Fighting the War in Southeast Asia, 1961-1973

Fighting the War in Southeast Asia, 1961-1973:

From The National Security ARchive, George Washington University.


 "Previously secret U.S. Air Force official histories of the Vietnam war published by the National Security Archive disclose for the first time that Central Intelligence Agency contract employees had a direct role in combat air attacks when they flew Laotian government aircraft on strike missions and that the Air Force actively considered nuclear weapons options during the 1959 Laos crisis.
The newly declassified histories, which were released through Freedom of Information Act litigation by the National Security Archive with the law firm James & Hoffman, include the Air Force's detailed official history of the war in northern Laos, written during the 1990s but hidden in classified form for years. Also declassified were Air Force historical studies on specific years of the Vietnam War, documenting in great detail the Air Force's role in planning and implementing the air war in North and South Vietnam. Among other significant disclosures in these histories are:

• Air Force interest in nuclear options during at least two flash points in the Southeast Asian conflict: Laos in 1959 and in 1968 during the battle of Khe Sanh.
• CIA operational commitments for the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion hampered the Agency's ability to carry out Kennedy administration policy in Laos.
• CIA proprietary Air America directed search and rescue missions in Laos in addition to its role in combat operations.
• The U.S. ambassador in Laos served as the field commander of the so-called "secret war" there, a role that has been largely undocumented."

Link to electronic briefing book (outside THF network).

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