REPORT ON INAUGURATION OF NEW VIETNAM AREA COURSE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-03088A000100080036-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 8, 2001
• Sequence Number: 36
• Publication Date: February 21, 1968
• Content Type: MEMO

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"W, NW
21 February 1968
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director of Training
FROM OTR/IS/OBF
SUBJECT Report on Inauguration of
New Vietnam Area Course
I shall preface this report on the first
running of the Vietnam Area Course (VAC) with a
brief account of its development and its relation
to other training on Vietnam.
2. History
The Vietnam Area Course had its genesis
late in 1966 in a "felt need" on the part of Mr.
Chief of Vietnam Operations
(VNO) for an area course on North Vietnam. This
need was formally communicated by him to the Office
of Training in a memorandum of 3 April 1967, and I
was then authorized to undertake the assignment.
A program was scheduled for 10 July 1967, but this
was postponed by VNO because of the physical dis-
persion of the student body for whom the course was
bein or anized. Informal conversations with Mr.
produced a rethinking of the course, and
on 19 September 1967 this was embodied in a request
from FE Division for a one-week area course on
Vietnam, South as well as North. The first running
of the course was scheduled for 11-15 December 1967,
but this was subsequently changed to 15-19 January 1968,
and VAC was then first launched.
3. Relation to Other Programs on Vietnam
This is one of three programs on Vietnam
for which I have whole or partial responsibility.
The other two are the Vietnam Station Orientation
(VSO), and the Vietnam Paramilitary, Orientation
(VPO). Each program stands by itself, but they are
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scheduled to run as a unit. This unit is required
training for all personnel assigned PCS to Vietnam
Station with the large exception of those persons
slated to be Operations or Plans officers in Revolu-
tionary Development (RDC/O and RDC/P). These pro-
grams are more fully described in the special OTR bul-
letins attached to this Memorandum.
4. The First Running of the VAC
This first installment of the VAC took
25X1A5a1
place 15-19 January 1968, in Room 1-A-13, with an
25X1A5a1 enrollment of 36 persons. Th4inauguration pro-
ceeded smoothly even though the followin chap es
had to be made: illness kept
and from
25X1A9a were replaced by and
25X1A9a VAP place
5. Class Composition
Unlike the original Vietnam Orientation,
the VAC enrollment is open to "headquarters' types"
as well as those preparing for assignment in Vietnam;
this class had 12 of the former and 24 of the latter.
Headquarters personnel came from 8 different offices
in the 4 directorates. There were 4 females. A9
for age, they ranged from 24 to 58, and this range
was marked by as great a diversity in age categories,
namely, 22.
6. Speakers
Also unlike the Vietnam Orientation, the
VAC featured as speakers non-government experts on
Vietnam as well as Agency and U.S. Government per-
sonnel. Of the 15 speakers used, 3 came from
universities, 2 from the Department of State, and
10 from our own ranks; this last figure included
2 replacements for the absent outsiders noted in
Para. 4. The 3 private citizens were Drs. Kenneth
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were paid $50 each and re(f'ved $85.
All the contractual arrangements were handled
by me through FE Division and without any
difficulty. The caliber of speakers was very
high, though some criticisms will be noted in
Para.7 below, and was understandably the main
reason for the unanimously favorable reaction
of the class,also noted in Para. 7,to this
initial running of the VAC.
7. Critiques
Attached is a copy of the critique
devised for this program; 35 of the 36 enrollees
completed the form.
Without exception, the first question,
Was this worthwhile?, was answered affirmatively
by all. The nearest thing to a dissent was one
"Generally Yes;" otherwise the answers were
'.'decidedly yes," "very much so," "definitely
yes," and several longer statements of the same
theme. Certainly my own hourly and daily reading
of class reaction confirms the written record.
The fourth question specifically solicited
"disappointments" with any particular speaker's
presentation; and while the general answer was
favorable, there were 18 critiques which had some
mildly adverse comment on either individuals by 25X1A5a1
name or their sub'e hese were directed at 9
25X1A9a
persons: were each
25X1A9a mentioned e:an I n be dismissed
as insignificant; , and -
25X1A5a1 each received 4 sl , an too bottom hO s
25X1A9a with 5. These criticisms, of which were
justified in my opinion, are useful to me in my dis-
cussions with the speakers about their presentations.
25X1A9a Of course there were also favnrnhlP rnminnnts: for
all of
"What subject would you like to have had
covered that was not covered?" (Question No. 5).
Unfortunately, but naturally enough, many persons
said "What the Agency is doing in Vietnam." I say
"unfortunately", because this course was not designed
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to cover that point; and yet it is quite obvious
to me now that the subject must be given some formal
treatment in the next running, and this must he
accomplished without doing injury to the structure
of the Vietnam Station Orientation, where the subject
more properly belongs.
8. Substance of the Course
Despite the favorable reception of this course,
much remains to be done to make it a balanced and com-
prehensive study - if that is possible in one week! -
of the physical, societal and cultural framework of
Vietnam within which the U.S. and this Agency must
operate. What is especially still needed to offset
the inevitable concentration of speakers and student
alike on current and future political and military
events is sophisticated treatment of Vietnam from the
perspective of economics, anthropology and sociology.
Without more of this disciplinary approach, this
course might turn out to be a "current events" class
rather than an area study, the presupposition to an
understanding of the contemporary scene. The problem
is basically the availability not only of qualified
and articulate people in and out of the Agency but
also of those people who can be cleared for our use.
9. Conclusion
This triad of programs on Vietnam (VAC, VSO
and VPO) has now had its first running; and from
where I sit, it seems to have run sensibly and smoothly,
and so it should continue to run.
For those men who take all three portions
there seems to be an added and significant dividend
in the form of a morale factor. These men, entering a
new division and coming together as strangers, are
sharing three weeks of learning, talk, and jesting
about Vietnam, the Agency, and themselves. They leave
less as strangers and more as acquaintances and friends
bound for a common, serious and memorable experience.
OTR/IS/OBF
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