CIA Paramilitary Operations in Tibet

1957-1974

by Ken Conboy

Series:

Asia@War

Imprint: Helion and Company

82 Pages, 8.25 x 11.7 in, 45 b/w photos, 18 color photos, 3 color profiles, 3 maps

Paperback
9781804510216
September 2022
In Stock

$29.95

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Description
Authors
Praise

CIA Paramilitary Operations in Tibet is the story of how the US government – primarily through the CIA and often in cooperation with India – came to harness, nurture, and encourage Tibetan defiance in one of the most extreme covert campaigns of the Cold War. In particular, it details an important chapter in the CIA’s paramilitary history. In Tibet, new kinds of equipment – aircraft and parachutes, for example – were combat-tested under the most extreme conditions imaginable. New communications techniques were tried and perfected. In many cases, these lessons learned would be applied to other Cold War battlefields like Vietnam, Laos, and elsewhere. Tibet, therefore, became a vital proving ground for CIA case officers and their spycraft.

CIA Paramilitary Operations in Tibet includes over 60 color and black and white photographs of the participants in the campaign and the insignia of the organizations involved, along with specially commissioned color artworks illustrating the aircraft employed in the skies above Tibet.

Kenneth Conboy was South East Asian policy analyst and deputy director of the Asian Studies Centre in Washington D.C., 1986–1992. Since then he has held roles in risk management companies in Indonesia, and he currently serves as Risk Management Advisory Country Manager in Indonesia. He has written a number of books about war in Asia, as well as several articles.

"This heavily illustrated monograph covers the history of CIA's involvement in supporting anti-Chinese rebels in Tibet. The author includes a lot of detail..." ~Intelligencer: Journal of U.S. Intelligence Studies

"Conboy seems to do a good job of balancing his sources, not relying too heavily on any one person’s or group’s perspectives or memories...a useful study of a little-known aspect of American covert operations." ~The Journal of the Air Force Historical Foundation

"Highly recommended." ~AMPS Indianapolis

“Modelers and historians will enjoy this book… Ken Conboy has provided the Asia@War series a concise, well researched and easy to read book to help fill in gaps in the little-known covert wars in Asia.” ~IPMS/USA

"...a very readable book that provides not only a look at the events leading up to the events of the book, but also the men and equipment that were used." ~ModelingMadness.Com