Frank Warren Snepp, III (born May 3, 1943)[1] is an American journalist and former chief analyst of North Vietnamese strategy for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Saigon during the Vietnam War.

[3] Snepp was recruited to the CIA in 1968, by the Associate Dean of the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, Philip Mosely.

[1] Prior to publication, and while still employed at the CIA, Snepp attempted to tell the inspector general about the problems surrounding the evacuation, but was told that it "could not deal with anything so controversial".

Since publication of the book could not be stopped under the constitutional law forbidding prior restraint of the press, the CIA sued Snepp for breach of contract.

[6] Ironically, President Jimmy Carter permitted the lawsuit against Snepp at the same time he had proposed the creation of a special unit to provide protection for civil service whistle blowers.

In a press conference, Carter said that Snepp did not qualify as a whistleblower as he did not "reveal anything that would lead to an improvement in our security apparatus or the protection of Americans' civil rights."

[1][2] Snepp described the court decision as a "ticking time-bomb" which exploded when the cigarette manufacturer Brown & Williamson used the precedent to force CBS not to air an interview with whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand.

[1][7] In 1980, following the Supreme Court decision against him, Snepp became an investigative journalist, contributing to publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Village Voice and others.