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
1961 in the Vietnam War The NSAM also called for South Vietnam to improve its military establishment and mobilize its resources to prosecute the war. Thus, Kennedy stopped short of what many of his advisers, including General Taylor, had advised: the introduction of U.S. combat soldiers into South Vietnam. Kennedy's decision not to introduce combat troops surprised the Defense Department which had been assembling forces to be assigned to Vietnam, including Farm Gate aircraft. However, Kennedy's decision was a visible and undeniable violation of the Geneva Accords of 1954, still technically in force. President Kennedy approved the use of herbicides in Viet Nam to kill