The CIA in Vietnam

Paper Summary:

The paper explains why the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)'s role in Vietnam has been difficult to assess completely. The paper first looks at the degree of commitment that the US government had developed in the political outcome of Vietnam. The paper then discusses the conflict over whether the military or the CIA should establish precedence over covert operations in Vietnam and describes what actually led to the eventual dominance of the CIA in Vietnam. The paper focuses on the many failures of the CIA's covert operations and counter-insurgency effort and contends that the war was already lost when intelligence failures of the CIA failed to adequately prepare the US and its forces to function appropriately in the region.

From the Paper:

"The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the United States (US) and its role in Vietnam during that country's involvement in Southeast Asia is a role that has been difficult to assess completely. Part of the difficulty is that the CIA's role is, of course, almost completely related to covert operations in the conflict which are, by nature, secretive and most often censored. Additionally, the role of the CIA in Vietnam was also often one that was competitive in nature with the role of the military's own covert operations with both bodies vying for dominance in the conflict. Yet, there is a long precedence of CIA involvement in Vietnam and it is one that generally established the US government itself in the region while the French colonial forces were still struggling for dominance."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Adamson, Michael R. "Ambassadorial Roles and Foreign Policy: Elbridge Durbrow, Frederick Nolting, and the U.S. Commitment to Diem's Vietnam, 1957-61." Presidential Studies Quarterly 32.2 (2002): 229+.
• Berger, Mark T. "Decolonisation, Modernisation and Nation-Building: Political Development Theory and the Appeal of Communism in Southeast Asia, 1945-1975." Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 34.3 (2003): 421+.
• Errington, Elizabeth Jane, and B. J. C. McKercher, eds. The Vietnam War as History. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1990.
• Long, Ngo Vinh. "Vietnam: The Real Enemy." Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars 21.2-4 (1989): 6-34.
• Marchetti, Victor, and John D. Marks. The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence. New York: Dell, 1974.

More papers on The CIA in Vietnam:

• Term Paper # 134330 : "The CIA's Role in Vietnam"
• Essay # 72271 : "Soldiers of the Vietnam War and Drug Use"
• Research Paper # 63994 : "The Phoenix Project"

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