Approved for Release 2024 06 12 C06593402 SE 1 fl - m tY 19 September 1963 The Honorable Henry Ca bot Lodge The Ambass ador of the United States Saigon South Vi-et Nam Dear Cabot in lam taking this means o communicating with you the interests o privacy knowing that the use o the C J A channel restrictive as it is would mean that a few people on both ends would have access to my m ssage to you I was told by Dean Rusk that you had proposed that General Lansdale come out to assist you and in order to provide needed staff for contemplated operations• to replace Richardson as Chief of Station Rusk explained that you spoke most highly of Rkhardson and therefore I assume that your suggestion was not _because of dissatisiaction with John but more because you felt his reh1tionships with the r'egime -- -and most particularly with Nhu made it difficult or him to direct the organization in accordance with your wishes which I assume to mean you feel a change in South Viet Nam government a must First Cabot l wish to emphasize that the Agency will reorient the Saigon station in any practical way to meet your desires Personnel including the Station Chief can be replacedi the station can be expanded or contracted and particular operations can be accelerated or stopped altogether However our Chiefs o Station must work in greatest intimacy with and for that matter be directed by a very large and· experienced staff under Mr Helms who are experienced in and understand the techniques ·of directing field operations in such activities as positive intelligence counterintelligen e covert political action paramilitary training and operations etc To have a Station Chief in as an important a station as Salgon who is unacceptable to this organiza tion would be unmanageable Unfortunately General Lansdale would not be acceptable to the organization or to me personally I will not go into details as to why this is t rue but some tim'e when we are together l can tell you S µ ice it to say at this time that General Lansdale 1s use in the i pann r you propose in your letter would create insurmountablei problems and thet'efore l must advise against it i I -- _ ··p 1 • · ·· _ ··-·· - · · ' l I Approved for Release 2024 06 12 C06593402 l I want to be abundantly clear however on Riehardson Despite Dean'$ statement that yo hold John in high regard I have reason to beUeve a problem might exh t out there My ea on is that I have t-eceived the £allowing report lr m a source that I coneider re$ponalble and abtJ-olutely dependable and I quote •i - Mike Dunn Special Assi stant to Ambassador Lodge had told Mr Cone n of our station that Am bauador Lodge was going to get rid of Richa rdson Dunn has apparently spoken to other medium-level members of the station along the ame line In·short Dunn•s conduct has been designed to give our station the ixnpression that Mr Rkhardson is a 'short terrner 1 On one occasion Dunn asked Conein 'Do you think that Dave Smith Uchard13on's deputy can rurt the station for a temporary period while a new Station Chief is being a nt out here 1 - - 11 This 1'ind o talk apparently is accepted as being true in both t'p e station and within our b lilding here I believe this moet unfortunate God knows it is difficult enough to deal with the various agencies and interested parties in the complicated matters we are dealing with in · South Viet Nam without this kind of talk Pel 'haps a word to Dunn on this matter would be in order Also a word to Richardson if you have the confidence in him which you apparently expre sed Although I do not resist a change of Station Chief I would counsel against precipitous action i we intend to try to work out any kind an arrangement with the present regime even though on a short range basis Ric hardson has valuable contacts and the confidence of some individuals in the regime particularly Nhu as well as certain generals and these might be lost with his departure However if the decision is to abandon all hope of working with the regime then Richardson probably should be replaced I think he is pretty firm in his mind that we must work with the r gime or a period of time becau e in the first place there is no apparent fileans of replacing then ahd in the second there is no leader hip on the horizon to take over which would guarantee an improvement over our pl esent situation of In addition Richardson is a man of great experience · He has been ln al a ep ie here which is a po ition of very considerable importance and he has been Station Chief in such important plaqes as and elsewhere However we do have a man of saUsfactory experience who s served with gxe at skill in other ttying situations and whom I would propose as a replacement or Richardson i you desire J ohn removed -- ------ b 1 b 3 ' ' 2 - ··d· Approved for Release 2024 06 12 C06593402 Approved for Release 2024 06 12 C06593402 u tt h n J ·i - c - · r - - With refpect to General Lansdale l would counsel against sending him to Saigon unless it was tor the pu-rpose of conducting a series of friendly meetings with Diem based upon the background o£ Lansdale's personal relationship 0£ many year s 1 standing with Diem and a gel lera l tecognition in Viet Nam and elsewhere th at Lansdale was Diem's maker and advocate However firuil decisiqn on this is yours and the Department's not mine I am more disturbed ove the situa tion that has developed in South Viet Nam n any ree ent' c-rtsb whi eh has eon fronted thi government Neither l nor the Agency nor the lnteUigenee Community harbor any fj xed policy position · Thie is' not our bus ess 0 We do eei it ia our business however to analyze all available intelligence and to estimate the prospects of sllccess o a course o action llllder consideration by the policy makers We have no cur ent intelligence nor resulting estima e in hand which would lead us to the conclusion that the present regime can be disposed of or that there exists a replacement regime which would be better This is not however to say that a coup might ot occur even before you receive thitJ letter Coup plotting is reportJd almost daily and has been for the last 18 months However my experience in this field t Us me that coups that you hear about usually don 1t happen _ · · A sample of our experience with your problem is contained in the attached f ew pages of a review of our analysis of the pfJlitical situation in So th Viet Nam since June 1962 1 which I appended to my daily report 0£ yesterday to the Executive Committee On · per$onal note l haye just had a long visit with Ike and reviewed the Vief·Nam-situation l IJ irn e detai l • Jie realize the problems as he lived for many years with Diemis intransigence and bis manner of governing his people he £elt would come to_110 good_end llow ver h e urges g reat c re and deliberation r dognizing as we all do the carrying o« of a coup is no small task and even if succeS$ful bhe aftei-math bas its own special problems He is distre8Sed ove·r the violent press and eels this in it1 Jelf might make careful objective appraisals difficult as was the case in Cuba in 1958 I With warm personal regards and again let me assu re you of rny desire to help you with your most trying and diilicult task and of rny friendship Sincerely ·-- - -- ' JJi b ·2 p·· 0 rr r C_I T ·Jl fCf I 1 r c D J Jl T Attachment ' E_ rG r _ r · Sf Jolpl· A_ · -M• J OJ l C •- f1 8 ·j 3 · Dire tor Handwritten in here Ike bleeds for you - hJ e fiend - an Approved for Release 2024 06 12 C06593402