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…
—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
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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.