Declassified per Executive Order 13526, Section 3.3
NND Project Number: NND 63316. By: NWD Date: 2011
The International Control Commission was established, with Polish, Indian, and Canadian members. It is still in being, a monument to the ineffectiveness and dangers of such an international body: the Free South is observed far more closely than the Communist North, because we play the game legally.
As to the military status quo there were two points: a prohibition on introducing new weapons into Vietnam and a ceiling on foreign military personnel in the country (the number to be no more than were in Vietnam at the time of the "cease-fire"). There were some 400 U. S. military in Vietnam at that time, plus the many thousands of French military. No foreign communists were reported, and the Vietminh had no aircraft at the time.
II. Today
In the North is the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Its Constitution in key provisions makes it into a Communist state in the image of the Soviet Union. In January 1961, its population was estimated at 16,375,000. Its armed forces total around 300,000, with reported heavy firepower capability in new artillery and tanks. Also, aircraft have been reported, not only transports, but jet fighters. In March 1960, it was estimated that there were 6 to 10 thousand Bloc personnel in the North, most of whom were advisors to the Vietnamese. About two-thirds were Chinese, the remainder being mostly Soviets, East Germans, and Czechs.
In the South is the Republic of Vietnam, with a government somewhat patterned on ours. In January 1961, its population was estimated at 14,300,000. Its armed forces total about 150,000, not counting 64,000 in the Civil Guard (similar to a state constabulary) or the 40,000 in the Self Defense Corps, which is the ill-equipped and untrained village militia. Official Americans in Vietnam are: 98 in the Embassy, 685 in MAAG, 230 in USOM (ICA), and 30 in USIS. There are more than a thousand other Americans, dependents of officials, business people, and missionaries. Only a few French and British remain in Vietnam. U.S. aid to the South, in millions of dollars, is indicated as:
