U.S. Army Field Manual 30-31B

The supposed document

The US Army Field Manual 30-31B, dubbed the "Westmoreland Field Manual",[1] purportedly outlined a strategy called the "strategy of tension", wherein violent attacks are orchestrated and blamed on left-wing groups to justify government action; however, most scholars believe it to be a Cold War-era hoax conducted by Soviet intelligence services.[2][3][4][5][6]

The document first surfaced in the 1970s in Turkey and later circulated in various countries. During a 1980 hearing, CIA officials denied its authenticity, declaring it a forgery. Scholars and the US State Department also state that it is a Soviet forgery. Its usage in implicating the CIA in certain events further fueled debate; arguments to its authenticity were strengthened by evidence uncovered during Operation Gladio in the 1990s.

History

The first mention of the document was in the Turkish newspaper Barış (sometimes anglicized to Barish), in 1975.[7][8] It was labelled as supplement B (hence "30-31B"), although the publicly released version of FM30-31 only has one appendix, Supplement A.[6][7][9][10][11] A facsimile copy of FM30-31B then appeared a year later in Bangkok, Thailand,[7] and in various capitals of north African states.[8] In 1978, it appeared in various European magazines, including the Spanish Triunfo and El País.[7][8] The Italian press picked up the Triunfo publication, and a copy was published in the October 1978 issue of L'Europeo.[7]

A wide range of field manuals, including 30–31, can be accessed through websites that catalog U.S. field manuals; however, 30-31B is not among the field manuals published by the military.[12] The "Westmoreland Field Manual", so named because it bears the alleged signature of General William Westmoreland,[1] was mentioned in at least two parliamentary commissions reports of European countries, one about the Italian Propaganda Due (P2) deviant and far-right masonic lodge,[13] and one about the Belgian stay-behind network. The latter says that "the commission has not any certainty about the authenticity of the document."[14]

Authenticity

At a 1980 hearing of the House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Subcommittee of Oversight, CIA officials testified that the document was a singularly effective forgery by the KGB and an example of Soviet covert action.[15] Scholars Peer Henrik Hansen and Thomas Rid, both specializing in Cold War intelligence,[16][17] and the US State Department claim the document is a forgery by Soviet intelligence services.[10][11][7][6] The document first appeared in Turkey in the 1970s, before being circulated to other countries. It was also used at the end of the 1970s during Operation Gladio (the stay-behind networks of NATO) to implicate the CIA in the kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro by the Red Brigades.[18][19]

The discovery in the early 1990s of Operation Gladio in Europe led to renewed debate as to whether or not the manual was fraudulent. In Allan Francovich's BBC documentary about Operation Gladio, Licio Gelli, the leader of P2, stated that the CIA "gave it to me", while former CIA Deputy director Ray S. Cline said he suspected that it was "an authentic document". In turn, former CIA Director William Colby said that he had "never heard of it".[20][21] The Swiss author Daniele Ganser made use of the Field Manual for his book on Operation Gladio. In response to the US official denials, Colby observed:

"FM 30-31B is dated 18 March 1970, Headquarters of the US Army, Washington DC, and signed by General Westmoreland. William Westmoreland commanded American military operations in the Vietnam War from 1964 to 1968 and thereafter was US Army Chief of Staff from 1968 to 1972. He died in the summer of 2005 and is no longer available to testify whether Annex B is a Soviet forgery as the State Department claims, or whether it is a genuine US document which he signed. Documentary film-maker Allan Francovich asked Ray Cline, CIA Deputy Director from 1962 to 1966, whether FM 30-31B was an authentic document or a Soviet forgery, and the latter responded on the BBC: 'Well, I suspect it is an authentic document. I don’t doubt it. I never saw it but it’s the kind of special forces military operations that are described. On the other hand you gotta recall, that the defence department and the President don’t initiate any of those orders, until there is an appropriate occasion'."[22]

The Covert Action Information Bulletin concluded: "It is hard to imagine that the document is not genuine. The format, style and classification stampings appear consistent with other military supplements, and the document is filled with authentic military phraseology ... If it is a forgery, why did a high Embassy official describe its publication as 'inopportune'?"[23]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Evans, Rowland; Novak, Robert (February 20, 1979). "'Dirty tricks' by Russians seen as spur". Lawrence Journal-World. p. 4.
  2. ^ Pond, Elizabeth (February 28, 1985). "The West Wakes Up to the Dangers of Misinformation". Christian Science Monitor.
  3. ^ "House Intelligence Committee Begins Inquiry Into Allegations of Forgeries". Washington Post. January 17, 1979.
  4. ^ U.S. House. Hearings Before the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Soviet Active Measures. 97th Congress, 2nd session. July 13–14, 1982.
  5. ^ U.S. House. Hearings Before the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Soviet Covert Action (The Forgery Offense). 96th Congress, 2nd session. February 6–19, 1980.
  6. ^ a b c Hansen, Peer Henrik (2005). "A Review of: 'Falling Flat on the Stay-Behinds'". International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence. 19 (1): 182–186. doi:10.1080/08850600500332656. S2CID 154096664.
  7. ^ a b c d e f U.S. House. Hearings Before the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Soviet Covert Action (The Forgery Offense). 96th Congress, 2nd session. February 6–19, 1980.
  8. ^ a b c Gonzalez, Fernando (September 23, 1978). "Top Secret, Documentos secretos del Pentágono (FM 30-31 B)". Triunfo. pp. 28–32."Top Secret, Documentos secretos del Pentágono (FM 30-31 B)". Triunfo Digital. Retrieved May 2, 2008.
  9. ^ "Misinformation about 'Gladio/Stay Behind' Networks Resurfaces" (Press release). United States Department of State. January 20, 2006. Archived from the original on March 28, 2008. Retrieved June 24, 2007. A thirty year-old Soviet forgery has been cited as one of the central pieces of 'evidence' for the false notion that West European 'stay-behind' networks engaged in terrorism, allegedly at U.S. instigation. This is not true, and those researching the 'stay behind' networks need to be more discriminating in evaluating the trustworthiness of their source material.
  10. ^ a b "House Intelligence Committee Begins Inquiry into Allegations of Forgeries". The Washington Post. January 17, 1979. Retrieved February 20, 2026.
  11. ^ a b U.S. House. Hearings Before the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Soviet Active Measures. 97th Congress, 2nd session. July 13–14, 1982.
  12. ^ Department of Army, Headquarters (May 1961). "Collection of Army Field Manuals" (PDF). Approved for public distribution. Retrieved January 22, 2009.[permanent dead link]
  13. ^ (in Italian) Commissione parlamentare d'inchiesta sulla loggia massonica P2 : Allegati alla Relazione Doc. XXIII, n. 2-quater/7/1 Serie II, Vol. VII, Tomo I, Roma 1987, pp. 287–298.
  14. ^ Parlementaire Commissie (1991). "Verslag van het parlementair onderzoek met betrekking tot het bestaan in België van een clandestien internationaal inlichtingennetwerk" (PDF). Belgian Senate. pp. 80–82. (in Dutch and French)
  15. ^ "Operation Gladio - 1951".
  16. ^ Hansen, Peer Henrik (2006). ""Upstairs and Downstairs"—The Forgotten CIA Operations in Copenhagen". International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence. 19 (4): 685–701. doi:10.1080/08850600500483715. S2CID 153636709.
  17. ^ Rid, Thomas (2020). Active Measures: The Secret History of Disinformation and Political Warfare. New York: Picador. pp. 231–242. ISBN 978-1-250-78740-8.
  18. ^ Pond, Elizabeth (February 28, 1985). "The West Wakes Up to the Dangers of Misinformation". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved February 20, 2026.
  19. ^ "CIA on FM 30-31B - Soviet Covert Action (the Forgery Offensive)". cryptome.org. Retrieved November 22, 2020.
  20. ^ Ganser, Daniele (2004). NATO's Secret Armies: Operation Gladio and Terrorism in Western Europe (PDF). London: Franck Cass. p. 235. ISBN 978-0-7146-8500-7.
  21. ^ Ganser, Daniele (2006). "The CIA in Western Europe and the Abuse of Human Right" (PDF). Intelligence and National Security. 21 (5): 776. doi:10.1080/02684520600957712. S2CID 154898281.
  22. ^ "The CIA in Western Europe and the Abuse of Human Rights." Intelligence and National Security, vol. 21, no. 5 (October 2006), pp. 760–781. doi:10.1080/02684520600957712
  23. ^ "The Mysterious Supplement B; Sticking to the 'Host Country'" (PDF). Covert Action Information Bulletin. No. 3. January 1979. pp. 9–11. Retrieved February 20, 2026.
allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_Army_Field_Manual_30-31B