The Secret War Against Hanoi:
Schultz’s Book Makes Headlines

By Andrew Anderson (MALD ’01)

After extensive perusal through 3000 to 4000 pages of restricted-access military documents as well interviews with key players both in Washington and in the field, Professor Richard H. Schultz, Jr. published The Secret War Against Hanoi: Kennedy and Johnson's Use of Spies, Saboteurs, and Covert Warriors in North Vietnam last December. The book recounts the history of the creation and exploits of U.S. Special Forces operating in Indochina. Schultz discussed the book with students and faculty in Ginn Library on Feb. 10.

The idea for the book was launched during a conversation between Schultz, who is the Director of Fletcher's International Security Studies Program, and General Terry Scott, the current commander of U.S. Special Forces. Shultz mentioned the need to study Vietnam era operations to prepare today's special operations troops for post-Cold War internal conflicts.  Scott agreed, and asked Shultz to prepare the study.

Schultz described some of the unique difficulties he faced researching the topic.  "If you call a guy who did special operations and tell him, 'I'm an academic from Boston,' he'll hang up on you," he said.  Scott’s support enabled Shultz to interview the players who otherwise would have maintained their sworn silence. To track down the low-profile individuals involved in the operations, Shultz joked that he used old phone books from the 1970s.

U.S. covert operations in Indochina began in 1961 when John F. Kennedy, eight days into his presidency, ordered the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to adopt the same subversion tactics that were being used against American allies in South Vietnam.  The CIA was slow to act, and Kennedy reassigned the job to the military, where the covert operations met with stiff bureaucratic resistance.

The Studies and Observations Group (SOG), the office in charge of special operations, used a variety of tactics, many designed to create the impression that there was a large and successful insurgency in the North itself.  Captured North Vietnamese troops were released back to the North, but hidden in their clothes were instructions or other evidence incriminating them as spies.  Fishermen were captured and taken to a small island, which they were told was a liberated Northern zone and headquarters of the (imaginary) Sacred Sword of the Patriots resistance movement. "SOG played real hardball," and today their tactics would "raise serious ethical and moral problems," said Shultz.

Shultz remarked that the operations, for all their failings and questionable methods, did have some effect.  North Vietnamese negotiators set two preconditions for peace talks to end the conflict: the cessation of American bombing of the North and "other military operations." In 1968, President Johnson halted most of SOG's operations, including those in the North, although efforts to stem the flow of troops and material on the Ho Chi Minh Trail continued.

In fact, Washington always had difficulty with the covert operations, Schultz added.  For example, Johnson was concerned that SOG's tactics, if exposed, would hurt his election bid in 1964.

When Shultz briefed U.S. special operations commanders on his research, he noted the bureaucratic problems faced by SOG.  Remarking that SOG lacked CIA support, one commander responded," that was yesterday."

The Secret War Against Hanoi: Kennedy and Johnson's Use of Spies, Saboteurs, and Covert Warriors in North Vietnam is published by Harper Collins and available from (among other retailers) www.amazon.com and Barnes and Noble (www.bn.com) in hardcover for $19.25.

Several book reviews have appeared in The New York Times and The Washington Post.  Copies of these reviews are available from the International Security Studies Program in Cabot 609.

Comments? Write us at letter@fletcherledger.com

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