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>>> Explanation of this document, by Douglas Valentine:

"A Proposal" was presented to Komer in early June 1967. This is the most important "enabling" document in the development of the Phoenix Program. It has annexes on interrogation, data processing, and screening and detention of VCI.

"A Proposal" was accepted by Komer. The idea was to integrate all US and Vietnamese intelligence and counter-insurgency forces. The result was the formation of ICEX, which would later be renamed the Phoenix Program.

In "A Proposal" the CIA is identified as OSA (the Office of the Special Assistant). The document describes the joint combined staff mechanism that Komer favored, operating at the national, corps, and province levels, down to the DIOCs at the district level. ICEX coordinated everyone in an attack on the VCI, under Komer as Deputy Ambassador for Pacification. "A Proposal" presents ICEX as a joint civilian (CIA) and military staff. It reviews all the integral elements of ICEX-Phoenix, but it stresses that the CIA was in charge at every level. Indeed, the CIA would run Phoenix until 1969 when the program became public and the military took over.

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