Just as had been the case with Garwood’s sightings at Bat Bat and in the Yen Bai area, DIA had already received a number of intelligence reports that tended to corroborate various elements of Garwood’s sighting of the emaciated American POW and his hearsay knowledge of five or six others being held in the PAVN compound on Ly Nam De Street, the roughly one kilometer-long street that runs alongside the East Wall of the highly secure Ministry of National Defense Citadel in downtown Hanoi.

Among that intelligence was the following:

Intelligence already received from refugees and other sources had indicated that Garwood from time to time had been allowed to travel from his camp in Yen Bai to Hanoi. 179

Thus, in regard to his sighting of the single, emaciated American prisoner on Ly Nam De Street in late 1978, Garwood could have been where he said he was (Hanoi) at the time he said he saw the American prisoner.

Intelligence already received from a number of sources had established as fact that in late 1978 and early 1979 Vietnamese authorities, fearing an invasion by the Chinese, had transferred large numbers of American POWs from prisons in the Chinese border areas to prisons further south for safekeeping. 180

Thus, Garwood’s statement that he had been told a by guard that the American POW he had seen in the building in the compound on Ly Nam De Street in late 1978 and the five or six others the guards said were being held with him had all recently been moved there from a POW camp near Cao Bang seemed plausible.

Intelligence already received from the CIA had shown Vietnamese officers with the names Pham Thai and Le Thanh in positions analogous to those cited by Garwood. 181

Thus, the credibility of Garwood’s statement that he had seen the American prisoner inside a building on Ly Nam De Street that housed these men’s offices was enhanced.

Intelligence received during the war had indicated that American prisoners had been held on both sides of Ly Nam De Street, and that several hundred of the prisoners reported held on the west side at points inside the Ministry of Defense Citadel had not been returned at Operation Homecoming. *** Additionally, and of great importance, intelligence received in the postwar period from a number of sources and sub-sources had indicated that American POWs had been detained on both sides of Ly Nam De Street after the war as well.

This postwar intelligence, which had been received at DIA during the early 1980’s, had told of American POWs being held at several different locations inside the Ministry of Defense Citadel and also inside one of the several military compounds located along the east side of Ly Nam De. These sightings had occurred in June 1974, December 1977, sometime during 1978, in July 1978, mid-late September 1978, fall 1979, July-August 1980 and August 1982. The analysts knew, of course, that Garwood’s late 1978 sighting "at a military complex on Ly Nam De Street" fell right in the middle of all these reports chronologically.

The sightings received by DIA prior to the publication of the Wall Street Journal article that had told of U.S. POWs being detained after the war in the MND Citadel/Ly Nam De Street area were these:

MND Citadel/Ly Nam De Sightings #1, 2 and 3. DIA Source 1054. The first three reports telling of American POWs being detained along Ly Nam De Street after the war had been received from the same source, an ethnic Chinese (Hoa) refugee living in England who, in 1981, had read a newspaper account of the failed Reagan Administration effort to rescue American POWs believed held at "Fort Apache" in Laos (see An Enormous Crime, Chapter 19 and 20) and was moved to contact the U.S. Embassy in London with information he possessed about American POWs being held in Vietnam.

In a letter sent to the U. S. Embassy in London along with the press account of the failed mission, this refugee, a 30 year resident of Hanoi prior to his escape, stated that he had seen American POWs in Hanoi and knew of others who had been transferred to a military area west of the city. He went on to suggest that if U.S. officials were serious about finding American POWs, they should shift their emphasis from Laos (the Fort Apache mission) to Vietnam. The SRV, he said, was willing to negotiate with the U.S. on the matter of prisoners, and he suggested that the U.S. send a delegation to Hanoi to push for the prisoners’ release. "Today," he wrote, "I think the open door is still there, is waiting you… [t]he problem is awaiting settlement."182

Officials from the Defense Attaché Office at the London Embassy forwarded the refugee’s letter to DIA. Then, at DIA’s direction, DAO officials subsequently contacted the source, now officially DIA Source 1054, and conducted a series of interviews to determine exactly what he knew about living POWs.

During these interviews, the source told DAO officials that he had seen U.S. POWs confined inside the Ministry of Defense Citadel on Ly Nam De Street in Hanoi in June 1974 and again in late September 1978 and had been told that a group of American prisoners being held at the MND Citadel during December 1977 had been transferred to a military complex at Xuan Mai, west of Hanoi. He drew a map of the Citadel complex and surrounding neighborhoods that proved remarkably accurate and also provided DAO personnel with drawings of the exact locations inside the Citadel where he had seen the American prisoners, drawings DAO personnel later characterized as "excellent."

Source 1054 told DAO officials that his first sighting had occurred in June 1974 while he was on a tree-trimming detail near a restricted zone located just north of the Citadel’s soccer field. 183 (Authors’ map entitled "Postwar Rpts U.S. POWs Held vic MND Citadel Recd < 12/04/84" point 1). He said that while working he glanced over into an adjoining compound and saw four American prisoners standing in an outside corridor of a lecture hall and a number of others in a room just off the corridor. He described the Americans as big, tall, healthy and "not too young," and said that based on the size of the room he estimated 70 were present. He said that just after he caught a glimpse of the Americans, a guard ordered him out of the area. Describing in broken English his encounter with the guard, he explained that "the boss of the Hotel Hilton’s guests unagreeted any stranger to approach them."

The source said that he was later told by a PAVN Lt. Col. who worked in the restricted zone that the prisoners he had seen were "Americans (pilots, tank drivers and mechanics) and that they would, sometime in the future, be exchanged for goods with the Carter Administration." The source further said that the Lt. Col. had also told him that "Moscow was not in agreement with Hanoi’s intentions because Moscow wanted to exploit the technical expertise of the American prisoners rather than to return them to the U.S." 184

Source 1054 told DAO officials that his second sighting had occurred in mid-late September 1978 while he was riding his bicycle along Ly Nam De Street. He said that he was riding in the vicinity of #22 Ly Nam De when he saw about six people whom he took for American prisoners standing on a second-floor exterior balcony of a building located just inside the Citadel’s East Wall. He said that as he rode past the building, which he said appeared to be a meeting house, he heard the English words "OK, OK" and Hello, Hello" coming from the group and also heard laughter. He provided U.S. officials with a drawing of the building and surrounding area which he entitled "the house of pilots on Ly Nam De Street." This drawing showed the East Wall of the Citadel, guards at the entrances to 20 and 22 Ly Nam De, an American standing on the second floor balcony of the meeting hall at 22 Ly Nam De, other structures in the area and the location on the street where Source 1054 said he was when he saw the American prisoners. 185 (Authors’ map entitled "Postwar Rpts U.S. POWs Held vic MND Citadel Recd < 12/04/84" point 2).

Source 1054 told DAO officials that in addition to having seen American prisoners inside the Ministry of Defense Citadel in June 1974 and again in September 1978, he had also learned from a relative who served in the PAVN that a large number of American POWs had been transferred out of the Citadel to a military complex at Xuan Mai, located west of Hanoi near Ba Vi Mountain, in December 1977. Source 1054 said that the relative had told him he had driven one of the trucks that carried the American prisoners and had also performed guard duty during the transfer. 186

Based on information received from other sources, U.S. officials believed that if such a transfer had, in fact, taken place, the Americans would most probably have been moved out of the Citadel through one of two secret vehicular tunnels that reportedly run from points inside the Citadel under Ly Nam De St. to secret entrances located east of Ly Nam De. Both of these tunnels had reportedly been constructed during the French colonial period. One is said to run from a point inside the Citadel in the vicinity of the East Gate to a secret entrance located near Cua Dong St. 187 The other, said to be located further north near Le Van Linh St., reportedly runs from inside the Citadel to a secret entrance inside the military compound located on the southeast corner of Ly Nam De and Le Van Linh Streets. 188 (Authors’ map entitled "Postwar Rpts U.S. POWs Held vic MND Citadel Recd < 12/04/84" estimated points 3).

MND Citadel/Ly Nam De Sighting #4. DIA Source 1101.

In December 1981, DIA had received word from JCRC that a Vietnamese refugee from Hanoi who was living in a refugee camp in the Philippines had reported that over 50 American POWs were being detained inside the Ministry of Defense Citadel in Hanoi during July-August 1980. According to the refugee, a friend of his named Tien, whose father was a PAVN officer, had told him during either July or August 1980 that he–Tien–had overheard his father the previous evening telling his mother that over 50 American POWs being held inside the Citadel were to be moved that evening into underground bunkers there because a "’U.S. delegation in Hanoi at the time was scheduled to visit the Citadel on the following day." The refugee reiterated that Tien, who lived with his parents in officers’ quarters on Ly Nam De Street, had told him about the American prisoners the day after he had heard his father talking about them, that is, the very same day the U.S. delegation was slated to visit the Citadel. 189

Two facts known to the analysts at the time the above report was received suggested that the information the source had provided was accurate. First and most important, a delegation of U.S. journalists had visited the old wartime "Plantation" POW camp just across the street from the MND Citadel on 3 August 1980 to investigate statements made by the former North Vietnamese mortician that some 400 bodies of Americans killed during the war had been stored there. (Authors’ map entitled "Postwar Rpts U.S. POWs Held vic MND Citadel Recd < 12/04/84" point 4a). The Vietnamese government had arranged the tour in response to criticism being leveled by members of the U.S. Congress who had come to Hanoi earlier in the year to conduct a no-notice inspection of the facility but had been denied access. 190 ****

Second, the analysts knew that just inside the MND Citadel’s East Wall at a point directly across Ly Nam De St. from the old "Plantation" camp, a large bomb shelter built during the French period lay deep underground. (Authors’ map entitled "Postwar Rpts U.S. POWs Held vic MND Citadel Recd < 12/04/84" point 4). It was believed that if the transfer of the American POWs to an underground facility had occurred as reportedly planned, this large bomb shelter may well have been where they were secreted while their countrymen went about their work above ground directly across the street, no more than 150 feet away. 191

MND Citadel/Ly Nam De Sighting #5. DIA Source 1162.

In January 1982, DIA had received word from a refugee source who had emigrated to the United States that a young Hanoian named Tien, whose father was reportedly a PAVN Major, had told him in 1978 that American POWs were being held inside the MND Citadel and had shown him later that year the specific area of the Citadel where the Americans were being detained.

This refugee source, a Hoa who had fled Vietnam in 1979 and resettled in Pennsylvania, explained that he and Tien had become acquainted while both were attending a government-run cooking school in Hanoi during the mid-1970’s. The refugee said that during a conversation with Tien that took place on an unrecalled day in 1978, the topic of news reports about POWs had come up and that Tien had stated that not all U.S. POWs had been released and that the SRV had kept a number of important prisoners to use as hostages to acquire war reparations or attain other SRV objectives. The refugee went on to say that later during 1978 he had visited Tien at his home in the officers’ quarters’ complex at the north end of Ly Nam De Street and that while there Tien had pointed out to him the area inside the Citadel where the Americans were being held. The refugee said the location Tien had pointed out was the northeast corner of the Citadel between the intersection of Phan Dinh Phung and Ly Nam De Streets and the East Gate. 192 (Authors’ map entitled "Postwar Rpts U.S. POWs Held vic MND Citadel Recd < 12/04/84" shaded area #5; Tien’s home in Officers Quarters complex point 5a).

MND Citadel/Ly Nam De Sightings #6 and #7. DIA Source 1542.

In early March 1983, CIA officials in Hong Kong received a tip that a refugee who had recently arrived from northern Vietnam had knowledge of American POWs being detained in Hanoi. Acting on the tip, CIA officials approached the refugee and asked him if the information they had received was true and if so, would he be willing to share the information about POWs with them. The refugee indicated that he did, in fact, possess information about captive Americans and consented to an in-depth interview. A report of that interview was dispatched to DIA on 15 March 1983. 192

According to the CIA report, the Vietnamese refugee said that in early Summer 1978 and again in August 1982 he had observed American pilots and aircrewmen being held inside a small, two-building jail that was hidden within a guarded military compound located on the east side of Ly Nam De Street in Hanoi. The refugee said the compound containing the jail was situated in the block just south of the old U.S. POW camp located at 17 Ly Nam De [the former "Plantation" POW camp which the delegation of U.S. journalists had inspected on 3 August 1980].

The refugee, who told the CIA interviewer that he had lived within a few blocks of Ly Nam De St. since infancy and had close relatives who lived on a side street off of Ly Nam De, explained that the jail was comprised of two small buildings and an adjoining outdoor walled compound. He described the exact location of the small jail as being at the rear of the building at 17B Ly Nam De, which he said housed the PAVN offices that published the "Army Arts and Letters Journal," and "hidden behind the two-story quarters for ranking PAVN officers…located at 17C Ly Nam De…." 193 (Authors’ map entitled "Postwar Rpts U.S. POWs Held vic MND Citadel Recd < 12/04/84" points 6, 7).

The refugee went on to explain that he had seen the American POWs on two separate occasions while visiting friends - both of whose fathers were PAVN General Officers - and both of whom lived with their parents in the PAVN senior officers quarters located in a compound adjacent to the compound that contained the jail. He said the entire area, including the officers’ quarters compound, was restricted, and that no visitors, himself included, were allowed to enter the officers’ quarters compound without an escort. He also said that signs were posted along Ly Nam De Street prohibiting the taking of photographs.

The CIA report went on to describe the details of the refugee’s sightings. One portion of the report stated that he:

…SAW THE PRISONERS ON TWO OCCASIONS, IN EARLY SUMMER OF 1978, AND AUGUST 1982… BOTH TIMES THE CIRCUMSTANCES WERE THE SAME: HE WAS UPSTAIRS IN HIS FRIEND’S HOUSE, AND, LOOKING OVER AN ADJACENT WALL, SAW A GROUP OF CAUCASIAN MEN MOVING ABOUT IN A COURTYARD THE MEN WORE ONLY UNDERPANTS, AND SOME WERE BATHING, USING WATER DRAWN FROM A CENTRAL TANK OR CISTERN WITH DIPPERS. THE MEN WERE BEHIND A BRICK WALL, REACHING HIGHER THAN A MAN COULD REACH, ABOUT THE HEIGHT OF A ONE-STOREY [sic] BUILDING. THE WALL WAS ABOUT THIRTY METERS AWAY, AND BEHIND THE BUILDING ADJACENT TO [source’s name redacted] VANTAGE POINT, SO THAT HE WAS LOOKING AT AN ANGLE. THE ENTIRE OPEN SPACE WHERE THE MEN WERE WAS ABOUT THE SIZE OF A BASKETBALL COURT, AND INDEED AT ONE END THERE WAS A BASKETBALL GOAL. THE CISTERN WAS ROUND, ABOUT 15 FEET IN DIAMETER, AND OVER IT THERE WAS A PLATFORM WITH A GUARD POSTED ON IT. THERE WERE ALSO GUARD POSTS AT THE FOUR CORNERS TO THE COMPOUND, AND FLOODLIGHTS. THERE WERE LOW BUILDINGS ON THE LEFT AND RIGHT SIDES OF THE OPEN SPACE, AS [source name redacted] LOOKED AT IT. THE BUILDINGS HAD CORRUGATED IRON ROOFS, WITH BARBED WIRE ON TOP, AND [source name redacted] ASSUMED THE PRISONERS WERE HOUSED IN THEM. ACROSS THE WALL ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE OPEN SPACE WAS A CONTINUATION OF THE MILITARY RESTRICTED AREA. TO RECAPITULATE, THEN, THE PRISONERS WERE KEPT INSIDE A JAIL SURROUNDED BY A HIGH WALL, WHICH IN TURN WAS INSIDE A RESTRICTED AREA, ENTRY TO WHICH WAS CAREFULLY CONTROLLED. IT WAS POSSIBLE TO ACTUALLY SEE THE MEN ONLY FROM AN UPPER FLOOR OF A BUILDING NEAR THE WALL OF THE PRISON. [Source name redacted] SELDOM WENT TO THE SECOND FLOOR OF HIS FRIEND’S HOUSE. THIS IS WHY HE SAW THE MEN ONLY TWICE, ALTHOUGH HE WAS OFTEN IN THE HOUSE. [Source name redacted] KNEW THE MEN WERE AMERICANS, FOR SEVERAL REASONS: AT LEAST ONCE HE HEARD SNATCHES OF THEIR CONVERSATION, AND ALTHOUGH HE DID NOT SPEAK ENGLISH, HE HAD STUDIED RUSSIAN AND KNEW THEY WERE NOT SPEAKING THAT LANGUAGE…. [Source name redacted] SAID HIS TWO FRIENDS WHO LIVED IN THE HOUSE FROM WHICH HE SAW THE MEN - AND WHOM HE WAS VISITING WHEN HE SAW THEM - TOLD HIM THE PRISONERS WERE AMERICAN POW’S. THIS WAS NOT NEWS TO HIM, HOWEVER. HE SAID THAT THE PEOPLE LIVING WITHIN THIS RESTRICTED AREA KNWE [sic] ABOUT THE PRISONERS, AND THAT THEIR SCHOOL-AGED CHILDREN HAD MENTIONED IT IN SCHOOL.

The refugee told the CIA interviewer that all the prisoners he saw were Caucasian and that all appeared to be trim and healthy. He said he saw no amputees and no one who appeared sick or injured. He also said that he had attempted to count the prisoners but could not do so accurately because some of the men moved in and out of his limited line of sight while he was counting and he therefore may have counted some more than once. He said, however, that his friend "had specifically stated there were 32 American prisoners-of-war still detained at this jail." The refugee went on to say that though his two friends who lived in the compound had not told him why the Americans were being held, others who had learned of the prisoners by word-of-mouth - people like his father and close friends of residents of the officers’ quarters - "speculated that the Americans were being held as hostages in case of some future U.S. action against Vietnam."

The CIA report stated that at the conclusion of the interview process a polygraph test was administered "in order to confirm or refute [the refugee’s] report of sighting the U.S. POW’S." The report listed the four relevant questions posed by the Agency’s polygraph examiner and the refugee’s answer to each: