COURSE REPORT FOR VIETNAM ORIENTATION NO. 11, 5-9 DECEMBER 1966

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-03088A000100030025-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 23, 2001
• Sequence Number: 25
• Publication Date: December 16, 1966
• Content Type: MEMO

Approved For Fase 2001/08/DP78-03088100030025-3
16 December 1966
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director of Training
SUBJECT Course Report for Vietnam Orientation
No. 11, 5 - 9 December 1966
1. Course changes: The Orientation ran as scheduled 25X1A9a
exce t for the following changes: Messers
and gave the review of Thailand and Laos which was
to be given by sat in on the
Friday afternoon ane , w e r was not able to be pre-
sent. Mr. could not be present to give his lecture, and
he has not been a le to do so, for one reason or another, since
his last appearance in March; his schedule seems to be in eternal
conflict with the Vietnam Orientation.
2. Course evaluation: Three factors made this an excellent
Orientation; some elaboration is in order:
a. The members of the class asked more questions than
has usually been the case; over half asked at least one question;
and a third were regular and stimulating interrogators. Parti-
cularly articulate were
Furthermore, the
questions were not restricted to personnel matters or the work
situation in Saigon but ranged over substantive issues of war
and politics in Southeast Asia.
b. The quality of lecturers was generally higher than
in previous sessions. Significantly enough, none of the course
critiques included any criticism of speakers for lack of prepara-
tion, poor delivery or plain ignorance. As one student observed
in his critique, "Speakers were almost without exception able to
present their material in an informative and often colorful
manner." Better presentations, of course, could have. stimulated
the more and better questioning mentioned above.
Among regular or frequent speakers in the course
Messers consistently keep
their audiences with them. Especially effective first-timers
were an OCI analyst with a talent for rising
above e minutiae o his material, an
"unpolished diamond" makin his first public platform appear-
ance, the frank, mordant full of practical advice, and
Approved For Release 20 IA-RDP78-03088A000100030025-3 1MCuo