CIA activities in Vietnam planning an immediate takeover, but are concentrating on psychological operations to increase unrest in the south and among American forces. Special National Intelligence Estimate 10-9-65, was done to assess the reactions, in various parts of the world, to an escalation of US attacks on North Vietnam. This estimate is especially significant in the conflict between the White House and the military & intelligence community. By summer of 1965 there were more than 125000 US ground troops in Vietnam and there did not seem to be an end in sight for their continuous arrival. In August 1965, after Prime Minister Quat
CIA activities in Vietnam the military and diplomats, and Lansdale was no longer involved with Vietnam. On May 11, 1961, President Kennedy gave the authorization to begin "a program for covert actions to be carried out by the Central Intelligence Agency which would precede and remain in force after any commitment of US forces to South Vietnam." Kennedy was giving the CIA the job of preparing for the eventual landing of US troops. Later that year, in October 1961 the Director of Central Intelligence Allen Dulles approved a massive counterinsurgency program with the goal of launching a "village defense program in the lightly populated