What did the declassified documents reveal?

Declassified. From the Central Intelligence Agency. This October fourth, nineteen sixty-three airgram outlines the United States' capability to detect Republic of China military operations against the mainland. This document is archived at vault.fbi.gov. This classified document, an airgram designated A-three-one-two, was declassified on April ninth, two thousand and nine, under Executive Order twelve thousand nine hundred and fifty-eight. The declassification authority was N-L-K ninety-four-four. The document begins: Introduction. In considering U.S. capability to detect G.R.C. preparations for or launching of operations against the mainland, there is a tendency to become overly concerned with the theoretical possibility that the G.R.C. might be able to carry out a given operation without detection, and to pay too little attention to the degree of likelihood that the G.R.C. would, in fact, carry out such an operation. Our surveillance capabilities are obviously limited. We haven't the [redacted] to detect every operation the G.R.C. conceivably could mount. It would be prohibitively costly, as well as counterproductive in terms of our relations with the G.R.C., to attempt to achieve such a degree of surveillance capability. Therefore, in judging the effectiveness of our surveillance resources, we need to consider both the theoretical possibility of a given operation and the likelihood that the G.R.C. would undertake it. Our capability to detect an operation, or preparations for one, is closely related, not only to the size of the operation, but also to the extent of pre-planned support and logistic follow-up. Operations without support or follow-up [redacted]. Are the hardest to detect, but the likelihood of the G.R.C. undertaking such unsupported operations decreases, we think, as the size of the operation increases, once the size exceeds the current twenty-man or so guerrilla infiltrations. Given the present state of Chinese Communist defenses, unsupported raids are likely to prove suicidal. We see little indication that the G.R.C. is inclined to risk large bodies of highly trained men on such ventures in the absence of a genuine outbreak of revolt on the mainland. Even if the purpose were to drag the U.S. into the conflict, and President Chiang were prepared to disregard his commitment to obtain prior U.S. agreement, it would make more sense to launch forces strong enough to hold for a time on the mainland so there would be something to go in and support. Otherwise, he would be knowingly incurring a grave risk to his relations with the United States banking solely on the hope that Chinese Communist retaliation would be extensive enough to embroil the U.S. Forces strong enough to hold for a time would require support and [redacted] facilitating our detection. The conclusions below should be read with the foregoing discussion in mind. The conclusions deal only with the theoretical capability of the G.R.C. to mount undetected operations; they do…

Why was this case declassified?

This material entered the public record through the U.S. declassification and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process. The originating source document is linked on this page so the citation chain is auditable.

From The Central Intelligence Agency.

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Declassified. From the Central Intelligence Agency. This October fourth, nineteen sixty-three airgram outlines the United States' capability to detect Republic of China military operations against the mainland. gov. This classified document, an airgram designated A-three-one-two, was declassified on April ninth, two thousand and nine, under Executive Order twelve thousand nine hundred and fifty-eight.

Date: SEP 7 · 2026
Release: Declassified · U.S. public record (FOIA)
Source document: View the primary source document

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Declassified. From the Central Intelligence Agency. This October fourth, nineteen sixty-three airgram outlines the United States' capability to detect Republic of China military operations against the mainland. This document is archived at vault.fbi.gov. This classified document, an airgram…

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What was From The Central Intelligence Agency. about?: Declassified. From the Central Intelligence Agency. This October fourth, nineteen sixty-three airgram outlines the United States' capability to detect Republic of China military operations against the mainland. gov. This classified document, an airgram designated A-three-one-two, was declassified on April ninth, two thousand and nine, under Executive Order twelve thousand nine hundred and fifty-eight.
Why was this case declassified?: This material entered the public record through the U.S. declassification and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process. Storyflo narrates it directly from the public release.

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CIA Today, A Declassified C I A Record, Dated June Tenth, Nineteen Sixty Three