Description:
Vietnam Declassified is a detailed account of the CIA's effort to help South Vietnamese authorities win the loyalty of the Vietnamese peasantry and suppress the Viet Cong. Covering the CIA engagement from 1954 to mid-1972, it provides a thorough analysis of the agency and its partners. Retired CIA operative and intelligence consultant Thomas L. Ahern Jr. is the first to comprehensively document the CIA's role in the rural pacification of South Vietnam, drawing from secret archives to which he had unrestricted access. In addition to a chronology of operations, the book explores the assumptions, political values, and cultural outlooks of not only the CIA and other U.S. government agencies, but also of the peasants, Viet Cong, and Saigon government forces competing for their loyalty. The depth of Ahern's research combined with the timely relevance of his analysis to current events in the Middle East makes this title an important addition to military literature.
Brief description: Thomas L. Ahern Jr. is a former CIA operations officer with service in East Asia, Indochina, Africa, Iran, and Europe. He currently serves as a CIA consultant.
Review Quotes:
"[Ahern] provides a unique narrative based on his personal experience in Vietnam and secret archives to which he had unrestricted access. . . . provides new perspectives on the CIA's role in the American effort to win the hearts and minds in Vietnam." --Vietnam Magazine