The reports conclusions about the Gulf of Tonkin Incident are particularly relevant as they offer useful insights into the problems that SIGINT faces today in The basic story line of the Gulf of Tonkin incident is as follows: At approximately 1430 hours Vietnam time on August 2, 1964, USS Maddox (DD-731) detected three North Vietnamese torpedo boats approaching at high speed. Thats what all the country wants, because Goldwater's raising so much hell about how he's gonna blow 'em off the moon, and they say that we oughtn't to do anything that the national interest doesn't require. Vietnam War: Gulf of Tonkin Incident. Gulf of Tonkin incident | Definition, Date, Summary, Significance The House passed the resolution unanimously.17 While many facts and details have emerged in the past 44 years to persuade most observers that some of the reported events in the Gulf never actually happened, key portions of the critical intelligence information remained classified until recently. Gulf of Tonkin - National Security Agency He also requested air support. Covert maritime operations were in full swing, and some of the missions succeeded in blowing up small installations along the coast, leading General Westmoreland to conclude that any close connection between 34A and Desoto would destroy the thin veneer of deniability surrounding the operations. 2, pp. The Maddox fired againthis time to killhitting the second North Vietnamese boat just as it launched two torpedoes. In 1964 an Ohio woman took up the challenge that had led to Amelia Earharts disappearance. On 3 August, the CIA confirmed that "Hanois naval units have displayed increasing sensitivity to U.S. and South Vietnamese naval activity in the Gulf of Tonkin during the past several months. The Gulf of Tonkin Incident and many more recent experiences only reinforce the need for intelligence analysts and decision makers to avoid relying exclusively on any single intelligence sourceeven SIGINTparticularly if other intelligence sources are available and the resulting decisions might cost lives. Hickman, Kennedy. It still is not clear whether the order was intended to halt the attack or to delay it until after nightfall, when there was a much greater chance for success. Simultaneously, U.S. SIGINT was placed on increased alert to monitor indications of future North Vietnamese threats to the Desoto Missions, and additional air and naval forces were deployed to the Western Pacific. At the time, the Navy relied heavily on Naval Support Group Activity (NSGA), San Miguel, Philippines, for SIGINT support, augmented by seaborne SIGINT elements called Direct Support Units (DSUs). In less than 25 minutes, the attack was over. For the Navys official account stating that both incidents occurred and that 34A and Desoto were "entirely distinct," see Marolda and Fitzgerald, pp. It authorized the president to "prevent further aggression . :: Douglas Pike, director of the Indochina Studies Program at the University of California-Berkeley, is the author of the forthcoming "Vietnam and the U.S.S.R.: Anatomy of an Alliance.". After a suspected torpedo attack by North Vietnamese patrol torpedo boats led to plans for US retaliation,the captain of the Maddox sent a cable to the Joint Chiefs that advised "complete evaluation before any further action"due to grave doubts over whether an attackhad reallyoccurred. . The USS Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin is shown in 1963. But, to me, the more pernicious deception was this idea that American ships were sailing innocently in the Gulf of Tonkin and were attacked without provocation, he continues. In 1996 Edward Moises book Tonkin Gulf and the Escalation of the Vietnam War presented the first publicly released concrete evidence that the SIGINT reporting confirmed the August 2 attack, but not the alleged second attack of August 4. By late July 1964, SOG had four Nasty-class patrol boats, designated. 1. But Morse did not know enough about the program to ask pointed questions. PTF-3 and PTF-6 broke off and streaked south for safety; they were back in port before 1200. In an effort to increase pressure on North Vietnam, several Norwegian-built fast patrol boats (PTFs) were covertly purchased and transferred to South Vietnam. WebUnderground Knowledge host James Morcan discloses what really happened in 1964's Gulf of Tonkin Incident which started the Vietnam War. Suns and Stars "We believe that present OPLAN 34A activities are beginning to rattle Hanoi," wrote Secretary of State Dean Rusk, "and [the] Maddox incident is directly related to their effort to resist these activities. American aircraft flying over the scene during the "attack" failed to spot any North Vietnamese boats. The North Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs made all this clear in September when it published a "Memorandum Regarding the U.S. War Acts Against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in the First Days of August 1964." This was the only time covert operations against the North came close to being discussed in public. 5. The first such Desoto mission was conducted off the North Vietnamese coast in February 1964, followed by more through the spring. Hanoi denied the charge that it had fired on the U.S. destroyers on 4 August, calling the charge "an impudent fabrication. PTF-2 had mechanical troubles and had to turn back, but the other boats made it to their rendezvous point off the coast from Vinh Son. In July 1964, Operational Plan 34A was taking off, but during the first six months of this highly classified program of covert attacks against North Vietnam, one after the other, missions failed, often spelling doom for the commando teams inserted into the North by boat and parachute. IV-2 to IV-4. Gulf Of Tonkin Early Military Career Given the maritime nature of the commando raids, which were launched from Da Nang, the bulk of the intelligence collecting fell to the Navy. These PTFs were manned by South Vietnamese crews and conducted a series of coastal attacks against targets in North Vietnam as part of Operation 34A. The lack of success in SOGs missions during the first few months of 1964 made this proposal quite attractive. Unfortunately, much of the media reporting combined or confused the events of August 2 and 4 into a single incident. Non-subscribers can read five free Naval History articles per month. The Desoto patrol continued with another destroyer, the Turner Joy (DD-951), coming along to ward off further trouble. He then requested the passage of a resolution "expressing the unity and determination of the United States in supporting freedom and in protecting peace in Southeast Asia." With a presidential election just three months away and Johnson positioning himself as the peace candidate, the administration spoke of American resolve not to react to provocation and to avoid escalation. Johnsonasked for, and received, a resolution of war from the US Congress that led to further escalation in the conflict. On the night of 4 August, both ships reported renewed attacks by North Vietnamese patrol boats. Interpretation by historians as to what exactly did and did not occur during those few days in early August 1964 remains so varied that the wonder is that authors Marolda and Fitzgerald were able themselves to settle on the text. WebTo many online conspiracy theorists, the biggest false flag operation of all time was the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Robert S. McNamara, In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam (New York: Times Books, 1995), pp. Moving in closer, the crew could see their targeta communications towersilhouetted in the moonlight. Subsequent research and declassified documents have essentially shown that the second attack did not happen. "1 Most of these would be shore bombardment. NSA officials handed the key August SIGINT reports over to the JCS investigating team that examined the incident in September 1964. Efforts to communicate with the torpedo boats failed, probably because of language and communications equipment incompatibility. We're going to retaliate and well make an announcement a little later in the evening, in the next hour or so and well ask Congress for a resolution of war the next day to support us, Johnson toldan old friend. The 522-page NSA official history Spartans in Darkness: American SIGINT and the Indochina War, 1945-1975, triggered a new round of media reporting and renewed debate about what really happened in the Gulf of Tonkin. Media Manipulation. WebThe Gulf of Tonkin and the Vietnam War. The Pentagon had already released details of the attack, and administration officials had already promised strong action. They are part and parcel of a continuing Communist drive to conquer South Vietnam. When the boats reached that point, Maddox fired three warning shots, but the torpedo boats continued inbound at high speed. Everything went smoothly until the early hours of 2 August, when intelligence picked up indications that the North Vietnamese Navy had moved additional Swatows into the vicinity of Hon Me and Hon Nieu Islands and ordered them to prepare for battle. Two hours later, Captain Herrick reported the sinking of two enemy patrol boats. With this information, back in Washington President Johnson and his advisers considered their options. That initial error shaped all the subsequent assessments about North Vietnamese intentions, as U.S. SIGINT monitored and reported the Norths tracking of the two American destroyers. In fact, the North Vietnamese were trying to avoid contact with U.S. forces on August 4, and they saw the departure of the Desoto patrol ships as a sign that they could proceed to recover their torpedo boats and tow them back to base. The Gulf of Tonkin incident led to the expansion of the Vietnam War that resulted in a lot of American Over the next few years, Johnson used the resolution to rapidly escalate American involvement in the Vietnam War. As it turns out, Adm. Sharp failed to read to the Joint Chiefs the last line of the cable, whichread: Suggest a complete evaluation before any further actions.. "4 His assessment of the evidence now raised doubts in his mind about what really had happened. Sign up for The Top of the World, delivered to your inbox every weekday morning. WebThe Gulf of Tonkin While Kennedy had at least the comforting illusion of progress in Vietnam (manufactured by Harkins and Diem), Johnson faced a starker picture of confusion, disunity, and muddle in Saigon and of a rapidly growing Viet Cong in the countryside. Summary Notes of the 538th Meeting of the NSC, 4 August 1964, 6:15-6:40 p.m., Foreign Relations of the United States 1964-1968, vol. This was granted, and four F-8 Crusaders were vectored towards Maddox's position. There was no way to get a commando team ashore to plant demolition charges; they would have do what damage they could with the boats guns.3 Telegram from Embassy in Vietnam to Department of State, 7 August 1964, FRUS 1964, vol. 1, p. 646. As is common with specialized histories -- what I call the "tunnels of Cu Chi" syndrome -- this book will tell most readers more about the U.S. Navy in Vietnam than they care to know. In addition, the US Navy was instructed to conduct Desoto patrols off North Vietnam. It reveals what commanders actually knew, what SIGINT analysts believed and the challenges the SIGINT community and its personnel faced in trying to understand and anticipate the aggressive actions of an imaginative, deeply committed and elusive enemy. We have ample forces to respond not only to these attacks on these destroyers but also to retaliate, should you wish to do so, against targets on the land, he toldthe president. Based on the intercepts, Captain John J. Herrick, the on-scene mission commander aboard nearby Turner Joy, decided to terminate Maddoxs Desoto patrol late on August 1, because he believed he had indications the ship was about to be attacked.. North Vietnams immediate concern was to determine the exact position and status of its torpedo boats and other forces. Quoted in Steve Edwards, "Stalking the Enemys Coast," U.S. When the contacts appeared to turn away at 6,000 yards, Maddoxs crew interpreted the move as a maneuver to mark a torpedo launch. Related:LBJ knew the Vietnam War was a disaster in the making. The Gulf of Tonkin Incident famously gave the Johnson Administration the justification they needed to escalate the Vietnam War. Over the next 12 hours, as the president's team scrambledto understand what hadhappened and to organize a response, the facts remained elusive. Captain Herrick had been ordered to be clear of the patrol area by nightfall, so he turned due east at approximately 1600. President, weve just had a report from the commander of that task force out there The report is that they have observed and we don't know by what means two unidentified vessels and three unidentified prop aircraft in the vicinity of the destroyers, McNamara told the president. By including the orders and operational guidance provided to the units involved, the study develops the previously missing context of the intelligence and afteraction reports from the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. Telegram from the Department of State to the Embassy in Vietnam, 3 August 1964, FRUS, Vietnam, 1964, p. 603. 426-436. Both of these messages reached Washington shortly after 1400 hours EDT. The Secret Side of the Tonkin Gulf Incident, 2. To have a Tonkin Gulf conspiracy means that the several hundred National Security Agency and naval communications cited have been doctored. In turn, that means a minimum of several hundred persons were party to a plot that has remained watertight in sieve-like Washington for two decades. The U.S. ships were supposed to remain well outside North Vietnams claimed five nautical mile territorial limit. The ships gunners used the standard 5 mil offset to avoid hitting the boats. One 12.7mm machine bullet hit Maddox before the boats broke off and started to withdraw. Along with other American warships, Maddox was steaming in international waters some 28 nautical miles off North Vietnams coast, gathering information on that countrys coastal radars. It is difficult to imagine that the North Vietnamese could come to any other conclusion than that the 34A and Desoto missions were all part of the same operation. Hanoi pointed out what Washington denied: "On July 30, 1964 . including the use of armed force" to assist South Vietnam (the resolution passed the House 416 to 0, and the Senate 88 to 2; in January 1971 President Nixon signed legislation that included its "repeal"). Not all wars are made for navies, and the U.S. Navy had to insinuate itself into the Vietnam one and carve out a role. Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, []. Based on this, they launched the political process that led to the wars escalation. A firewall existed between covert patrol-boat attacks on North Vietnamese positions and Desoto patrols eavesdropping on shore-based communications. 12. One element of American assistance to South Vietnam included covert support for South Vietnamese commando raids against North Vietnams coastal transportation facilities and networks. After the war, Hanoi officials not only acknowledged the event but deemed it important enough to designate its date, Aug. 2, as the Vietnamese Navy's Anniversary Day, "the day our heroic naval forces went out and chased away Maddox and Turner Joy." The Dollar Bill . Typically, the missions were carried out by a destroyer specially outfitted with sensitive eavesdropping equipment. The Pyramid and All-Seeing Eye . Aircraft from the Ticonderoga (CVA-14) appeared on the scene, strafing three torpedo boats and sinking the one that had been damaged in the battle with the Maddox. Both sides, however, spent August 3 reviewing their contingency plans and analyzing lessons learned from the incident.
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