PRE-TET BUILDUP DESCRIBED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00845R000201180001-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 9, 2010
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: November 7, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/09: CIA-RDP90-00845R000201180001-5
ARTICLE APPEARED
ON PAG
WASHINGTON POST
7 November 1984
PreTet Buildup Described
Ho Trail Was a Freeway, Colonel Says
United Press International
NEW YORK, Nov. 6-American
intelligence knew on the eve of the
1968 Tet offensive that the enemy
was taking the "unprecedented"
step-of moving six regiments into
South Vietnam, a former intelli-
genc officer testified today at Gen.
William Westmoreland s $i20 mil-
lion libel trial.
Some of the infiltrating troops
went down the Ho Chi Minh Trail,
turning the uungle trail into a free-
Way with rest stops. said CoIjohn
Stewart an intellnce specialist
dorm Vietnam war who be-
came the top U.S. intelli nce of-
ficer during the 1983 Grenada in-
vasion.
Testifyin or a second day,
Stewart told of his assignment as an
intelligence analyst for II Corps, the
military region_of South VietpM
covering the Central Highlands and
the Tuy Hoa Vallej-along the cen-
tral coast.
Westmoreland, ' commander. of
U.S. troops in Vietnam from 1964
to 1968, claims that the CBS doc-
umentary; "The Uncounted Enemy:
A Vietnam Deception," was wrong
when it reported that he played
down the enemy numbers to per-
suade President Lyndon B. Johnson
to commit more troops to the war
Stewart said he frequently
briefed Westmoreland, who con-
ducted "very businesslike brielipgs
and asked terse, tough questions,"_
"In late- to mid-De-ember. ;we
[analysts] came to the conclusion
that the North Vietnamese were
taking. an unprecedented step of
sending large numbers of troops
south, at least four regiments," -said
Stewart. "Then, into January, - the
North Vietnamese moved more, up
to six regiments.
"After Tet [Jan. 30, 1968] we
could confirm seven to eight reg-
iments that had come into country,"
he said.
"I opined that the indicators we
had were that the Ho Chi Minh
Trail was not just a trail but a road-
way with rest stops, like along a
freeway," Stewart said. "The :rest
stops had logistics, medical supplies
and personnel."
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/09: CIA-RDP90-00845R000201180001-5