PHOANIX SPY NET ENGULFS ALL S. VIETNAM'S CITIZENS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80R01720R001100060007-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 5, 2004
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: October 29, 1971
• Content Type: NSPR

THE NATION, Bangkok Friday, October 29, 1971
_ Ys ?
t,y Stewart Kellerman
in salson
f; INH is a poor farmer. He grows rice
of
.
-
.-
?- on-an ate,e
China Sea. He lives with his wife and
three children in a cramped hut made
of straw and mud.
Linh - like millions of other - has
been forced by the South Vietnamese
ernment to spy on his own family
G
ov
for the Phoenix programme, a contro
e and
versial allied drive using tortur
assassination to destroy the Commu-
nist political leadership in South
Vietnam.
"I don't want to get into trouble."
Linh said through a translator.
"That's why I tell the government)
what they want. I don't tell them
everything of course. Just as much as
I have to, m' has tried
The field police', strike arm of the
national police, are usually used for
arrests. CIA-financed PRU's, mem-
bers of Province Reconnaissance
Units, are used to kill suspects, ac-
cording to allied intelligence sources.
But in Vietnam, no operation
water-tight. Allied intelligence o1-
fic6rs said most Communist political
leaders find out - through informac-
tion leakage - that they've been tar-
geted for assassination or arresta_nd
go into hiding before the govcrnrneat
They said the Phoenix progr :urine
then issues wanted posters a eo:viag
mug shots and offering stnall -*card'
for information about tlil- where-
abouts of suspects.
The programme recently a
trial project in a few provinces oiler
ing bounties euphemistically Cis CU
"maximum inccntivc " awards of
several thousand dollar: 'or re illy
high Communist leaders-dead or alive.,
After a suspect is arrect:cd? the'
next step is a trip to a E'rovincc" In-
terrogation Centre (PIC) alsoO gar?ised
of gunmen organised by the U.S.
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
?er----
up through channels' to hundreds of
District Intelligence Operations Com-
mands (DIOCs), the hubs of the Phoe-
nix programme. Each DIOC is man-
ned by South Vietnamese soldiers, po-
lice and psychological warfare specia-
lists as well as an unofficial member
from the U.S. army, American sources
said.
U.S. intelligence officers said the
DIOCs use the reports to prepare
"target folders" on suspected poli-
tical leaders of the Vietcong, the
Saigon government's name for the
NLF.
The officials said green sheets of
paper in such theolphysical rr .description ,
such items as
friends and visiting habits of suspects.
ll
f
a
Pink sheets are used for copies o
agent reports on suspects.
South Vietnamese Phoenix. offi-
f manta are graded on a
r
d
by the CIA, according to ailiie .=.r>Urees.
A former U.S. Phoenix sd:: i:;rr
said torture is used at all PIf al-
though interrogators usually use psy-
chological rather than physics? teclei-
qucs. A couple of favorites atc:,
Cover a suspect's face with a wet
washcloth, four soapy water Over
cloth each time he refuses to
th
e
answer a question, The water isn't
supposed to hurt him, but it gives the
suspect the impression he's drowning.
0 .Tic a suspect to a chair and
attach. wires to a 12-volt car battery.
Shock the suspect every time he
refuses to answer a question. If he's
really a tough customer, apply the
wires to the genitals.
suspect Vis brought before a province
The Phoenix progf m 1 hand) like
to got a gla truong ( y
Linh to spy in every hut, house and
shanty in South Vietnam. They're
the lowest rungs on a massive intt-
ligence apparatus providing reports
on suspected leaders of the Com-
munist National Liberation Front
(NLF). any
The gia truongs don't get
money for their Communists
prosecution as suspected
if they fail to report accurately on
the actions of their families.
Allied sources said the Phoenix
prograu,.,,.....-.- -- .
work of paid informers-national police n before "targeting" a suspect for ass-
undercover men, civilian secret agets,
angs assination.
d
a
g
n
erts
army intelligence exp
Su John Young, wrote that "the ha-
{ a small fee, it to
m o
dials sai
scale ranging from A (completely
reliabley to F (reliability cannot be
judged). They said information pro-
vided by agents is grade from I (con-
firmed) to 6 (truth cannot be judged)..
DIOC members-after deciding a'
suspect is -likely to be a Communist
leader-meet to decide how he should
be "neutralised." The suspect can be
assassinated, arrested or, talked into
switching sides.
A former U.S. Phoenix coordina-
i
re
tor (adviser) said most DIOCs requ
at least a C3 rating - agent fairly
ibl 1 true-
__
s
security committee headed . by the
local province chief. .
The committee has the ;power
sentence a suspect in secret ? trials
a maximum of tiro years in prison.
The sentence, however, is rcorwal,le
indefinitely as long as Vietnam is at
U.S. sources e
not question his accusers or even find
'
s pretty - much
out who they are. "It
up to the province chief," one ?'irrtcri-
can official said. "If he's a good man
there'll be a fair trial. if he's not,
there won't."
"I think it's safe to s;:y that vrhen
it's all over not many P"up" gr.L off,"
-- , -,rent Phoenix ativi!,cr said.
"Just about everybody who makes
the whole route winds UP in
UPI
mands one of the moot nlat,rtn
Approved For. Release 2004/10T2 "'CIA-RbP8DR01720R001100060007-3
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