User talk:Rmbirkenes

USAID and CIA
Hi.

This concerns Talk:United States Agency for International Development and Talk:United States Agency for International Development. Re your comments on the latter, I worked on a contract to the Public Safety division (PSD) of USAID in Vietnam from 1966 to 1969. John Manopoly headed PSD, and Reg Davis headed the Tech Services organization (PSD/TS) where myself and my fellow contractors worked. We PSD/TS contractors didn't have a CIA connection (that I know of) but, as I recall, the USAID/PSD chief had a reporting relationship to MACV ACofS-COORDS ("Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support"). Bob Komer headed up COORDS, and was succeeded in that position by Bill Colby (later DCI) when he went to Turkey in 1968. Komer (no doubt succeeded by Colby) ran the Phoenix program in Vietnam. I mostly worked in the field, but I recall Phoenix having office space directly across the hall from our PSD/TS offices in the USAID-II building in Saigon. I do recall the name of one CIA person who worked in those Phoenix offices, but won't mention his name here.

I'm placing this on your talk page instead of the article talk page because that is slightly less public, and this placement is less likely to inflame the article talk page discussion. -- Boracay Bill (talk) 05:10, 9 December 2008 (UTC)