https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/sir-robert-thompson-advises-president-nixon?cmpid=email-hist-tdih-2018- [login to see] 8&om_rid=9754f68e782e800e414bdd9d8de07d822418f1b24b8c839f0c0af3b24529c73a&om_mid=466573295&kx_EmailCampaignID=24638&kx_EmailCampaignName=email-hist-tdih-2018- [login to see] 8&kx_EmailRecipientID=9754f68e782e800e414bdd9d8de07d822418f1b24b8c839f0c0af3b24529c73a
In a report prepared at the request of President Nixon, counterinsurgency expert Sir Robert Thompson explains that smashing the Viet Cong is a prerequisite for solving the political troubles of South Vietnam. After a five-week secret mission to Saigon in September and early October at the request of the president, Thompson reported that U.S. and Allied intelligence and police efforts had failed to destroy the Communist subversive apparatus in South Vietnam. His report concluded that success in other areas of pacification could not solve the basic political problems of South Vietnam after the withdrawal of the bulk of U.S. forces as long as the Viet Cong apparatus remained virtually intact.