Intelligence in a time of decolonization: The case of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam at war (1945–50)

Abstract

The renaissance in intelligences studies over the last two decades has offered new and exciting insights into war, societies, ideologies, institutions, and even cultures and mindsets. Yet, its geographical reach has remained largely limited to the West or Western cases. We still know relatively little about intelligence services and their roles in the making of postcolonial nation-states in Africa or Asia, much less their perceptions of the world outside. This article uses the case of communist Vietnam during the First Indochina War to provide a general overview of the birth, development, and major functions of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam's Public Security and Intelligence services in a time of decolonization. It then examines three Vietnamese case studies as a way of considering wider themes relating to the question of intelligence and decolonization. In wider terms, this article seeks to contribute to the expansion of intelligence studies on the non-Western,‘postcolonial’ world.