Spycraft - Melton [169]
“Headquarters wanted desperately to send a message to the NVA and we thought we could put together a team with modified 2.75 air-to-ground rockets to attack the target,” explained Parr.
The idea was to put Dien Bien Phu “under siege,” at least temporarily, through a covert operation. The techs needed to develop a means to launch rockets into the NVA garrison in rapid fire to simulate artillery, and do it with a single team of a dozen Montagnards. However, to make the system work, the team would have to position the rockets properly and set coordinates because the angle and direction of flight had to be precise for the rockets to strike their targets. “We couldn’t train Montagnards to use an optical system, it was too complex,” said Parr. “We had to make it simple.”
First, the techs calculated the firing angle from the designated launching site to the target, then produced an easy-to-use sighting system. The only requirement was to align a small free-moving arrow on the rocket casing with a black mark on the bracket that held the rocket in position. Once properly located and with the inclination set, the team could arm the rockets and clear out. Similar to the Triple Tube Launcher, the rockets had timers that allowed the twelve-man team to be far from the area when the attack began.
To avoid detection and to deflect attention away from the target, the insertion point was a three-day walk to Dien Bien Phu. Each of the twelve men carried one modified rocket and locating beacon so the techs could track their progress. After reaching the site, the rockets were positioned, armed, and the team extracted. The rockets fired as programmed and hit their targets inside the garrison. “We all considered the operation a roaring success,” said Parr. “We picked up NVA communications stating that the attack came during one of their staff meetings. It was like sticking an elephant with a pin but remarkably satisfying.”
By 1968, Laos had become a major battleground as the CIA fought to slow the flow of North Vietnamese troops and material along the Ho Chi Minh Trail that ran through northern and eastern Laos into South Vietnam. The North Vietnamese government protected these routes, in part, by supporting the communist Pathlet Lao insurgents who controlled the region.30 From Udorn, Thailand, the CIA and U.S. military advisors conducted joint operations with Laotians under the leadership of General Vang Pao. The immediate objective was to interdict supplies and men moving on the Ho Chi Minh Trail and retake Pathlet Lao-held territory.
TSD sent a four-man survey team into Laos in 1968 to assess the technical requirements needed to support paramilitary operations. The base for CIA containment operations in Laos, near Udorn, was located on the Thai side of the Mekong River that divides Laos and Thailand. In addition to housing the CIA’s Joint Liaison Detachment, the base was also home to Air America and a photo interpretation center.
The survey established a need for sustained technical support in the area. A technical shop that included an electronics bench, machine shop, photo darkroom, woodworking equipment, and briefing room was constructed. Prominently in the center of the floor sat a brown craft paper- covered worktable around which the techs met for operational planning and evaluations. The center table in a workshop without individual offices became a symbol of the cooperation and integration required from all parties in operations planning. TSD techs worked alongside other CIA officers in northern Thailand and Laos until the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam.
Electronic monitoring of the Ho Chi Minh Trail demanded technical innovation from TSD as the Agency attempted to use seismic technology to differentiate the types of vehicles traveling along the trail. “To test the prototype devices, we went out to one of our stateside facilities, strung them out on the road, and ran trucks and bicycles by them,” Jameson explained. “We tested the concept until we figured out how we could do this. I went back to Laos