https://declassified.library.utoronto.ca/files/original/e62c5b2997337afc30e4cc5094c0774d.pdf 116d7f5134b6a95eb85373f6b9791d2c PDF Text Text Document disclosed under the Access to Information Act Document divulgue en vertu de la to/sur faeces a I'information LIM ITED D ISTR IBU TIO N V" PRIVY COUNCIL OFFICE ■r, BUREA . INTcmilfoT.ON EPFriAL REGISTRY IFC/5-62 1 a rch. 21, 1962 COPY NOo 1 M EM O RANDUM FO R THE IN TELLIG EN C E PO LIC Y CO M M ITTEE; Attached is a paper outlining the background and present operation of the intelligence gathering activities of the C anadian D elegation to the IG SC in Vietnam . I tw as prepared by the D epartm ent of External Affairs in cooperation w ith the Joint Intelligence Bureau and the D irector of M ilitary Intelligence and w as considered by the Joint Intelligence C om m ittee. C ertain am endm ents suggested by the JIC have been in corporated in the paper. I t Is requested that the Intelligence Policy C om m ittee note the paper, particu l arl y the conclusions in paragraph 11. 2. Follow ing discussion of this item i tis requested that copies of this paper be returned to the Secretary. Att. D.Bo De wa r S e cre ta ry D istribution Ne xt Page o o /2 000307 �Document disclosed under the Access to Information Act Document divulgue en vertu de la Loi sur I'acces a /'information TOP SECRET - 2 - DIS TRIBUTION: CO PT NO o U nder-Secretary of State for External Affairs C hairm ans, C hiefs of Staff Secretary to the C abinet D eputy M inister^ D epartm ent of N ational D efence C hief of the N aval Staff C hief of the G eneral Staff C hief of the Air Staff C hairm ans, D efence R esearch Board Presidents, N ational D efence C ouncil D eputy M inister of Finance C om m issioners, R oyal C anadian M ounted Police Secretary to the C abinet D efence C om m ittee (Secretary) D irector of C om m unications Security 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13=15 With a n informa tion copy to: S/CRC (16)S S /J IC(17). {jr*\T Mo * 000308 �Document disclosed under the Access to Information Act Document divulgue en vertu de la Loi sur I'acces a /'information LIMITED DIS TRIBUTION TOP SECRET Ma rch 21, l? 62o COPY NOc IN TELLIG EN C E G ATHER IN G AC TIVITIES O F THE C AN ADIAN D ELEG ATIO N TO THE IN TER N ATIO N AL C O M M ISSIO N FO R SU PER VISIO N AND CO NTRO L IN VIETN AM O ver the past six years the C anadian D elegation to the InternationalC om m ission foriSupervisioniand C ontrol,in Yiatnam has been collecting m i l i tary, econom ic and topographical i nt el l i gence on Vietnam and biographical inform ation on m em bers of the Polish D elegationo M ost of the inform ation, w hich chi efl y concerns N orth Vietnam i s passed to the Bri ti sh, U nited States and Australian intelli gence authori ti es8 The purpose of thi s paper i s to outline bri efl y the background of thi s arrange m ent and to describe i ts present operationo I tm ight be noted at the outset that our D elegation i n C am bodia has apparently never engaged i n i ntel l i gence gathering acti vi ti es, although i tw as ori gi nal l y envisaged that i tw ould, and that our D elega ti on in Laos only perform ed this function unti li t s w ithdraw al t s i n July 1958 w ith the adjournm ent of the IC SC for Laos. I acti vi ti es i n thi s respect w ere not resum ed w hen the C om m ission w as reconvened l ast year. BACKG RO UND 2. O n August 19, 19M , shortly after C anada w as invi ted to becom e a m em ber of the C om m issions for Indo-C hina the Joint Intelli gence C om m ittee suggested in a bri ef that advantage should be taken on C anadian m em bership on the three C om m issions to gather intell igence on Indo-C hina» This proposal w as sub m itted to the then Secretary of State for External Affai rs in 000 / 2 000309 �Document disclosed under the Access to Information Act Document divulgue en vertu de la Loi sur 1‘acces a Vinformation TOP SECRET - 2 - a m em orandum of August 51, 1954 w ith a recom m endation that a fi nal decision be postponed unti l the three C anadian C om m issioners concerned had had an opportunity to com m ent after they had exam ined the situation on the ground<= m em orandum „ M r0 Pearson apparently approved the I tw ould appear that the f i rst C om m issioner in Vietnam w as reluctant to accept this responsibility, but his successor, w ho took up his duties in August 1955» agreed to do so and a questionnaire l i sti ng various points of intelligence interest w as apparently sent to him for his guidance<. 5o The C entral Intelligence Agency had expressed an interest in the intelligence gathering potentialities of the C anadian presence in Indo-G hina, but the Joint Intelligence C om m ittee brief of August 1954 specifically ruled out any liaison w ith either the C IA or UK SIS representatives in the fi el d» I t stated that any arrangem ents for passing inform ation to the U nited States and British authorities w ould only be m ade by O ttaw a» N one in fact w as sent to them unti l after June 1956 w hen we told the UK SIS representative in W ashington in response to his enquiry that we w ould question officers returning from Indo-G hina on the basis of a UK SIS questionnaire and supply him w ith the answ ers» The sam e reply w as given to the C IA w ho had requested perm ission in June to interview returning officers„ Later, in N ovem ber 1956 the British and U nited States questionnaires and those prepared by our own directorates w ere am algam ated and sent to the D elega tion for com pletion by them rather than by officers on their return0 4o In February 1957? apparently at our ow n i ni ti ati ve but w ith the approval of the UK SIS and the C IA, the injunction against passing inform ation directly to their local representatives 1 wa s re move d a nd the De le ga tion was told to e s ta blis h dire ct 0 0 n> 000310 �Document disclosed under the Access to Information Act Document divulgue en vertu de la Loisur I'acces a /'information TO P SECRET -3 liaison in the field® i tw as considered that this m ethod w ould encourage a greater flow of useful British and U nited States in form ation on Vietnam , that i tw ould get the inform ation to the British and U nited States authorities m ore quickly and, fi nal l y, that i tw ould enable those in the fi el d to deal w ith intelligence needs as they arose on a day-to-day basis. W hereas from 1955 to 1957 the gathering of inform ation w as of a general nature supple m ented only by questionnaires from O ttaw a, the establishm ent of direct liaison considerably increased the num ber of requests for inform ation and as a result an arm y officer w as designated in August 1958 as Intelligence and Security O fficer to co-ordinate on a ful l-tim e basis the intelligence collection acti vi ti es in cluding direct liaison w ith the^ British and U nited States re presentatives® O PERATIO N C ollection of Inform ation 5° The bulk of the intelligence collected is gathered by the officers on the fixed team -sites, although occasionally External Affairs m em bers of the D elegation have been in a position to contribute econom ic and pol i ti cal intelligence (aside from the norm al pol i ti calreporting carried out by the D elegation). Since officers on the team -sites are in effect denied access to the local people and restricted in their m ovem ents, their principal m ethod of collecting intelligence is by personal observations and, w hen appropriate, by photography® Therefore, before the officers are sent to their team -sites they are briefed at length by the Intelligence and Security officer on the area covered by the team -site and on the particular intelligence requirem ents® They also are w arned to exercise every precaution in collecting o o A 000311 �r Document disclosed under the Access to Information Act Document divulgue en vertu de la Loi sur faeces a /'information TO P SECRET -A inform ation i n order to ensure that thei r acti vi ti es do not give ri se to suspicion,, W hat they are tol d m ust be com m itted to m em ory as they are not allow ed to carry any m aterial of an i n telligence nature, nor to correspond w ith the D elegation on thi s aspect of thei r acti vi ti es0 U pon thei r return to headquarters a m onth l ater they are debriefed by the Intelli gence and Security O fficer and asked detailed questions about the area and w hat they have observedo They also hand over any photographs that they m ay have taken and pass oh any inform ation that they have learned on m em bers of the Polish D elegation„ Each year9 the Joint Intelligence Bureau (O ttaw a) com piles 60 a questionnaire of current Bri ti sh, U oS o requirem entso 9 Australian, and C anadian This i s sent to the Intel li gence and Security offi cer to be used by him as a guide for the collection of econom ic, transportation, and l ogi sti c i ntel l i gence„ Inform ation the D elegation provides i s collated into a 7o report for forw arding to O ttaw a, and referral to the Bri ti sh and U oSo representstiveso The Joint Intel li gence Bureau publishes al leconom ic, transportation, and l ogi sti c intel ligence in a m onthly sum m ary w hich i s dissem inated to pertinent C anadian, Bri ti sh, U oS ° 9 and Australian intell igence agencies. Liaison w ith U K SIS and C IA 8o Liaison w ith the designated representative o.f_ the U K SIS and of the C IA i n Saigon i s m aintained solely by the Intelligence and Security O ffi cer„ H e m eets w ith the form er about onee a w eek and the l atter about three tim es a w eek. Their m eetings take place in such a w ay as to attracta m inim um of attention, al though peri odi cal l y the C anadian Liaison O fficer m ay m eet the U nited Kingdom representative at the Bri ti sh Em bassy w hen i t is necessary to use m aps, and occasionally the C IA representative m ay o o n 000312 �Document disclosed under the Access to Information Act Document divulgue en vertu de la Loi sur faeces a ('information TO P SECRET -5 vi si t him at the D elegation offi ces <> The C anadian Liaison O ffi cer, how ever, does not cal l at the U nited States Em bassy<> H is infrequent vi si ts to the Bri ti sh Em bassy, and those of the C IA representative to the D elegation offi ces, w ould not be i n appropriate since close rel ations exist betw een the three m issions i n al lfieldso Except for supplem entary questions of detai l , al l inform ation given to the Bri ti sh and U nited States representatives is passed to O ttaw a„ 9° I tshould also be m entioned that a copy of the i nt el l i gence reports prepared by the D elegation i s m ade available to the Australian Em bassy through the U K SIS representative i n Saigon«, There is no di rect l i ai son betw een the Intel li gence and Security O fficer and the Australian Em bassy„ •10 o Although i tadm ittedly w ould be em barrassing i fsom e aspects of the D elegations intel ligence gathering acti vi ti es be cam e know n, i tseem s unl i kel y that thi s could occur„ Bearing in m ind that m uch of the intell igence inform ation being sought by the m em bers of the fixed-team s also can be related to thei r responsi i bi l i t i es as m em bers of the IC SC , the ri sk that there w i l l ever be clear cut evidence of thei r intel ligence acti vi ti es i s not greato As there i s evidence that the Polish m em bers of the IC SC and possibly the Indians also use any opportunities available to them to gather m i l i tary and other inform ation of use to thei r authori ti es, our ow n interests i n thi s fi el d of acti vi ty are not l i kel y to be regarded as unique or unusual» C O N CLU SIO N S 11. The D elegation’ s intel ligence gathering acti vi ti es i n Vietnam have yielded inform ation of considerable value to C anada„ They have enabled us to m ake a unique contribution to the general © o o /6 000313 ^ ** �Document disclosed under the Access to Information Act Document divulgue en vertu de la Loi sur I'acces a I'information f - 6 - TOP SECRET exchange of inform ation that takes place on Indo-C hina w ith the Bri ti sh9 U nited States and Australian intelligence authorities, al lthree of whom have expressed their appreciation for our ef forts in this fi el d. The U nited States com m ent ran as follow s* "The C anadian m em bers of the Indo-C hina C ontrol C om m ission are in the unique position of being the only trained W estern observers able to travel w idely in N orth Vietnam and to report on a regular basis. Their econom ic reporting provides a valuable first-hand account of econom ic developm ents in Vietnam . The detailed cover age of the transportation and induatrial sectors of the econom y is particularly useful. O bservation of progress on various con struction projects, of highw ay conditions and truck transportation activities^, of rai ltransport acti vi ty betw een C om m unist C hina and N orth Vietham , and of shipping acti vi ty at H aiphong and G am pha/ H on G ay is extrem ely valuable to an analysis of offi ci al claim s of econom ic progress." Filially, the direct liaison w ith the British arid U nited States authorities not only encourages them to provide extensive useful inform ation on Vietnam i tsel f, but, of equal im portance, reciprocates to som e extent for the large am ount of intelligence m aterial in al lfields that they give to the C anadian intelligence com m unity. 000314 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Indochina (CDVN) Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CDVN00001 Title A name given to the resource Intelligence Gathering Activites of the Canadian Delegation to the International Commission for Supervision and Control in Vietnam Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 21-Mar-62 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Library and Archives Canada, RG25, file 1-3-12-2, part 3. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Government of Canada Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Canadian Crown Subject The topic of the resource Intelligence Activties in Vietnam Description An account of the resource Canadian Foreign Intelligence History Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Canada Declassified Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Language A language of the resource en