0 - The Black Vault

THE BDM CORPORATION
After that initial operation, Hup Tac was a constant source of
dispcjta within the USOM. Deadlines slipped continually; phase lines were
readjusted; the official count of hamlets considerea tu be pacified climbed
iteadily. However, a special study of the whole area made in October 1964,
by members of the Country Team concluded. "Senerally speaking, Hcp Tac, as
a program,
does not appear to exist as a unified and meanigful operation."96/
Hop Tac never achieved its goals and was eventually submerged
into a new nationwide plan developed in 1966, Its failure was derived from
the following:
* °Hop Tac received only token endorsement from the Vietnamese, to
whom it seemed pointless and purely an American exercise to which
they nPeded pay only lip service..
Vietnamese, hOp Tac was "the plan of the Americans."
Put simply, in the eyes of the
* The ARVN Hop Tcc staff was a powerless office created merely to
satisfy the US,
* The RVNAF units in Saigon had t;ie piority mission of guarding
against a coup attempt and nothing was permitted to interfere
with that overriding task.97/
General
Westmoreland argued that Hop Tac had achieved limited
success, in that VC incidents in and around Saigon had decreased He did,
however,
recognize that the program was in trouble and summed up Hop Tac
problems in two words.
"political instability."98/
Coincident with preparations for Hop Tac, the GVN, under the
leadership of General Khanh, proposed a countrywide pacification plan
called the Chien Thing (Victory) Plan. (see Figure 5-11.) The core of the
plar was supposed to be the New Life Hamlets. As it developed, the scheme
was a cross between the "measles" and the "oil spot" approaches, with new
emphasis on economic develop,,'nt.99! Chien Thang started slowly in 1964,
however, and as instability in the central government began to mount its
execution quickly broke down,
After Ntw Life Hamlets, Hop Tac and Chien Thang Programs had
failed, Pacification was renamed Rural Construction.
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