Table of Contents
Foreword William E. Colby x
Preface xiv
List of Acronyms xvi
1 Vietnam Was Different, and We Knew It 1
Notes 6
2 Why Did We Do So Poorly? 9
The Gap Between Policy and Performance 10
The Weakness of the Saigon Regime 12
The incremental Nature of Our Approach 13
The Role of Institutional Constraints 15
Notes 19
3 The Flawed Nature of Our Chosen Instrument 21
U.S. Failure to Move the GVN 24
The Issue of Leverage 32
Notes 38
4 Institutional Constraints on U.S. Performance 41
Overmilitarization of the War 41
Mirror-Imaging and Conventional Response, 1954-1964 44
The Military Play Out Their Institutional Repertoires 48
The Air War Against the North 52
The Strategy of Attrition 56
Intelligence Inadequacies 60
U.S. Civilian Agencies Also Play Out Their Institutional Repertoires 62
Notes 65
5 Institutional Obstacles to the Learning Process 69
Institutional Inertia 70
Lack of Institutional Memory 72
Skewed Incentive Patterns 73
Inadequate Analysis of Performance 74
Notes 78
6 Lack of Unified Management 81
U.S. Conflict Management-Who Ran the Store in Washington? 84
Who Was in Charge in Saigon? 89
Weakness of GVN Conflict Management 92
Why Such Fragmented Conflict Management? 94
U.S. and GVN Fight Two Separate Wars 97
Lack of Adequate Overall Plans 104
Notes 107
7 Attempts at Adaptive Response 111
Technological Innovation 112
Institutional Adaptation 113
Pacification 1967-1972: An Example of Institutional Innovation 115
The Unprecedented U.S. Advisory Effort 122
Notes 129
8 Was There a Viable Alternative Strategy? 133
The Eisenhower Period-1954 to 1960 136
The Kennedy Years-1961 to 1963 137
Pacification Takes a Back Seat-1965 to 1966 140
Renewed Debate over Strategy-1966 to 1967 141
The Post-TET Reassessment 145
Why Was the Pacification Alternative Neglected for So Long? 147
Would a Pacification Alternative Have Worked? 150
Notes 154
9 What Lessons Can Be Learned? 159
Flaws in GVN/U.S. Performance 159
The Requisites of Adaptive Response 165
Ways of Forcing Adaptation 167
Achieving Adequate Performance from Allies 170
Notes 173
