War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; At the Brink; 105; Pentagon Report 1962-1963

From the secretary of defense to the people of the United States. This is the annual report of our armed forces. Your narrator Peter hacker's Pentagon reporter with the ABC is over a year of crisis in Asia and Berlin in Cuba and how our armed forces have met and are meeting these challenges to freedom. In their drive for world domination. The Communists have identified different levels of possible conflict to exploit. Khrushchev speaks of war and peace in the light of what he calls the new means of mass destruction. And what Mr. Khrushchev calls the local wars He also rejects because as he puts it they may grow into a thermonuclear war. But Khrushchev recognizes another category which he calls wars of liberation and

popular revolt but which we prefer to call some version and covert aggression. It is these wars which Khrushchev says are not only admissible but inevitable. A free world's answer tested during a year in Vietnam is counterinsurgency. At the request of the South Vietnamese government we are helping peace loving people learn how to defend themselves. Here in a remote city. There is new emphasis on the importance of the individual fighting man as a teacher as well as a leader. Our troops are here to advise and train the South Vietnamese but fight only to defend themselves. On assignments which often take them into the midst of a bitter and dangerous struggle. In this conflict. It is harder to find the enemy than to fight him.

Reaction time to guerrilla attack has been cut from hours to minutes with faster air transport and improved communications. South Vietnamese troops round up an enemy who strikes quickly and brutally who already has assassinated countless civilian leaders teachers and other knowledge years who refused to join. The plan to protect those who dwell in thousands of rural villages and towns resulted in the fortifying of approximately 5000 communities in the first year. During an intensive visit to Southeast Asia Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara sees how the fortified hamlet program is working out. The Home Guard like the volunteer fire department is constantly on the alert against brush fire surprise attacks which flare up whenever Vietcong Raiders are in the

vicinity. Bambos fight parapets may seem a primitive barrier but are effective against Night Raiders. And. Offshore our Navy has trained South Vietnamese Navy junk patrols which guard internal waterways to. These patrols halt suspicious vessels for search and interrogation. Distinguishing between friend and communist. It was one of the most difficult problems of guerrilla war. Overhead the U.S. Air Force trains South Vietnamese pilots to supply isolated outposts in a land where roads are all too few.

In tactical operations the experience and support of our air force trained South Vietnamese pilots give confidence and wings to government troops. Air commandos like their counterparts in the Army and Navy are trained for special missions. They also act as instructors and advisors. Teamwork and on the spot training call for dedication from the man in the field to the top commander General Paul D Harkin. The USF and to our Vietnamese allies is a vast and comprehensive one. It involves political economic psychological and military measures. All of the Armed Forces of the US by a partner.

On this side of the world less than 90 miles from Florida we faced another communist challenge one that caused a world crisis in the president's own words. This government as promised as maintained the closest surveillance of the Soviet military buildup. On the island of Cuba. Within the past week. Unmistakable evidence has established the fact. That a series of offensive missile sites is now in preparation on that imprisoned island. The purpose of these bases can be none other. Than to provide a nuclear strike capability against the Western Hemisphere. The whole of this offensive buildup a strict quarantine on all offensive military equipment on the shipment to Cuba is being initiated. On ships of any kind bound to Cuba from whatever nation to a point

where they have found to contain cargos of offensive weapons be turned back. Secretary of Defense McNamara announcing the quarantine order tells the press. Those are the instructions we've been given those instructions. We will carry out. Soviet chairman Khrushchev decided to dismantle the bases in Cuba and to remove the offensive weapons. And under Navy surveillance the missiles that had threatened the US went back where they came from. And later the Soviet bombers which the president listed as often said weapons also were shipped home from Cuba. In Florida. The commander in chief cited Air Force Navy and Marine Corps units

which flew in the surveillance missions that revealed the communist missile build up again high and low level reconnaissance pilots emphasized individual skill and achievement as they flew these important historic mission. The president also inspected the ground forces massed in Florida ready for any action required. At one time on naval base the US Marines reinforce the local Garrison. Again the individual fighting man became a symbol of the world of America's determination to deter all communist aggression. Earlier in Asia because Communist attacks in Laos threaten the border of Thailand the US responded quickly when Thailand called for help.

Our seventh fleet landed combat ready Marines in Bangkok in our biggest military move in the Far East since the Korean War. Army combat units were flown in by the Air Force to reinforce Army troops already in Thailand on maneuvers. The soldiers moved in along the Thai frontier facing communist infiltrated Laos. The presence of our military forces at a critical moment was sufficient to deter an open Communist aggression against peaceful Thailand. Again in India when Communist Chinese attacked in aggression reminiscent of Korea us help was prompt. Here the Air Force flew in urgently needed arms at the request of India's

government.