Synopses & Reviews
In 1963, a frustrated President Kennedy turned to the Pentagon for help in carrying out subversive operations against North Vietnam- a job the CIA had not managed to handle effectively. Thus was born the Pentagon's Special Operations Group(SOG). Under the cover name"Studies and Observation Group," SOG would, over the next eight years, dispatch numerous spies to North Vietnam, create a triple-cross deception program, wage psychological warfare by manipulating North Vietnamese POW's and kidnapped citizens, and stage deadly assaults on enemy soldiers traveling the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Written by the country's leading expert on SOG, here is the story of that covert war-one that would have both spectacular and disastrous results.
Synopsis
In 1963, dissatisfied with the CIA's weak subversive operations against North Vietnam, President John F. Kennedy turned control over to the Pentagon and demanded results. Over the next eight years, the Special Operations Group (SOG) executed a wide array of covert activities that included carrying out psychological warfare through a fabricated guerilla movement, and manipulating North Vietnamese POWs and kidnapped citizens. Ultimately, this covert war would have both spectacular and disastrous results.
Richard H. Shultz, Jr., the country's leading expert on the activities of the SOG during Vietnam, presents a comprehensive account of the largest and most complex covert operation executed by Washington during the Cold War. In The Secret War Against Hanoi, Schulz draws on newly declassified documents and interviews with SOG officers and senior policymakers to unveil the SOG's covert activities, and explore their implications for the broader war effort.
Richard H. Shultz, Jr., is Director of International Security Studies Program and Associate Professor of International Politics at the Fletcher School of Law Diplomacy.
"This is an enormously important book, meticulously researched ... The future security of the United States and our allies will depend in large measure on how well we have learned the lessons set forth in The Secret War Against Hanoi." -- Caspar W. Weinberger, former Secretary of Defense
About the Author
Richard H. Shultz, Jr., is the director of the International Security Studies Program and associate professor of International Politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He has been Olin Distinguished Professor of National Security Studies, U.S. Military Academy; Secretary of the Navy Senior Research Fellow, U.S. Naval War College; and Research Fellow, Hoover Institution of War, Revolution and Peace, Stanford University. His books include The Soviet Union and Revolutionary Warfare.