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Declassified per Executive Order 13526, Section 3.3 NND Project Number: NND 63316. By: NWD Date: 2011  Tho then said he wished to speak frankly concerning the underlying concern throughout VN, at all levels, that if the GVN were invaded by communist forces, the US might not repeat not respond. In this regard, he cited the developments in Laos, which he said were uppermost in the minds of people throughout SE Asia, and which had added fuel to these fears. He noted that if the communists did attack it Would probably be in conjunction with a well-planned, general Viet Cong uprising throughout South Vietnam. He indicated there were two ways in which the US might provide tangible reassurances, but that both of these presented political obstacles. The first was the stationing of token US combat units in the country. This was impracticable at this time as it left the GVN open to the highly-exploitable communist charge that the government was merely substituting the US for France as a colonial, occupying power. The second was a mutual defense treaty with the US. This also appeared to be impractical since it would constitute an open repudiation of the Geneva Agreements of 1954.

Concerning the internal security situation, Tho stressed the importance of providing the self defense forces with modern weapons. Today 30 percent of their weapons and ammunition are unusable. He pled for early distribution of up-to-date individual weapons to the self defense forces as one of the most effective means of getting on top of the Viet Cong terrorist campaign. He strongly recommended that the weapon needed by these forces was the light weight carbine, not the, larger, heavy M-1.

Referring to the emergency program, recommended in the Staley-Thuc economic report, I asked Tho if he thought the GVN had the administrative and managerial resources to complete 100 new agrovilles in 18 months. He said he believed it could be done provided it were handled in a manner which did not antagonize the people. I told him the cost estimates in the report included funds to pay the villagers reasonable wages for their labor in constructing the new agrovilles. Tho was greatly relieved to hear this and indicated that this being the case he was reasonably confident the agroville program could be completed on schedule.

New subject. President briefed on joint economic program of action from 4:30 to 8:00 PM 11 July. Staley-Thuc made joint presentation. Rh