Documents / FOIA release

Intelligence and Security Operations of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Ministry of National Defense

Central Intelligence Agency · 1979-12-01 · 120 pages · text from the file's own layer

This is a December 1979 Central Intelligence Agency study published by the Directorate of Operations Counterintelligence Staff. It describes the Enemy Proselytizing Department (Cuc Dich Van) of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Ministry of National Defense. The study traces the department's origins from 1941 through the French and Vietnam wars. It covers psychological warfare, fifth column penetration of ARVN and allied forces, the handling of US and allied prisoners of war, and the postwar reeducation of former ARVN personnel. It contains no material on UFOs.

  • p. 7 …supervising the activities of military POWs who cooperated with Hanoi in the preparation of psychological warfare…
  • p. 16 …POWs, ARVN as well as US, who cooperated with their captors. The’ CDV exploitation of POWs…
  • p. 22 …Those considered to have the same potential but whorefused to cooperate. ~ Category C: Those whose continued…
  • p. 23 …other techniques used to coerce them to cooperate. After a POW was initially categorized, CDV and…
  • p. 24 …Interrogations were aimed at gaining the complete cooperation of a POW for use in antiwar propaganda…
  • p. 25 …preparation of handwritten POW statements from selected cooperative and "progressive" POWs; and supervised “progressive” POWs who…
  • p. 41 …to join the revolution and not to cooperate with the Royal Lao Government. The section also…
  • p. 52 …and investigation of released ARVNi POWs who cooperated with the MSS. The ARVN MSS estimate did…
  • p. 54 …The national police were special targets for recruitment because of the cooperation they offered in processing…
  • p. 67 …in size) on short rations until they cooperated with their indoctrinators/interrogators. It soon became apparent…
  • p. 68 …over arms depots intact, and who had cooperated with the liberation armed forces. Several hundred Category…
  • p. 94 …who had been appointed Prime Minister, to cooperate with the revolution in establishing a coalition government…
_S'EGR-EI
about seven US POWs as of April 1970; one US POW died of
malaria in October 1969. Camp 4A held one US” Negro deserter, his
Vietnamese/Khmer wife, and two children from different fathers
under a loose form of house arrest. An unknown number of US
POWs were detained in Camp IA/20 as of April 1970. In April
1970, Interunit A was reorganized into two 25-man detention camps
for US/Allied civilian and military personnel.
b. POW Interunit B: Established in May 1969 with la 25-man
headquarters staff, it had three 25-man detention camps for ARVN
POWs. In April 1970, Interunit_B was reorganized into one 25-man
detention camp for ARVN POWs.
c. POW Interunit C: Established i.n May 1968 with a 25-man
headquarters staff, it had three 25-man detention camps for
US/ Allied civilian and military personnel. In April 1970; In_terunit
C was reorganized into one and possibly two 25-man detention
camps. There is no information available on the number of
US/Allied prisoners held in the POW Interunit C camp system.
The Region 5 Enemy Military Proselytizing Section (EMPS)
Region 5 Enemy Military Proselytizing Section (EMPS) operations against
US military personnel emphasized the recruitment of Vietnamese
interpreter/ translators, as well as the preparation and distribution of English-
language psychological warfare leaflets and pamphlets to subordinate
provincial-level EMPS. The Region 5 EMPS organized intelligence teams to
collect information on US/ Allied sweep operations; promoted antiwar
sentiments in US combat units; and supervised the administration, detention,
indoctrination, and interrogation of captured US / Allied and ARVN personnel.
According to an undated captured document, the Region 5 EMPS targeted
ARVN, Australian, Filipino, ROK, Thai, and US military personnel with the
objective of creating and exploiting friction between them in order to reduce
their combat effectiveness and to induce increased desertions and acts of
mutiny against participation in combat actions. Allied forces of the US were
branded‘ in EMPS propaganda as hired US mercenary forces who had no
national interest in fighting a war in Vietnam.
Two subordinate components of the Region 5 EMPS were involved in
operations against the American target. They were the Region 5 EMPS
Propaganda Subsection, and the Interrogation and Detention Camp Subsec-
tion. Its subordinate Quang Da Special Region (QDSR) EMPS was similarly
organized against the American target. Eight other subordinate provincial
EMPS had enemy military proselytizing subsections involved in operations
against the American target.
The Propaganda Subsections of the Region 5 and QDSR EMPS each had
25 personnel“ organized into research and printing, armed propaganda, and
propaganda proselytizing cells. The research and printing cell was headed by a
CDV English linguist who monitored US Armed Forces Radio, British
Broadcasting Corporation, and Voice of America broadcasts to. gather
background information which was used to prepare English-language
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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 120 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.