COMMENTS ON REPRESENTATIVE FORD'S STATEMENTS REGARDING THE AIR WAR IN NORTH VIETNAM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78T02095R000600080001-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 18, 2009
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: August 17, 1967
• Content Type: MF

Approved For Release 2009/03/18: CIA-RDP78TO2095R000600080001-5
Comments on Representative Ford's Statements
`Regarding the Air War in North Vietnam
17 Aug 67
17 Aug 67 Comments on Representative Ford's Statements Regarding
the Air War in North Vietnam (comments on Ford's
8 Aug 67 press conference on the Rolling Thunder
Program)
JCS review completed.
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1 7 AUG 1967
,tative Ford"' StatMM
Air 1 -r in North Yieta>n
1* ~eaald Fr td, in a
8 Aaamst 190r., a sfesa d that the Preside:
tit effcti of the Bolling Thunder Progm by icing re-
wtrj , is that my be struck and cited a
stttaties to super this view.
available an
List. The
Eilitary
eig tftcant
and most of these have been
3 Our awaySis Indicates thk
as liad mad thet
struck than 3i kP9re tativ Pb
mtative Pbrd's a"ertions
So referred to
.ority tarts:." The
on air strike* in
and the sietarg
at 1967 is Prevented
j OCVD~
- Addles
i -. $t/im
A gives 'r autati.ve POWs state-
Annex I dum JC8 eta by ty" of
struck or authorized
GROW
EkclU .o aat tLI
L _~.~ ark and
@egfaggfIiCaflOR
#P/RV
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nts Attributed to Fie resentative lord and OER Ccents
1. stet: Three out of every 10 significant military
targets have ever been struck by U.S. air power. Nearly half the
ifie& top priority targets in North Vietnam were officially
to air attack under high-level orders from Washington.
C=Mt,-. Of the 9-42 military and economic targets on the
struck -- T9 percent. An additional T
3d, 4 bridges, I military barracks, headquarters,
-- are authorized for air strikes. The remaining
4.5 targets are unauthorized for strikes, of which 23 are situated
within restricted and prohibited. areas. iflA estimates that 82
percent of all of the significant military targets (JCS and non-JCB)
Vietnam have been authorized for attack. In addition, all
and coastal defenses that pose a threat to U. S. strike
roes have been authorized for attack.
2. 8 ' ?n ,: These orders ruled out hitting more than 100
vital fixed enemy positions in North Vietnam, including most of the
air defense control centers that have accounted for more than 600
t of his major airfields, and all of his naval
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M: Reference to "100 vital fixed *VMY positions"
Non-operational U.R. aircraft losses -- 635 through.
tie attributed to the following eleaaenta of the air defense
Am MO. and FirefOtr
72 23 540
and prohibited zones and those on air basses not authorized
rid cunictions facilities except those le Bated in the
for attack are available as targets. Of 23 significant airfields in
sta. Of the total, 8 are capable of
rid T of these are JC
ts. Three of the 8 have
:k.. Avg and concentrated attacks have not been made ageinst
8 a-irfi+eldgi
All of North Yietwn's 18 major and minor naval bases are
authorized for attack except Hanoi and Haiphong. Port Wallut mae
authorized only on 8 August 196T.
That three-fourths of the ena 's petroleum
still untouched despite the "much publicized
idential decision" a year ago to barb them.
g9BLnu All of the JCS targeted PM sites ba
xuat, leaving an estimated 13.5 percent of pre-bcobing storage
capseity intact, Total petroleum storage capacitN including
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veith restricted or prohibited areas. The fining 90
,It`. Of present peetroleiau storage capacity,, only 10 percent Is
percent is subject to air strike without high-level approval..
b.
Of these 14, the only installation presently in service
tarts and all enwjW hydroelectric gexrating facilities ve
fi.
d against 14,
All plants feeding the national grid have been struck.
or 88 percent of the total generating capacity of
rplant w ich was authorized for a restrike on 6
eat to about percent of pre-bombing
roughly one-third of the ms's total
+ectric powerplant at Ban Bch was put out
a period of two years by air strikes during 1965.
Uetrie powerplant in North Vietnam is the mac
on of which is some one and
away. With the exception of two small hydroelectric
f r Zom -- with a combined
capacity of 3,4000 kw ..- them are no other
of signifi
In the country. Most of those that do exist combine irrigation
ion of electricity in small facilities.
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:-.I
MIJUal; That sixty percent of
sport network were itrsmune,
reeking up
transport targets or a third of the railroad facilities and bridg
had ever been hit, that all seaport targets and earl looks ws
most en =W repair sho could not be hit=
gMjjNearly all rail and highway facilities including
ash of those few in the prohibited zones are authorized. 'here
ustifying the claim that 60 percent of key targets are
,7 authorization included 3 additional
bridges remain unauthorized, b Of them
Tb8 major s aports, Hanoi and H,i adg,
locks themselves have not been authorized
id Waterways supporting mov nt of military IogI*
! For two Yea" hi
VRMUDS i strial base
;riaal targets on the
Of those 5 targets.. the Hanoi eldne
within the Hanoi prddbited zone, the Viet Tri
ulting from loss of electric pier
supplies, and 3
l.ir plants
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 1DICMICT
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td or as
.r strikes, both the Sac Giong Chmica
the Phu Tho Cbical Fertiliser -Plant have been
a whole# moftm indus
play a
ping North Viet 's ability to continue
planU authorized for strikes m stuck as ft1loss.
Lt.
65
April 1967
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It ? 8 UwWituft atd
the Chime border f
to tb* Mar of Town.
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