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Hello and welcome to Spycast from the Secret Files of the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C.

I'm Peter Ernest, the Executive Director of the Museum. I served for some 36 years in the Central Intelligence Agency largely as what is called an operations officer or a case officer.

Every month will be bringing you interesting. an operations officer or a case officer.

Every month will be bringing you interesting talks with visitors,

with authors, with others who have something to do with the world of intelligence

and espionage. Intelligence and Espionage. My guest today is Rufus Phillips.

Rufus Phillips is the author of a book just published this past year entitled Why Vietnam Matters,

and he wrote it based on his own some 14 years of

deep involvement in Vietnam and he believes that so much of that involvement and

what he and others like him learned really is worth passing on today.

Rufus graduated from Yale in 1951, and like so many young men at that time sought public service.

Of course, the troubles in Vietnam had started.

The Vietnam were on, Vietnam were on the edge of starting their 20-year drive

to take over the country. and Rufus joined the CIA, the Central Intelligence

Agency. Shortly thereafter, he enlisted in the U.S. Army which then reassigned him to CIA, which became his early career.

He was in Saigon from 1954 on until he returned to the states, and then in 1962 went back out to a

Saigon with the Agency for International Development AID. And so his career

off and on for those number of years and later on advising the Johnson

Administration and advising Vice President Hubert Humphrey were years devoted to

public service.

We're so very happy that you've joined us here today.

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