The Joint United States Public Affairs Office (JUSPAO) was a multi-agency organization that provided integrated Information Operations support in South Vietnam from 1965 to 1972.
The USIS, the overseas component of the USIA, sought to foster a sympathetic understanding of American culture abroad and to build public support for U.S. foreign policy in other nations around the world.
[1] During a visit to South Vietnam in March 1965, Carl Rowan and General Harold K. Johnson, the Director of the United States Information Agency and the Army Chief of Staff respectively, observed the many difficulties and inefficiencies of the uncoordinated psychological operations, also known as "PSYOPs".
[3] JUSPAO's official goal was to build on anti-communist nationalism throughout Indochina in support of the Chieu Hoi Program or break the will of the North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and Vietcong in order to end the conflict.
The Army also joined the PSYOPs program during the war when it created four separate psychological operation battalions, each of which possessed its own printing plant, photographic and tape recording production equipment, and loudspeaker trucks.
[5] The United States government quickly enlisted JUSPAO to achieve its ambitions in Southeast Asia, which determined to defend and build a nation through the complete integration of the military, political, economic, and psychological dimensions of action.
The other agencies were the United States Embassy in Saigon for political actions, MACV for military aspects, USAID for economic support, the Mission Press Center for media relations, and finally JUSPAO for psychological programs.
[6] Daily operations required constant, complete, and detailed collaboration between the various agencies, which was a feature that was often criticized during the war, but JUSPAO and Zorthian attempted to work as closely as possible with military personnel.
The director and officers formed relationships that allowed for a flow of information and advice between the two branches,[7] however, the daily briefings held at JUSPAO would emphasize the issues that surrounded the operations of the USIS in Vietnam.
Since the topics discussed were under close supervision of the government, military setbacks encountered by American troops and operations by South Vietnamese forces received seldom mention, while Vietcong and PAVN losses were frequently exaggerated.