0 - The Black Vault

THE BDM CORPORATION
regime "was
very cold to American requests to poke around the countryside".
32/ Meanwhile, communist Viet ,inh leaders had made full use of
their opportinities to establish a covert armed cadre and to gather intelligence.33/
The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), which was
* crganized in 1954 and came into force in 1955, had as one of its major
goals the deterrence of communist aggrescion in Indochina.
SEATO contingency
plans for the collective defense of this region were incorporated in
SEATO Plans 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.34/ These plans dealt vario.,sly with the
defense of Thailand, Laos,
and with the reinforcement and defense of RVN.
Cambodia and South Vietnam (the Central Region),
Many of the member sta'.es
(the US, UK, France, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philipoines, and
*-Thailand) were reluctant to make a military commitment to Indochina, and
the organization lacked the cohesiveness and immediate sense of purpose to
function as its founders had envisioned. Only token forces were pledged;
thE '.fore SEATO's operation plans were based on requirements rather than on
designated forces or troop units.
b. Neutralization of Laos and the "Secret War"
The Genevd agreement of July 1962, designed to settle the
conflict in Laos, prohibited the US and other foreign powers from implementing
any plan to station military forces in Laos. The very points in
the Declaration of the Neutrality of Laos which the North Vietnamese
repeatedly violated would block US implementation of CINCPAC OPLAN 32-64
ana CIINCPAC OPLAii 99-64 (;hich specifically provided for the defense of
Laos). These points included articles 2G (no foreign trops or military
personnel in Laos), 2H (no military bases in Laos), and 21 (the prohibitio.n
on
simg the territory of Laos to inte-fere in the internal affairs of
another country).35/
*" Rather tnan introduce military units in Laos, the Kennedy
administration mounted a wide-ranging covert paramilitary campaign through
the CIA and its proprietary orianization Air America (see Chapter 6, Volume
VI)36/. William E. Colby, firmerly the Director of Central Intelligence,
later stated that the US, having made an agreement with tre USSR in 1962
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