UNCLASSIFIED U S Department of State Case No F-2016-O7743 Doc No 017980139 Date 0911212017 onlcmi nc non - DEPARTHENT OF STATE w I J1 has AF ARA nnmemnm 25 Original to In Filed In Oeecniroliud Files FILE DESIGNATION EUR NBA CU INN FED AID 5 To Department of State Note 1 55 1 I 4 3 P1111111 5 3 E 02 11652 ADS DECLAS TAGS AMGT VS AGE COM FRB L88 TAR All ARMY NIVV DSD USIA N3l CIA 1 - FROM 3 Amembassy BELGRADE an DATE September 2 1971-1 SUBJECT Dissent Message IN PART es REF DISSENT CHANNEL f' essane ttansmits_a_diss nting view submitted by TAmerican Embassy Belgrade SUGGESTED DISTRIBUTION 051' UTIHG TO Action Initial PO OCH ECON CONS AID USIS FILE Anion Taken Doro RESP It no OF 515 II process- FADRC SUMMARY A consistent distortion of the flow of foreign service reporting from Vietnam exists and is serious enough to call into question the Department's ability to reach any policy decisions based on this reporting END SUMMARY The war in Vietnam has been accused of much adverse influence on American society It is my belief that while the war has de- clined and much of this influence has disappeared its effects continue on the Foreign Service and the Department I have recently completed a six-month TDY in Vietnam During that period I served as a political reporting officer in the Consulates General in Can Tho and Nha Trang I had access to a considerable proportion of reporting from the Consulates Gen- eral to Saigon and from Saigon to Washington I myself prepared some of these reports I have concluded on the basis of my experience and talks with other F505 in Vietnam that there were frequent -significant omissions from the reporting to Washington to which I had access furthermore the language of the reporting that did gonout to - Washington was frequently slanted toward one interpretation of events What I describe amounts to in my opinion a consistent distortion of the whole body of reporting from the Embassy to the Department In my judgment the distortion may be enough to Wuhan Clemenceau mm For Dugo monl 001 omen 1 1 Ming Dale Phone Nun Conical un TITI cu WApplan UNCLASSIFIED US Department of State Case No F-2016-07743 Doc No 017980139 Date 09 12 2017 UNCLASSIFIED US Department of State Case No F-2016-07743 Doc NO C17980139 Date 09 12 2017 Page 2 of A-442 Belgrade seriously call into question the Department's ability to reach any policy decision based on this reporting This distortion manifested itself in many individually insignificant instances For example in the report I drafted on the Four-Party ICCS investigation of the Cai Lay School mortaring in March 1974 I indicated a strong suspicion that local GVN officials had pennitted or eVen plan- ned the demonstration which brought the investigation to an abrupt end Some revisions were made to this section in the Consulate General in Can Tho softening the wording but leaving the meaning essentially in- tact in CAN THO 01l3 When the Embassy relayed the report to Nashington the section was deleted entirely Some weeks later the Embassy sent a follow-up telegram summarizing the incident which asserted among other things that the South Vietnamese spared no effort to ensure the success of the investigation This ignored the Consulate General's analysis This analysis--my analysis--was based on a long standing acquaintance with the GVN officials involved and thorough familiarity with the security arrangements for the investigation as well as on eyewitness accounts gathered by another TDY F50 My acquaintance with local offi- cials was established during my service as a CORDS adyiser in Dinh Tuong Province in which Cai Lay is located from l970 to l972 My knowledge of security arrangements for the investigation was based on a number of long discussions with concerned district and province officials and with members of the GVN delegation to the JMC as well as on two walks through Cai Lay District Town one just before and one during the investi- gation to actually observe security precautions The Embassy decided on an interpretation diametrically opposite to my own For a second example in preparing the Weekly Ceasefire Situation Re port for 11 Corps in the Consulate General in Nha Trang I was under instructions from the Acting Consul General to de-emphasize events which were or could be interpreted as GVN ceasefire violations These instruc- tions'made it necessary for me to note at one point for example in- tensified action in the E0 Gio area of Kontum Province instead of re- porting the actual division-sized GVN attack on NVA lines northeast of Kontum City Again in reporting from Nha Trang I was told to describe a series-of operations by GVN unitS'as taking place in unpopulated areas adjacent to populated areas in one coastal province These were actua1ly deep penetrations into Comunist base areas from which VC NVAT nits had been launching raids But this latter description I was told could be in- terpreted as a South Vietnamese ceasefire violation I UNCLASSIFIED US Department of State Case No F-2016-07743 Doc No 017980139 Date 09 12 2017 UNCLASSIFIED US Department of State Case No F-2016-07743 Doc No C17980139 Date 09l12l2017 Page 3 of A-442 Belgrade A general factor determining the shaping of all reporting was the tendency by higher-level officers to accept optimistic appraisals at face value but to demand careful documentation of any unfavor- able statement I can cite other examples of systematic alterations in reporting in my own experience as well as examples from other F505 with Vietnam service I can also note the Moose Meissner report to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee which I have not read but whose conclu- sions as reported by the International Herald Tribune seem quite correct There are a number of explanations which are'aHVanced among Foreign Service Officers in Vietnam to account for such instances as the a- bove One was that the Embassy reporting to which we lower-level officers had access was designed for the lower levels of the Depart ment where most leaks to the press occur According to this theory the most highly classified reporting included a large part of what we saw camouflaged or omitted in lower-level reporting Thus the Am- bassador might attempt to avoid press leaks which would harm the South Vietnamese position A second explanation seems more reasonable that the Ambassador di- rects the content and tone of reporting to HaShington on the basis of his own detenmination as to what should be reported This occurs to some extent in every foreign service post as an obvious derivation of the Ambassador's position as the head of the US mission But this factor becomes harmful when the Ambassador's determination results in the exclusion of a coherent body_of information that is when it re- sults in a substantial distortion of the entire flow of reporting available to the Department fromiis post The existence of a substantial flow of distorted information to the Department has serious effects on two levels in my opinion 0n the institutional level it can only harm the Department's efforts to maintain an influential position in foreign policy management Onya personal level it wastes the services of'the Foreign Service Officers assigned to deal with it Furthermore it is a direct attack on both the morale and the integrity of the officers required to participate in its production T The question of the content of the Ambassador's personal communication with the Secreta i'o TState is relevant here If this communication adds the dimension that was lacking tHe communications to which I had access the detrimental effects on policy of lower-level distortion I UNCLASSIFIED US Department of State Case NO F-2016-07743 Doc No C17980139 Date 09 12l2017 I UNCLASSIFIED US Department of State Case No F-2016-07743 Doc No C17980139 Date 09 12 2017 Page 4 of A-442 Belgrade would not be as severe But these effects continue on material pro- duced by levels of the Department which do not have access to this communication The effects on the individual Foreign Service Officers required to deal with distorted reporting are just as serious as they are if no Ambassador to-Secretary cmnnunication is taking place I use general tenns here because I suspect that similar situations have existed in reporting from other missions though perhaps none as serious or as long-lasting as Vietnam To correct this situation I strongly urge that the Department reaffinn to all posts its commitment to insuring an accurate flow of reporting from the field This commitment would be made most clear in a message similar to the following The Department wishes to remind each Head of Mission that it is his responsibility to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the flow of reporting from his mission to the Depart- ment s If in the judgment of the Secretary of State this responsibi- lity is not fulfilled and significant shortcomings are found to exist in reporting to the Department through the fault of the Embassy the Chiefs of Mission and senior Foreign Service Officers of the mission are reminded that this is sufficient reason to recommend or effect their censure and or removal from post This flow of reporting must include as a matter of course dissenting views of any significance from members of the mission staff The inclusion of these dissenting views is the responsibility of the Chief of Mission and of the senior Foreign Service Officers of the mission I further recomend that the Department form a panel of FSOs to investi- gate cases where substantial inaccuracies may exist in Foreign Service reporting The panel which would be constituted at regular two-to- three year intervals or as special occasions arise would'consist of a small number of officers including junior and middle-grade officers The Under Secretary would designate at the time the panel is consti- tuted a list of posts from which reporting is most critical and or posts where there is a controversy regarding reporting At present for example such a list might include Greece Cyprus Turkey Vietnam and any or all of the countries involved in the Arab-Israeli confronta- tion 0n reaching a finding that there are shortcomings in a post's - reporting through the fault of the post the panel will recommend ac tion to the Under Secretary of State The Under Secretary will then contact the Ambassador and other officers concerned and in the pre- sence of the panel request their answer to the charges made Mhen_the di hFiBEHfi tfbi f - I UNCLASSIFIED US Department of State Case No F-2016-07743 Doc No C17980139 Date 09 12 2017 UNCLASSIFIED US Department of State Case No Doc No 017980139 Date 09 12 2017 Page 5 of A-442 Belgrade Under Secretary reaches a decision in the matter he will transmit his decision and recommendation for action along with a transcript of the inquiry proceedings to the Secretary of State A finding of neglect will include recommendations for censure and or removal of the responsible officers If the Secretary does not concur in the finding _the procedure ends If he does concur he will forward any recommendations for censure or dismissal of an Ambassador to the President for his action Action against lower ranking officers will be the responsibility of the Secretary of State I have designed this procedure with consideration to the regular system of inspections as a useful and necessary supplement I specifically recommend that such a panel be constituted immediately to investigate the accuracy of political reporting from the US Mission to the Republic of Vietnam Specific attention should be paid to re- porting of military actions possible South Vietnamese ceasefire vio- lations instances of corruption and any other occurrences which might be seen as reflecting adversely on the South Vietnamese effort In view of the demonstrated interest of the Senate Cmmnittee on Foreign Relations in this matter and with a view toward maximizing the De- partment s credibility with Congress I further strongly urge that the Committee be kept informed of the progress of this inquiry I request distribution of this message to be made to the Deputy Under Secretary of State for Management the Director General of the Foreign Service the Inspector General and the Chairman of the Secretary's Open Forum Panel in in State A-3592 May 2 1974 Signed Be TOON UNCLASSIFIED US Department of State Case No F-2016-07743 Doc No 017980139 Date 09 12 2017 UNCLASSIFIED U S Degartment of State Case No F- 2016- 07743 Dec No 017080140 Date 09I12I2017 T3235 aqua uegsnuhf Ii gflli ay fm fir Department of State Pads 91 E111 225131 IDRIGIN sP-aa iNPo- - Es ae 9 av TAPPqueo 3T BIPISLEHIS IRELEASEINPARTBN INIDPINOAVIs v0 1121131w0cTI74 IpzssENT 01 116521Iaos oecuus DGEN - j f ' auaJecTTonaaENT - f -j86 INLET - 'lIei' Iroaua1-Ponr - BS - -1 IHEIHAVE CONSIDERED -NPss 1cP- AN0 1 - chsuLTPo- PULLT NTTN KEY -oPPTePas TN- THE -oN 1T -TN11 - IHATTER THE CREATEOIFDR TNTs PURPOSE auouLp IBPIusgn 1N T1NPLT-P11N10N-NNENPVEP APPROPRIATE TssuEa THE SUPPIPIENLT 0P To ITS THOROUGHNESS AND ACCURACY IIN 3 Tm- 1 figs inc 31 UNCLASSIFIED US Department of State Case No F-2016-07743 Doc No 017980140 Date 0911212017 UNCLASSIFIED U S Department of State Case No Doc No 017980140 Date 09 12 2017 IPAGE 22 22322 PDLICYHAKERS TO PDLIDYI -AND ISEDDND INVESTIDAIDRY HISSIDNS IN IGDNSIDERINDI FDRI --DP HIESIDN THEY YDU- I-DF REPORTING FROM IA non NHILP Is aons IN THERE I2 ALSUI A BETNEPN THE IAGENCIEB NeceasItAT Eo PT THEI ResouRcPa AVAILABLE IN ADDITIONITD A NIDP OF -REPORTs POL-ICTNAKERP- THEIBENEFIT or EXTENSIVE PRESS covaRAugnoP EVENTS IN VIETNAH- OF THE LARGEINUHEERIDF OFF ICIALI AND UNOFFICIAL VISITORS To AREA VIPNPD FROH nP- THE THAT THAT YOU IN VIETNAH ARE ADELUATELN THROUGH IDTHERIREPORTING OHANNELB HERPIUNAVAILABLE YOU- IN THPIPIELO IN SHORT INEHBELIENEITHAT THEITOTAL-ITTIOPI HASHINGTONIPOLILTNANPRI AN ACLURATE THAT NITH vounususuesTION THAT A To HP IT ISIHISEIORINECESSARY Tn IAISPECIALHPANELINHEN THEHHANDATEHOF 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on OFITHEIPOBT - - ANY ADDITIONALITHOUGHTB 1Mu iHAv HAVE E11HEH 1HnouaHe1HEuotssEN1 019Ec1 1HE-1HAHEC10H-GEHERALA 1Hzt ioenu11- run ona1HE GENERAL 1 UNCLASSIFIED U S Department of State Case No F-2016-07743 Doc No C17980140 Date 09 12 201