Undercover Armies - CIA FOIA - Central Intelligence Agency

C05303949
Chapter Twenty-two'
needs provided for, Thai and American doctors could deal with the malignant
form of malaria now being encountered.3D
The State Department hoped to limit harm to the Laotian anticommunists
by maintaining correct relations with the PONU. In pursuit of this goal, State
favored as little further commitment to the Hmong as possible', and CIA was
left with the lead role in discharging what many of its people regarded as a
moral obligation to defeated allies. Its involvement was deepened by the
influx into Nam Phong, and on 24 May, Headquarters accepted that the initial
restrictive policy had been overtaken by events. It was now impossible to limit
CIA support to the 2,400 "key indigenous personnel" comprising the
approved 120 extended families. and ,e Arney would at least temporarily
car~ for all the refugees at Nam Phong.' .
By late May, there were 1,800 additional refugees in Thailand at Nong
Khai, across the Mekong from Vientiane, and Washington was also considering
"stopgap assistance" to this group. But the American objective remained
the resettlement of the Hmong refugees in Thailand.
[But the US
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administration was no less committed than the Thai to a not-in-my-backyard
stance on Hmong resettlement. Headquarters cautione~not to think
of relocation to the United States as even a possibility.S[j--
I
Iwas instructed to deflect Thai queries on large-scale movement
to the United States, andl Iwas told to discourage Yang Pao from
the trip he wanted to make to Washington to plead for more help. Instead, both
should point out to the Thai the virtues of Hmong resettlement in underpopulated
areas contiguous to ~aos. D
6
Several of Washington's arguments for relocation in Thailand-especially
the Hmong contribution to the war effort and the resulting "moral and social
responsibility" to an ally-could equally well have been made for relocation
in the United States. But Ted Shackley, now heading the East Asia Division,
stated the bottom line: "We want Yang Pao and his 2,400 [key indigenous personnel]
resettled in Thailand." US help would come in the form of a "package
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