REPLY TO WILLIAM COLBY'S LETTER ON PHOENIX PROGRAM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: Library of Congress
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): LOC-HAK-5-4-27-2
• Release Decision: RIFLIM
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: January 11, 2017
• Document Release Date: January 5, 2011
• Sequence Number: 27
• Publication Date: April 23, 1970
• Content Type: MEMO

No Objection to Declassification in Full 2011/01/05: LOC-HAK-5-4-27-2
I~1S'2
April 1, 19170
-r; tops trs i 1b~yr' e
G* 'P , * Program
in a cc rdaoce with va rOf"stat a 0%
response bps been prep red f Or your al ;aOu
at Tab A.
NSS/NSC, ARMY
reviews completed.
HH-i:" b? RS: VIG: c rt(4; 4 3170)
No Objection to Declassification in Full 2011/01/05: LOC-HAK-5-4-27-2
 No Objection to Declassification in Full 2011/01/05: LOC-HAK-5-4-27-2
V W
,ril 15, 1970
.M &' N U Otit. K"a&I?GE
John ;RAdri4ge
"1't r ilti+rwrz', ulbg-' eater C;oncerrai the Phoenix 1~`roj
Arabassador r,iilian i < a tby. t.:*eputy Ambassador in charge of the prv&X_a_ x- in `irstnaell, has written you a letter responding to your requaNt
for his corruit,ents sxn a rt,tet orrszduni critical of the Phoenix t-",rogratn
prep*ras by journalist Frances I`Itxgerrald and Professor Samuel P
of ,liarerva-arcl. Ambassador Colby indica a- that to view of some program
changes, the itsrsgeraid-. p-wire paper (copies of which we have been
unable to locate in your oL ice or in the Gentri stet Files) is some ghat dated
in its details. I4.vertheleos, he wetcotxne,% the paper' a spirit arid its
insistence upon continuing irxxprrovements. (Tab 13).
Ambassador Colby cites the Zoll ring specific points in illustration of
changes that have tacen place in the Pb6eni rrogramt
Hard ,;ure the focus has been put on the hard core V CL
;A level V CI are supposed to receive the fall two year detention sentences;
level YCi are to be given from one to tw3 years detention. Credit for
a VCL is not givesa to the operational Pboenbt unit involved until sentencing
ta, es place; capture is no longer enough. More attention and supervtsrion
has been given to the Pr-wince Security Committet s which impose
sentences. During the past year, 21 percent of those captured, rallied
or illed turned out to be district level -YCI or higher. Some 44-, percent
turnsd out to be to abers of priority categories, such an security and
finance sections and revolutionary co xrx tttoes, thus signifying a depletion
of the hard core VCI rather than of peripheral supporters.
No Objection to Declassification in Full 2011/01/05: LOC-HAK-5-4-27-2
 No Objection to Declassification in Full 2011/01/05: LOC-HAK-5-4-27-2
W
t has btuug
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e aa:aaeiusaaaac,s nits (:) were ezce
but they hsswe recently e:n brtught a .r
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paet
ltyr of
rt . , i a e V'hseesira team moved gut 3rett the llag,s
go,esarx aret fuuctiow. The toga .tike Uttar is uvAar the au rityt
of the wtilm * 3a-i0f, a a dtw er-tt ka* boon sae;xat ?a t: that a village chief
rzaaastt ha c or ed 0f the arrest of a4y maherrs iris: vil1*80 to augur*
that his tc cal ;U rwlea c ,&y is dad to the case.
olaos
pr14Lpat r.s asiibility f the progr*m, with
supporting r-olz, aaa with core aced rre mala
&#A a Llsg* chiefs.
A. hr et letter of ac ao
c +z:-ak *nts has be** pr parad f*r y*ur as
That T* U III &* t
attached *t rab A.
rt (4-0-70)
-isecas chlarft- ha* c oetr aI of t
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are haeta gi+arc*
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9, Aistrlctk
No Objection to Declassification in Full 2011/01/05: LOC-HAK-5-4-27-2
 No Objection to Declassification in Full 2011/01/05: LOC-HAK-5-4-27-2
r you for your letter of ararcb ZO, t91O ea ko.ieattng
on th* crtt.telaae of the Phowa program autwAtWd by
j ,r ist Frances 7f tzg*r*ld a Professor Saw"I
Y =v cax axxe s beve beep bei ut An *ur *V9106tiuaar,
I was worry that could not see you d? rt* your :scent
W a-sblagten, but I Brae ;*lv+sd a report on Faun
ee a With my staff. PLO&a* let tea. Meow bow plans
for the raew *ccetrerated a Irt are 4*v*'*P'4#-
W *r nest reg
tixslaer
The Tia"rabte ' i the Ca1;by
eadquarterv
United 'tomes Military A,ss ertauuce
Camn a , I*tx*rv;,
rrancls,co
No Objection to Declassification in Full 2011/01/05: LOC-HAK-5-4-27-2
 No Objection to Declassification in Full 2011/01/05: LOC-HAK-5-4-27-2
HEA / 'ERS
UNITED STATES MILITAI ";? + ;CE COMMAND, VIETNAM
MACJO1R 20 March 1970
The Honorable
Dr. Henry A. Kissinger
Special Assistant to the President
The White House
Washington, D. C. 20500
Dear Dr. Kissinger:
Thank you very much for your letter of February 20, inclosing a copy
of Francis Fitzgerald and Sam Popkins' "Memo on the Phoenix Program."
As you know, I have spent more than a few moments on this subject in
recent weeks and am greatly interested in ways to improve it, criti-
cisms of it, and clarification of its real nature and status.
llu
The memo contains several legitimate complaints about the program,
but I believe in some respects it is out of date. The program may have
been "designed to create a precision instrument for the elimination of
Viet Cong cadre," and it has not yet reached this status. I do believe,
however, that it has moved in the right direction, perhaps further than
the authors might know.
Let me cite a few points:
a. Considerable more precision has been brought into the
definition of the targets of the program. I inclose a
copy of its "Green Book," which clearly identifies, in
Vietnamese and English, the various jobs in the Viet Cong
apparatus or VCI, and assigns them as A level or B level.
The A level are supposed to receive the full two-year
detention sentence. The B level are less but still sig-
nificant elements of the VCI who receive a minimum of one
year and a maximum of two years detention. Both detention
sentences are theoretically subject to extension on re-
examination at the end of the sentence, but in fact in
the past most of them have been released. These definitions
have been supplemented by a greater degree of attention
and supervision of the work of the Province Security Com-
mittees, which impose the detention sentences, so that
there has been a substantial improvement in their sentencing
of the individuals brought before them. The operational
units 0 can only receive credit against their goals for
A and B categories sentenced (not merely captured),
No Objection to Declassification in Full 2011/01/05: LOC-HAK-5-4-27-2
 No Objection to Declassification in Full 2011/01/05: LOC-HAK-5-4-27-2
Dr. Henry A. Kissinger 20 March 1970
rallied or killed. Thus the focus is clearly on "hard core"
VC cadre and I believe the results over the past year bear
out this focus. Some 21 percent of those captured, rallied
or killed turned out to be district level or above, and some
48 percent turned out to be members of priority categories
such as security sections, finance sections, and current
affairs and revolutionary committees. Combined, these
priority categories constituted some 60 percent of the total,
demonstrating considerable attention to the hard core rather
than the peripheral supporters.
b. The Phoenix Program has been brought out in the open by the
government. This started in October 1969 with a general
publication of the nature and goals of the program "to
protect the people against terrorism." This has been
extended to the placing of posters calling for the appre-
hension (or defection, followed by full freedom) of named
Viet Cong leaders. The National Assembly has conducted a
full interpellation of the government about the program.
More needs to?be done about this, but I believe the process
of conducting the operation as much in public as possible
has begun and that it will strengthen rather than weaken
the program. Incidentally, I believe that District and
Province Chiefs would be surprised to hear that they do not
control their intelligence and police agents. The only real
problem that had existed in this category was the PRU,
because of its direct link to the Americans, but even these
have now been brought fully under the command authority of
the Province Chiefs, to the extent that a Province Chief
can fire the head of the PRU if he wants to (and has done so).
c. Phoenix has moved into the village and is now in many villages
throughout the country an integral part of the village govern-
ment function. Thus many villages now have an operations
center to collect information on the local VCI and to plan
and organize operations to capture or defect them. The village
police officer, who has been placed under the overall auth-
ority of the Village Chief, is the main contributor to this
effort. It is obviously designed to exploit the detailed
knowledge of local personalities available from the Village
Chief, the members of the Village Council, and the village
citizens. In addition, a directive has been sent out (but
is still inadequately applied) that a Village Chief must be
informed of the arrest of any member of his village, precisely
to ensure that his local knowledge of the individual can be
brought into the case. Thus I believe the recommendation is
essentially being applied that the village governments be
given responsibility for the Phoenix program as well as other
counterinsurgency programs.
No Objection to Declassification in Full 2011/01/05: LOC-HAK-5-4-27-2
 No Objection to Declassification in Full 2011/01/05: LOC-HAK-5-4-27-2
Dr. Henry A. Kissinger 20 March 1970
d. The National Police are being given principal responsibility
for the Phoenix Program, and the military will henceforth be
in a supporting role. The command will remain with the
Province, District and Village Chiefs, however.
Despite all this, I fully accept many of the concerns expressed in the
memorandum. While the various steps above have been or are in the course
of being taken, the proof of the pudding is in how they are being and
will be executed. There are still weaknesses in this area and ones we
must work hard to overcome. Thus while I may have answered many of the
points in the memorandum, I do not reject it and instead take it as
another indication of the degree of feeling in sympathetic American
circles for a considerably greater improvement in performance here. On
that, we have plenty more to do and we will get at it.
DEKORDS /MACV
No Objection to Declassification in Full 2011/01/05: LOC-HAK-5-4-27-2