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THOMPSON, ROBERT (SIR)

Posted 10/6/2009 Printable Fact Sheet

Call No.: K239.0512-255
 
IRIS No.: 00904159
 
IRIS Tape No.: no tape
 
Accessibility: OPEN
 
Pages/Time: 24pp/No tape
 
Class: U
 
Date/Location: August 1969/Columbus OH
 
Interviewers: Not applicable
 
Source: Project CORONA HARVEST Collection
 
Topics:
 
(N/A) Lecture delivered at Battelle Memorial Institute, "Basic Principles of Counterinsurgency," by British authority on insurgency; stresses importance of knowing enemy and his objectives; insurgents need good organization and good cause; counterinsurgency (COIN) task is to destroy will and organization of enemy; reviews Communist revolutionary warfare tactics; COIN time, space, cost aspects different from conventional war; COIN principles include know your objectives, maintain standards/justification of war, have a coordinated plan, destroy guerrilla organization, secure your own bases first; question and answer period follows lecture; Thompson opposes spreading war, bombing North Vietnam; criticizes numerous uncoordinated intelligence efforts; comments on impact of change in administrations in US; Strategic Hamlet Program.







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