BEFORE A
SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
NINETY-SECOND CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
______________________
July 15 {a.m., p.m.}, 16, 19, 21; and August 2, 1971
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Government Operations
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
68-870 WASHINGTON : 1971
COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS
Chet Holifield, California, Chairman
Jack Brooks, Texas |
Florence P. Dwyer, New Jersey |
Herbert Roback, Staff Director
Christine Ray Davis, Staff Administrator
James A. Lanigan, General Counsel
Miles Q. Romney, Associate General Counsel
J. P. Carlson, Minority Counsel
William H. Copenhaver, Minority Professional Staff
______________________
FOREIGN OPERATIONS AND GOVERNMENT INFORMATION SUBCOMMITTEE
William S. Moorhead, Pennsylvania, Chairman
| John E. Moss, California Torbert H. MacDonald, Massachusetts Jim Wright, Texas John Conyers, Jr., Michigan Bill Alexander, Arkansas |
Ogden R. Reid, New York Frank Horton, New York John N. Erlenborn, Illinois Paul N. McCloskey, Jr., California |
EX OFFICIO
| Chet Holifield, California | Florence P. Dwyer, New Jersey |
William G. Phillips, Staff Director
Norman G. Cornish, Deputy Staff Director
Harold F. Whittington, Staff Consultant
Dale E. Moser, Supervisory Auditor, GAO
Martha M. Dott, Clerk
Mary E. Milek, Secretary
(II)
August 2 1971 hearing, pages 287-362
Witnesses:
Michael J. Uhl
K. Barton Osborn
Jerome R. Waldie {p.287}
U.S. Assistance Programs in Vietnam
______________________
Monday, August 2, 1971
House of Representatives,
Foreign Operations and
Government Information Subcommittee
of the Committee of Government Operations,
Washington, D.C.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to recess, at 10 a.m., in room 2203, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. William S. Moorhead (chairman) of the subcommittee presiding.
Present: Representatives William S. Moorhead, Ogden R. Reid, and Paul N. McCloskey, Jr.
Staff members present: William G. Phillips, staff director; Norman G. Cornish, deputy staff director; Harold F. Whittington, staff consultant; Dale E. Moser, supervisory auditor, GAO; and William H. Copenhaver, minority professional staff, Committee on Government Operations.
Mr. Moorhead. The Subcommittee on Foreign Operations and Government Information will please come to order.
While waiting for other members to arrive, I will make an opening statement.
During the past several weeks, we have been looking into the economy and efficiency of the operations of the U.S. assistance programs in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. We have reviewed the degree of inequity in the exchange rates in the currency of these countries with the U.S. dollar. We have begun our inquiries into the long-range implications of U.S. assistance operations to help strengthen the economic trade and stability of these nations once U.S. military support has been withdrawn.
Likewise, we have reviewed various economy and efficiency aspects of such programs as commodity imports, health, refugees, public safety, and rural development and other types of inter-related activities involved in the so-called CORDS “pacification” programs.
Wednesday and Thursday afternoons of this week will be devoted to hearing additional witnesses on the operation of black market currency manipulation and other illegal activities in these countries.
The Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, Eugene Rossides, will be the principal witness on Thursday. Following the hearing that day, I hope to discuss with the other members of the subcommittee the overall plans and timetable for reports on these hearings and the advisability of resuming certain areas of these hearings in September after the recess.
Earlier in our hearings, we discussed various aspects of the pacification program carried on by the CORDS organization. Ambassador Colby, former head of the programs, testified 2 weeks ago today. Members have been disturbed by certain allegations made about the U.S. involvement in the so-called Phoenix program, under which some 22,000 persons of the Vietcong infrastructure were neutralized this past year. We learned that neutralized means killed, imprisoned or rallied.
Ambassador Colby went into some detail about the Phoenix program in a supplemental statement he submitted to the subcommittee. He also {p.288} responded to numerous questions about its objectives and its operational characteristics.
For the record, I would like to include an article in today’s New York Times which is headlined: “Rewards up to $11,000 Set for Captured Vietcong.”
Without objection it will be made part of the record.
(The article follows:)
Present: Representatives William S. Moorhead, Ogden R. Reid, and Paul N. McCloskey, Jr.
Staff members present: William G. Phillips, staff director; Norman G. Cornish, deputy staff director; Harold F. Whittington, staff consultant; Dale E. Moser, supervisory auditor, GAO; and William H. Copenhaver, minority professional staff, Committee on Government Operations.
Mr. Moorhead. The Subcommittee on Foreign Operations and Government Information will please come to order.
While waiting for other members to arrive, I will make an opening statement.
During the past several weeks, we have been looking into the economy and efficiency of the operations of the U.S. assistance programs in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. We have reviewed the degree of inequity in the exchange rates in the currency of these countries with the U.S. dollar. We have begun our inquiries into the long-range implications of U.S. assistance operations to help strengthen the economic trade and stability of these nations once U.S. military support has been withdrawn.
Likewise, we have reviewed various economy and efficiency aspects of such programs as commodity imports, health, refugees, public safety, and rural development and other types of inter-related activities involved in the so-called CORDS “pacification” programs.
Wednesday and Thursday afternoons of this week will be devoted to hearing additional witnesses on the operation of black market currency manipulation and other illegal activities in these countries.
The Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, Eugene Rossides, will be the principal witness on Thursday. Following the hearing that day, I hope to discuss with the other members of the subcommittee the overall plans and timetable for reports on these hearings and the advisability of resuming certain areas of these hearings in September after the recess.
Earlier in our hearings, we discussed various aspects of the pacification program carried on by the CORDS organization. Ambassador Colby, former head of the programs, testified 2 weeks ago today. Members have been disturbed by certain allegations made about the U.S. involvement in the so-called Phoenix program, under which some 22,000 persons of the Vietcong infrastructure were neutralized this past year. We learned that neutralized means killed, imprisoned or rallied.
Ambassador Colby went into some detail about the Phoenix program in a supplemental statement he submitted to the subcommittee. He also {p.288} responded to numerous questions about its objectives and its operational characteristics.
For the record, I would like to include an article in today’s New York Times which is headlined: “Rewards up to $11,000 Set for Captured Vietcong.”
Without objection it will be made part of the record.
(The article follows:)
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