Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). "Prisoner of War Questionnaire Used by Military Proselyting Section, Front 7, Quang Tri Province." September 14, 1969.

FULL TEXT

Summary: The standardized questionnaire used on American prisoners of war (POW's), which Them believed the Central Office for South Vietnam had prepared, was specifically aimed at collecting information on military morale and motivations which would facilitate Viet Cong prparation of propaganda and exploitation of POW sympathies. End Summary.

1. The standardized American prisoner of war (POW) questionnaire was used for gathering information which would promote the overall goals of the military proselyting sections (i.e., persuading American miltary personnel in Vietnam to ask the U.S. Government to send them home) persuading the U.S. Government not to support the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) nor to condone the killing of innocent civilians in "liberated" areas. The questionnaire, which Them believed that the Central Office for South Vietnam had written, was disseminated to all military proselyting units throughout South Vietnam (SVN).

2. To attain these goals, the POW questionnaire was specifically aimed at military morale, psychological motivations, attitudes on the war in Vietnam, and information was to be used in gaining the support of the individual POW, his family and friends, and the American public. It was also used in preparing current tactical propaganda and in determining the sympathies of the POW's for exploitation and further interrogation.

3. The POW questionnaire asked for the following:

a. Personal information

(1) Name

(2) Date and place of birth

(3) Occupation before entering the military

(4) Civilian and military schools attended

(5) Ranks and positions held throughout military career

(6) If enlisted, whether draftee or volunteer

(7) If officer, whether sponsored by a congressman or not. (Field Comment. This no doubt refers to Congressional appointments to the Service Academies.) If so, the Congressman's attitude toward the war and his address. If the Congressman appeared susceptible, he would be contacted and informed that one of the men he had sponsored was now a POW; from the Congressman's correspondence it was further to be determined how he could be exploited.

(8) Language capability, where he studied the language, and for what purpose. This information was used to determine if the POW was ever in intelligence and to to point out other areas in which the U.S. Government might have planned to use him.

(9) Non-military of familiarity (e.g., TV repair, photography, rocketry)

(10) Previous countries to which assigned

(11) Date of arrival in Vietnam

(12) Unit to which assigned; its location, mission, and morale (including desertion rate); Subject's function in unit.

(13) Battles fought

(14) Military and political training received in separation for Vietnam assignment

(15) Sworn to Code of Conduct (sic)

(16) Political affiliations

17) Detailed data on wife, children, parents, other relatives, and friends including name, addresses, occupations, current activities, political affiliations, and socio-economic living standard. Particular emphasis was placed on the details of this portion of the questionnaire.

(18) Emotions of mother/wife when POW departed for Vietnam (Did she cry?)

(b) Attitudes (both personal and that of fellow military and commanding officers)

(1) Vietnam war, destruction and casualties wrought by U.S. bombing

(2) Thieu/Ky government

(3) Desertion

(4) Participation in demonstrations (names of soldiers, dates of demonstrations, types of demonstration -- racial, anti-poverty, anti-war)

(5) Martin Luther King's assassination (Negro reaction)

(6) Bertrand Russell trial organized to oppose American participation in Vietnam and knowledge of Russell's trial speech (sic)

(7) Criticism or punishment from superiors. Information on this attitude was to be used to incite the POW against his superiors and to decrease his morale by showing him that he lost his status as a free and equal citizen when he entered the military.

(8) Race riots in the U.S.; attitude of white soldiers toward Negro soldiers

(9) Vietnamese wives for American military

(10) Laborers in the U.S. toward their government

c. General and specific details regarding:

(1) Who read VC propaganda leaflets and what types were read

(2) Books read by officers and enlisted men and reasons they liked these books

(3) Conflicts between U.S. Army and the ARVN

(4) Dissension between officers and enlisted men

(5) Deserters in the unit: names, dates, locations, causes

(6) [....................]-ing the military most when serving in remote areas of Vietnam

(7) Names, ranks, and home states of American soldiers who killed or raped Vietnamese civilians

(8) What goods POW's intended to buy and bring back to the U.S. with them when they were transferred. In this way, the VC could determine when a unit was pulling out and could level the appropriate propaganda at the unit in the hopes that some of it will seep back to the friends and families of the soldiers involved.

(9) Names and dates of people who have committed self-immolation for anti-war purposes

(10) General sentiment/attitudes which the POW's felt were peculiar to the VC.

(11) Promises made by U.S. Government to the military prior to sending them to Vietnam.

(12) Number of members of the POW's unit belonging to the labor class. The Military Proselyting Section explained to the Americans the senselessness of going to a foreign country to fight when there were so many things, such as unemployment, in their own country which needed to be taken care of. In addition, the desired statistics and other information on conditions in the U.S. were sought.

(13) Awareness of unemployment and misery experienced by Americans in the U.S.

(14) Desire of POW's to write letters to their families in the U.S. The VC/NVA would see that the friends and families of the POW got these letters in the hopes that the letters will cause them to agitate for peace and the resultant return of their loved ones.

(15) Characteristics and morale of minority groups in the U.S.

4. During the interrogation, the following questions and arguments were posed to determine the sophistication of the POW:

a. Why did the U.S. fail at the Bay of Pigs?

b. Why was President Kennedy assassinated?

c. Why was Martin Luther King assassinated?

d. Why was Cuba allowed to become a Communist country? Cuba is a small country with little population located near the mighty U.S. Vietnam is a small country with few people, so why should the U.S. bother with Vietnam?

e. Why did the Americans fight the British in the American Revolution? Is not the Vietnamese war analogous to the American Revolution?

5. At the end of the interrogation each POW was asked if he had any questions or needed anything. The POW could thereby express his personal feelings. The effect of the interrogation would thus be indicated, and the way the POW was treated en route from capture could be determined.

6. Field Dissem: State, USMACV, USAID, CORDS, Dir/JUSPAO (Mr. Nickel only), 7th Air Force, USARV, NAVFORV, 525th MI GP, 6499 SAG, OSI, CINCPAC, PACFLT, PACAF, ARPAC