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I hope that this brief statement will be helpful to your committee in determining how I may be of service to you.

I am presently assigned as a staff assistant in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, where I am occupied primarily with problems which stem from Communist-supported insurgent movements in a number of areas of the world, the type of conflict sometimes referred to as Communist covert aggression.

Previous assignments which may provide some focus for questions include:

(a) Combat experience behind the Japanese lines in North Burma as a member of "Merrill's Marauders." 1943-44.

(b) Instructor, Psychology of Military Leadership, The Infantry School, Fort Benning, Ga. 1945-47.

(c) Student officer, Army foreign area specialist program (Russion).

1947-51.

(d) Series of intelligence, psychological warfare, and related operational assignments. 1952-58. Assigments included OAC/S, G-2, Office of the Secretary of Defense, and the Operations Coordinating Board. Certain specific details concerning this period should be regarded as classified.

(e) Director of Instruction, U.S. Army Special Warfare School, Fort Bragg, N.C. 1959-61.

This concludes my prepared statement.

Senator THURMOND. Senator Bartlett?

Senator BARTLETT. I have no questions. Thank you very much.
Senator TIIURMOND. Mr. Kendall?

Mr. KENDALL. No questions.

WILSON'S BACKGROUND AND SERVICE STATUS

Senator THURMOND. Colonel Wilson, I am pleased to have the opportunity to discuss with you the posture of the U.S. Army in cold war training and activities. Your appearance here has been preceded by words of praise and recognition about the outstanding contributions you are making in this area of our military operations. Apparently you have had unusual training including intelligence, Russion language, and psychological operations which make you a highly valuable witness for the subcommittee.

You are on active duty now, I believe.
Colonel WILSON. That is right.

Senator THURMOND. In the Pentagon?
Colonel WILSON. That is correct.

Senator THURMOND. I notice you are wearing civilian clothes. Colonel WILSON. I was not sure that I would be called to testify this afternoon, sir. My normal duty dress is civilian clothes. I apologize for not being in uniform.

Senator THURMOND. Well, that is all right. There is no criticism. I just wanted to note that.

DESCRIPTION OF RUSSIAN AREA AND LANGUAGE TRAINING PROGRAM

I believe you are a graduate of the Russian area and language training program.

Colonel WILSON. That is correct.

Senator THURMOND. Would you please describe this program for us? Colonel WILSON. Yes, sir. This is a 4-year program which presently breaks down into the following segments: Approximately 1 year (more precisely, 10 months), at the Army Language School, Monterey, Calif.-Presidio of Monterey-where the student devotes himself to an intensive study of the Russian language. This is followed by approximately a year in the Russian Institute of the School of International Affairs at Columbia University, in the city of New York.

Following a brief period at the Strategic Intelligence School here in Washington, the student goes to Germany, where he spends 2 years studying, using his acquired Russian language by this time as his primary tool as he studies, in an Army school known as Detachment "R." This school is located in Oberammergau, Germany.

The professors and teachers are largely personnel of Soviet or Russian extraction. They also include certain personnel from the Soviet satellite area of Eastern Europe. This is a very comprehensive program, sir, which focuses initially on language, and as this language becomes a tool, shifts to area and background subjects, to include political subjects, Soviet culture, art, science, history, geography, military geography, and a rather intensive period spent on Soviet military subjects.

The students who graduate from this program are normally assigned to the type of job which requires, or which exploits the knowledge that they have gained in this program.

NUMBER TRAINED IN RUSSIAN AREA AND LANGUAGE TRAINING PROGRAM

Senator THURMOND. About how many officers and enlisted men are trained in this program?

Colonel WILSON. At this moment, sir, I should qualify my statement by saying that I have been out of touch with the Army's Russian area and language program for several years. To the best of my knowledge, officers only are involved in this program. I think we probably have in the Army today—and this is an estimate, sirabout 200 officers who have been through the program since its initiation in 1946. The exact number of officers who are currently in the program would be difficult to state precisely.

However, I would estimate somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 or 50 who are currently in the pipeline.

TRAINING RECEIVED IN RUSSIAN AREA AND LANGUAGE TRAINING PROGRAM

Senator THURMOND. Now, during this training you had formal and practical training in dealing with Communist subversion, propaganda, as well as the more overt aspects of Soviet activity?

Colonel WILSON. That is correct, sir.

Senator THURMOND. Is there anything you would like to say about that?

Colonel WILSON. I would be happy to respond to your questions in this area,

sir.

Senator THURMOND. I mean, is there anything you want to add on that?

Colonel WILSON. Well, perhaps I should emphasize the degree of practical work which accompanies the formal course itself. Students are provided opportunities to travel, or in the past were provided opportunities to travel as diplomatic couriers. They were placed on temporary duty with the diplomatic pouch and courier service of the Department of State, and thus were able to visit the Soviet Union, as well as numerous satellite countries in an official capacity. The same students functioned as liaison officers at Potsdam, in Berlin with the Allied Commandatura, in Austria (in Vienna), at that time and also with the Soviet Repatriation Missions in both Germany and in Austria during the period that those missions were active.

WILSON'S EXPERIENCE WITH SOVIET MILITARY IN EUROPE

Senator THURMOND. I was going to ask you about your experience with the Soviet military personnel in Europe. Would you care to give any highlights on that?

Colonel WILSON. This perhaps was the most beneficial part of this entire program. As you can judge, sir, I am a very strong supporter of this program. I think that it was a very farsighted and farreaching thing established right on the heels of World War II, at a time when not too many people were thinking in these directions. The highlight, to return to my statement, of the program for me was the opportunity to live with and be intimately associated with a number of active duty Soviet officers and to enjoy the corollary experience of living and working with Soviet expatriates, those who had escaped from the Soviet Union, or who had been captured during World War II by the Germans and subsequently had refused to return. The value of this experience lay in the insight which it provided one into Soviet psychology, the Soviet way of thinking, and to the development of an appreciation of what they are really like as individuals, as well as in small groups.

This is a very difficult thing, sir, to get from a textbook. But when you live with them day after day, you do develop a certain feel for them, and for the problem they represent. This remains with you for quite some time.

Senator THURMOND. I gather, then that you are a fluent Russian linguist, that you had personal exposure to Soviet military personnel and Soviet intelligence and propaganda operations conducted under the disguise of repatriation activities.

Colonel WILSON. That is correct.

WILSON'S EVALUATION OF SOVIET INTELLIGENCE AND PROPAGANDA

OPERATIONS

Senator THURMOND. What is your evaluation of the effectiveness and the efficiency of Soviet intelligence and propaganda operations you observed?

Colonel WILSON. I view it with great professional respect, sir-not in terms of liking it, but recognizing a very formidable, a highly skilled, and extremely devious opponent.

CONTRAST BETWEEN UNITED STATES AND SOVIET ATTITUDES OF

COOPERATION

Senator THURMOND. We have had considerable testimony before the subcommittee concerning the completely consistent and uniform application of Communist psychological warfare against the United States in every aspect of our endeavor despite our sincere effort to cooperate with the Soviets and meet them halfway in current cold war situations. Several of our witnesses have testified and documented the fact that this is a one-way street in which the Soviets expect us to kow-tow to them. Can you give us some examples of this Soviet mentality?

Colonel WILSON. Yes, sir. I believe I can: Both in specifics as well as in generalities.

I know of no instances which I can recall at the present moment where any of the Soviets, in an official capacity, extended themselves on our behalf. Conversely, I know of numbers of instances where, when there appeared to be no political issue or danger involved in relating ourselves to these individuals, or to groups of these individuals as human beings on a personal basis, we did extend ourselves. This attitude, these activities on our part, were not reciprocated.

I could cite certain specific instances of a given Soviet individual reacting as a human being, when he felt he was safe in so doing, engaging in a friendly act or gesture which I regarded as nonpolitical on his part, recognizing that in such act he would be subject to chastise

ment if he were to be found out.

Now, we were in a difficult situation in Austria, where, as officerssomewhat against our will, because we did not agree with the existing policies governing the activities of the Soviet Repatriation Missionwe were conducting representatives of the mission around to various DP camps (camps for displaced persons). At these camps we would provide such assistance as arranging the necessary facilities for showing Soviet propaganda films. We would, for example, introduce the Soviet officials to the DP audience by saying something along the lines-"Permit me, as a representative of the U.S. Government with the Soviet Repatriation Mission, to present to you the Chief of the Repatriation Mission, Colonel So-and-So." Thus, we would turn the program over to the Soviet representative and sit back and listen to him as he proceeded to propagandize the DP audiences, attempting to encourage them to return home.

There were numbers of instances in which we actually protected the members of the Soviet Repatriation Commission from physical harm on the part of irate DP's. Needless to say, I can recall no instances in which any expressions of appreciation were forthcoming. These Soviet representatives were in Austria on an official mission, they were carefully selected for the purpose which they were serving, and little, if anything, was allowed to impede the accomplishment of their mission.

I hope I have covered your question satisfactorily, sir.

Senator THURMOND. Thank you. In your contact with the Soviet mission personnel in Austria, did you have the feeling at any time that cooperation with them might prove profitable?

Colonel WILSON. In what sense, if I may ask for you to expand that question, sir?

Senator THURMOND. Well, in leading them to believe that you wanted to work with them, and cooperate with them, which would be of mutual benefit to both countries.

Colonel WILSON. I think there may have been a couple of conversations which the Soviets normally would regard as "provocative." When sitting and having a drink with a couple of Soviet officers, I have, on occasion, advanced certain political concepts and beliefs, in order to sound them out, and open them up.

This was not in the sense of cooperation. This was in the sense of a new phase on our unceasing political debates which we had day after day. There was no feeling on my part, or no intent in any fashion, to endorse or to engage in any kind of cooperation which I would view as harmful. As I indicated earlier, this was a one-way street, and since is was and is a one-way street, real cooperation would appear to lead you nowhere.

Senator STENNIS (presiding). Pardon me, Senator. What period of time are you talking about, Colonel?

Colonel WILSON. I am speaking of the period of the fall of 1948 and early 1949, sir, in western Austria, the general area of the city of Salzburg.

Senator STENNIS. Thank you, sir.

Senator THURMOND. Did any spirit of cooperation stem from genuine Russian attempts to coexist or was such cooperation calculated to bring agreement in one area while they took the initiative in another? For example, during periods when they planned abductions of refugees, did they attempt to preoccupy our people with pleasantry to lull us into a sense of complacency

Colonel WILSON. Yes, sir.

Senator THURMOND. Would you say that the manner and timing of Soviet persuasion was designed to set a pattern of deception which would insure U.S. cooperation while it suited their purpose?

Colonel WILSON. I think I can concur in that statement as you made it, yes, sir.

SUBTLE COMMUNIST TECHNIQUE OF PERSUASION

Senator THURMOND. Colonel Wilson, can you describe this subtle technique of "persuasion" which in the "Round Table Conference" document was called one of the keys to Soviet successes in facing the cold war against us?

Colonel WILSON. I think the basic situation which you have referred to consisted of these elements sir. On the one hand-and I assume you are referring to the period now of World War II-on the one hand an ally-in this case, the United States-was anxious and eager to pursue the war through to a successful conclusion, determined to cooperate to the maximum extent to hasten that successful conclusion. On the other hand, the Soviets were looking beyond World War II. This to them was a marriage of temporary necessity-a 180-degree twist from the marriage with Hitler which had lasted until June 22, 1941. They viewed it, I think, as a marriage soon to end in divorce, and were laying their plans carefully and skillfully for the aftermath. Thus when the representatives of these two camps sat around a conference table, it is now quite clear in whose hands the definite advan

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