Leadership of William E.

Colby: The Legacy of the CIA

and Today's War Tactics

Adrian Gonzalez
Junior Division
Website
Process Paper Word Count: 500

While debating what my topic should be for National History Day:

Leadership and Legacy theme, I asked myself, What part of history
interests me the most? my answer was Vietnam. Although Vietnam
was too broad of a topic, I knew I needed to narrow it down to an
individual who over time made an impact on society in order to
determine a legacy. I chose to do my National History Day project on
William Egan Colby. I believe his primary role in the Phoenix Program ,
although controversial, proved over time that many of the covert
tactics used such as targeted assassinations, civilian tortures, and spy
infiltrations and methodologies would be beneficial in our
counterintelligence fight in Afghanistan and Iraq today. The legacy of
William Colby and the tactics used have been effective in our countrys
War on Terror.
I started my research at the Springdales Public Library. I
searched for books and found information with the help of the librarian.
Fayettevilles Public Library was also a great sources of information. I
found articles pertaining to my topic and pictures that were extremely
valuable to my website entry. I later consulted with the librarian at
Mullin Library at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville who provided
me with several articles that were quite beneficial to my project and
put me in touch with The Virtual Vietnam Center and Archives at Texas
Tech, which houses William Colbys personal files. It provided
incredible primary sources and a vast amount of images to choose

from. I also visited the National Archives website along with the Prints
and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress which helped me
better understand the time era and collect valuable information.
I chose to present my NHD project as a website. The website
category seemed appealing and allowed me to portray valuable
information with the use of a variety of multimedia. Although images of
William Colby are few and far between hence, his secret agent status
and after much effort, I managed to obtain information that would
help develop the website. Using Weebly, I then chose a template that
fit my needs, added tabs to direct the reader and incorporated my
research in a clear, clean and creative design that would make reading
enjoyable.
My topic adheres to the National History Day theme Leadership
and Legacy because William Egan Colbys leadership was
instrumental in how the war was run and changed over time. The
program Colby pioneered in Vietnam was known as the Phoenix
Program which armed Vietnamese soldiers to help root out suspected
Communist insurgents much like American intelligence agents do
today by training Afghan soldiers to fight Al Qaeda militants. Therefore,
Colbys legacy was the turning point that help change the face of war
tactics and pave the way for the United States counterinsurgency
warfare. The legacy of William Colby and the tactics used during

Vietnam, the changes in American policy and the pacification programs

put in place would become key in our countries War on Terror.