1 - The Black Vault

ESTABLISHMENT OF COMBAT TALON
Precursor to OPLAN 34A
The American program of covert and clandes -
tine operations in Laos and North Vietnam began
in late 1960 and early 1961. The earlier CIA/SMM
effort to establish a viable stay-behind organiza -
tion in North Vietnam after the Geneva Agreements
of 1954 had been largely unsuccessful. 70 By
the time Lansdale and the SMM began the program
to recruit and train indigenous forces in the
North in the summer of 1954, the Viet Minh had
already established considerable power over the
people there. Although a courageous effort, the program
by Lansdale and the SMM was an example of
too little, too late.
Their program centered on establishing an indigenous
force in North Vietnam and Laos to provide
intelligence concerning North Vietnam military
movements towards the South. From 1961 to
1964 the program underwent several disruptive
changes that impacted upon its effectiveness.
From an initial mission of intelligence collection,
the principle mission migrated to sabotage and
harassment operations, with intelligence collection
becoming a secondary task. These mission
changes, plus the Geneva Accord addressing the
neutrality of Laos in 1962, severely undermined
US unconventional warfare efforts. 71
The two primary means of CIA/SMM infiltra tion
were by air and by sea. Twenty-three of 33 agent
team infiltrations were accomplished by way of airdrop.
Acquisition of five C-123 aircraft, specially
configured with electronic countermeasure (ECM)
equipment and manned by non-US crews, considerably
enhanced the delivery capability of agent
teams into North Vietnam. Operations in Laos
and North Vietnam required minimal USAF support;
however, the Air Force provided logistics,
weather forecasting, and aerial reconnaissance
support for the C-123 crews. 72
pressure, resistance operations, and physical destruction
(hit-and-run and aerial attacks). 73
In December 1963 the plan was presented to
President Lyndon B. Johnson , who established a
committee to select from the plan those missions
offering the greatest return with minimal risk.
Maj Gen Victor H. Krulak, the chief of OSACSA,
chaired the committee. (The ASTD, formerly
headed by Lansdale, had been disbanded earlier
in the year and was replaced by OSACSA.) The
committee was less than enthusiastic, but it considered
the advantages of proposed operations to
outweigh the risks. A joint MACV task force was
to implement OPLAN 34A. Operational control
rested with commander, US Military Assistance
Command, Vietnam (COMUSMACV); overall political
control rested with the US ambassador to
Vietnam. On 24 January 1964 the task force stood
up as the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam
Special Operations Group, but was soon changed
to MACV Studies and Observations Group for security
purposes. 74 The organization came to be
known by its shortened acronym—SOG. Just as
OSS/London, OSS/Algiers, and CCRACK had
done during previous conflicts, SOG was tasked to
execute special operations missions assigned by
the theater commander.
In preparation for execution of the plan, the
secretary of defense had deployed equipment and
personnel to Saigon to begin initial operations.
The principal requirement levied on the Air
Force called for six specially modified C-123 aircraft
equipped with ECM, radar detection, and
enhanced navigation equipment. The aircraft
were modified under the Duck Hook program
during the first half of 1964 and were delivered
to the USAF at Nha Trang AB, Vietnam, during
the third quarter. 75 The now well-defined low-level
OPLAN 34A—The Combined
Task Force
Throughout 1963 there emerged a more active
role for the DOD in conducting special operations
in SEA. By the end of the year, the US administra -
tion had made the decision to expand the covert
and clandestine program against North Vietnam.
During November meetings were held by various
divisions within the US government, and OPLAN
34A emerged as the combined US plan. The
OPLAN specified five types of operations: intelligence
collection, psychological operations, political
Photo courtesy of John R. Lewis
The Heavy Hook C-123 was modified for the low-level
penetration mission. Note the outboard jets added in
the late 1960s to improve the aircraft’s performance.
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