The CIA’s Secret War in Laos

Hello All,

First of all, I apologize for my absence. I have been really trying to focus in on my work, and as of lately I have been successful.

While working on Rocket City, I realized pretty quickly that I was still way out of my depth. It’s a pretty new topic to me, and although I am pretty comfortable with Operation Paperclip (and I’ll make a stand alone video about that shortly, as I don’t want that research to go to waste) there were a lot of other topics I wanted to discuss that I was much less familiar with. So, I decided to shelve it. Rocket City is something I want to do eventually, but I’m going to need to read several more books first, which will take a lot of time.

In the meantime, I have reoriented. Something in the back of my mind keeps reminding me that I need to finish what I started. So, I decided to get back to the French Connection Series and dove into Laos.

Well… the French and later the CIA’s operations in Laos span three decades and are deeply connected to the politics of Thailand and South Vietnam. So, what started as originally one video, is now an absolute mammoth of a script. Essentially, I have written (and I promise it’s nearly done, see attached photo) enough material on Laos to cover about 5-6 parts. These will vary in length with the most in depth being about the Secret War there. Other topics will include the First Indochina War, The Nugan Hand Bank Scandal, the assassination of NGO Dinh Diem, and a bit of looking ahead to Iran Contra.

It’s a lot and as it stands right now, I’ve focused on simply writing and not refining the script into concise videos. I’m not sure how I will chop it up yet. There’s enough material here for a succinct 1 hour doc on the French Operation X during the First Indochina war and a brilliant 2 hour documentary on the CIA’s secret war in Laos during the 60s. But I’m concerned that it may be too long for most viewers.

I am conflicted because these videos do really benefit from having watched the previous ones. Unlike my other content, the script right now is one long contained story and not several smaller self contained episodes.

That said, I want to hear from you all. As I wrap up the writing, how would you like it presented? I was also thinking of chopping it up into smaller segments and then uploading it all as one super edit at the end.

When it is completed, which I’m hoping to do by the end of February (editing this thing is going to be a hell of a task, especially as footage of Laos is pretty scarce), you will get all the material at once here on Patreon. Then, they will release every two weeks on YouTube.

Would love to hear your thoughts.

Below is also the intro.