POSSIBLE EXCULPATORY EVIDENCE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80R01720R000400050059-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 10, 2004
• Sequence Number: 59
• Publication Date: February 2, 1973
• Content Type: MFR

Approved Folease 2004/1 f L itfA}E)0017000400050059-5
2 February 1973
SUBJECT: Possible Exculpatory Evidence
1. "M1y name is Samuel Alexander Adams. My
address is Route 4, Box 240, Leesburg, Virginia,
Zip Code 22075. I am presently employed as an
analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA),
where 1 have worked for the last ten years. Between
September 1965 and April 1972, I conducted research
on our adversaries in Indo-China. From August 1966
on, I was involved in studying the enemy's ground.
.Order of Battle (OL) -- that is, the numerical
strength of his ground forces, as variously de_+.fined.
Between August 1966 and December 1967, I was the
tiiie basis. In the two months following the Tet
nff fens i vve n4 l a t e Tonuary7 1 968 T wrote nr nd i t d mnct
CIA studies on the Communist O.B in South Vietnam .
2. On 23.January 1973, a copy- of etwr York
Times City Edition of 20 January came to my attention.
Y` .M7mmod the front page, and noticed an art.i c1o in
Columns 1 and 2 entitled "Pentagon Paper. ' Secrets
Cited in Public Document,', by Martin Arnold, date-
lined Los An eles, 19 January. S eein`~g mention of
the Conununi.st Tot offensive on tie front pa-e, I read the
article. in its entirety, including its continuation
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"Thus, the 1968 Joint Chiefs of
Staff memo, ihich General Depuy
(identified by The Times as a
government 'witness) said was
dangerous to make public, said
this.
'He (the enemy) committed over
-67,000 combat maneuver forces
plus perhaps 25 percent were
impressed men and boys for a
total of about 84,000.1
The general said that this- informa-
tion in the Joint Chiefs report,
which was written in the latter
part of February 1968, could help
Hanoi evaluate American and South
Vietnamese intelligence, and was
'sensitive' even now, in his
opinion."
(column 3, page 15)
"The 1968 Joint Chiefs of Staff
memo said, 'Probably the only
major unit to escape heavy losses
was the 7th NVA (North Vietnamese)
Division. Howcvbr, present
dispositions ;ive the enemy the
continuing capability of attacking
in the Saigon area with 10 to 11
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-2-
on page 15. Two passages in the article struck me
as particularly interesting. They were:
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combat effective battalion equivalents.
Again, the General found making this
information public harmful to American
forces in Vietnam."
(column 4, page 15)
3. The Times article did not state the ultimate
source of the statistics in the JCS memoranclum. How-
ever, I remember that in February 1968, the customary
source for such statistics was the intelligence component
(J-2) of the US Military Assistance Command Vietnam
(MACV)
4. I have recently uncovered what I consider
excellent evidence which tends to confirm what I
suspected at the time -- that NIACV J-2 had deliberately
fabricated Order of Battle statistics to make the
enemy appear weaker than he actually was. This evid-
ence is presented in three memoranda I wrote, which
the CIA General Counsel sent to the Assistant Attorney
General for the Internal Security Division of the
Department of Justice on 31 January 1973. One of the
memoranda alleged that a deliberate fabrication of the
OB-had occurred in September 1967. Another advanced
evidence that the fabrication continued into the
following months. The possibility rwas raised. that
General Westmoreland may have originated the orders
which led to the fabrications.
5. I believe the fabrications alleged in the ?
memoranda biar directly on the reported testimonv
of *General DePuy. The number "67,000," for example
(See Para 2Ea) was probably based on MIACV Order of
-3-
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Battle holdings i,whi.ch had been lowered by the use of
deliberately "conservative" methodologies. (This
method of fabrication was alleged in one of my
memoranda) Furthermore, the statement that there
were only "10-11 combat effective battalion equivalents"
left to attack Saigon (See Para 2b) probably arose from
the manipulation of an OB data base which -- as
alleged in riy memoranda -- had been deliberately
fabricated for some months.
6. This led Hie to question whether the release
of these statistics -- which I believe were based on
harmed American forces in Vietnam, as reportedly alleUj-
ged
l ti by General IleFuv. Th_ Je tion may be unanswc,ral~j.
I would me-el ; of t t l
n
t
ou
.1 p
1cLt. t.ne only document I
have read bearing on the point suggests they were at
a loss to understand how we arrived at our
7. Information in the Times article brought to
y 7 my mind another -possibility -- that General DePuy
the government witness, may have had some knowledge of
6: recent memoranda. The Times article notes-(page 1S,
,4 Column 3) that General DDeePuy helped edit a report
written by General Westmoreland "early in 1968." This
vi,vv~, rarLi ~, auove, supgcsts the ficure -67,000 was
report? edited by General Puy contained the number
84, 000, apparently identi ~`=:`-d to the one in the JCS memo.
?l , ^/ n n n
v 8. Unfortunately, I am unable to state with any
assurance who in the MACV hi,,h command was responsible
based on d&:liberatoly lowered OB holdings.
..41.\IllLI~J uv 8~:L uitc-: Mat-Ler loonecz into- nave been so afar
unavailing, as f-ar as. I -can--make -out.- The -US- Army Insnoc-
tor General: is aware of the, charges, and informed of the
fact -that vi.oIations..mav hale. occurred of the Uniform ,-.
Code of.?M'ili.tary Justice. Iyut ill a letter to me dated.
23 January 1973, lie disclaimed responsibility for start-i;.-
an investigation. Likewise, the Army Chief of Staf' of
Into 11 igenco. knows of my all e ations . I have yet to lie r
from M.M.
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9. 1 swear that to the best of my knowledge
the above statements arc true.
IN WITNESS:
Samuel A. Adams
Central Intelligence Agency
Assistant General Counsel
Home Phone:
STAT
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Mr. Colby:
The attached is4rom General DePuy.
Barbara
6 Feb 73
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