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CIAS CLANDESTINE SERVICES
HISTORIES OF CIVIL AIR TRANSPORT
All of our Historical Collections are available on the CIA Library Publication
page located at https//www.cia.gov/library/publications/historical-collection-
publications/ or contact us at [email protected].
These collections, centered on a theme or
event and with supporting analysis, essays,
video, audio, and photographs, are showcased
in a booklet and DVD that are available to the
academic realm and the public.
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The History Sta in the CIA Center or the Study o Intelligence osters understanding o the Agencyshistory and its relationship to todays intelligence challenges by communicating instructive historicalinsights to the CIA workorce, other US Government agencies, and the public. CIA historians research
ics on all aspects o Agency activities and disseminate their knowledge through publications, courses,engs and Web-based products. Tey also work with other Intelligence Community historians on publication
education projects that highlight interagency approaches to intelligence issues. Lastly, the CIA History conducts an ambitious program o oral history interviews that are invaluable or preserving institutionalmories that are not captured in the documentary record.
The Special Collections Department is located on the third foor o the Eugene McDermott Library. TeLibrary administration established the Special Collections Department in the mid-1970s to house rarebooks acquired by the library. In nearly thirty years Special Collections has grown to include the History
Aviation Collection, the Wineburgh Philatelic Research Library, and the Louise B. Belsterling Botanical Library.History o Aviation Collection is the largest section o the department, consisting o a world-class
onautical archive and library. Te Wineburgh Philatelic Research Library is an outstanding regional resourceboth philatelic and postal history. Te Louise B. Belsterling Library holds an extraordinary collection o rare
anical books, including the librarys oldest volume.
The Historical Collections Division (HCD) o CIAs Inormation Management Services is responsibleor executing the Agencys Historical Review Program. Tis program seeks to identiy and declassiycollections o documents that detail the Agencys analysis and activities relating to historically signicant
ics and events. HCDs goals include increasing the usability and accessibility o historical collections. HCDdevelops release events and partnerships to highlight each collection and make it available to the broadest
ience possible.Te mission of HCD is to:
Promote an accurate, objective understanding of the information that hashelped shape major US oreign policy de cisions.
Broaden access to lessons-learned, presenting historical material thatgives greater understanding to the scope and context o past actions.
Improve current decison-making and analysis by facilitating reectionon the impacts and eects arising rom past oreign policy decisions.
Showcase CIAs contributions to national security and provide theAmerican public with valuable insight into the workings o its government. Demonstrate the CIAs commitment to the Open Government Initiative and
its three core values: ransparency, Participation, and Collaboration.
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1. Introduction p 2
2. Summary of Clandestine Services Histories p 4
3. Summary of CAT Histories p 10
4. Excerpts of Documents p 14
5. CD containing the Histories back cover
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This booklet and CD represent the public release o some o the most closely held activities
in CIA history concerning one o the most controversial operations in American history.
Within these pages, you will nd excerpts o the CIAs Clandestine Services Histories o Civil
Air ransport (CA) the precursor to Air America. Te Histories were written by Alred . Cox
who was named the President o CA when CIA acquired it, and guided both the covert operations
side and the public commercial side o the airline or a number o years. As the name suggests, these
histories are normally not released in any orm to the public. In this case, time and circumstancesallow us to release these particular products in concert with the 2011 CA Association Reunion.
You also will nd pictures o the men and women who dedicated their lives to keeping the airline
aoat through good times and bad. Tese people became a amily in the early days and, although
many o the ounding members have passed on, the CA community remains committed to the
memory o the enormous accomplishments they and their amilies achieved with this airline.
Now-Declassifed Secret Histories o
Secret Operations
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The our-volume history Civil
Air ransport: A ProprietaryAirline by Alred . Cox is
representative o a larger collection o
such works created during a decade-
long period o intense historical study
within the Clandestine Services o
CIA. While there had been a small
historical eort in the Agency since
its ounding in September 1947, such
eorts ocused on the Oice o theDCI. No signiicant action had been
taken to ormally record and analyze
the plans, programs, and activities o
the lower echelon directorates that
included the Deputy Director/ Plans
[todays National Clandestine Service,
long known as the Directorate o
Operations or DO], the Directorate
o Intelligence, the Directorate oSupport, or the Directorate o Science
and echnology.
With CIAs growing involvement in
the Vietnam War in the early 1960s,
senior CIA oicers began to realize
that a concerted eort should be
made to record the Agencys actions
in Southeast Asia, and the numerous
considerations and policy decisionsthat speciically required the DD/P to
undertake operations in the region.
his recognition resulted in the
assignment, in December 1963, o
Dr. Kenneth K. Addicott, a senior
DD/P oicer, to collect historical
documents he elt the directorate needed
to inorm operations oicers in Vietnamor those scheduled to go there. His
eorts, continued through another year,
so impressed DD/P seniors that they
decided to extend this initial Southeast
Asia ocus to include the whole o
Clandestine Services activities since the
Agencys inception.
In January 1964, DD/P oicer John E.
Baker studied the concept o an extendedseries under the supervision o Philip
K. Edwards, Chie, CIA Historical
Sta. In May 1964, Baker produced two
memoranda on his indings. First, he
emphasized the necessity o orming
a specialized team o researchers to
examine the vast collection o DD/P
records with a view to selecting and
retaining, in a separate archive, thosedocuments deemed o historic value. As
to the objective given him by Edwards:
o consolidate a record o problems and
solutions, ailures and accomplishments,
which will put the past into historical
perspective as background or the
current direction o Central Intelligence
and provide a reservoir rom which
particular requirements or historicalmaterial can be satisied, Baker
responded with a second memorandum.
He recommended that selected oicers
o the several Clandestine Services
components, working under the
guidance and direction o the CIA
The CSHP Clandestine Services History Program
A Brie History
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continues...
History Sta, write studies on topics o
extraordinary and immediate relevance
suggested by a small Clandestine
Services Historical Board that would
meet quarterly. Baker concluded this
proposal will work only i it has the clearand unequivocal endorsement o the DD/P.
Creation o the CSHP and Its Relation to
the History Sta.
By that all, through the eorts o Baker
and Addicott, and with the active interest
o DD/P Richard Helms, the outlines
o a program had taken shape, and on
30 November, the Clandestine Services
Historical Program was irmly establishedwith Addicott designated its irst manager.
he programs overall objective was to
record the history o the irst twenty years
o the Clandestine Services, and then
update that history in ive-year intervals.
he proposed historical series would
consist o an eventual 500 individual
papers and monographs. Four categories,
deemed o most use, were chronologicalhistories o overseas stations, the
chronological and organizational histories
o the headquarters components, and
certain operational monographs that
would detail programs and operations that
the directorate determined were worthy
o uller treatment than could be given
in chronological histories. In addition,
the ounders o the program decidedthat as certain previously prepared
studies, operational reviews, and related
documentary materials were located,
and i they met the criteria as history,
they would be incorporated as is into
the program with the addition o a
historians editorial note.
Deciding what papers and topics
needed written coverage devolved to
the individual Clandestine Services
components acting under the guidance
o the Clandestine Services HistoricalBoard. While the Clandestine Services
History Program remained ocused
on DD/P activities, the writers
coordinated their histories with other
Agency Directorates when those
operations involved cross-directorate
cooperation. his was especially true
with the Directorate o Support which
oten worked closely with the DD/P.When the Clandestine Services
History Program began, the Agency
already had a small History Sta
attached to the oice o the Director
o Central Intelligence. Five members
o the Clandestine Services Research
Group, in charge o the Clandestine
Services Historical Program, were
added to that existing History Sta.he oicers to manage the component
programs, and the writers to produce
the histories, were to come rom the
ranks o Clandestine Services oicers
who were either between assignments
or could be detailed or a short
period o time to write on a particular
subject, usually one with which they
had operational experience. Soonater the program began, however,
it became apparent that employing
writers on a part-time, rotating basis
would produce little meaningul
history. Instead, the program would
need oicers able to serve ull time or
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considerable periods. Tus, it was decided
that certain qualied ocers about to
retire, or who had already retired, would
be selected as ull-time writers.
Te ounders o the Clandestine Services
History Program realized that a careully
researched and articulated story o the
personnel and activities o most stations
and headquarters units was a most
sensitive product and devised strict
controls or the protection o inormation.
As a result, only two copies were made
o each Clandestine Services history.
Te owning DD/P component held
the original work, while one copy was
stored in the DD/P vault. Te only copy
readily available or the cleared need-
to-know reader was the original with
access requiring supervisory approval.
o obtain a document one had to ll
out a circulation log with the name and
location o each reader recorded, showing
at any given moment i he possessed, or
had read, each study.Alfred T. Cox, Civil Air Transport,
and the CSHP
In keeping with the intent o the initiators
o the CSHP, that authors have amiliarity
i not actual experience with the
operations described, Alred . Cox t
this criteria. Cox had served in the World
War II Oce o Strategic Services in
Europe and the China Teater. In EastAsia, he had met Maj. Gen. Claire L.
Chennault, the commander o the 14th
United States Army Air Force based in
China or operation against Imperial
Japan. In addition to strategic and tactical
air campaigns against Japan, the 14th
USAAF supported the training, logistical
needs, and overall operations o Cox and
his OSS colleagues in China and elsewhere
in Southeast Asia through the end o World
War II.
Aer the war, Cox maintained contact withChennault who had ormed, in 1946, a non-
scheduled domestic airline in the Republic
o China known as Civil Air ransport. Cox
returned to government service in 1949
with the Oce o Policy Coordination just
as Chennault was urging US Government
leaders to provide increased military and
economic assistance to the Nationalist
Republic o China under Chiang Kai-Shekin the struggle against Chinese Communist
orces led by Mao se-ung. When US
policymakers agreed to provide increased
support, and urged that OPC investigate
lending assistance, Cox went to China
undercover as Chennaults special assistant
to explore possibilities.
Civil Air ransport proved crucial to US
eforts to assist the Chinese Nationalists,and Cox quickly became involved in day-
to-day airline management and operations.
When Chennaults original CA partner,
Whiting Willauer, resigned in 1952, Cox
was designated president o the airline,
a position he held until 1 January 1955.
Te our-volume history he wrote in 1967
is a rst person perspective very much in
keeping with the goals o those working inthe Clandestine Services History Program.
Alred Cox, and the other writers
assigned to the CSHP, ully accomplished
the objectives begun in 1964, and the
Clandestine Services History Program
successully completed its mission in 1974.
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Historians hate gaps indocumentary evidence becausegaps in the record mean
missing inormation that could make adiference in their work: the smokinggun or missing piece o the puzzle; theone piece o evidence that could makeor break the authors thesis. Archivistshate gaps as well, because it is our
mission to supply historians with asmuch inormation as possible or theirresearch. Tis our volume history oCA, along with documents previouslyreleased by CIA, help ll in those gapsso that a more complete and accuratepicture o the relationship between CA,Air America, and CIA can be painted.Te history o Civil Air ransport isimportant because o CAs involvement
in the Cold War, and to uncover manyaccounts o heroic eforts by the menand women associated with this airline,as it perormed its mission to ghtcommunism. Tese people riskedtheir lives and, in some cases, lost theirlives carrying out missions that wereclassied and only now are beginningto surace. Teir story needs to be told.Te release o these histories sheds light
on the ocial CIA point o view, andlls in some o those remaining gaps.
Filling in the Gaps The Declassifcation
o the Four Volume History
Civil Air Transport (CAT): A Proprietary Airline, 1945-1955
o understand the role CA played in theCold War, it is important to understandwhat was taking place in China duringthe time CA operated there. TeChinese Communist orces were steadilyoverrunning the country while the ChineseNationalists were struggling to hold themback. While much o this history is readilyavailable, what has not been available
- until now - is how CA was used tosupport the Chinese Nationalist generalswho were trying to hold the line againstthe Communist orces. Also unavailablehave been details o how CIA purchasedCA and how they managed it rom acrossthe world; details o how CA was usedas an instrument o national policy anddetails concerning the key players in CAsleadership.
Tese histories, although heavily redactedin areas, tell most o the story and ll inmany o the gaps in our public knowledge.Tere are still voids in the record even withthe declassication o this our-volumehistorical work. More than likely there willalways be blanks because some inormationremains too sensitive to declassiy. Still,this work presents new inormation whichgoes a long way in closing the inormation
gaps, and thus, helps present a morecomplete picture o Civil Air ransport.
Paul A. Oelkrug, CA
Coordinator of Special Collections
History of Aviation Collection
Te University of exas at Dallas
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