oral history 87-17,
Interview with General Frederick J. Kroesen, USA, Retired
, vol. 1, 1987, p. 84, U.S. Army Center of Military History, Washington, DC.

30. CIA, Directorate of Intelligence, intelligence memorandum, SC No. 08753/67,
A Review of the
Situation in Vietnam
, December 8, 1967, p. IV-2, CIA Collection, Vietnam Archive, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX; message, 140014Z DEC 67,
JCS to CINCPAC, December 14, 1967, Larry J. Berman Collection, Vietnam Archive, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX; Johnson,
American Cryptology
, bk. 2, p. 561; Hanyok,
Spartans in Darkness
, p. 320.

31. Hanyok,
Spartans in Darkness
, pp. 320–21.

32. Interim report,
Intelligence Warning of the Tet Offensive in South Vietnam
, April 8, 1968, p. 3, CIA Electronic FOIA Reading Room, Document No. 0000097712, http://www.foia.cia.gov; exhibit 518, “Treatment
of Indications in Finished Intelligence: NSA,” November 30, 1982, in 82 CIV 7913,
General William C. Westmoreland v. Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. et al.
, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York; Hanyok,
Spartans in Darkness
, p. 326.

33. CIA, memorandum,
Comments on Saigon Embassy Telegram 16107, 5 January 1968
, January 5, 1968, p. 1, CREST Collection, Document No. CIA-RDP80R01720R000500090106-7, NA, CP; State Department, Director
of INR, intelligence note, Hughes to the Secretary,
Continuing Communist
Military Deployments in Northern South Vietnam
, January 6, 1968, pp. 1–2, Larry J. Berman Collection, Vietnam Archive, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX; CIA, intelligence
memorandum,
The Enemy Threat to Khe Sanh
, January 10, 1968, pp. 2–3, CREST Collection, Document No. CIA-RDP85T00875R001100070001-8, NA, CP; memorandum, Rostow to
the President,
Tet Ceasefire
, January 19, 1968, p. 1, 109th Quartermaster Company Collection, Vietnam Archive, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX.

34. CIA, interim report,
Intelligence Warning of the Tet Offensive in South Vietnam
, April 8, 1968, p. 7, CIA Electronic FOIA Reading Room, Document No. 0000097712, http://www.foia.cia.gov; ASA,
Historical Summary of U.S. Army Security Agency and Subordinate Units, FY 1968–1970
, 1971, p. 77, INSCOM FOIA.

35. Exhibit 518, “Treatment of Indications in Finished Intelligence: NSA,” November 30, 1982, in 82 CIV 7913,
General William C. Westmoreland v. Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. et al.
, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York; Hanyok,
Spartans in Darkness
, p. 326. “Ubiquitous and unmistakable” quote from Johnson,
American Cryptology
, bk. 2, p. 562.

36. 2/O/VCM/R32-68, report,
Coordinated Vietnamese Communist Offensive Evidenced in South Vietnam
, January 25, 1968, NSA FOIA.

37. Palmer, “US Intelligence and Vietnam,” pp. 55, 57.

38. CIA, SC No. 07250/68,
Warning of the Tet Offensive
, undated but circa April 1968, p. 7, Larry J. Berman Collection, Vietnam Archive, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX.

39. Westmoreland cable cited in Hanyok,
Spartans in Darkness
, p. 326.

40. Exhibit 518, “Treatment of Indications in Finished Intelligence: NSA,” November 30, 1982, in 82 CIV 7913,
General William C. Westmoreland v. Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. et al.
, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York; Johnson,
American Cryptology
, bk. 2, p. 563.