John D. Lavelle
Encyclopedia
John Daniel Lavelle was a United States Air Force
general
and commander of Seventh Air Force
, with headquarters at Tan Son Nhut Air Base
, Republic of Vietnam. Lavelle was removed from office in 1972 and forced to retire due to alleged misconduct, while serving as the Seventh Air Force commander, over bombing missions during the Vietnam War
. Since the ranks of general and lieutenant general
are temporary and linked to their corresponding position of assignment, federal law requires senatorial
approval for an officer to retire at these higher ranks. Due to these allegations the Senate refused to confirm Lavelle to retire as a four-star
or three-star
general. Lavelle was reverted back and retired at his permanent two-star
rank of major general
.
On August 4, 2010, President Barack Obama
nominated Lavelle posthumously for promotion back to the grade of general on the Air Force retired list in light of the release of declassified information that showed that Lavelle had been authorized by President Richard Nixon
to conduct the bombing missions. Further, the Air Force Board for Correction of Military Records found no evidence Lavelle caused, either directly or indirectly, the falsification of records, or that he was even aware of their existence. Once he learned of the reports, Lavelle took action to ensure the practice was discontinued. The nomination to restore his four-star rank was recommended by the Air Force Board for Correction of Military Records, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of the Air Force. However, the Senate Armed Services Committee declined to vote on the nomination, allowing it to expire without action at the end of the legislative session.
, USA, where he attended Cathedral Latin High School, and graduated from John Carroll University
in 1938 with a bachelor of science degree. In 1939 he enlisted as an aviation cadet in the U.S. Army Air Corps and received pilot training at Randolph
and Kelly Fields, Texas. He received his pilot wings and a commission as a second lieutenant in June 1940.
Lavelle married Mary Josephine McEllin on June 22, 1940.
The 412th Fighter Squadron was part of the 373rd Fighter Group, composed of the 410th, 411th and 412th Fighter Squadrons. The Group was constituted on May 25, 1943 and activated on August 15, 1943. The Group trained for combat in P-47 Thunderbolts.
The 373rd Fighter Group deployed to England
in March 1944 where it was assigned to the 9th Air Force. The Group flew its first combat mission on May 8, 1944, a fighter sweep over Normandy
. The Group then took part in preinvasion activities, the P-47s escorting B-26s to attack air fields, bridges, and railroads in France.
When the Allies launched the Normandy invasion on June 6, 1944, the 373rd Fighter Group's P-47s patrolled the air over the beachhead, and hit troops, tanks, roads, fuel depots, and other targets in the assault area until the end of the month.
The 373rd Fighter Group moved to France in July 1944 where it struck railroads, hangars, boxcars, warehouses and other objectives to prevent reinforcements from reaching the front at St. Lo, where the Allies broke though on July 25, 1944. The Group bombed such targets as troops in the Falaise-Argentan area in August 1944.
During the Battle of the Bulge
, December 1944 - January 1945, the 373rd Fighter Group concentrated on the destruction of bridges, marshalling yards and highways. It flew reconnaissance missions to support ground operations in the Rhine Valley
in March 1945, hitting airfields, motor transports, etc. The Group continued tactical air operations until May 4, 1945.
On March 23, 1945, then-Major Lavelle was credited with damaging four enemy aircraft on the ground.
The 373rd Fighter Group returned to the United States in August 1945 and was deactivated on November 7, 1945.
, Ohio, as Deputy Chief of Statistical Services. When the U.S. Air Force was established as a separate Service in 1947, he was one of the two Air Force officers who negotiated with all seven Army Technical Services and wrote the agreements for the division of assets and the operating procedures to be effected during the buildup of the Air Force.
Lavelle was assigned in October 1949 as the Director of Management Analysis And later as the comptroller of the Far East Materiel Command at Tachikawa Air Base
, Japan. During the Korean War
, he was made commander of the Supply Depot at Tachikawa. In this assignment, he was awarded the Legion of Merit
for the reorganization of the theater supply system and the establishment of a procedure for control of the transshipment of supplies direct from the United States to Korea.
In November 1952, Lavelle was assigned as commander of McGuire Air Force Base
, New Jersey, and the 568th Air Defense Group. During his tenure there, the Military Air Transport Service
facilities and air terminal were constructed and McGuire Air Force Base became an East Coast aerial port. When the base was transferred to MATS, he became the MATS Transport Wing commander. While at McGuire Air Force Base, he established a community relations program which did much to ease the problems that normally befall an area where a military installation grows from approximately 1,500 to 10,000 personnel, becoming an honorary member of the local Lions International and Kiwanis Club.
Lavelle attended the Air War College
in 1956-1957 and then spent the next five years at Headquarters U.S. Air Force as deputy director of requirements; secretary of the Weapons Board; and deputy director of programs. While in the Pentagon, he was principally responsible for the reorganization of the Air Force Board system and the establishment of program control through the Program Review Committee and the Weapons Board. He was awarded an oak leaf cluster to his Legion of Merit at the end of this tour of duty.
Lavelle went to Europe in July 1962 as deputy chief of staff for operations, Headquarters Fourth Allied Tactical Air Force, NATO, which was composed of numbered Air Force-size elements of the German, French and Canadian Air Force and the U.S. Air Forces in Europe. For his accomplishments while in this headquarters, he was awarded a second oak leaf cluster to his Legion of Merit and the Médaille de Mérite Militaire by France.
In September 1964, Lavelle was assigned to Headquarters U.S. Air Force as the director of aerospace programs, Deputy Chief of Staff for Programs and Resources. As director, he was principal backup witness in presenting and defending Air Force programs to the Congress after such programs had been approved by the secretary of the Air Force and the secretary of defense. In addition, he served as chairman, Air Staff Board, and as chief, Southeast Asia Programs Team.
Lavelle was assigned as Commander of the Seventeenth Air Force
, headquartered at Ramstein Air Base
, Germany in July 1966. Seventeenth's operations spanned Germany, Italy, and Libya. In this position, Lavelle commanded a versatile, combat-ready force equipped with supersonic jet fighters and tactical missiles with nuclear, conventional and air-to-air capabilities. Seventeenth Air Force was a NATO-committed major subcommand of USAFE, one of America's strongest overseas air arms and a primary instrument of Western defense.
Secretary of the Air Force Harold Brown
, on one of his visits to 17th Air Force at Ramstein, had several briefings by then-Major General Lavelle. Brown was reportedly astounded by Lavelle's detailed knowledge of specifications and functioning of every element of weapons systems and operations.
In December 1967, Lavelle was assigned to the Defense Communications Planning Group located at the United States Naval Observatory
, Washington, D.C., where he served as the Deputy Director for Forces. In February 1968 he assumed duties as the director of the Defense Communications Planning Group. The appointment was made by Secretary of the Air Force Harold Brown and carried with it promotion to Lieutenant General
. The Defense Communications Planning Group (DCPG) ran the secret development of seismic and acoustic sensors to detect truck traffic on the roads that made up the Ho Chi Minh Trail
in Laos
. It was also known as the Igloo White Project. The idea was the brainchild of the Scientific Advisory Board and embraced by Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, who made it a priority development under the direct control of Brown and using primarily Air Force funds to budget it.
With his close relationship with Brown and knowing that McNamara wanted to accelerate the Igloo White operational date, Lavelle was able to divert valuable AF assets to his program. This put him in direct conflict with General John D. Ryan
, then the Air Force Vice Chief of Staff. Ryan had little control over Lavelle, who had direct access to DOD and Brown. Also, Lavelle was able to bypass 7th Air Force in Saigon and personally direct many operations at Task Force Alpha located at Nakhon Phanom, Thailand. Task Force Alpha was the infiltration-surveillance center where sensor data relayed through EC-121 aircraft was processed by large computers. The speed, direction, number, and location of the truck traffic, as well as transshipment and storage areas were sent to Forward Air Controllers to direct immediate strikes and to 7th Air Force for subsequent bomber targeting as part of Operation Arc Light
.
In September 1970, Lavelle was assigned as vice commander in chief, Pacific Air Forces, with headquarters at Hickam Air Force Base
, Hawaii. He served in that capacity until assuming command of Seventh Air Force in South Vietnam on July 29, 1971.
in South Vietnam controlled most of the Air Force aircraft in the Vietnam war. Lavelle was promoted to four-star general when he assumed command.
Seventh Air Force headquarters were at Tan Son Nhut Air Base
, Republic of Vietnam. In addition to commanding Seventh Air Force, Lavelle served concurrently as deputy commander for air operations, Military Assistance Command, Vietnam
(MACV). As Seventh Air Force commander, he was responsible for all Air Force combat air strike, air support and air defense operations in mainland Southeast Asia. In his MACV capacity, he advised on all matters pertaining to effective use of tactical air support and coordinated Vietnamese Air Force and U.S. air operations of all units in the MACV area of responsibility.
and Thailand
. By that time, Vietnamization
, Nixon's policy of transferring responsibility for the war to the South Vietnamese, was well along, and US forces were steadily withdrawing.
Rolling Thunder
, the air war against North Vietnam, had ended in 1968. Washington suspended bombing in North Vietnam to induce Hanoi to talk peace. However, reconnaissance flights continued over North Vietnam.
In November 1968, less than a month after the end of Rolling Thunder, the North Vietnamese shot down a reconnaissance aircraft.
When Nixon came to the White House in January 1969, he maintained the policy not conducting airstrikes against North Vietnam. However, the U.S. Air Force continued intensive airborne reconnaissance of the North, and fighter escorts were assigned.
The rules of engagement in late 1971 prohibited US warplanes from firing at targets in North Vietnam unless US aircraft were either (1) fired at or (2) activated against by enemy radar. In those cases, the escorts could carry out so-called "protective reaction" strikes.
These rules of engagement were based on the situation in 1968, when North Vietnam’s surface-to-air missiles were controlled by fire control radars with a high-pulse recurring frequency, which keyed an alarm in the USAF aircraft. By late 1971, shortly after Lavelle had taken command of 7th Air Force, the North Vietnamese had began networking their long-range search radars with the missile sites. These additional sources of radar data allowed North Vietnam to turn on SAM radar at the last second, giving US aircrews virtually no warning.
U.S. combat commanders believed it vital to let US aircraft defend themselves by attacking SAM sites and MiG
airfields rather than waiting for a SAM site to launch a missile or a MiG to attack. Communiqués from the overall U.S. commander in South Vietnam, General Creighton Abrams
, to the Joint Chiefs of Staff
(JCS) in Washington sought authority to destroy the MiG threat and recommended immediate strikes on Bai Thuong, Quan Lang, and Vinh
airfields.
The JCS denied these requests, but urged commanders to make maximum use of authority allowable under existing Rules of Engagement.
On November 8, 1971, Admiral Thomas H. Moorer, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
, arrived in Vietnam and personally approved a request from Lavelle to attack the MiG airfield at Dong Hoi. Moorer even reviewed the bomb damage assessment results that day, before departing Vietnam. Mission results also went to the Pentagon. Instead of questioning the mission, the JCS only suggested more careful planning.
In a top secret November 12 message to Moorer, Admiral John S. McCain, Jr.
, Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Pacific Command (Abrams' boss), warned, "I am deeply concerned over the mounting threat that the enemy’s integrated air defense network has posed against the B-52 force." He said that "the enemy is more determined than ever to shoot down a B-52."
On November 21, McCain sent another top-secret communiqué to Moorer, asking again for more authority to bomb North Vietnamese targets. McCain made specific reference to the preplanned strikes previously authorized by Moorer himself. Moorer, in a top secret November 28 response, expressed understanding, but declined to grant additional authority.
Secretary of Defense Melvin R. Laird
visited Vietnam in December. Lavelle met privately with Laird in Saigon. At this meeting, Lavelle later asserted, Laird "told me I should make a liberal interpretation of the rules of engagement in the field and not come to Washington and ask him, under the political climate, to come out with an interpretation; I should make them in the field and he would back me up." In 2007, Laird confirmed giving this direction to Lavelle.
Lavelle said he conveyed this information to Abrams, and "General Abrams said he agreed with Secretary Laird."
"We have a saying we used in Vietnam, that we finally found out why there are two crew members in the F-4," Lavelle said later. "One is to fly the airplane and one is to carry the briefcase full of the rules of engagement."
Many of the rules of engagement for air combat dated to 1968. These rules, which had been directed by then-President Lyndon Johnson and his Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara
, were bureaucratic and highly restrictive. As General William C. Westmoreland, the U.S. military commander in Vietnam from 1964–1968, related in his memoirs:
By 1971, when Lavelle assumed command of the Seventh Air Force, Johnson and McNamara were long gone. However, many of the restrictions imposed by the Johnson-McNamara rules of engagement were still in effect in Vietnam.
Forbidden targets included: any North Vietnamese fighter base designated as a sanctuary, a fighter aircraft that did not have its landing gear retracted, any fighter not showing hostile intent, and any SAM site not in operation. A SAM had to be fired at a U.S. plane before the plane could fire back.
Lavelle viewed such pre-emptive actions essential due to changes in North Vietnamese air defense tactics. As a subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee would later report:
The Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1970 had restated the basic protective reaction authority, empowering fighters "to strike any SAM anti-aircraft artillery site in North Vietnam below 20 degrees north which fired at or was activated against US aircraft conducting missions over Laos or North Vietnam."
Secretary of Defense Melvin R. Laird
met privately with Lavelle on a visit to Saigon on Dec. 8, 1971. As Lavelle later told Congress, "He told me I should make a liberal interpretation of the rules of engagement in the field and not come to Washington and ask him, under the political climate, to come out with an interpretation; I should make them in the field and he would back me up. He stated that if I were to make more liberal interpretations of the rules of engagement, I was not likely to be questioned by DOD for our actions.... I conveyed this information and my private discussion to [Army Gen. Creighton W. Abrams Jr., overall U.S. commander in Vietnam], and General Abrams said he agreed with Secretary Laird.”
Lavelle said his deputy was also to relax the rules of engagement during a conference in Honolulu in January 1972. Lavelle didn't attend himself, but sent his vice commander, Maj. Gen. Winton W. Marshall
. Lieutenant General (later General) John W. Vogt Jr., director of the Joint Staff, told Marshall that "field commanders were, in the opinion of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
, not nearly as aggressive as they should have been." The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was Admiral Thomas H. Moorer, a naval aviator who had flown in World War II.
In a written statement submitted to the Senate, Lavelle said that Marshall reported that Vogt said that "field commanders had not been flexible enough in the use of existing authorities" and that "JCS would not question our aiming points (targets) on protective reaction strikes."
, preparing for what would shortly become known as the Easter Offensive. Lavelle's air reconnaissance crews provided a regular flow of reports and photographs chronicling its progress.
The North Vietnamese had become increasingly aggressive. Between November 1971 and February 1972, more than 200 surface-to-air missiles were fired at US aircraft, compared to about 20 for the same interval a year before. The number of incursions by MiG
fighters into South Vietnam and Laos
increased by a factor of 15.
The North Vietnamese also netted their SA-2 Fan Song
fire-control radars with their Bar Lock, Whiff, and Spoon Rest ground control intercept (GCI) radars. The GCI radars could feed the tracking data to Fan Song, which then did not have to be turned on until missile launch. The Radar Homing and Warning (RHAW) gear carried by the American aircraft provided warning when the aircraft were being tracked by the Fan Song, but could not detect emissions from the GCI radar. Thus pilots had little or no warning of a missile attack.
The GCI radars were always on, and, in Lavelle’s opinion, that redefined the "activated against" criterion for protective reaction strikes. "As far as I’m concerned, from November on, no airplane ever went into North Vietnam when the system wasn’t activated against them," Lavel said later.
Lavelle gave orders that whenever U.S. aircraft were in North Vietnam, crews were to assume the air defense system was activated against them, so they were authorized to fire. Lavelle also authorized planned protective reaction strikes. Targets for the planned protective reaction strikes sometimes went beyond elements of the air defense system.
Lavelle later told Congress that he could have hit some of the targets within the rules of engagement by "trolling," or first sending aircraft into hostile areas as bait to provoke enemy fire. The Navy used this practice but that Lavelle said he did not, regarding it as unacceptably dangerous to his aircrews.
By December 1971, Lavelle's reconnaissance flights had provided strong evidence that North Vietnam was preparing a massive conventional attack on the South. However, combat losses during these reconnaissance missions heightened Lavelle’s concern about the operating rules and the effect on his crews. On Dec. 18, the 432nd Tactical Reconnaissance Wing lost three aircraft to enemy action, two to ground fire and one to MiG attack.
Early in 1972, a strike into North Vietnam again raised the issue of authority for preplanned protective reaction strikes. A ground control intercept radar at Moc Chau, used to control MiGs, had proven to be a major threat as it tracked slow-moving US gunships. Abrams personally authorized a preplanned strike. On January 5, 1972, US aircraft struck and disabled the Moc Chau site.
When informed, the JCS took a dim view of the Moc Chau raid. The Joint Chiefs, in a message to U.S. commanders, conceded "the logic" of the attack. "However, we are constrained by the specific operating authorities as written."
U.S. aircraft losses continued to mount. On Jan. 17, 1972, the North Vietnamese shot down two AC-130 gunships, with much loss of life. Three days later, the 432nd Tactical Reconnaissance Wing lost an RF-4C fighter.
in Laos. The North Vietnamese deployed a flight of their best pilots to Dong Hoi, just north of the DMZ, to conduct the attack against the B-52s. Lavelle decided to destroy the MiGs or foil their plans under the guise of a protective reaction strike.
Intelligence reported that the MiGs had taken off from Hanoi
, and 7th Air Force put up its strike flights. Weather closed in around Dong Hoi, but Lavelle, who was in the command post personally directing the operation, ordered his pilots to cut the runway at Dong Hoi so the MiGs couldn’t land. The pilots reported that the target had been hit with no enemy reaction.
Lavelle then told his deputy for operations, Major General (later General) Alton T. Slay, that "We cannot report 'no reaction.' Our authority was protective reaction, so we had to report there was some enemy action." Lavelle viewed the operation of the enemy GCI radar as the enemy action that he was responding to. However, Lavelle later confirmed that he did not explain this rationale to Slay.
Slay communicated this direction to the unit which had flown the strike, the 432nd Tactical Reconnaissance Wing at Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base
, Thailand
, commanded by Colonel (later General) Charles A. Gabriel
. The wing's vice commander was Colonel (later General) Jerome F. O'Malley
. The wing had one reconnaissance squadron and two F-4D fighter squadrons, which meant the wing could carry out both strike and reconnaissance.
Slay told Gabriel and O’Malley, "You must assume by General Lavelle’s direction that you have reaction." At subsequent preflight briefings, crews were told to record enemy "reaction," whether or not it happened. While most of the missions caused real reaction—SAM, triple-A, or MiG fire—a few did not. On those occasions, crews reported "hostile enemy fire" anyway. However, Lavelle meant for the crews to report enemy radar, not fire.
The intelligence office at the 432nd subsequently began falsifying after-action intelligence reports to indicate enemy action. Lavelle did not find out about the falsification until March. Lavelle contended that the falsification of the intelligence report was mis-interpretation of his direction. A total of four false intelligence reports were filed.
The missions in question were all flown against enemy air defenses, specifically missile sites, missiles on transporters, airfields, 122mm and 130mm anti-aircraft guns, and radars. At the time, the U.S. Air Force was flying only reconnaissance missions over North Vietnam, not bombing or interdiction missions. However, the Rules of Engagement as interpreted by Lavelle allowed striking enemy assets that threatened the reconnaissance flights.
President Richard Nixon
, in a February 3, 1972 conversation with a Ambassador Ellsworth F. Bunker, the US envoy to Saigon, explained that he did not want to publicize Lavelle's liberal interpretation of the Rules of Engagement.
The details of this February 3, 1972 Nixon directive never became public.
. Then, after a 24-hour cease-fire for the Tet holiday, the same maximum effort was applied in Military Region 1 in the north.
"We've got a 24-hour flow of aircraft now," Lavelle confirmed, "and we can keep the flow now. It's set up, it's scheduled, so there's something every few minutes. And we just keep it coming and change the target area, so whenever General Abrams makes a decision as to where to put the weight of effort, or where to go next, we've already got the flow of aircraft."
On Feb. 16, the Pentagon announced orders suspending any prestrike need for enemy reaction. On the same day, Lavelle sent a reconnaissance aircraft and 14 escorting fighter-bombers into North Vietnam. A first wave of US aircraft struck the defending SAM sites and another struck heavy gun emplacements north of the DMZ.
MACV officials portrayed these as "protective reaction" strikes. They announced that the sole objective was to strike positions in North Vietnam that had previously fired on American airplanes.
On Feb. 25, Lavelle ordered three more preplanned protective reaction missions using 17 escort aircraft. These types of raids went on unabated for another week or so. The preplanned missions were flown on March 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8.
When, despite Abrams' expectations, the enemy still had not attacked, the U.S. air action became an issue. After a visit from Peter Osnos of the Washington Post, Abrams said, "The wicket he appears to be on is that, for some insidious political reason, we have created the myth of this impending campaign."
Franks checked with his supervisor, Technical Sergeant John Voichita, who told him to fabricate the necessary details. According to Franks, he was told to "make it look real," and "just make up some sort of hostile reaction." Franks then asked the intelligence officer in charge, Capt. Douglas Murray, who confirmed the instructions and said the orders came from the wing director of intelligence.
Franks created an intelligence report that said 10 to 15 rounds of 23mm anti-aircraft artillery had been fired at the reconnaissance crew. Other such instances followed.
Franks wrote to his Senator, Sen. Harold E. Hughes (D-Iowa), who was a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Franks told the Hughes that "we have been reporting that our planes have received hostile reactions such as AAA and SAM firings, whether they have or not. We have also been falsifying targets struck and bomb damage assessments."
Hughes had a copy of the letter hand-carried to Air Force Chief of Staff
General John D. Ryan
on March 8. Franks' identity was initially concealed by Congress but was eventually leaked to the New York Times.
Ryan sent the Air Force inspector general
, Lieutenant General (later General) Louis L. Wilson Jr.
, to Saigon to investigate.'
Lavelle told Wilson that he interpreted the rules of engagement liberally, as he had been told to do. He explained why he regarded the air defense system as always being activated against any aircraft flying into North Vietnam, thus providing grounds for protective reaction strikes. He told people in the command that they could not report "no reaction" to a mission over North Vietnam.
Lavelle was reportedly astounded when Wilson showed him the intelligence reports with false data. He said he had never seen these reports before and had not known the detail that was required to complete one. He had assumed that a general statement about enemy reaction would suffice.
Wilson concluded that Lavelle had exceeded his command authority. Wilson specifically pinpointed 147 sorties into North Vietnam that violated the war's Rules of Engagement. The bombings had been reported as protective reaction strikes when, in fact, there had been no enemy firings.
On March 21, Admiral Moorer, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, sent a top secret message to 7th Air Force, warning that "the increased number of protective reaction strikes since Jan. 1, 1972 has attracted a considerable amount of high-level interest here and is receiving increasing attention from the press." Moorer emphasized the "extreme sensitivity" of this subject and asked that all crews be "thoroughly briefed that current authority permits protective reaction to be taken only—repeat only—when enemy air defenses either fire at or activated against friendly forces."
Lavelle was accused of filing four false reports and conducting 28 unauthorized bombing raids (out of a total 25,000 sorties flown) against enemy air defense positions.
Lavelle said that he had been encouraged by the Secretary of Defense and others to interpret the rules of engagement liberally and that the reports were falsified by subordinates who misconstrued his instructions.
Ryan offered Lavelle two options: another assignment as major general (i.e., loss of two stars), or retirement with a reduction to three-star rank of lieutenant general. Lavelle chose to retire as a three-star.
Lavelle indicated he wished to speak directly with either Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird or Secretary of the Air Force Robert C. Seamans Jr. Ryan agreed that Lavelle would meet with one of the two. Lavelle spent the following week at the Pentagon waiting in vain for an audience. Realizing he would not succeed in overturning the decision, Lavelle agreed to retirement.
On April 7, the Pentagon announced that Lavelle had retired "for personal and health reasons." Lavelle had genuine medical problems—-heart murmur, emphysema, and a disc problem that caused aggravated pains in his hips and legs. He'd been approved for disability retirement.
On May 4, Rep. Otis Pike (D-N.Y.) called for a Congressional investigation. Pressed by Congress and the news media, the Pentagon issued a revised statement on May 15. General Ryan, the Air Force Chief of Staff, said that Lavelle "had been relieved of command of the 7th Air Force by me because of irregularities in the conduct of his command responsibilities."
However, the House Armed Services Committee appointed a special subcommittee to investigate Lavelle's retirement.
.
The Department of Defense refused to provide the committee with the Rules of Engagement. However, Ryan provided a summary of the rules for fighter aircraft.
Lavelle acknowledged that he had made what he termed "a very liberal interpretation" of the Rules of Engagement in ordering his pilots to strike threats in North Vietnam. One of the committee members asked if Lavelle would do it again. "Absolutely," Lavelle replied. "The strikes were specifically directed at air-defense targets, where the buildup had increased in preparation for the invasion."
Lavelle testified that his liberalized interpretation of the Rules of Engagement did not allow the striking of every target of opportunity. He said that, "We went in after those targets... which would hurt the enemy's defense system, so that we could operate." Lavelle cited the example of a January 1972 observation of 55 to 60 tanks 11 miles north of the DMZ. He refused authorization to stirke the tanks, saying, "There is just no way we can make any liberalized interpretation that would authorize that strike."
Ryan and Lavelle disagreed over the number of protective reaction strikes flown under the liberalized rules. Ryan said there were 28, while Lavelle said there were 20 or fewer. Ryan estimated that the strikes totaled about 147 sorties (out of approximately 25,000 sorties during that period), and that all were directed against missile sites, missiles on transporters, airfields, 122mm and 130mm anti-aircraft guns, and radars. Lavelle informed the subcommittee that there were no civilian-populated areas involved, and the no American planes or lives were lost in these strikes.
Asked if General Creighton Abrams
, overall commander of U.S. forces in Viet Nam was aware of the missions, Lavelle replied, "I believe General Abrams knew what I was doing." Lavelle specifically recalled telling Abrams about his plan to strike trucks containing missiles and associated equipment.
Ryan testified that from the 28 missions, a total of four false intelligence reports had been filed (reports from the other 24 missions had not been falsified). Ryan told the subcommittee members that Lavelle’s instructions were the "impetus" behind the falsified reports.
Lavelle assumed full responsibility for reporting the strikes as protective reaction, but testified he was not aware of the four falsified after-action intelligence reports until they were brought to his attention by the Inspector General on March 9, 1972. He stated, "I accepted responsibility for it even though I did not do it and did not have any knowledge of the detail. It was my command and I should have known.".
Lavelle agreed but said that "the impetus for what went into that report stems from me by my stating that we could not report ‘no reaction.’ Now there is a difference here between that and a false report."
Lavelle added that "my instructions were not clear and were subject to misinterpretation and, in retrospect, were apparently interpreted by my subordinates as an exhortation to report enemy fire when there was none. ‘Hostile action, enemy radar,’ would, in my judgment, have been an accurate report."
In closed session as a result of security constraints, U.S. Representative William Dickson
(R-Alabama) told Lavelle, "I am not sure why we are here today. But I think, if I had been in your position, I would have done the very same thing. And if that means stretching the rules is part of it, then good for you." Dickinson blamed the "crazy rules for this crazy war which has no parallel or anything to compare with it."
However, Democratic Senator William Proxmire
of Wisconsin urged the Air Force to court-martial
Lavelle, who, although retired, could still be recalled to active duty to stand trial.
. As described in an article by Lieutenant General (ret.) Aloysius Casey and Patrick Casey, Nixon asked Kissinger about Lavelle repeatedly.
Kissinger criticized the generals. "Of course the military are impossible, too... They turn on each other like rats."
Nixon said, "Laird knows G------ well, that ah, I told him, I said, 'It’s protective reaction.' He winks, he says, 'Oh, I understand.'"
Kissinger replied, "Yeah, but Laird is pretty vicious."
On June 26, 1972, Nixon and Kissinger again discussed Lavelle. As described by the Caseys, "Nixon was recoiling from advice that he steer clear of any involvement in the forthcoming Senate inquiry into Lavelle’s actions."
described a "widespread conspiracy" in which "scores of pilots, squadron and wing commanders, intelligence and operations officers, and ordinary airmen were caught up in the plot." Time Magazine, in an article entitled "Lavelle's Private War" charged that Lavelle had "made the extraordinary decision to take matters into his own hands."
George C. Wilson of the Washington Post said, "What Lavelle did—-taking a war into his own hands—-has obviously grave implications for the nation in this nuclear age." There was speculation that other senior officials were implicated. "Was Lavelle the only bad apple?" Nina Totenberg
asked in the National Observer.
Tom Wicker
of the New York Times said that "numerous ‘protective reaction’ raids on North Vietnam have been staged to let American fliers bomb what they wanted to bomb, when they wanted to bomb it." Seymour Hersh
of the New York Times wrote that the case "raised grave questions about the Nixon Administration’s grip on command and control over the skies of Southeast Asia."
The Senate Armed Services Committee, chaired by Democratic Senator John Stennis of Mississippi, questioned Lavelle and Ryan and also called several witnesses to testify, including Admiral Thomas Moorer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and General Creighton Abrams
, the overall U.S. commander in Vietnam, who was called home from Saigon to testify. Other witnesses included Admiral John S. McCain
, former commander-in-chief of US Pacific Command, General Slay, Colonel Gabriel, Captain Murray, the intelligence officer who had ordered the falsification of the reports, and Sergeant Franks, the intelligence specialist who had reported the falsification of intelligence reports.
Ryan testified that the actual after-action report was not the falsified intelligence reports but a special category (specat) report. "The wing commander later submitted on this type of strike, a Specat, a special category message to 7th Air Force and said, 'This is what we really hit,'" This report was "a message that does not come to the normal distribution centers."
The wing commander, Colonel Gabriel, was asked by Senator Stennis, what he thought about filing the false intelligence reports. Gabriel replied, "My conjecture was... it goes to the world, the OPREP-4—-and I assume there was somebody on the loading list [distribution list] that did not have a need to know, and the full report would be filed with the special report that was sent in at night."
Gabriel's conjecture about the intelligence reports was reasonable if inaccurate. Official records often used cover stories for other operations that were not what they seemed. The White House and Pentagon had been lying for several years about airstrikes in Laos. From 1964 to 1970, the government claimed that US forces were flying only “armed reconnaissance” missions in Laos, with aircraft authorized to return fire if fired upon. In actuality, the Air Force and the Navy were flying hundreds of combat strike missions a day in Laos.
The secret bombing of Cambodia
in 1969-1970 had used similar deception. All communications were split along two paths. One route was overt, ordering typical B-52 missions that were to take place within South Vietnam near the Cambodian border. The second route was covert, utilizing back-channel messages between commanders ordering the classified missions.
During questioning, Republican Senator Barry Goldwater
of Arizona asked Lavelle, "You didn't have the authority to hit a MiG because it was sitting on an airfield below the 19th parallel?
"Yes, sir, that's right," replied Lavelle. "It's a hell of a way to run a war," Goldwater said."
Lavelle told the Senators that he lost planes and crews on two occasions when, without the North Vietnamese SAM using its own radar, which U.S. pilots could detect, the networked system guided missiles to kills. That, argued Lavelle, constituted sufficient rationale for planned strikes in the name of protective reaction. "The system was constantly activated against us," he testified.
Time Magazine reported that Lavelle's raids "were in clear violation of the White House rules then in force on bombing North Viet Nam. The White House apparently did not agree with Time's assessment. During the Senate hearings, on Sept. 15, 1972, Nixon met in the Oval Office with Alexander Haig
, his deputy national security advisor. As described by the Caseys, "Nixon, running for re-election, apparently felt frustration at his inability to correct the injustice he thought he was witnessing in the daily Senate testimony on the Lavelle issue."
Abrams, who had not been privy to Lavelle's meeting with Laird, told the Senate hearing that Lavelle "acted improperly." Abrams at the time was facing Senate confirmation as Army Chief of Staff.
were considered temporary, requiring Senate confirmation for each position held. Retirement at a grade above major general also required Senate confirmation, which was usually granted routinely.
Ryan told the committee that Lavelle’s "service as a four-star general was not satisfactory and did not warrant retirement in that grade." However, his service as a lieutenant general
was outstanding and the Air Force recommended his retirement in that grade.
The Senate Armed Services Committee on Oct. 6, 1972 turned down Lavelle’s nomination for retirement as a lieutenant general by a vote of 14 to two. Instead, Lavelle was retired at his permanent rank of major general. His official retirement date was April 7, 1972.
The issue of whether the Lavelle missions were authorized was lost amid bigger stories—Richard Nixon’s re-election
, the collapse of the Paris peace agreement
, and the Watergate scandal
.
On the second question about the falsification of the intelligence reports, the subcommittee accepted Lavelle's contention that the falsification resulted from a mis-interpretation of his guidance.
The subcommittee criticized the policy of providing "virtual sanctuary" to the "whole of that enemy nation since 1968." The subcommittee stated that "This radical departure from orthodox military doctrine placed U.S. forces at a tremendous tactical disadvantage and contributed to prolonging the war."
The subcommittee report also excoriated the Department of Defense for not releasing the Rules of Engagement and other relevant documents. The report suggested that the DoD was trying to hide something other than Lavelle’s conduct.
, which came to light in 1973.
The bombing of Cambodia was under the control of the USAF Strategic Air Command
(SAC), rather than Lavelle's 7th Air Force. The secret Cambodian bombing began October 4, 1965.
The commander-in-chief of SAC at the time the secret Cambodia bombings began in 1965 was General John D. Ryan
, who in 1972 forced Lavelle to retire over 28 questionable missions flown over North Vietnam.
for the bombing of Cambodia
was revealed in 1973, undercutting Hughes’ campaign against Lavelle’s subordinates.
Slay, Gabriel, and O'Malley, who implemented the false reporting for the Lavelle missions, were all later promoted to four-star general. Gabriel served as Air Force Chief of Staff from 1982-1986.
In a letter responding to the Casey article, former Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird confirmed that he had authorized Lavelle to implement a liberal interpretation of the Rules of Engagement. Laird stated,
Laird took issue, however, with the ensuing falsification of intelligence reports.
Aloysius and Patrick Casey responded to Laird's letter with the following:
Seymour Hersh
, who had been critical of Lavelle in 1972, wrote a follow-up article in 2007 in the wake of the Caseys' revelation. Hersh conceded that Lavelle's "...authorization came from the Oval Office; the Caseys found the evidence that Lavelle had done and continued to do what the President wanted in recently released Nixon White House tapes..."
, with his wife, Josephine, and family.
In retirement, Lavelle stuck to his position. The strikes were within the rules of engagement because the air defense radars were constantly activated against his aircraft. A liberal interpretation of the rules had been encouraged. He did not intend for the reports to be falsified. The U.S. Air Force had been "hasty" in relieving him.
In an oral history
interview in April 1978, Lavelle said that the inquiry had been neither thorough nor fair. "If anybody really wanted the total story or wanted the true story, no effort was made to gather it by historians, by the Senate, by the press, by the Air Force."
In the interview, recorded by the Air Force History Office
, Lavelle said that he should not have acted on the basis of private assurances that he would be supported if the missions became known. He added, "Somewhere along there we just should have said, 'Hey, either fight it or quit, but let’s not waste all the money and the lives the way we are doing it.'"
Lavelle's son, John D. Lavelle, Jr. wrote in 2007:
. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery
. His headstone lists his highest rank held, "General."
, Legion of Merit
with three oak leaf clusters, Air Medal
with oak leaf cluster, and Air Force Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster.
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
general
General (United States)
In the United States Army, United States Air Force, and United States Marine Corps, general is a four-star general officer rank, with the pay grade of O-10. General ranks above lieutenant general and below General of the Army or General of the Air Force; the Marine Corps does not have an...
and commander of Seventh Air Force
Seventh Air Force
The Seventh Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Pacific Air Forces . It is headquartered at Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea....
, with headquarters at Tan Son Nhut Air Base
Tan Son Nhut Air Base
Tan Son Nhut Air Base was a Republic of Vietnam Air Force facility. It is located near the city of Saigon in southern Vietnam. The United States used it as a major base during the Vietnam War , stationing Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine units there...
, Republic of Vietnam. Lavelle was removed from office in 1972 and forced to retire due to alleged misconduct, while serving as the Seventh Air Force commander, over bombing missions during the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. Since the ranks of general and lieutenant general
Lieutenant General (United States)
In the United States Army, the United States Air Force and the United States Marine Corps, lieutenant general is a three-star general officer rank, with the pay grade of O-9. Lieutenant general ranks above major general and below general...
are temporary and linked to their corresponding position of assignment, federal law requires senatorial
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
approval for an officer to retire at these higher ranks. Due to these allegations the Senate refused to confirm Lavelle to retire as a four-star
4 star rank
Four-star rank is a term used to describe a very senior commander in many of the armed services holding a rank described by the NATO OF-9 code. The term is also used by some armed forces which are not NATO members...
or three-star
3 star rank
An officer of three-star rank is a very senior commander in many of the armed services holding a rank described by the NATO code of OF-8. The term is also used by some armed forces which are not NATO members...
general. Lavelle was reverted back and retired at his permanent two-star
2 star rank
An officer of two-star rank is a senior commander in many of the armed services holding a rank described by the NATO code of OF-7. The term is also used by some armed forces which are not NATO members...
rank of major general
Major general (United States)
In the United States Army, United States Marine Corps, and United States Air Force, major general is a two-star general-officer rank, with the pay grade of O-8. Major general ranks above brigadier general and below lieutenant general...
.
On August 4, 2010, President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
nominated Lavelle posthumously for promotion back to the grade of general on the Air Force retired list in light of the release of declassified information that showed that Lavelle had been authorized by President Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
to conduct the bombing missions. Further, the Air Force Board for Correction of Military Records found no evidence Lavelle caused, either directly or indirectly, the falsification of records, or that he was even aware of their existence. Once he learned of the reports, Lavelle took action to ensure the practice was discontinued. The nomination to restore his four-star rank was recommended by the Air Force Board for Correction of Military Records, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of the Air Force. However, the Senate Armed Services Committee declined to vote on the nomination, allowing it to expire without action at the end of the legislative session.
Early life
Lavelle was born on September 9, 1916, in Cleveland, OhioCleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
, USA, where he attended Cathedral Latin High School, and graduated from John Carroll University
John Carroll University
John Carroll University is a private, co-educational Jesuit Catholic university in University Heights, Ohio, United States, a suburb of Cleveland. The university was founded in 1886 by the Society of Jesus as Saint Ignatius College.The university was founded in 1886 by the Society of Jesus, as...
in 1938 with a bachelor of science degree. In 1939 he enlisted as an aviation cadet in the U.S. Army Air Corps and received pilot training at Randolph
Randolph Air Force Base
Randolph Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located east-northeast of San Antonio, Texas. The base is under the jurisdiction of the 902d Mission Support Group, Air Education and Training Command ....
and Kelly Fields, Texas. He received his pilot wings and a commission as a second lieutenant in June 1940.
Lavelle married Mary Josephine McEllin on June 22, 1940.
World War II
Lavelle returned to Randolph Field as a flying instructor and in 1942 was assigned as part of a cadre to open Waco Army Airfield, where he served as squadron commander and director of flying. During World War II he saw combat in the European Theater of Operations, where he served with the 412th Fighter Squadron. He flew 76 combat missions in the P-47 Thunderbolt.The 412th Fighter Squadron was part of the 373rd Fighter Group, composed of the 410th, 411th and 412th Fighter Squadrons. The Group was constituted on May 25, 1943 and activated on August 15, 1943. The Group trained for combat in P-47 Thunderbolts.
The 373rd Fighter Group deployed to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in March 1944 where it was assigned to the 9th Air Force. The Group flew its first combat mission on May 8, 1944, a fighter sweep over Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
. The Group then took part in preinvasion activities, the P-47s escorting B-26s to attack air fields, bridges, and railroads in France.
When the Allies launched the Normandy invasion on June 6, 1944, the 373rd Fighter Group's P-47s patrolled the air over the beachhead, and hit troops, tanks, roads, fuel depots, and other targets in the assault area until the end of the month.
The 373rd Fighter Group moved to France in July 1944 where it struck railroads, hangars, boxcars, warehouses and other objectives to prevent reinforcements from reaching the front at St. Lo, where the Allies broke though on July 25, 1944. The Group bombed such targets as troops in the Falaise-Argentan area in August 1944.
During the Battle of the Bulge
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was a major German offensive , launched toward the end of World War II through the densely forested Ardennes mountain region of Wallonia in Belgium, hence its French name , and France and...
, December 1944 - January 1945, the 373rd Fighter Group concentrated on the destruction of bridges, marshalling yards and highways. It flew reconnaissance missions to support ground operations in the Rhine Valley
Rhine Valley
The Rhine Valley is a glacial alpine valley, formed by the Alpine Rhine , i.e. the section of the Rhine River between the confluence of the Anterior Rhine and Posterior Rhine at Reichenau and its mouth at Lake Constance....
in March 1945, hitting airfields, motor transports, etc. The Group continued tactical air operations until May 4, 1945.
On March 23, 1945, then-Major Lavelle was credited with damaging four enemy aircraft on the ground.
The 373rd Fighter Group returned to the United States in August 1945 and was deactivated on November 7, 1945.
Later career
In January 1946, Lavelle was assigned to Headquarters Air Materiel Command at Wright FieldWright Field
Wright Field was an airfield of the United States Army Air Corps and Air Forces near Riverside, Ohio. From 1927 to 1947 it was the research and development center for the Air Corps, and during World War II a flight test center....
, Ohio, as Deputy Chief of Statistical Services. When the U.S. Air Force was established as a separate Service in 1947, he was one of the two Air Force officers who negotiated with all seven Army Technical Services and wrote the agreements for the division of assets and the operating procedures to be effected during the buildup of the Air Force.
Lavelle was assigned in October 1949 as the Director of Management Analysis And later as the comptroller of the Far East Materiel Command at Tachikawa Air Base
Tachikawa Airfield
is an airfield in the city of Tachikawa, the western part of Tokyo, Japan. Currently under the administration of the Ministry of Defense, it has also served as the civil aviation with Japan's first scheduled air service.-Operations:...
, Japan. During the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
, he was made commander of the Supply Depot at Tachikawa. In this assignment, he was awarded the Legion of Merit
Legion of Merit
The Legion of Merit is a military decoration of the United States armed forces that is awarded for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements...
for the reorganization of the theater supply system and the establishment of a procedure for control of the transshipment of supplies direct from the United States to Korea.
In November 1952, Lavelle was assigned as commander of McGuire Air Force Base
McGuire Air Force Base
JB MDL McGuire is a United States Air Force base located approximately south-southeast of Trenton, New Jersey. McGuire is under the jurisdiction of the USAF Air Mobility Command...
, New Jersey, and the 568th Air Defense Group. During his tenure there, the Military Air Transport Service
Military Air Transport Service
The Military Air Transport Service is an inactive Department of Defense Unified Command. Activated on 1 June 1948, MATS was a consolidation of the United States Navy Naval Air Transport Service and the United States Air Force Air Transport Command into a single, joint, unified command...
facilities and air terminal were constructed and McGuire Air Force Base became an East Coast aerial port. When the base was transferred to MATS, he became the MATS Transport Wing commander. While at McGuire Air Force Base, he established a community relations program which did much to ease the problems that normally befall an area where a military installation grows from approximately 1,500 to 10,000 personnel, becoming an honorary member of the local Lions International and Kiwanis Club.
Lavelle attended the Air War College
Air War College
The Air War College is a part of the United States Air Force's Air University, headquartered at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama. Air University's higher headquarters is Air Education and Training Command headquartered at Randolph Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas. The Air War...
in 1956-1957 and then spent the next five years at Headquarters U.S. Air Force as deputy director of requirements; secretary of the Weapons Board; and deputy director of programs. While in the Pentagon, he was principally responsible for the reorganization of the Air Force Board system and the establishment of program control through the Program Review Committee and the Weapons Board. He was awarded an oak leaf cluster to his Legion of Merit at the end of this tour of duty.
Lavelle went to Europe in July 1962 as deputy chief of staff for operations, Headquarters Fourth Allied Tactical Air Force, NATO, which was composed of numbered Air Force-size elements of the German, French and Canadian Air Force and the U.S. Air Forces in Europe. For his accomplishments while in this headquarters, he was awarded a second oak leaf cluster to his Legion of Merit and the Médaille de Mérite Militaire by France.
In September 1964, Lavelle was assigned to Headquarters U.S. Air Force as the director of aerospace programs, Deputy Chief of Staff for Programs and Resources. As director, he was principal backup witness in presenting and defending Air Force programs to the Congress after such programs had been approved by the secretary of the Air Force and the secretary of defense. In addition, he served as chairman, Air Staff Board, and as chief, Southeast Asia Programs Team.
Lavelle was assigned as Commander of the Seventeenth Air Force
Seventeenth Air Force
Seventeenth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force located at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. The command served the United States Air Forces in Europe during its years of active service...
, headquartered at Ramstein Air Base
Ramstein Air Base
Ramstein Air Base is a United States Air Force base in the German state of Rheinland-Pfalz. It serves as headquarters for the United States Air Forces in Europe and is also a North Atlantic Treaty Organization installation...
, Germany in July 1966. Seventeenth's operations spanned Germany, Italy, and Libya. In this position, Lavelle commanded a versatile, combat-ready force equipped with supersonic jet fighters and tactical missiles with nuclear, conventional and air-to-air capabilities. Seventeenth Air Force was a NATO-committed major subcommand of USAFE, one of America's strongest overseas air arms and a primary instrument of Western defense.
Secretary of the Air Force Harold Brown
Harold Brown (Secretary of Defense)
Harold Brown , American scientist, was U.S. Secretary of Defense from 1977 to 1981 in the cabinet of President Jimmy Carter. He had previously served in the Lyndon Johnson administration as Director of Defense Research and Engineering and Secretary of the Air Force.While Secretary of Defense, he...
, on one of his visits to 17th Air Force at Ramstein, had several briefings by then-Major General Lavelle. Brown was reportedly astounded by Lavelle's detailed knowledge of specifications and functioning of every element of weapons systems and operations.
In December 1967, Lavelle was assigned to the Defense Communications Planning Group located at the United States Naval Observatory
United States Naval Observatory
The United States Naval Observatory is one of the oldest scientific agencies in the United States, with a primary mission to produce Positioning, Navigation, and Timing for the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Department of Defense...
, Washington, D.C., where he served as the Deputy Director for Forces. In February 1968 he assumed duties as the director of the Defense Communications Planning Group. The appointment was made by Secretary of the Air Force Harold Brown and carried with it promotion to Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....
. The Defense Communications Planning Group (DCPG) ran the secret development of seismic and acoustic sensors to detect truck traffic on the roads that made up the Ho Chi Minh Trail
Ho Chi Minh trail
The Ho Chi Minh trail was a logistical system that ran from the Democratic Republic of Vietnam to the Republic of Vietnam through the neighboring kingdoms of Laos and Cambodia...
in Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
. It was also known as the Igloo White Project. The idea was the brainchild of the Scientific Advisory Board and embraced by Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, who made it a priority development under the direct control of Brown and using primarily Air Force funds to budget it.
With his close relationship with Brown and knowing that McNamara wanted to accelerate the Igloo White operational date, Lavelle was able to divert valuable AF assets to his program. This put him in direct conflict with General John D. Ryan
John Dale Ryan
General John Dale Ryan was the seventh Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force. As chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force, General Ryan served in a dual capacity...
, then the Air Force Vice Chief of Staff. Ryan had little control over Lavelle, who had direct access to DOD and Brown. Also, Lavelle was able to bypass 7th Air Force in Saigon and personally direct many operations at Task Force Alpha located at Nakhon Phanom, Thailand. Task Force Alpha was the infiltration-surveillance center where sensor data relayed through EC-121 aircraft was processed by large computers. The speed, direction, number, and location of the truck traffic, as well as transshipment and storage areas were sent to Forward Air Controllers to direct immediate strikes and to 7th Air Force for subsequent bomber targeting as part of Operation Arc Light
Operation Arc Light
Operation Arc Light was the 1965 deployment of B-52D Stratofortresses as conventional bombers from bases in the US to Guam to support ground combat operations in Vietnam...
.
In September 1970, Lavelle was assigned as vice commander in chief, Pacific Air Forces, with headquarters at Hickam Air Force Base
Hickam Air Force Base
Hickam Field, re-named Hickam Air Force Base in 1948, was a United States Air Force facility now part of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, named in honor of aviation pioneer Lt Col Horace Meek Hickam.- History :...
, Hawaii. He served in that capacity until assuming command of Seventh Air Force in South Vietnam on July 29, 1971.
Vietnam
The Seventh Air ForceSeventh Air Force
The Seventh Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Pacific Air Forces . It is headquartered at Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea....
in South Vietnam controlled most of the Air Force aircraft in the Vietnam war. Lavelle was promoted to four-star general when he assumed command.
Seventh Air Force headquarters were at Tan Son Nhut Air Base
Tan Son Nhut Air Base
Tan Son Nhut Air Base was a Republic of Vietnam Air Force facility. It is located near the city of Saigon in southern Vietnam. The United States used it as a major base during the Vietnam War , stationing Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine units there...
, Republic of Vietnam. In addition to commanding Seventh Air Force, Lavelle served concurrently as deputy commander for air operations, Military Assistance Command, Vietnam
Military Assistance Command, Vietnam
The U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, MACV, , was the United States' unified command structure for all of its military forces in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War.-History:...
(MACV). As Seventh Air Force commander, he was responsible for all Air Force combat air strike, air support and air defense operations in mainland Southeast Asia. In his MACV capacity, he advised on all matters pertaining to effective use of tactical air support and coordinated Vietnamese Air Force and U.S. air operations of all units in the MACV area of responsibility.
Rolling Thunder in Vietnam
Lavelle arrived in Saigon on Aug. 1, 1971. As commander of 7th Air Force, he had operational control of Air Force units based in both VietnamVietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
and Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
. By that time, Vietnamization
Vietnamization
Vietnamization was a policy of the Richard M. Nixon administration during the Vietnam War, as a result of the Viet Cong's Tet Offensive, to "expand, equip, and train South Vietnam's forces and assign to them an ever-increasing combat role, at the same time steadily reducing the number of U.S....
, Nixon's policy of transferring responsibility for the war to the South Vietnamese, was well along, and US forces were steadily withdrawing.
Rolling Thunder
Rolling Thunder
Rolling Thunder Inc. is a class 501 non-profit organization which is dedicated to the search for American military personnel who are prisoners of war "POW"/missing in action "MIA". Rolling Thunder was established in 1987 and incorporated in 1995. All Rolling Thunder members are non-paid including...
, the air war against North Vietnam, had ended in 1968. Washington suspended bombing in North Vietnam to induce Hanoi to talk peace. However, reconnaissance flights continued over North Vietnam.
In November 1968, less than a month after the end of Rolling Thunder, the North Vietnamese shot down a reconnaissance aircraft.
When Nixon came to the White House in January 1969, he maintained the policy not conducting airstrikes against North Vietnam. However, the U.S. Air Force continued intensive airborne reconnaissance of the North, and fighter escorts were assigned.
The rules of engagement in late 1971 prohibited US warplanes from firing at targets in North Vietnam unless US aircraft were either (1) fired at or (2) activated against by enemy radar. In those cases, the escorts could carry out so-called "protective reaction" strikes.
These rules of engagement were based on the situation in 1968, when North Vietnam’s surface-to-air missiles were controlled by fire control radars with a high-pulse recurring frequency, which keyed an alarm in the USAF aircraft. By late 1971, shortly after Lavelle had taken command of 7th Air Force, the North Vietnamese had began networking their long-range search radars with the missile sites. These additional sources of radar data allowed North Vietnam to turn on SAM radar at the last second, giving US aircrews virtually no warning.
U.S. combat commanders believed it vital to let US aircraft defend themselves by attacking SAM sites and MiG
Mig
-Industry:*MiG, now Mikoyan, a Russian aircraft corporation, formerly the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau*Metal inert gas welding or MIG welding, a type of welding using an electric arc and a shielding gas-Business and finance:...
airfields rather than waiting for a SAM site to launch a missile or a MiG to attack. Communiqués from the overall U.S. commander in South Vietnam, General Creighton Abrams
Creighton Abrams
Creighton Williams Abrams Jr. was a general in the United States Army who commanded military operations in the Vietnam War from 1968–72 which saw U.S. troop strength in Vietnam fall from a peak of 543,000 to 49,000. He served as Chief of Staff of the United States Army from 1972 until shortly...
, to the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Joint Chiefs of Staff
The Joint Chiefs of Staff is a body of senior uniformed leaders in the United States Department of Defense who advise the Secretary of Defense, the Homeland Security Council, the National Security Council and the President on military matters...
(JCS) in Washington sought authority to destroy the MiG threat and recommended immediate strikes on Bai Thuong, Quan Lang, and Vinh
Vinh
Vinh is a city in Vietnam. It is located in the northern half of the country, and is the capital of Nghệ An Province. Politically, Vinh is a municipality within Nghệ An Province. On September 5th, 2008, it was upgraded from Grade-II city to Grade-I city, the fourth Grade-I city of Vietnam after...
airfields.
The JCS denied these requests, but urged commanders to make maximum use of authority allowable under existing Rules of Engagement.
On November 8, 1971, Admiral Thomas H. Moorer, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is by law the highest ranking military officer in the United States Armed Forces, and is the principal military adviser to the President of the United States, the National Security Council, the Homeland Security Council and the Secretary of Defense...
, arrived in Vietnam and personally approved a request from Lavelle to attack the MiG airfield at Dong Hoi. Moorer even reviewed the bomb damage assessment results that day, before departing Vietnam. Mission results also went to the Pentagon. Instead of questioning the mission, the JCS only suggested more careful planning.
In a top secret November 12 message to Moorer, Admiral John S. McCain, Jr.
John S. McCain, Jr.
John Sidney "Jack" McCain Jr. was a United States Navy admiral, who served in conflicts from the 1940s through the 1970s, including as the Commander, United States Pacific Command....
, Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Pacific Command (Abrams' boss), warned, "I am deeply concerned over the mounting threat that the enemy’s integrated air defense network has posed against the B-52 force." He said that "the enemy is more determined than ever to shoot down a B-52."
On November 21, McCain sent another top-secret communiqué to Moorer, asking again for more authority to bomb North Vietnamese targets. McCain made specific reference to the preplanned strikes previously authorized by Moorer himself. Moorer, in a top secret November 28 response, expressed understanding, but declined to grant additional authority.
Secretary of Defense Melvin R. Laird
Melvin R. Laird
Melvin Robert Laird is an American politician and writer. Laird was a Republican congressman who also served as Richard Nixon's Secretary of Defense from 1969 to 1973. Laird urged Nixon to maintain a policy of withdrawing US soldiers from Vietnam...
visited Vietnam in December. Lavelle met privately with Laird in Saigon. At this meeting, Lavelle later asserted, Laird "told me I should make a liberal interpretation of the rules of engagement in the field and not come to Washington and ask him, under the political climate, to come out with an interpretation; I should make them in the field and he would back me up." In 2007, Laird confirmed giving this direction to Lavelle.
Lavelle said he conveyed this information to Abrams, and "General Abrams said he agreed with Secretary Laird."
Lavelle's changes to the rules of engagement
Lavelle instructed his fighter pilots to take an aggressive approach in responding to North Vietnamese threats. These instructions would later lead to his recall and demotion.Existing Rules of Engagement
The rules on what pilots were allowed and not allowed to do were called Rules of Engagement. The rules were changed often and were not transmitted in a neat list. They consisted of a compilation of wires, messages, and directives."We have a saying we used in Vietnam, that we finally found out why there are two crew members in the F-4," Lavelle said later. "One is to fly the airplane and one is to carry the briefcase full of the rules of engagement."
Many of the rules of engagement for air combat dated to 1968. These rules, which had been directed by then-President Lyndon Johnson and his Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara
Robert McNamara
Robert Strange McNamara was an American business executive and the eighth Secretary of Defense, serving under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson from 1961 to 1968, during which time he played a large role in escalating the United States involvement in the Vietnam War...
, were bureaucratic and highly restrictive. As General William C. Westmoreland, the U.S. military commander in Vietnam from 1964–1968, related in his memoirs:
In 1965, we observed the construction of the first surface-to-air (SAM) sites in North Vietnam, and the military sought permission to attack them before they were completed to save American casualties. Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Affairs John McNaughtonJohn McNaughton (government official)John Theodore McNaughton born in Pekin, Illinois was United States Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs and Robert S. McNamara's closest advisor...
ridiculed the idea.
"You don't think the North Vietnamese are going to use them!" he scoffed. "Putting them in is just a political ploy by the Russians to appease Hanoi." It was all a matter of signals, said the clever civilian theorist in Washington. "We won't bomb the SAM sites, which signals to North Vietnam not to use them." But our enemies were not playing Washington's silly games. A month later the United States lost its first aircraft to a SAM.
By 1971, when Lavelle assumed command of the Seventh Air Force, Johnson and McNamara were long gone. However, many of the restrictions imposed by the Johnson-McNamara rules of engagement were still in effect in Vietnam.
Forbidden targets included: any North Vietnamese fighter base designated as a sanctuary, a fighter aircraft that did not have its landing gear retracted, any fighter not showing hostile intent, and any SAM site not in operation. A SAM had to be fired at a U.S. plane before the plane could fire back.
Lavelle's modifications to the rules of engagement
Lavelle sent word to his fighter units that if their planes were shot at, they were to shoot back. They shouldn't wait for the SAMs to become operational and start shooting their 'flying telephone poles.' The fighter pilots were told to hit transporters and SAM sites under construction.Lavelle viewed such pre-emptive actions essential due to changes in North Vietnamese air defense tactics. As a subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee would later report:
In late 1971, the North Vietnamese took several actions which vastly improved and augmented their tracking capability. The most important was netting of their early warning and surveillance radar and their anti-aircraft artillery radar with SAM missiles. In that netted mode, the Fan SongFan SongThe Fan Song is the NATO reporting name for a series of trailer-mounted E band/F band and G band fire control and tracking radars for use with the Soviet SA-2 Guideline surface-to-air missile system.- Description :...
(radars) which alerted U.S. pilots to the surveillance never came up, as the surveillance could all be conducted with the other radars. General Lavelle believed that, with those mutually supporting radar systems transmitting tracking data to the firing sites, the SAM missile system was activated at U.S. aircraft at any time they were over North Vietnam.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1970 had restated the basic protective reaction authority, empowering fighters "to strike any SAM anti-aircraft artillery site in North Vietnam below 20 degrees north which fired at or was activated against US aircraft conducting missions over Laos or North Vietnam."
Secretary of Defense Melvin R. Laird
Melvin R. Laird
Melvin Robert Laird is an American politician and writer. Laird was a Republican congressman who also served as Richard Nixon's Secretary of Defense from 1969 to 1973. Laird urged Nixon to maintain a policy of withdrawing US soldiers from Vietnam...
met privately with Lavelle on a visit to Saigon on Dec. 8, 1971. As Lavelle later told Congress, "He told me I should make a liberal interpretation of the rules of engagement in the field and not come to Washington and ask him, under the political climate, to come out with an interpretation; I should make them in the field and he would back me up. He stated that if I were to make more liberal interpretations of the rules of engagement, I was not likely to be questioned by DOD for our actions.... I conveyed this information and my private discussion to [Army Gen. Creighton W. Abrams Jr., overall U.S. commander in Vietnam], and General Abrams said he agreed with Secretary Laird.”
Lavelle said his deputy was also to relax the rules of engagement during a conference in Honolulu in January 1972. Lavelle didn't attend himself, but sent his vice commander, Maj. Gen. Winton W. Marshall
Winton W. Marshall
Lieutenant General Winton Whittier Marshall was an American Air Force Lieutenant General and flying ace. He was deputy commander in chief, U.S. Readiness Command, with headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla.-Biography:...
. Lieutenant General (later General) John W. Vogt Jr., director of the Joint Staff, told Marshall that "field commanders were, in the opinion of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is by law the highest ranking military officer in the United States Armed Forces, and is the principal military adviser to the President of the United States, the National Security Council, the Homeland Security Council and the Secretary of Defense...
, not nearly as aggressive as they should have been." The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was Admiral Thomas H. Moorer, a naval aviator who had flown in World War II.
In a written statement submitted to the Senate, Lavelle said that Marshall reported that Vogt said that "field commanders had not been flexible enough in the use of existing authorities" and that "JCS would not question our aiming points (targets) on protective reaction strikes."
Conduct of the air war
At the time that Lavelle arrived in Vietnam, the North Vietnamese were concentrating forces and equipment near the Demilitarized ZoneVietnamese Demilitarized Zone
The Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone was established as a dividing line between North and South Vietnam as a result of the First Indochina War.During the Second Indochina War , it became important as the battleground demarcation separating North Vietnamese territory from South Vietnamese territory.-...
, preparing for what would shortly become known as the Easter Offensive. Lavelle's air reconnaissance crews provided a regular flow of reports and photographs chronicling its progress.
The North Vietnamese had become increasingly aggressive. Between November 1971 and February 1972, more than 200 surface-to-air missiles were fired at US aircraft, compared to about 20 for the same interval a year before. The number of incursions by MiG
Mig
-Industry:*MiG, now Mikoyan, a Russian aircraft corporation, formerly the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau*Metal inert gas welding or MIG welding, a type of welding using an electric arc and a shielding gas-Business and finance:...
fighters into South Vietnam and Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
increased by a factor of 15.
The North Vietnamese also netted their SA-2 Fan Song
Fan Song
The Fan Song is the NATO reporting name for a series of trailer-mounted E band/F band and G band fire control and tracking radars for use with the Soviet SA-2 Guideline surface-to-air missile system.- Description :...
fire-control radars with their Bar Lock, Whiff, and Spoon Rest ground control intercept (GCI) radars. The GCI radars could feed the tracking data to Fan Song, which then did not have to be turned on until missile launch. The Radar Homing and Warning (RHAW) gear carried by the American aircraft provided warning when the aircraft were being tracked by the Fan Song, but could not detect emissions from the GCI radar. Thus pilots had little or no warning of a missile attack.
The GCI radars were always on, and, in Lavelle’s opinion, that redefined the "activated against" criterion for protective reaction strikes. "As far as I’m concerned, from November on, no airplane ever went into North Vietnam when the system wasn’t activated against them," Lavel said later.
Lavelle gave orders that whenever U.S. aircraft were in North Vietnam, crews were to assume the air defense system was activated against them, so they were authorized to fire. Lavelle also authorized planned protective reaction strikes. Targets for the planned protective reaction strikes sometimes went beyond elements of the air defense system.
Lavelle later told Congress that he could have hit some of the targets within the rules of engagement by "trolling," or first sending aircraft into hostile areas as bait to provoke enemy fire. The Navy used this practice but that Lavelle said he did not, regarding it as unacceptably dangerous to his aircrews.
By December 1971, Lavelle's reconnaissance flights had provided strong evidence that North Vietnam was preparing a massive conventional attack on the South. However, combat losses during these reconnaissance missions heightened Lavelle’s concern about the operating rules and the effect on his crews. On Dec. 18, the 432nd Tactical Reconnaissance Wing lost three aircraft to enemy action, two to ground fire and one to MiG attack.
Early in 1972, a strike into North Vietnam again raised the issue of authority for preplanned protective reaction strikes. A ground control intercept radar at Moc Chau, used to control MiGs, had proven to be a major threat as it tracked slow-moving US gunships. Abrams personally authorized a preplanned strike. On January 5, 1972, US aircraft struck and disabled the Moc Chau site.
When informed, the JCS took a dim view of the Moc Chau raid. The Joint Chiefs, in a message to U.S. commanders, conceded "the logic" of the attack. "However, we are constrained by the specific operating authorities as written."
U.S. aircraft losses continued to mount. On Jan. 17, 1972, the North Vietnamese shot down two AC-130 gunships, with much loss of life. Three days later, the 432nd Tactical Reconnaissance Wing lost an RF-4C fighter.
Charges of falsification of reports
On Jan. 23, 1972, 7th Air Force intelligence learned that the North Vietnamese planned to attack "a large aircraft" that night, presumably the B-52s which would be flying against targets on the Ho Chi Minh TrailHo Chi Minh trail
The Ho Chi Minh trail was a logistical system that ran from the Democratic Republic of Vietnam to the Republic of Vietnam through the neighboring kingdoms of Laos and Cambodia...
in Laos. The North Vietnamese deployed a flight of their best pilots to Dong Hoi, just north of the DMZ, to conduct the attack against the B-52s. Lavelle decided to destroy the MiGs or foil their plans under the guise of a protective reaction strike.
Intelligence reported that the MiGs had taken off from Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
, and 7th Air Force put up its strike flights. Weather closed in around Dong Hoi, but Lavelle, who was in the command post personally directing the operation, ordered his pilots to cut the runway at Dong Hoi so the MiGs couldn’t land. The pilots reported that the target had been hit with no enemy reaction.
Lavelle then told his deputy for operations, Major General (later General) Alton T. Slay, that "We cannot report 'no reaction.' Our authority was protective reaction, so we had to report there was some enemy action." Lavelle viewed the operation of the enemy GCI radar as the enemy action that he was responding to. However, Lavelle later confirmed that he did not explain this rationale to Slay.
Slay communicated this direction to the unit which had flown the strike, the 432nd Tactical Reconnaissance Wing at Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base
Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base
Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base is a Royal Thai Air Force base, the home of 2nd Air Division/23rd Wing Air Combat Command.The 231 Squadron "Hunter" is assigned to Udorn, equipped with the Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet-A.-History:...
, Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, commanded by Colonel (later General) Charles A. Gabriel
Charles A. Gabriel
General Charles Alvin Gabriel was the 11th Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force. As chief of staff of the U. S. Air Force, General Gabriel served in a dual capacity...
. The wing's vice commander was Colonel (later General) Jerome F. O'Malley
Jerome F. O'Malley
General Jerome Francis O'Malley was a United States Air Force four star general who served as Vice Chief of Staff, U.S. Air Force from 1982 to 1983; Commander in Chief, Pacific Air Forces from 1983 to 1984; and Commander, Tactical Air Command from 1984 to 1985...
. The wing had one reconnaissance squadron and two F-4D fighter squadrons, which meant the wing could carry out both strike and reconnaissance.
Slay told Gabriel and O’Malley, "You must assume by General Lavelle’s direction that you have reaction." At subsequent preflight briefings, crews were told to record enemy "reaction," whether or not it happened. While most of the missions caused real reaction—SAM, triple-A, or MiG fire—a few did not. On those occasions, crews reported "hostile enemy fire" anyway. However, Lavelle meant for the crews to report enemy radar, not fire.
The intelligence office at the 432nd subsequently began falsifying after-action intelligence reports to indicate enemy action. Lavelle did not find out about the falsification until March. Lavelle contended that the falsification of the intelligence report was mis-interpretation of his direction. A total of four false intelligence reports were filed.
The missions in question were all flown against enemy air defenses, specifically missile sites, missiles on transporters, airfields, 122mm and 130mm anti-aircraft guns, and radars. At the time, the U.S. Air Force was flying only reconnaissance missions over North Vietnam, not bombing or interdiction missions. However, the Rules of Engagement as interpreted by Lavelle allowed striking enemy assets that threatened the reconnaissance flights.
President Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
, in a February 3, 1972 conversation with a Ambassador Ellsworth F. Bunker, the US envoy to Saigon, explained that he did not want to publicize Lavelle's liberal interpretation of the Rules of Engagement.
You’ve worked out the authority. He can hit SAM sites, period. OK? But he is not to do it with a public declaration. All right? And, if it does get out, to the extent it does, he says it’s a protective reaction strike. He is to describe it as protective reaction. And he doesn’t have to spell it out. They struck, that’s all he needs, a SAM site. A protective reaction strike against a SAM site.
The details of this February 3, 1972 Nixon directive never became public.
Continuation of pre-planned protective reaction
On February 5, based on intelligence of the enemy's continued buildup and the positioning of his major troop units, General Abrams decided that the enemy offensive had in fact begun. MACV brought to bear on the enemy buildup everything it had—within the still restrictive rules of engagement. Tactical air sorties, gunships, and B-52 strikes were brought in practically nonstop. A 48-hour maximum effort was begun, concentrating all available airpower against the B-3 Front in the Vietnam's Central HighlandsTây Nguyên
Tây Nguyên, translated as Western Highlands and sometimes also called Central Highlands, is one of the regions of Vietnam. It contains the provinces of Đắk Lắk, Đắk Nông, Gia Lai, Kon Tum, Lâm Đồng....
. Then, after a 24-hour cease-fire for the Tet holiday, the same maximum effort was applied in Military Region 1 in the north.
"We've got a 24-hour flow of aircraft now," Lavelle confirmed, "and we can keep the flow now. It's set up, it's scheduled, so there's something every few minutes. And we just keep it coming and change the target area, so whenever General Abrams makes a decision as to where to put the weight of effort, or where to go next, we've already got the flow of aircraft."
On Feb. 16, the Pentagon announced orders suspending any prestrike need for enemy reaction. On the same day, Lavelle sent a reconnaissance aircraft and 14 escorting fighter-bombers into North Vietnam. A first wave of US aircraft struck the defending SAM sites and another struck heavy gun emplacements north of the DMZ.
MACV officials portrayed these as "protective reaction" strikes. They announced that the sole objective was to strike positions in North Vietnam that had previously fired on American airplanes.
On Feb. 25, Lavelle ordered three more preplanned protective reaction missions using 17 escort aircraft. These types of raids went on unabated for another week or so. The preplanned missions were flown on March 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8.
When, despite Abrams' expectations, the enemy still had not attacked, the U.S. air action became an issue. After a visit from Peter Osnos of the Washington Post, Abrams said, "The wicket he appears to be on is that, for some insidious political reason, we have created the myth of this impending campaign."
Lavelle Affair
Lavelle's alleged changes to the rules of engagement and the falsification of the reports resulted in a media firestorm that became known as the "Lavelle Affair."Investigation
The unraveling of the false intelligence reports began with 23-year-old Sergeant Lonnie D. Franks of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. who was an intelligence specialist for Gabriel’s wing at Udorn. Two days after the strike on the MiG runway, on Jan. 25, 1972, Franks debriefed an F-4 pilot and navigator who had flown a reconnaissance mission. They said they had not received any ground fire or hostile reaction but had been instructed nevertheless to report hostile reaction.Franks checked with his supervisor, Technical Sergeant John Voichita, who told him to fabricate the necessary details. According to Franks, he was told to "make it look real," and "just make up some sort of hostile reaction." Franks then asked the intelligence officer in charge, Capt. Douglas Murray, who confirmed the instructions and said the orders came from the wing director of intelligence.
Franks created an intelligence report that said 10 to 15 rounds of 23mm anti-aircraft artillery had been fired at the reconnaissance crew. Other such instances followed.
Franks wrote to his Senator, Sen. Harold E. Hughes (D-Iowa), who was a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Franks told the Hughes that "we have been reporting that our planes have received hostile reactions such as AAA and SAM firings, whether they have or not. We have also been falsifying targets struck and bomb damage assessments."
Hughes had a copy of the letter hand-carried to Air Force Chief of Staff
Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force
The Chief of Staff of the Air Force is a statutory office held by a four-star general in the United States Air Force, and is the most senior uniformed officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Air Force, and as such is the principal military advisor and a deputy to the Secretary of the...
General John D. Ryan
John Dale Ryan
General John Dale Ryan was the seventh Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force. As chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force, General Ryan served in a dual capacity...
on March 8. Franks' identity was initially concealed by Congress but was eventually leaked to the New York Times.
Ryan sent the Air Force inspector general
Inspector General
An Inspector General is an investigative official in a civil or military organization. The plural of the term is Inspectors General.-Bangladesh:...
, Lieutenant General (later General) Louis L. Wilson Jr.
Louis L. Wilson Jr.
Louis Locke Wilson Jr. is a former General in the United States Air Force and the former commander in chief of the Pacific Air Forces-Early life:...
, to Saigon to investigate.'
Lavelle told Wilson that he interpreted the rules of engagement liberally, as he had been told to do. He explained why he regarded the air defense system as always being activated against any aircraft flying into North Vietnam, thus providing grounds for protective reaction strikes. He told people in the command that they could not report "no reaction" to a mission over North Vietnam.
Lavelle was reportedly astounded when Wilson showed him the intelligence reports with false data. He said he had never seen these reports before and had not known the detail that was required to complete one. He had assumed that a general statement about enemy reaction would suffice.
Wilson concluded that Lavelle had exceeded his command authority. Wilson specifically pinpointed 147 sorties into North Vietnam that violated the war's Rules of Engagement. The bombings had been reported as protective reaction strikes when, in fact, there had been no enemy firings.
On March 21, Admiral Moorer, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, sent a top secret message to 7th Air Force, warning that "the increased number of protective reaction strikes since Jan. 1, 1972 has attracted a considerable amount of high-level interest here and is receiving increasing attention from the press." Moorer emphasized the "extreme sensitivity" of this subject and asked that all crews be "thoroughly briefed that current authority permits protective reaction to be taken only—repeat only—when enemy air defenses either fire at or activated against friendly forces."
Recall to Washington
On March 23, Wilson reported his findings to Ryan, who immediately recalled Lavelle to Washington. Lavelle arrived in Washington on March 26.Lavelle was accused of filing four false reports and conducting 28 unauthorized bombing raids (out of a total 25,000 sorties flown) against enemy air defense positions.
Lavelle said that he had been encouraged by the Secretary of Defense and others to interpret the rules of engagement liberally and that the reports were falsified by subordinates who misconstrued his instructions.
Ryan offered Lavelle two options: another assignment as major general (i.e., loss of two stars), or retirement with a reduction to three-star rank of lieutenant general. Lavelle chose to retire as a three-star.
Lavelle indicated he wished to speak directly with either Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird or Secretary of the Air Force Robert C. Seamans Jr. Ryan agreed that Lavelle would meet with one of the two. Lavelle spent the following week at the Pentagon waiting in vain for an audience. Realizing he would not succeed in overturning the decision, Lavelle agreed to retirement.
On April 7, the Pentagon announced that Lavelle had retired "for personal and health reasons." Lavelle had genuine medical problems—-heart murmur, emphysema, and a disc problem that caused aggravated pains in his hips and legs. He'd been approved for disability retirement.
On May 4, Rep. Otis Pike (D-N.Y.) called for a Congressional investigation. Pressed by Congress and the news media, the Pentagon issued a revised statement on May 15. General Ryan, the Air Force Chief of Staff, said that Lavelle "had been relieved of command of the 7th Air Force by me because of irregularities in the conduct of his command responsibilities."
However, the House Armed Services Committee appointed a special subcommittee to investigate Lavelle's retirement.
House Armed Services Committee hearings
The Lavelle hearings in the House of Representatives began on June 12, 1972 and lasted only one day. The Armed Services Investigating Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee heard testimony from Ryan and the now-retired Lavelle. The morning session was open to the public, but the afternoon session was closed to allow discussion of classified informationClassified information
Classified information is sensitive information to which access is restricted by law or regulation to particular groups of persons. A formal security clearance is required to handle classified documents or access classified data. The clearance process requires a satisfactory background investigation...
.
The Department of Defense refused to provide the committee with the Rules of Engagement. However, Ryan provided a summary of the rules for fighter aircraft.
Lavelle acknowledged that he had made what he termed "a very liberal interpretation" of the Rules of Engagement in ordering his pilots to strike threats in North Vietnam. One of the committee members asked if Lavelle would do it again. "Absolutely," Lavelle replied. "The strikes were specifically directed at air-defense targets, where the buildup had increased in preparation for the invasion."
Lavelle testified that his liberalized interpretation of the Rules of Engagement did not allow the striking of every target of opportunity. He said that, "We went in after those targets... which would hurt the enemy's defense system, so that we could operate." Lavelle cited the example of a January 1972 observation of 55 to 60 tanks 11 miles north of the DMZ. He refused authorization to stirke the tanks, saying, "There is just no way we can make any liberalized interpretation that would authorize that strike."
Ryan and Lavelle disagreed over the number of protective reaction strikes flown under the liberalized rules. Ryan said there were 28, while Lavelle said there were 20 or fewer. Ryan estimated that the strikes totaled about 147 sorties (out of approximately 25,000 sorties during that period), and that all were directed against missile sites, missiles on transporters, airfields, 122mm and 130mm anti-aircraft guns, and radars. Lavelle informed the subcommittee that there were no civilian-populated areas involved, and the no American planes or lives were lost in these strikes.
Asked if General Creighton Abrams
Creighton Abrams
Creighton Williams Abrams Jr. was a general in the United States Army who commanded military operations in the Vietnam War from 1968–72 which saw U.S. troop strength in Vietnam fall from a peak of 543,000 to 49,000. He served as Chief of Staff of the United States Army from 1972 until shortly...
, overall commander of U.S. forces in Viet Nam was aware of the missions, Lavelle replied, "I believe General Abrams knew what I was doing." Lavelle specifically recalled telling Abrams about his plan to strike trucks containing missiles and associated equipment.
Ryan testified that from the 28 missions, a total of four false intelligence reports had been filed (reports from the other 24 missions had not been falsified). Ryan told the subcommittee members that Lavelle’s instructions were the "impetus" behind the falsified reports.
Lavelle assumed full responsibility for reporting the strikes as protective reaction, but testified he was not aware of the four falsified after-action intelligence reports until they were brought to his attention by the Inspector General on March 9, 1972. He stated, "I accepted responsibility for it even though I did not do it and did not have any knowledge of the detail. It was my command and I should have known.".
Lavelle agreed but said that "the impetus for what went into that report stems from me by my stating that we could not report ‘no reaction.’ Now there is a difference here between that and a false report."
Lavelle added that "my instructions were not clear and were subject to misinterpretation and, in retrospect, were apparently interpreted by my subordinates as an exhortation to report enemy fire when there was none. ‘Hostile action, enemy radar,’ would, in my judgment, have been an accurate report."
In closed session as a result of security constraints, U.S. Representative William Dickson
William Dickson
William Dickson may refer to:*William Dickson *William Dickson , administrator of Fort Louis in the Falklands in 1833*William Dickson , lawyer, businessman and political figure in Upper Canada...
(R-Alabama) told Lavelle, "I am not sure why we are here today. But I think, if I had been in your position, I would have done the very same thing. And if that means stretching the rules is part of it, then good for you." Dickinson blamed the "crazy rules for this crazy war which has no parallel or anything to compare with it."
However, Democratic Senator William Proxmire
William Proxmire
Edward William Proxmire was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a United States Senator from Wisconsin from 1957 to 1989.-Personal life:...
of Wisconsin urged the Air Force to court-martial
Court-martial
A court-martial is a military court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the armed forces subject to military law, and, if the defendant is found guilty, to decide upon punishment.Most militaries maintain a court-martial system to try cases in which a breach of...
Lavelle, who, although retired, could still be recalled to active duty to stand trial.
Nixon's reaction
Nixon was furious about what he regarded as false accusations against Lavelle. On Wednesday, June 14, in a nearly half-hour Oval Office meeting, Nixon discussed the Lavelle affair with National Security Advisor Henry KissingerHenry Kissinger
Heinz Alfred "Henry" Kissinger is a German-born American academic, political scientist, diplomat, and businessman. He is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He served as National Security Advisor and later concurrently as Secretary of State in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and...
. As described in an article by Lieutenant General (ret.) Aloysius Casey and Patrick Casey, Nixon asked Kissinger about Lavelle repeatedly.
The President began: “Let me ask you about Lavelle. I was, I had it on my list this morning. I just don’t want him to be made a goat. We all know what protective reaction is. This damn Laird.” [Nixon evidently was responding in line with the views of Kissinger, who blamed Laird for the removal of Lavelle.]
Then Kissinger said: "And he had him already removed by the time I even learned about it."
Nixon asked, "Why did he even remove him? You, you destroy a man’s career."
Kissinger did not answer the question, but rather took up a different topic. Nixon, however, interrupted: "Come back to Lavelle. I don’t want a man persecuted for doing what he thought was right. I just don’t want it done."
Still, Nixon does not receive a satisfactory answer from his national security advisor. The President continued:
"Can we do anything now to stop this damn thing or ... Why’d he even remove him?"
"Lavelle was removed at the end of March," Kissinger noted.
"Because of this?" asked Nixon.
"Yeh," said Kissinger.
Nixon was furious: "Why the hell did this happen? A decision of that magnitude, without— I should have known about it, Henry. Because this is something we told— You remember: We, we, we told Laird, 'Keep pressure on there in March.'"
Kissinger criticized the generals. "Of course the military are impossible, too... They turn on each other like rats."
Nixon said, "Laird knows G------ well, that ah, I told him, I said, 'It’s protective reaction.' He winks, he says, 'Oh, I understand.'"
Kissinger replied, "Yeah, but Laird is pretty vicious."
On June 26, 1972, Nixon and Kissinger again discussed Lavelle. As described by the Caseys, "Nixon was recoiling from advice that he steer clear of any involvement in the forthcoming Senate inquiry into Lavelle’s actions."
"Frankly, Henry, I don’t feel right about our pushing him into this thing and then, and then giving him a bad rap," Nixon declared. "You see what I mean?"
The discussion eventually concludes with Nixon expressing anxiety about the Senate hearing. "I want to keep it away if I can," the President says, "but I don’t want to hurt an innocent man."
Media reaction
The reaction from the news media to the Lavelle affair was harsh. In "The Private War of General Lavelle," NewsweekNewsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
described a "widespread conspiracy" in which "scores of pilots, squadron and wing commanders, intelligence and operations officers, and ordinary airmen were caught up in the plot." Time Magazine, in an article entitled "Lavelle's Private War" charged that Lavelle had "made the extraordinary decision to take matters into his own hands."
George C. Wilson of the Washington Post said, "What Lavelle did—-taking a war into his own hands—-has obviously grave implications for the nation in this nuclear age." There was speculation that other senior officials were implicated. "Was Lavelle the only bad apple?" Nina Totenberg
Nina Totenberg
Nina Totenberg is an American legal affairs correspondent for National Public Radio focusing primarily on the activities and politics of the Supreme Court of the United States. Her reports air regularly on NPR's newsmagazines All Things Considered, Morning Edition, and Weekend Edition...
asked in the National Observer.
Tom Wicker
Tom Wicker
Thomas Grey "Tom" Wicker was an American journalist. He was best known as a political reporter and columnist for The New York Times.-Background and education:...
of the New York Times said that "numerous ‘protective reaction’ raids on North Vietnam have been staged to let American fliers bomb what they wanted to bomb, when they wanted to bomb it." Seymour Hersh
Seymour Hersh
Seymour Myron Hersh is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist and author based in Washington, D.C. He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker magazine on military and security matters...
of the New York Times wrote that the case "raised grave questions about the Nixon Administration’s grip on command and control over the skies of Southeast Asia."
Senate hearings
The Senate Armed Services Committee also investigated the Lavelle affair. The Senate hearings lasted from September 11 to September 22, 1972.The Senate Armed Services Committee, chaired by Democratic Senator John Stennis of Mississippi, questioned Lavelle and Ryan and also called several witnesses to testify, including Admiral Thomas Moorer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and General Creighton Abrams
Creighton Abrams
Creighton Williams Abrams Jr. was a general in the United States Army who commanded military operations in the Vietnam War from 1968–72 which saw U.S. troop strength in Vietnam fall from a peak of 543,000 to 49,000. He served as Chief of Staff of the United States Army from 1972 until shortly...
, the overall U.S. commander in Vietnam, who was called home from Saigon to testify. Other witnesses included Admiral John S. McCain
John S. McCain, Jr.
John Sidney "Jack" McCain Jr. was a United States Navy admiral, who served in conflicts from the 1940s through the 1970s, including as the Commander, United States Pacific Command....
, former commander-in-chief of US Pacific Command, General Slay, Colonel Gabriel, Captain Murray, the intelligence officer who had ordered the falsification of the reports, and Sergeant Franks, the intelligence specialist who had reported the falsification of intelligence reports.
Ryan testified that the actual after-action report was not the falsified intelligence reports but a special category (specat) report. "The wing commander later submitted on this type of strike, a Specat, a special category message to 7th Air Force and said, 'This is what we really hit,'" This report was "a message that does not come to the normal distribution centers."
The wing commander, Colonel Gabriel, was asked by Senator Stennis, what he thought about filing the false intelligence reports. Gabriel replied, "My conjecture was... it goes to the world, the OPREP-4—-and I assume there was somebody on the loading list [distribution list] that did not have a need to know, and the full report would be filed with the special report that was sent in at night."
Gabriel's conjecture about the intelligence reports was reasonable if inaccurate. Official records often used cover stories for other operations that were not what they seemed. The White House and Pentagon had been lying for several years about airstrikes in Laos. From 1964 to 1970, the government claimed that US forces were flying only “armed reconnaissance” missions in Laos, with aircraft authorized to return fire if fired upon. In actuality, the Air Force and the Navy were flying hundreds of combat strike missions a day in Laos.
The secret bombing of Cambodia
Operation Menu
Operation Menu was the codename of a covert United States Strategic Air Command bombing campaign conducted in eastern Cambodia and Laos from 18 March 1969 until 26 May 1970, during the Vietnam War...
in 1969-1970 had used similar deception. All communications were split along two paths. One route was overt, ordering typical B-52 missions that were to take place within South Vietnam near the Cambodian border. The second route was covert, utilizing back-channel messages between commanders ordering the classified missions.
During questioning, Republican Senator Barry Goldwater
Barry Goldwater
Barry Morris Goldwater was a five-term United States Senator from Arizona and the Republican Party's nominee for President in the 1964 election. An articulate and charismatic figure during the first half of the 1960s, he was known as "Mr...
of Arizona asked Lavelle, "You didn't have the authority to hit a MiG because it was sitting on an airfield below the 19th parallel?
"Yes, sir, that's right," replied Lavelle. "It's a hell of a way to run a war," Goldwater said."
Lavelle told the Senators that he lost planes and crews on two occasions when, without the North Vietnamese SAM using its own radar, which U.S. pilots could detect, the networked system guided missiles to kills. That, argued Lavelle, constituted sufficient rationale for planned strikes in the name of protective reaction. "The system was constantly activated against us," he testified.
Time Magazine reported that Lavelle's raids "were in clear violation of the White House rules then in force on bombing North Viet Nam. The White House apparently did not agree with Time's assessment. During the Senate hearings, on Sept. 15, 1972, Nixon met in the Oval Office with Alexander Haig
Alexander Haig
Alexander Meigs Haig, Jr. was a United States Army general who served as the United States Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan and White House Chief of Staff under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford...
, his deputy national security advisor. As described by the Caseys, "Nixon, running for re-election, apparently felt frustration at his inability to correct the injustice he thought he was witnessing in the daily Senate testimony on the Lavelle issue."
The President told Haig, "We’ve got to be able to do something on this ah, this Lavelle."
Haig responded: "I don’t think so, sir. I’ve been watchin’ it."
The President said, "We told Laird that, ‘If your guy Moorer isn’t sure if it is protective reaction, that to protect yourselves, we would back you to the hilt.’ [That’s] the way I look at it."
For all that, the White House remained silent as the Senate hearings progressed.
Abrams, who had not been privy to Lavelle's meeting with Laird, told the Senate hearing that Lavelle "acted improperly." Abrams at the time was facing Senate confirmation as Army Chief of Staff.
Retirement controversy
The official purpose of the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was to determine what rank Lavelle should hold upon retirement. Ranks above major generalMajor general (United States)
In the United States Army, United States Marine Corps, and United States Air Force, major general is a two-star general-officer rank, with the pay grade of O-8. Major general ranks above brigadier general and below lieutenant general...
were considered temporary, requiring Senate confirmation for each position held. Retirement at a grade above major general also required Senate confirmation, which was usually granted routinely.
Ryan told the committee that Lavelle’s "service as a four-star general was not satisfactory and did not warrant retirement in that grade." However, his service as a lieutenant general
Lieutenant General (United States)
In the United States Army, the United States Air Force and the United States Marine Corps, lieutenant general is a three-star general officer rank, with the pay grade of O-9. Lieutenant general ranks above major general and below general...
was outstanding and the Air Force recommended his retirement in that grade.
The Senate Armed Services Committee on Oct. 6, 1972 turned down Lavelle’s nomination for retirement as a lieutenant general by a vote of 14 to two. Instead, Lavelle was retired at his permanent rank of major general. His official retirement date was April 7, 1972.
Aftermath of the Lavelle Affair
The North Vietnamese launched the Easter Invasion of South Vietnam on March 30, 1972, a week after Lavelle’s recall. The U.S. Air Force resumed bombing of North Vietnam.The issue of whether the Lavelle missions were authorized was lost amid bigger stories—Richard Nixon’s re-election
United States presidential election, 1972
The United States presidential election of 1972 was the 47th quadrennial United States presidential election. It was held on November 7, 1972. The Democratic Party's nomination was eventually won by Senator George McGovern, who ran an anti-war campaign against incumbent Republican President Richard...
, the collapse of the Paris peace agreement
Paris Peace Accords
The Paris Peace Accords of 1973 intended to establish peace in Vietnam and an end to the Vietnam War, ended direct U.S. military involvement, and temporarily stopped the fighting between North and South Vietnam...
, and the Watergate scandal
Watergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a political scandal during the 1970s in the United States resulting from the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the Nixon administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement...
.
Nixon's continuing frustration
More than two weeks after the Senate Hearings, Nixon was still upset about the Lavelle incident. In an Oct. 23, 1972 meeting with Haig in the Old Executive Office Building, Nixon unleashed a torrent of anger."All of this G------ crap about Lavelle," said Nixon. "And I feel sorry for the fellow, because you and I know we did tell him about protective reaction being, very generally—"
"Very liberal," Haig helpfully suggested.
"Yeh, very liberally, very liberally," said Nixon. "Remember, I said it was, if they, if they hit there, go back and hit it again. Go back and do it right. You don’t have to wait till they fire before you fire back. Remember I told Laird that. And I meant it. Now Lavelle apparently knew that, and received that at some time."
House Armed Services Committee report
The Armed Services Investigations Subcommittee report, which was not issued until December 15, 1972, largely exonerated Lavelle. With regard to Lavelle, the subcommittee evaluated two questions, 1) were the strikes authorized? and 2) was Lavelle responsible for the falsification of intelligence reports? In answer to the first question, the subcommittee concluded the following:The Subcommittee finds it difficult to fault “pre-planning,” in itself. After all, the 7th Air Force has flown enough sorties over North Vietnam to be able to predict with a high degree of accuracy precisely what kind of a reception to expect from the enemy. In view of this, the failure to adequately brief the pilots in a manner to insure maximation of the strike’s effective and the safety of the crews could be considered a dereliction of duty. Of course, in order to justify an actual attack under the Rules, the enemy would have to fire at or be activated against our aircraft. This raises the question: What is meant by "activated against"? Obviously, it does not refer to actual firing since radar tracking constitutes "activation."
On the second question about the falsification of the intelligence reports, the subcommittee accepted Lavelle's contention that the falsification resulted from a mis-interpretation of his guidance.
It is understandable how General Lavelle’s statement that "we cannot report ‘no reaction’" could have been interpreted as an order to file a false report by one who strictly construed the Operating Authorities of Rules of Engagement, since such construction would virtually require visible evidence that the enemy was taking hostile action against U.S. planes. In effect, it gave the enemy the right to throw the first punch.
However, as has been noted above, it was General Lavelle’s firm conviction that the enemy’s greatly improved radar/missile network permitted U.S. planes to be placed in extreme jeopardy without advance warning and that, therefore, common sense and the law of survival compelled the assumption that SAM/AAA sites in North Vietnam were always "activated against" U.S. or allied aircraft. General Lavelle expressed the opinion that this assumption was valid and that the strikes which he authorized were permissible under the then-existing Rules of Engagement and Operating Authorities. Therefore, his statement that "We cannot report no reaction," when interpreted in the light of this assumption, might reasonably suggest an entirely different conclusion than that reached by the strict constructionist.
…It should be pointed out, in fairness to General Lavelle, that at the time of the Subcommittee hearing, there were only four reports from the disputed strikes which were identified as containing false information.
The subcommittee criticized the policy of providing "virtual sanctuary" to the "whole of that enemy nation since 1968." The subcommittee stated that "This radical departure from orthodox military doctrine placed U.S. forces at a tremendous tactical disadvantage and contributed to prolonging the war."
The subcommittee report also excoriated the Department of Defense for not releasing the Rules of Engagement and other relevant documents. The report suggested that the DoD was trying to hide something other than Lavelle’s conduct.
Secret bombing of Cambodia
According to author William Shawcross, the secret the Air Force was trying to protect was probably the secret bombing of CambodiaOperation Menu
Operation Menu was the codename of a covert United States Strategic Air Command bombing campaign conducted in eastern Cambodia and Laos from 18 March 1969 until 26 May 1970, during the Vietnam War...
, which came to light in 1973.
The bombing of Cambodia was under the control of the USAF Strategic Air Command
Strategic Air Command
The Strategic Air Command was both a Major Command of the United States Air Force and a "specified command" of the United States Department of Defense. SAC was the operational establishment in charge of America's land-based strategic bomber aircraft and land-based intercontinental ballistic...
(SAC), rather than Lavelle's 7th Air Force. The secret Cambodian bombing began October 4, 1965.
The commander-in-chief of SAC at the time the secret Cambodia bombings began in 1965 was General John D. Ryan
John Dale Ryan
General John Dale Ryan was the seventh Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force. As chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force, General Ryan served in a dual capacity...
, who in 1972 forced Lavelle to retire over 28 questionable missions flown over North Vietnam.
Attempts to block promotions for officers involved in Lavelle Affair
For several months in 1973, Senator Hughes held up promotions for 160 Air Force and Navy officers who might have had "material evidence regarding unauthorized air strikes" in Southeast Asia but eventually gave it up. The false reporting system authorized by President Richard NixonRichard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
for the bombing of Cambodia
Operation Menu
Operation Menu was the codename of a covert United States Strategic Air Command bombing campaign conducted in eastern Cambodia and Laos from 18 March 1969 until 26 May 1970, during the Vietnam War...
was revealed in 1973, undercutting Hughes’ campaign against Lavelle’s subordinates.
Slay, Gabriel, and O'Malley, who implemented the false reporting for the Lavelle missions, were all later promoted to four-star general. Gabriel served as Air Force Chief of Staff from 1982-1986.
The Nixon Tapes
In February 2007, Lieutenant General (ret.) Aloysius Casey and his son Patrick Casey published an article in Air Force Magazine about the Lavelle affair. The article quoted recently released Nixon tapes that confirmed that Nixon had authorized the liberal interpretation of the Rules of Engagement as implemented by Lavelle.In a letter responding to the Casey article, former Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird confirmed that he had authorized Lavelle to implement a liberal interpretation of the Rules of Engagement. Laird stated,
Prior to my order, there was no authorization (under McNamara or Clifford) to destroy dangerous targets except when fired upon without special permission. Gen. Bus Wheeler, Adm. Tom Moorer, and General Abrams all agreed with the liberal interpretation on my order on protective reaction. The new orders permitted hitting anti-aircraft installations and other dangerous targets if spotted on their missions, whether they were activated or not.
Laird took issue, however, with the ensuing falsification of intelligence reports.
Aloysius and Patrick Casey responded to Laird's letter with the following:
Although 35 years late, Mr. Laird’s admission fully vindicates the truthfulness of General John D. Lavelle before the United States Congress.
Moreover, there is no evidence to support Mr. Laird’s suggestion that General Lavelle encouraged or directed pilots to lie about coordinates on missions or falsify reports.
Seymour Hersh
Seymour Hersh
Seymour Myron Hersh is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist and author based in Washington, D.C. He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker magazine on military and security matters...
, who had been critical of Lavelle in 1972, wrote a follow-up article in 2007 in the wake of the Caseys' revelation. Hersh conceded that Lavelle's "...authorization came from the Oval Office; the Caseys found the evidence that Lavelle had done and continued to do what the President wanted in recently released Nixon White House tapes..."
Retirement
After retirement, Lavelle lived in Oakton, VirginiaOakton, Virginia
Oakton is a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, in the United States. The population was 29,348 at the 2000 census. The ZIP code is 22124.-Geography:Oakton is located at...
, with his wife, Josephine, and family.
In retirement, Lavelle stuck to his position. The strikes were within the rules of engagement because the air defense radars were constantly activated against his aircraft. A liberal interpretation of the rules had been encouraged. He did not intend for the reports to be falsified. The U.S. Air Force had been "hasty" in relieving him.
In an oral history
Oral history
Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews...
interview in April 1978, Lavelle said that the inquiry had been neither thorough nor fair. "If anybody really wanted the total story or wanted the true story, no effort was made to gather it by historians, by the Senate, by the press, by the Air Force."
In the interview, recorded by the Air Force History Office
Air Force Historical Research Agency
The Air Force Historical Research Agency is the repository for United States Air Force historical documents.The Agency's collection, begun during World War II in Washington, D.C., moved in 1949 to Maxwell Air Force Base, the site of Air University, to provide research facilities for professional...
, Lavelle said that he should not have acted on the basis of private assurances that he would be supported if the missions became known. He added, "Somewhere along there we just should have said, 'Hey, either fight it or quit, but let’s not waste all the money and the lives the way we are doing it.'"
Lavelle's son, John D. Lavelle, Jr. wrote in 2007:
My father was heartbroken, and I saw him physically and mentally broken by the ordeal. He fought back with the help of my mother and recovered his strength, confidence, and pride before he died of a heart attack five years later. In the end, I think he found comfort in knowing that what he did saved some airmen’s lives, and that was worth more to him than four stars.
Death
Lavelle died on July 10, 1979 after suffering a heart attack on a golf course in Fairfax, VirginiaFairfax, Virginia
The City of Fairfax is an independent city forming an enclave within the confines of Fairfax County, in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Although politically independent of the surrounding county, the City is nevertheless the county seat....
. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, is a military cemetery in the United States of America, established during the American Civil War on the grounds of Arlington House, formerly the estate of the family of Confederate general Robert E. Lee's wife Mary Anna Lee, a great...
. His headstone lists his highest rank held, "General."
Awards
Lavelle was a command pilot. His military decorations and awards include the Air Force Distinguished Service MedalAir Force Distinguished Service Medal
The Air Force Distinguished Service Medal was created by an act of the United States Congress on July 6, 1960. The medal was intended as a new decoration of the United States Air Force to replace the policy of awarding the Army Distinguished Service Medal to Air Force personnel.The Air Force...
, Legion of Merit
Legion of Merit
The Legion of Merit is a military decoration of the United States armed forces that is awarded for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements...
with three oak leaf clusters, Air Medal
Air Medal
The Air Medal is a military decoration of the United States. The award was created in 1942, and is awarded for meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight.-Criteria:...
with oak leaf cluster, and Air Force Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster.
Air Force Distinguished Service Medal
Legion of MeritLegion of MeritThe Legion of Merit is a military decoration of the United States armed forces that is awarded for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements...
with three oak leaf clusters
Air MedalAir MedalThe Air Medal is a military decoration of the United States. The award was created in 1942, and is awarded for meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight.-Criteria:...
with oak leaf cluster
Air Force Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster
External links
- "Lavelle's Private War," Time (June 26, 1972).
- "Unauthorized Bombing of Military Targets in North Vietnam" (December 15, 1972)
- Gordon Ginsburg, "The Lavelle Case: Crisis in Integrity", Maxwell AFB, Ala.: Air War College, 1974. 154 pp.
- "The Case of General 'Jack' Lavelle: The Suits Double-Crossed Him" (suggesting that President Nixon authorized the attacks).