Snepp, Frank. Decent Interval: An Insider's Account of Saigon's Indecent
End Told by the CIA's Chief Strategy Analyst in Vietnam. New York: Vintage
Books, 1978. 590 pages.
Snepp served in the CIA's Saigon station from 1969-1971 and 1972-1975;
his duties included strategic estimates of NVA forces, agent networks, and
interrogations of captured NVA and Vietcong. In this book his descriptions
of the CIA's performance in Vietnam, particularly during the fall of Saigon,
are stunning. However, his negative portrayal of Saigon station chief
Thomas Polgar seems unfair given the complexity of the events.
Snepp was awarded the Intelligence Medal for Merit for his service;
ironically, he had joined the CIA to avoid Vietnam. Angered by the CIA's
failure to produce an after-action report on the CIA's performance during
Vietnam's fall, Snepp wrote his book shortly after resigning. The CIA sued
Snepp, forcing him to surrender his profits from the book for failing to
submit it to the CIA Publications Review Board prior to publication.
-- Wendell Minnick
ISBN 0-394-72691-X
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