Page:Pentagon-Papers-Part IV. A. 5.djvu/292

Declassified per Executive Order 13526, Section 3.3 NND Project Number: NND 63316. By: NWD Date: 2011  ""Leadership and direction for Communist subversive activity in the GVN is provided from North Vietnam by the Communist Lao Dong Party. In the past, several South Vietnamese Communist leaders who went North at the time of the armistice have been identified as playing important roles in directing and coordinating Communist operations within the GVN. Most powerful of these is Le Duan, who has recently enjoyed a swift rise to top-ranking status in the DRV hierarchy .... "

" ... The Communists are now believed to be actively cultivating the remnants of the Hoa Hao, Cao Dai, and Binh Xuyen dissident bands, dispersed by GVN security forces in 1955. As many as 1,500 armed non-Communist dissidents are believed still in hiding in bands of various size in the delta region south of Saigon, the Plaine des Joncs, along the Cambodian border and northwest of Saigon. Through the years, the weapons of these outlaw bands have deteriorated, and ammunition has run low. The Communists are believed providing many of these bands with both assistance and guidance, in return for support or at least lip service to DRV aims. The DRV has also included a few minor sect leaders in its "Fatherland Front" in hopes of attracting support from sect adherents in the South. In its propaganda, the DRV claims to pursue a policy of religious tolerance and denounces the GVN for alleged religious persecution.

"A degree of success in the Communist efforts to subvert the sects and sect leaders was indicated by a recent raid on a French plantation about 50 miles north of Saigon. In addition to robbing and some wanton destruction, an estimated 3-700 bandits claiming to be 'religious men' harangued the workers concerning the benefits of life in the North and warned them not to cooperate with the 'American-controlled' Diem government. The Cao Dai Pope, living in exile in Phnom Penh, has published statements in line with Communist themes, and an organization combining various sect remnants has reportedly been formed with a Communist advisor.""

The MAAG intelligence estimate included in its mid-1958 report ("Narrative Study," 24 August 1958) was, however, more directly focused on DRV conventional military strength, and displayed a somewhat different view of "Viet Cong" than had been evident in earlier MAAG reports:

" ENEMY THREAT & PROBABLE COURSE OF ACTION

" Viet Cong (North Vietnam Communists):

"(1) : It is estimated that the Viet Cong in North Vietnam, currently have available approximately 268,000 regular army troops organized into 14 Infantry Divisions, 1 Artillery Division, 1 Anti-aircraft Artillery Groupment, Rh