MORE MARINES ARE NEEDED, PRESIDENT TOLD

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000500390002-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 29, 2003
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: March 1, 1966
• Content Type: NSPR

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MAR
1968
ritIcs.LAar ?
~?' urn ., r`, ?
~ ? e ctl C
up one heck of a 1'ig'tnr:,'
M
He essimated that there was
at least a regiment of North'
Vietnamese troops operating in
Are ieeded, the area his command. Walt
said he intended to keep at least
6,000 of his Marlines in the field'
t
a
all times fighting the mains
President ~~~~ there mCommunist elements. e time, her Marines;
the same time, other Marines;
will o te' i
ea
From Caeene Press ServlceN
WASHINGTON-Maj. G e n .
Lewis Walt, commander of
Marine Forces said Monday
that -he had told President
Johnson "we need more"
Leathernecks there to drive out
Communist forces and make
sure they stay out.
Walt declined to say how
many more Marines he wanted
but said there now were 40,000
serving In Vietnam.
p
; n small units
against the guerrillas. I ' .
If United States Marines and
South Vietnamese troops can
stay in an area long enough to
secure it and give the local
people confidence that they will
be protected, Walt said, the
quality of intelligence informa.
Lion about the Viet Cong will
improve. Such intellignce is a
key to effective operations, he
said.
In the last few months, Walt
Speaking only of the ?165-mile said, Vietnamese people brought
long area, of i tarino operations under Marine protection have
in the northern pact of South given us some very key
;,P_..:., information."
Vietnam the ,,ene
r
e ence, senator Edmund S. Mus.
Mareines s i have secure" cleaned areas
m.+ That the kie (Dem., Mo.), said that a
Marv
? ?~~d. inLeulgence Agency re.
"If you could stay there a port prepared for him showed
year, you could eventually de. the North Vietnamese "are
stroy them all and get the . beginning to have serious doubts
confidence of the people," he +about the wisdom or probable
said. success" of the war.
As things stand now Walt "There Is no room for excess
said, he does not have enough )optimism," the { I report said.
Marines' to keep forces in"However, the ary situation
cleared sectors for very long. ? has stabilized * *t * and it is our
The general said some of the adversaries who are beginning
areas the Marines had penetrat? to have serious doubts about
ed south of Da Nang had been * * * their present courses of
under Communist control for 12 1 action."
or 13 years. "You just can't go
in in a few months, get rid of
them, and reconstitute the gov-
ernment. It taken time." '
In the last few months he
said, it has been more and more
difficult to get the guerrillas to
Approved'.For
stand IFfor a "really ? showdown
tight. i
1 ?-,
..
He said, howev. ( at.
e
Muskie said be endorsed the
administration's policy on Viet.
nam which, according to the
CIA report, "is getting results."
A member of the Mansfield
mission to Vietnam, . Muskie
said the CIA reported that
events of the past year "have
had a 'material 'adverse effeef
waP4tl0Q02-6