General Accounting Office Summary of Nonmilitary Assistance Program for Laos

In the fall of 1956 representatives of our office, as part of our regular audit of ICA country programs, visited several countries in the Far East with particular concentration on Korea and Vietnam. Because of the past association of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos as the Associated States of Indochina and because we were including a summary of past aid activities to Indochina in our report on Vietnam, we deemed it appropriate to include brief outlines of the Cambodia and Laos programs based on examination of ICA Washington records, as supplements of our report to the Congress on Vietnam. A draft of our report on the three countries was sent to ICA in July 1957 for its review. The agency's comments were not received until January 1958. During the intervening period information came to our attention from various sources concerning disturbing aspects of the program in Laos. In December 1957 we decided that in the light of our audit responsibilities it was necessary to make a special field examination of the program at the ICA mission in Vientiane. Arrangements were made to have such an examination made by our Far East Branch, and the Director of ICA was so notified. At the same time it was decided to issue separate reports to the Congress on each of the three Indochinese countries. The reports on Vietnam and Cambodia are in the final stages of processing and should be released shortly. The examination in Laos was made in March 1958, and a draft report thereon was received by us in late April.