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Title:
Phoenix Program
Date of Creation:
1970
Date of Declassification:
1980
Type of Document:
Report
Level of Classification:
NOT GIVEN
Status of Copy:
ORIGINAL
Pagination, Illustration:
8 p.
Abstract:
Phoenix Program [by the fall of 1966, large military actions were well established and a pacification
program initiated; however, the success of
pacification was limited because the VC had
made it a prime target. It became obvious
that a program was needed to attack the VC
infrastructure, which supplied VC military
forces with food, intelligence, and recruits;
the critical function of the infrastructure
was apparent because without it, the burden
would have fallen on North Vietnam, whose
supply lines were long and whose troops would
not be able to fight as guerrillas. In 1967
the South Vietnamese program to attack the VC
infrastructure was established under the name
Phung Hoang and was accompanied by US support
programs, first ICEX, then the Phoenix
program. The basic approach was the
collection of operational information on
members of the VC infrastructure at each
Phoenix center and the exploitation of that
information by recruitment or defection in
place, outright defection, capture and
exploitation, and compromise and
discreditation. The success of the Phoenix
program is indicated by the following
figures: the 1968 goal called for the
neutralization of 12,000, and 15,776 were
neutralized; the 1969 goal was 21,600, and
19,534 VC were neutralized. The Phoenix program "was not and has never been an
independent or secret `CIA operation' of any
form"]. Report, unattributed. [1970?] 8 p.
Security classification not given. [Released
1980?]
Indexing Terms:
Declassified Documents Reference System Location:
1980-240A