Nha Ky Thuat

The Nha Ky Thuat (Vietnamese) or Strategic Technical Directorate (STD) was the covert action and special reconnaissance organization of the Republic of Vietnam. It paralleled the U.S. MACV-SOG covert operations group, although U.S. questions about STD security limited the level of joint operations and planning. After MACV-SOG left Vietnam under the Vietnamization program, various STD units continued to operate until the 1975 fall of South Vietnam.

Its lineage goes back to the Lien doi Quan Sat soi 1 (1st Observation Unit), formed in 1957 and, trained by the Central Intelligence Agency and United States Army Special Forces for special reconnaissance and unconventional warfare.

Observation Unit/Group
While it was under the Presidential Liaison Office, it was originally based in Nha Trang, and perhaps was comparable to the paramilitary side of the Central Intelligence Agency. It was commanded by a loyalist to President Ngo Dinh Diem, then-LTC Le Quang Tung.

In various reorganizations, Tung's unit became the Lac Luong Dac Biet, or Vietnamese Special Forces, which variously served in special operations, as a Presidential guard and paramilitary unit, and counterpart to United States Army Special Forces in training irregulars, the Civilian Irregular Defense Group. Tung was shot after the 1963 overthrow of Diem, and the LLDB came under military control. Eventually, the LLDB was dissolved, but its personnel became the basis for the the STD.

Northern Service
Separate from Tung's unit, also by order from Diem, another unit was created in 1959, through a Presidential Order from President Diem, set up and commanded Northern Service, also called Bureau 45B (So Bac, Phong 45B). This was a Vietnamese-CIA operation separate from MACV-SOG.

Liaison and Technical Services
While part of the LLDB proper was refocused, after the 1963 coup, into being a counterpart organization for the U.S. Army Special Forces training forces for Civilian Irregular Defense Group camps, part of its personnel went to a different military organization, the Liaison Service. This Service, created earlier, was composed of selected ARVN regulars, commanded by a colonel, and had three operatiomal units. In 1962, since its name had been compromised, the So Khai Thac Dia Hinh or Studies and Exploitation Service.

An additional unit, the So Ky Thuat or Technical Service was created, for agent operations into North Vietnam, missions that would run longer than those proposed for the Liaison Service. The level of effectiveness is not known; MACV-SOG had all its long-term agent programs in the north neutralized by security there.

MACV-SOG counterparts
While the degree of actual joint operation between the STD and MACV-SOG is not fully known, an organization called the Liaison Service corresponded to the Ground Studies Branch, with three colocated operational bases were:
 * Task Force 1 (Da Nang), matched to MACV-SOG Command and Control North (CCN).
 * Task Force 2 (Kontum), paired with Command and Control Central and operating in the triangle among Cambodia, Laos, and South Vietnam.
 * Task Force 3 (Ban Me Thuot), working with Command and Control South against southern VC strongholds and operations into Cambodia.

Each Task Force had a a Headquarters and Security Company, a Reconnaissance Company of ten teams, and two Mobile Launch Sites with reaction forces.

Vietnamization
With the withdrawal of U.S. Army Special Forces under the Vietnamization policy, CIDG and LLDB functions were at an end. The LLDB was split into In December 1970, in accordance with the 'Vietnamization' policy, all CIDG border camps were turned over to the South Vietnamese government and CIDG units were incorporated into the ARVN as Biet Dong Quan, or Ranger, border battalions. No longer needed as a CIDG training force, the LLDB was dissolved in the same month. Officers above captain were sent to the Biet Dong Quan; the best of the remaining officers and men were selected for a new STD unit, the Special Mission Service. At the same time 81 Airborne Ranger Battalion was expanded into 81 Airborne Ranger Group consisting of one Headquarters Company, one Recon Company and seven Exploitation Companies. The Group was put under the direct control of the JGS as a general reserve force.

During 1970 the Liaison Service had staged numerous cross border missions into Cambodia in support of major external sweeps by the US and South Vietnamese forces against Communist sanctuaries. Early the following year the Service sent three recon teams into the 'Laotian Panhandle' two weeks before the ARVN's February Lam Son 719incursion.

In February 1971 the STD underwent major reorganization in accordance with Vietnamization and its anticipated increase in special operations responsibilities. Headquartered in Saigon, STD command was given to Col. Doan Van Nu, an ARVN airborne officer and former military attache to Taiwan. As STD commander, and a non voting member of the South Vietnamese National Security Council, Nu took orders only from President Nguyen Van Thieu and the Chief of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Vietnam JGS.

The expanded STD consisted of a headquarters, a training center, three support services and six combat services. The training center was located at Camp Yen The in Long Thanh: Yen The, significantly, was the name of a resistance movement in northern Vietnam during the 11th century. Airborne instruction was conducted at the ARVN Airborne Division's Camp Ap Don at Tan Son Nhut. The three support services were Administration & Logistics; Operations & Intelligence; and Psychological Warfare, which ran the 'Vietnam Motherland', 'Voice of Liberty', and 'Patriotic Front of the Sacred Sword' clandestine radio stations. The combat services were the Liaison Service (Loi Ho), the Special Mission Service (Hac Long), Group 11, Group 68, The Air Support Service and the Coastal Security Service.

The Liaison Service (So lien Lac), commanded by a colonel in Saigon, was composed of experienced Loi Ho recon commandos divided among Task Force I (Da Nang), Task Force 2 (Kontum) and Task Force 3 (Ban Me thuot).

The Special Mission Service - SMS (So Cong Tac), also commanded by a Colonel, was headquartered at Camp Son Tra in Da Nang. It remained in training under US auspices from February 1971 until January 1972. Unlike the shorter duration raid and recon missions performed by the Liaison Service, the SMS was tasked with longer missions into North Vietnam and Laos. It was initially composed of Groups 71, 72 and 75, with the first two headquartered at separate camps at Da Nang. Group 75 was headquartered at Plei Ku in the former LLDB B Co. barracks, with one detachment at Kom Tum to provide a strike force for operations in Cambodia and inside South Vietnam.

Group 11, an airborne infiltration unit based at Da Nang, and Group 68, headquartered in Saigon with detachments at Kom Tum, was soon integrated under SMS command. Group 68 ran airborne trained rallier and agent units, including 'Earth Angels' (NVA ralliers) and 'Pike Hill' teams (Cambodian disguised as Khmer Communists). A typical Earth Angel operation took place on 15 December 1971, when a team was inserted by US aircraft on a reconnaissance mission into Mondolkiri Province, Cambodia. Pike Hill operations were focused in the same region, including a seven man POW recovery team dropped into Ba Kev, Cambodia, on 12 February 1971. Pike Hill operations even extended into Laos, e.g. the four man Pike Hill team parachuted onto the edge of the Bolovens Plateau on 28 December 1971, where it reported on enemy logistics traffic for almost two months. Pike Hill operations peaked in November 1972 when two teams were inserted by C-130 Blackbird aircraft flying at 250 feet north of Kompong Trach, Cambodia. Information from one of these teams resulted in 48 B-52 strikes within one day.