How the CIA worked with illiterate Laotian partisans during the Vietnam War
In the 60s of the last century, Southeast Asia was a hot region on the body of the planet: there the colonial interests of European countries clashed with local players such as China, Japan, Laos, Korea and Cambodia. In addition to the obvious participation of the French expeditionary corps at the very beginning of the Indochina Wars, behind the parties to the conflict, both the superpowers of the time, the USSR and the USA, were behind the scenes first and then almost openly. The Americans provided open support to the authorities of southern Vietnam with the center in Saigon, which was jointly controlled by British and French troops, while the interests of northern Vietnam with the center of Hanoi were represented by socialist countries - the USSR and China.
It is interesting to note the popularity among the Russian-speaking audience of a kind of cultural artifact of the war - the song "Phantom", which tells about the air opposition of Soviet and American pilots in Vietnam, although the participation of the Soviet Air Force in the Vietnamese conflict has always been denied. The most widespread version of the song performed by the group "Chizh & Co".
The CIA conducted large-scale support for the authorities of South Vietnam. For example, the so-called Operation Phoenix, which was directed against the Viet Cong - in fact, the North Vietnamese partisans, covertly operating in the territory, secretly controlled by the United States, is widely known. Towards the end of the war in 1971, a senior CIA official, William Colby , responsible for conducting the Phoenix, gave official explanations to the subcommittee of the Senate Government Operations Committee. According to his words, at least 20587 people suspected of supporting the Viet Cong were liquidated during the operation.
The specifics of the intelligence operations of the US special services were complicated by several points. On the one hand, employees of European appearance could not be full-fledged agents, since there was an insurmountable difference in appearance between them and the local population. On the other hand, the overwhelming majority of local residents cooperating with the CIA were illiterate people who could not read or write. To solve this problem, control engineers developed an unusual device for that time, codenamed Elephant Counter.
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Photo - CIA Museum
There is very little information about the “Counter of Elephants” on the Internet and everywhere, in fact, it duplicates only its principle of operation, not allowing to make an impression at least of its size or weight. On the top panel of the device are special pictograms that were understandable for illiterate "CIA employees" - they displayed military, trucks, trucks, bicycles, various military equipment such as tanks, rockets or artillery, as well as the most significant local pack animals - donkeys and elephants. It was assumed that the agent performs the observation and instead of writing data to a notebook, it will rotate the handles of the device, which are visible on one of the Elephant Counter panels. In this way, intelligence collection and calculation was carried out.
Given the presence of a strap on the device, you can carefully assume that the "Elephant Counter" was mobile. But the most unusual thing was that he could transmit the collected information via radio to an airplane passing by using a special switch. Exactly how this was technically implemented is not known for certain, but it was this mobility that played an important role in the general confusion of the partisan war in Vietnam.
It is impossible not to note the fact that the Vietnam War gave birth to its “Edward Snowden” of that time. In 1971, the former CIA military analyst Daniel Ellsberg , who spent more than two years in Vietnam during the war, handed over to the editor of the New York Times most of the secret report "American-Vietnamese Relations, 1945-1967: Research", from which it became is aware of the operation “Phoenix” mentioned above. This had an effect similar to that scandal that erupted after the revelations of Edward Snowden and, although Ellsberg was arrested, on the wave of anti-war sentiment and broad public support as a result of the ended trial, he was fully acquitted.
The video for the song "Phantom" can be viewed below:
Via [ CIA Museum ]
It is interesting to note the popularity among the Russian-speaking audience of a kind of cultural artifact of the war - the song "Phantom", which tells about the air opposition of Soviet and American pilots in Vietnam, although the participation of the Soviet Air Force in the Vietnamese conflict has always been denied. The most widespread version of the song performed by the group "Chizh & Co".
The CIA conducted large-scale support for the authorities of South Vietnam. For example, the so-called Operation Phoenix, which was directed against the Viet Cong - in fact, the North Vietnamese partisans, covertly operating in the territory, secretly controlled by the United States, is widely known. Towards the end of the war in 1971, a senior CIA official, William Colby , responsible for conducting the Phoenix, gave official explanations to the subcommittee of the Senate Government Operations Committee. According to his words, at least 20587 people suspected of supporting the Viet Cong were liquidated during the operation.
The specifics of the intelligence operations of the US special services were complicated by several points. On the one hand, employees of European appearance could not be full-fledged agents, since there was an insurmountable difference in appearance between them and the local population. On the other hand, the overwhelming majority of local residents cooperating with the CIA were illiterate people who could not read or write. To solve this problem, control engineers developed an unusual device for that time, codenamed Elephant Counter.
')
Photo - CIA Museum
There is very little information about the “Counter of Elephants” on the Internet and everywhere, in fact, it duplicates only its principle of operation, not allowing to make an impression at least of its size or weight. On the top panel of the device are special pictograms that were understandable for illiterate "CIA employees" - they displayed military, trucks, trucks, bicycles, various military equipment such as tanks, rockets or artillery, as well as the most significant local pack animals - donkeys and elephants. It was assumed that the agent performs the observation and instead of writing data to a notebook, it will rotate the handles of the device, which are visible on one of the Elephant Counter panels. In this way, intelligence collection and calculation was carried out.
Given the presence of a strap on the device, you can carefully assume that the "Elephant Counter" was mobile. But the most unusual thing was that he could transmit the collected information via radio to an airplane passing by using a special switch. Exactly how this was technically implemented is not known for certain, but it was this mobility that played an important role in the general confusion of the partisan war in Vietnam.
It is impossible not to note the fact that the Vietnam War gave birth to its “Edward Snowden” of that time. In 1971, the former CIA military analyst Daniel Ellsberg , who spent more than two years in Vietnam during the war, handed over to the editor of the New York Times most of the secret report "American-Vietnamese Relations, 1945-1967: Research", from which it became is aware of the operation “Phoenix” mentioned above. This had an effect similar to that scandal that erupted after the revelations of Edward Snowden and, although Ellsberg was arrested, on the wave of anti-war sentiment and broad public support as a result of the ended trial, he was fully acquitted.
The video for the song "Phantom" can be viewed below:
Via [ CIA Museum ]
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/396785/
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