CIA MEMORANDUM ON NORTH VIETNAMESE TRUCKS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: Library of Congress
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): LOC-HAK-558-13-1-7
• Release Decision: RIPLIM
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: January 11, 2017
• Document Release Date: September 9, 2010
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: February 14, 1972
• Content Type: MEMO

No Objection to Declassification in Part 2010/09/09: LOC-HAK-558-13-1-7
NATIONAL SECURITY QOVACIL
SUBJECT: CIA Memorandum on North Vietna Xa Trucks
FROM: JOHN D. NEGROPON 43 ? A A'
~,
trucks in North Vietnam and the Laotian Panhandle (Tab A). It makes
the following points:
ryl-LY
CIA has forwarded a memorandum on trends relating to NVA use of -r.
-- The destruction of NVA trucks in the Laotian Panhandle has always
been difficult to quantify precisely. Nevertheless it is clear that total
truck kills in 1971 were more than double the 1970 total. This was due in
a large part to the increased use of the highly effective AC-130 gunships.
- - As a result, the North Vietnamese have increased their truck imports
substantially. Aerial photography of NVA truck parks in northern North.
Vietnam last October revealed the lar est number of trucks ever seen.
In additit,i , the North Vietnamese ordered 25X1
40 percent more trucks from the USSR for delivery in 1972 than they ever
have before. If China and eastern Europe increase their deliveries
proportionately, total 1972 truck imports will be at the highest level of
the war.
Comment. Of particular interest are the large and uncamouflaged truck
parks in no thein North Vietnam. Ever since the U. S. halted the bombing
of the north in 1968, Hanoi has concentrated its stock of trucks in this
area. These parks would make very lucrative targets for air strikes
should bombing of specific sites north of the 20th parallel again be authorized.
A well targeted strike against a number of these parks could in one day
destroy more trucks than is accomplished during a whole month in the
Laotia,-i Panhandles where no more than a few trucks are in the same place
ON-FILE NSC RELEASE
INSTRUCTIONS APPLY
No Objection to Declassification in Part 2010/09/09: LOC-HAK-558-13-1-7
 No Objection to Declassification in Part 2010/09/09: LOC-HAK-558-13-1-7
at the same time. Should. such a strike be made, the North.. Vietnamese
might have second thoughts about continuing to shift the bulk of. their air
defense assets southward. as they have been doing for some time now,
They might even decide to reinforce their air defense north of the 20th
parallel. At the minimum, an air strike on truck parks in the northern
DRV would force the NVA to disperse their truck stocks one more as
they did prior to 1968, thereby complicating the truck flow southward into
the Laotian Panhandle.
No Objection to Declassification in Part 2010/09/09: LOC-HAK-558-13-1-7