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. 13 …MPS components in South Vietnam '-,_- |. ._ ' w__ere tasked with the mission of undermining the power base…
  • p. 29 …15 personnel plus 200 others assigned to six detention camps under its control. The Policy Section…
  • p. 38 …Thus, the CDV was indirectly assisted in its mission ofinducing US military desertions and in fomenting…
  • p. 45 …missions: 1. Destruction of the accelerated pacification program, the assassination of "tyrants," the seizure of control…
  • p. 54 ____ P Y -SEGR-E-T— ‘ . - 1a special 15-man penetration cum (unit) with the mission of…
  • p. 62 …He had the mission of inducing Montagnard tribesmen to resist RVN control efforts in the five…
  • p. 82 …Committee, member of the Central Committee's Control Committee Secretariat, and as a deputy secretary of…
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distributing English-language leaflets, and making loudspeaker appeals againstUS military personnel in the province. Five of seven members of the QuangNgai Province EMPS Enemy Proselytizing Subsection were professional ethnicNorth Vietnamese CDV staff officers. They supervised targeting against USInfantry Brigade battalions in the province. According to a captureddocument covering the period January-April 1971, it distributed 4,000English-language leaflets and made about 50 loudspeaker appeals monthly.The Enemy Proselytizing Subsections of the Binh Dinh, Dac Lac, Cia Lai,Khanh Hoa, Kontum, Phu Yen, and Quang Nam (RVN Quang Tin) ProvinceEMPS were similarly staffed and engaged in operations against the Americantarget.
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The Tri-Thien-Hue Military Region Enemy Military Proselytizing Section
According to an April 1967 dated captured document, the TTHMR EMPSdirected the Quang Tri,_Thua Thien; and Hue City EMPS to establish seven--
man American proselytizing subsections with English-speaking cadres by 30June 1967. The TTHMR EMPS provided one CDV officer to head the
American Proselytizing Subsections and one CDV English-speaking interpre-
ter/translater to serve with their interrogation and detention camp subsections.
PAVN combat units were informed to provide captured English-language
documents to the American Proselytizing Subsections for translation into
Vietnamese. The TTHMR EMPS also provided the American Proselytizing
Subsections with loudspeakers, tape recorders, radios, and printing equipmentto utilize in their operations against US units.
Anothercaptured document dated September 1967 written by TTHMREMPS Deputy Chief Nguyen Cao Thieng outlined a plan for proselytizing
American troops. According to this document, the American proselytizing
objective was to undermine the morale of US military personnel and Allied
forces, to stir up American antiwar sentiment, and to reduce the combat
effectiveness of US military units. English-speaking cadres of the American
Proselytizing Subsections were instructed to prepare leaflets, slogans, andposters for distribution near US military bases, as well as themes for Liberation
Radio and Hanoi Radio broadcasts in English against US military personnel inSouth. Vietnam. "American soldiers, especially Negro soldiers, are our
principal targets, then come the noncommissioned officers and officers up to
captain who have proved to be relatively progressive." Subordinate EMPScomponents were instructed to use interpreters, fifth column (penetration)
agents, and “progressive” assets in contact with American military personnel."All districts and units should assign comrades to take charge of the task of
proselytizing American soldiers . . . will send translators to all locations whenthey ‘are available."
All known English-speaking personnel of the American Proselytizing
Subsections were CDV graduates of the Hanoi Foreign Language Institute.
They interrogated _
US POWs for political intelligence. Interrogations for
military intelligence were conducted by the TTHMR Military Staff's Military
Intelligence Section and by the Quang Tri and Thua Thien Province MilitaryStaff's Military Intelligence Subsections. The TTHMR Political Staff 's Military
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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.