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Phoenix Project

In 1965, the the Infrastructure Intelligence Coordination and Exploitation Structure (ICEX) or "Phoenix" Project was created by the CIA as an effort to disrupt the Viet Cong infrastructure through a series of civilian assassinations and systemic torture. They build torture facilities in all 44 provinces of South Vietnam, murdered disruptive citizens, and blackmailed or extorted information from South Vietnamese citizens to root out Viet Cong sympathizers. The CIA's responses to Freedom of Information Act requests suggest that they would prefer to forget the whole thing. They would prefer that everyone else forget it, as well: after Saigon fell, most of the Phoenix documents were destroyed. The only remaining documents are now safely ensconced at Langley.

Fortunately, Neil Brickham was responsible for a good part of the program, and saved all of his material. Douglas Valentine (who's writing a book on the subject, and seems dedicated to implicating the Department of Homeland Security in the matter) got his hands on Brickham's library and passed it on to the good people at the Memory Hole, who have posted the documents for all to see.