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 …South Vietnam maintained contact with the CBV headquarters in Hanoi through radio communications, couriers flown on…
  • p. 14 …All power rested in the Lao Dong Party's forward COSVN headquarters with PAVN in full…
  • p. 18 …Interrogation results were sent to the provincial unit and / or military region headquarters for followup exploitation…
  • p. 25 …similarly studied and sent to the CDV headquarters in Hanoi for incorporation into POW indoctrination, and…
  • p. 26 …South Vietnam in spring 1965, the CDV headquarters in Hanoi instructed its forward commands in South…
  • p. 27 …operational control of PAVN Military Region 4 headquartered in Vinh, Nghe An Province. Consequently, the CDV…
  • p. 28 …The PDV headquarters was composed of 75 personnel assigned to six major sections. About 200 personnel…
  • p. 29 …The handwritten statements were also sent to the CDV headquarters in Hanoi where they ‘were used…
  • p. 30 …Established in May 1969 with la 25-man headquarters staff, it had three 25-man detention…
  • p. 34 …In spring 1968, the Region 5 EMPS requested the CDV headquarters inHanoi to provide it with…
  • p. 35 …It was unaware of the fact that the Region 5 EMPS headquarters now had three Korean…
  • p. 36 …beenasked to leave by the Region 5 headquarters which had discovered them. performing other than agreed…
  • p. 40 …These advisory groups were assigned to the Supreme LPLA Headquarters, and to the three LPLA military…
  • p. 41 …Most were prepared by the SLMR Enemy Military Proselytizing Section headquarters, although subordinate provincial political staff…
  • p. 43 …personnel, who were organized into a small headquarters staff, at least one 30-man detention camp…
  • p. 48 …Other penetrations included a translator with a liaison group attached to the headquarters of the US…
  • p. 53 …RVN National Police Command Regional Headquarters in Can Tho; the Lo Te Prison; US advisory and…
  • p. 54 …4 MPS had over 200 personnel under its control organized into a 50-man headquarters staff…
  • p. 55 …40 personnel organized into a five- man headquarters staff and four courier stations. 8. B9 Printing…
  • p. 56 …Directly subordinate to its headquarters staff were two 40-man courier stations which were each organized…
  • p. 57 …The Region 2 MPS headquarters staff was organized into a: 1. 2. I 3. Administrative Subsection…
  • p. 60 …Among those arrested were penetrations of the ARVN I Corps MSS Headquarters; the personal chauffeur of…
  • p. 61 …provincial EMPS, organized into a 42-man headquarters staff with seven subordinate subsections as follows: , F…
  • p. 63 …These staff components monitored and provided professional guidance to the 40-man headquarters staffs of the…
  • p. 71 …Tan Son Nhut) Air Divisions, the VNAF Headquarters, Aircraft Control and Warning Group, Air Logistics Command…
  • p. 80 …Born about 1925 in North Vietnam, Ban held the rank of major in the CDV headquarters…
  • p. 85 …Between 1961 and February 1967, he was assigned to the COSVN MPS Penetration Subsection headquarters where…
  • p. 88 …the rank of captain to the SVNLA headquarters, where he was assigned to the Enemy Proselytizing…
  • p. 89 …85 ‘SE-GR-EL the CDV headquarters in Hanoi, he was sent to South Vietnam in…
  • p. 90 …Between April and June 1968, he was assigned to a SVNLA Forward Headquarters in Subregion 1…
  • p. 94 _seea-er- to an unspecified position in the CDV headquarters. Holding the rank of major, he…
  • p. 96 …In April 1951, he was reassigned to the MND headquarters before becoming the head of the…
  • p. 102 …It is North Vietnam's main pen- itentiary and the administrative headquarters for its entire prison…
—5'E€R'E|'-
The Tri-Thien-Hue Military Region (TTHMR) EMPS had a 100-man
headquarters staff with command over 400 personnel down to the village
level. Commanded by CDV Lieutenant Colonel Le Quoc Chinh and CDV
Major Nguyen Cao Thieng, the EMPS headquarters was organized into
administrative, enemy research, propaganda and training, fifth column
(penetration), interrogation and detention camp, and American proselytizing
subsections. These staff components monitored and provided professional
guidance to the 40-man headquarters staffs of the Quang Tri Province, Thua
Thien Province, and Hue City EMPS.
The TTHMR EMPS had over 400 agent assets under its control. The
ARVN Ist Infantry Division was a primary target. Following the capture in
June 1968 of Deputy Quang Tri Province EMPS Chief Senior Captain Phan
Huu Them, over 50 penetrations of ARVN surfaced. Among these
penetrations were: five in the ARVN Ist Infantry Division; ARVN Naval
Commander Huynh Tan Ho; ARVN Major Tran Dinh Khue; and ARVN
Colonel Nguyen Ho. ARVN Major Tran Dinh Khue was recruited by the CDV '
in 1947 as a long-range penetration of ARVN. Khue had participated in an
unsuccessful 19 February I965 coup d'etat in Saigon, and was considered by
the COSVN MPS to be a valuable penetration of ARVN. Colonel Nguyen Ho
was initially recruited through his wife by the Quang Tri Province Public
Security Service in I954 as a long-range penetration of ARVN. In 1960 and
1961, he attended the US Army Command General Staff College at‘ Fort
Leavenworth. He served as deputy commander (1963) of the ARVN Special
Forces; deputy chief of staff (1964) of ARVN IV Corps, operating under
COSVN MPS direction; chief of staff (1965), ARVN 1st Infantry Division of
ARVN I Corps; chief (1966) of the RF/PF in ARVN II Corps; and later as
head of the ARVN II Corps Inspector Ceneral's Office. Between 1965 and
1967, he operated under the direction of the COSVN MPS and its Region 5
EMPS. .
The Postwar “Reeducation” and Exploitation of the ARVN
Following the Communist takeover of South Vietnam on 30 April 1975,»
the CDV and its various forward commands in South Vietnam became
responsible for the detention, administration, indoctrination, interrogation,
and “reeducation" of over 1,000,000 ARVN, RF/PF, PSDF, and other
paramilitary personnel of the former Republic of Vietnam (RVN). Of this
number, about 120,000 are still held in CDV-administered camps in South and
North Vietnam with little hope of release and reintegration into the new
socialist society.
Registration and Reporting
Immediately after the takeover, all persons, regardless of sex, age or
profession, were required to register with new authorities by reporting for the
"census" which was organized throughout the country. In Ho Chi Minh City,
census offices were set up to serve as security screening mechanisms for the
planned "reeducation" of the South Vietnamese populace. Each census office
was designed to register a certain category of civil servants, a certain grade of
military personnel, and certain segments of the rest of the populace. RVN civil
sa
“seeaek
2
. __a__ .
__,__,_,,____fi
-.»~v.m»mw-~...-v»-,.,,”,_
r
c\1\'rn noon“ T7 ( 7

Not linked to a story yet.

About this file

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.