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Special Activities Center: Difference between revisions
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**[[Permesta]] | **[[Permesta]] | ||
**[[Bay of Pigs Invasion]] | **[[Bay of Pigs Invasion]] | ||
** | **Vietnam War | ||
**[[Operation Condor]] | **[[Operation Condor]] | ||
**[[Operation Cyclone]] | **[[Operation Cyclone]] | ||
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Elements of the Special Activities Division were seen in the CIA's [[Phoenix Program]]. One component of the Phoenix Program was involved in the capture and killing of suspected [[Viet Cong]] (VC) members.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Phoenix Program|first=Douglas|last=Valentine|year=2000|publisher=iUniverse |isbn =978-0595007387}}</ref> Between 1968 and 1972, the Phoenix Program captured 81,740 VC members, of whom 26,369 were killed. The program was also successful in destroying their infrastructure. By 1970, communist plans repeatedly emphasized attacking the government's "pacification" program and specifically targeted Phoenix agents. The VC also imposed quotas. In 1970, for example, communist officials near [[Da Nang]] in northern South Vietnam instructed their agents to "kill 400 persons" deemed to be government "tyrant[s]" and to "annihilate" anyone involved with the "pacification" program. Several North Vietnamese officials have made statements about the effectiveness of Phoenix.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://usacac.army.mil/CAC/milreview/English/MarApr06/Andrade-Willbanks.pdf|title=US Army Combined Arms Center and Fort Leavenworth|website=army.mil|access-date=January 15, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070625022447/http://usacac.army.mil/CAC/milreview/English/MarApr06/Andrade-Willbanks.pdf|archive-date=June 25, 2007|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Colby, William; Peter Forbath (1978) (extract concerning Gladio stay-behind operations in Scandinavia). ''Honorable Men: My Life in the CIA''. London: Hutchinson.{{ISBN?}}{{page?|date=September 2022}}</ref> | Elements of the Special Activities Division were seen in the CIA's [[Phoenix Program]]. One component of the Phoenix Program was involved in the capture and killing of suspected [[Viet Cong]] (VC) members.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Phoenix Program|first=Douglas|last=Valentine|year=2000|publisher=iUniverse |isbn =978-0595007387}}</ref> Between 1968 and 1972, the Phoenix Program captured 81,740 VC members, of whom 26,369 were killed. The program was also successful in destroying their infrastructure. By 1970, communist plans repeatedly emphasized attacking the government's "pacification" program and specifically targeted Phoenix agents. The VC also imposed quotas. In 1970, for example, communist officials near [[Da Nang]] in northern South Vietnam instructed their agents to "kill 400 persons" deemed to be government "tyrant[s]" and to "annihilate" anyone involved with the "pacification" program. Several North Vietnamese officials have made statements about the effectiveness of Phoenix.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://usacac.army.mil/CAC/milreview/English/MarApr06/Andrade-Willbanks.pdf|title=US Army Combined Arms Center and Fort Leavenworth|website=army.mil|access-date=January 15, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070625022447/http://usacac.army.mil/CAC/milreview/English/MarApr06/Andrade-Willbanks.pdf|archive-date=June 25, 2007|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Colby, William; Peter Forbath (1978) (extract concerning Gladio stay-behind operations in Scandinavia). ''Honorable Men: My Life in the CIA''. London: Hutchinson.{{ISBN?}}{{page?|date=September 2022}}</ref> | ||
MAC-V SOG ([[Studies and Observations Group]], which was originally named the Special Operations Group, but was changed for cover purposes) was created and active during the | MAC-V SOG ([[Studies and Observations Group]], which was originally named the Special Operations Group, but was changed for cover purposes) was created and active during the Vietnam War. While the CIA was just one part of MAC-V SOG, it did have operational control of some of the programs. Many of the military members of MAC-V SOG joined the CIA after their military service. The legacy of MAC-V SOG continues within SAC's Special Operations Group.<ref>''Shooting at the Moon'' by Roger Warner, The history of CIA/IAD'S 15-year involvement in conducting the secret war in Laos, 1960–1975, and the career of CIA PMCO (paramilitary case officer) Bill Lair.</ref> | ||
On May 22, 2016, the CIA honored three paramilitary officers with stars on the memorial wall 56 years after their deaths. They were David W. Bevan, Darrell A. Eubanks, and John S. Lewis, all young men, killed on a mission to resupply anti-Communist forces in Laos. They were all recruited from the famous [[smokejumper]]s from Montana.<ref name="auto">{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/06/18/they-were-smokejumpers-when-the-cia-sent-them-to-laos-they-came-back-in-caskets/ |title=They were smokejumpers when the CIA sent them to Laos. They came back in caskets. |first=Ian |last=Shapira |date=June 18, 2017 |access-date=January 28, 2018 |newspaper=The Washington Post |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180129080602/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/06/18/they-were-smokejumpers-when-the-cia-sent-them-to-laos-they-came-back-in-caskets/ |archive-date=January 29, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> One former smokejumper and paramilitary officer, Mike Oehlerich, believed he should have been on that flight, but they accidentally missed their pickup to the airport. They got stuck in Bangkok and so another crew – Bevan, Eubanks, and Lewis – flew that mission on August 13, 1961. "We had no idea anything happened until we got back the next day, and that's when they told us that they went into a canyon and tried to turn around and got into bad air," he said. CIA officials told him days after the crash that Lewis had jumped out of the plane, rather than remain inside. "When they told me that, I teared up," Oehlerich recalled. "It was something John and I had talked about – 'Don't go down with the airplane, your chances are better if you get out.'"<ref name="auto"/> | On May 22, 2016, the CIA honored three paramilitary officers with stars on the memorial wall 56 years after their deaths. They were David W. Bevan, Darrell A. Eubanks, and John S. Lewis, all young men, killed on a mission to resupply anti-Communist forces in Laos. They were all recruited from the famous [[smokejumper]]s from Montana.<ref name="auto">{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/06/18/they-were-smokejumpers-when-the-cia-sent-them-to-laos-they-came-back-in-caskets/ |title=They were smokejumpers when the CIA sent them to Laos. They came back in caskets. |first=Ian |last=Shapira |date=June 18, 2017 |access-date=January 28, 2018 |newspaper=The Washington Post |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180129080602/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/06/18/they-were-smokejumpers-when-the-cia-sent-them-to-laos-they-came-back-in-caskets/ |archive-date=January 29, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> One former smokejumper and paramilitary officer, Mike Oehlerich, believed he should have been on that flight, but they accidentally missed their pickup to the airport. They got stuck in Bangkok and so another crew – Bevan, Eubanks, and Lewis – flew that mission on August 13, 1961. "We had no idea anything happened until we got back the next day, and that's when they told us that they went into a canyon and tried to turn around and got into bad air," he said. CIA officials told him days after the crash that Lewis had jumped out of the plane, rather than remain inside. "When they told me that, I teared up," Oehlerich recalled. "It was something John and I had talked about – 'Don't go down with the airplane, your chances are better if you get out.'"<ref name="auto"/> | ||