CIA-BACKED LAOTIANS SAID ENTERING CHINA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP73B00296R000300090007-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 17, 2001
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: January 26, 1971
• Content Type: NSPR

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Approved For Release 2002/01/10 :CIA-RDP73B00296R000300090007-3?
t,L) 197), DlsPulctt Z;e~tis
VIEi~TI:~NI:; ]:,aos--United
::;fates intelligence operations'
inelucle the sending of armed
Laotian reconnaissance teams
into China f I? o Iil northern
Laos, sources here say. Icarus
are reported to have gone as
far as 200 Tittles into China
Like most CIA operations in
Laos, the one out of I\atu Lieu
is directed horn a headquar-
ters at Uclorn air base in
northeastern Thailand. There
arc several Americans at
I~attl Lieu, including CI:1
and rnilit.ary~ intelligence pcr?
dispatched from a secret CIA sonnet. Sources close to they their l:nowlec] c the missious~
it
outpost 15 minutes' flying CIA report the number liasl are continuin~~
increased recen~ly front four
time north of the I+aotian Sir;ce leaving A'atn' Lieu,
fo rnorc than 10.
opium center at IIouei Sat. Yoc has spent most of his tune
In addition to activities in?
According to 'sources close side China, file ;\'am Lictt at Uclorn air hose, although
?to? the 'Central Inlelliger,ce elmericr,us also hc?1?) direct a one sotn?ce rr,'pol?tcd that Poo
Agency, and coufirmeci by Dint o )cI?ation of "SGU" (spe? cctlinuecl to do "ocid jobs" on
1~'estern diplomatic sources in c;ial guerrilla units) and the the Thai?Carnbodi~ul border.
1'ieutiane, the ?CIr1 is sending ; T}rai army at Xicnz; Lonl J'hose who know him say he is
out hill tribesmen al9ned withi ..,,..+,, ~,~ TT,,.,~; c~,i ~? ~;,~I unhal)py away 'from \arn
American vrcapans, a flu'te'
pOtllld radio tivith a range of
400 miles and equip;ilcnt to
tap Ghinase telegraph lures,
watch roads -and do other
types of intelligence gatller?
ln[;. .
"'There is ahvays a team in
China.," sources close to the
'CIA said.
Staging area for the vpera?
11011 i5 a 51111;11 ]1101111ta111 valley
airstrip called i\'am I,iett (also
known. as 1\'am 7'u)? The strip,
.which one Air American pilot.
describes as "diilicult as hell
run intclligencc?gathering this-~ Yoe is au ex?11Iariue noncorn-
sions on a road being built, misstonecl officer, wounded at
?! I
1
J
by the Cilir;esc government
(tlndcr an agreement rcacheci
with the uow?dcfunct coati'
t10I1 gUl'f.r']lm~ilt Of La05) 111
? the same vicinit;;.
lJntil mid?~eptc:mbcr of last
? year, the. 1'atn Licu operation
? was ']leaded by a trough?cuul-
~
,when he visited Laos in?tlu+
fall. Helms was quite upset
that there might be a leak
within .the CIA in Laos,
sources close to the CI:1 re?
port. .
\1'hethcr by design or coinci?
dente; Vince Shields, in
' charge of CIA operations at
the Plain of Jars north of Vi-
entiarle, and Patrick Devlin,
station chief for the CJA in Vi-
? entiane, have both been traus-
? ferreci.
As for the mission into
China, sources close to the
. C]:A and ~Vcstern cliplonlatic
lma, a to tc.marnec In
~,o
Asia after 1ti'orlci 11'at? II. In
the I950e he helped organize
CI:1?a?ained Tibetan insur-
gcills, escorting them to Colo-
r?c1o' for tra)n))lg and goln~f
Bach with theta into Tibet.
l,atcr he ~vorl;ecl in the
Thai?Cambodian ,bonier area.
ueltl aot,.4n?~
tum~leve~cran
? n tvlth thv Iillrllel? SCl'al, antl-Jl-
izer named Anthort5 Tony har.oul; ~ tlel'1'llla5 1'0001V1I1~" zs
Yoe. }.'oc is a lc~;cnciary fi~urc sistancc~? front the CIA, and
in Laos 1ulo:vn best for his dis? other arts of Tliailancl. IJc
like of journaLsts, disregard has beta in and ant of Laos
to het into,'" 1S StlrrotllldeCl b~'~f foi? orders and radio codes, ca- since before the Geneva Ac-
mountains. It is serviced by
both Air America and Conti'
dental ,Air Service, and is also
a waystation for opium trari?
?ers 'from I101'(]lBt'Il Laos and
I=3urnta?en route to drug facto-
ries of Houei Sai. ~
?
During. 1SuII, five Chinese
functionaries caught t:p in
the purges of the 'Cultural
~Zevolution defected ?to a ~'am
Lieu reconnaissance team.
't'hey were treated v, and reporieclly a price f
Arabassaclor DIclJurfric God? has?becn put on his hcacl byr
ley?. (the Pathet Lao., Ile as. perhaps
"i,r? Sr?1? r~,~~ ..rr,, v,?as rc- ;,ltc crnl'y Anltr~ 10811 1'~ ~itlly 71781'4
Approved For Release 2002/01/10 :CIA-RDP73B00296R000300090007-3