NSA Releases 40-Year-Old Tonkin Gulf Report

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The National Security Agency released long-secret documents on the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident, including ultra-secret signals intelligence data. The release includes a report by military historian Robert J. Hanyok that argues that NSA intelligence officers “deliberately skewed” the evidence to falsely suggest that North Vietnamese ships had attacked American ships. As a result, President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered airstrikes on North Vietnam and Congress passed authorized military action. (12/6/05)