Programs Evaluation Office

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With the end of World War II, Laos was no longer under the French Union but entirely sovereign and was governed by the Royal Lao Government. The Royal Lao Army was placed under the Ministry of Defense in Vientiane. The agreements reached at the Geneva Conference (1954) prohibited Laos from having foreign military bases and participating in any foreign military alliance, but allowed a small French military training mission which supported the Royal Lao Army. As part of its goal of containment, the U.S. sought to ensure that the Royal Lao Army was capable of meeting the threat posed by the Pathet Lao, who were backed by communist North Vietnam.

To get around the prohibition against foreign military personnel imposed by the Geneva agreements – which the United States had pledged to honor – the Department of Defense in December 1955 established a disguised military mission in Vientiane called the Programs Evaluation Office (PEO). The PEO became operational on December 13, 1955 and worked under the cover of the civilian aid mission and was staffed by military personnel and headed by a general officer, all of whom wore civilian clothes and had been removed from Department of Defense rosters of active service personnel. From 1955 to 1961, the PEO gradually supplanted the French military mission in providing equipment and training to the Royal Lao Army.

A coalition government emerged in Vientiane in 1957, which included royalists as well as the Pathet Lao, but lasted only until July 1958, when there was a right-wing coup through which General Phoumi Nosavan emerged as a head of state. As an anti-communist, Phoumi was concerned by the spread of Pathet Lao's influence, and he requested additional help from the United States. By 1959, the PEO had more than 100 members on its staff, and the United States was paying the entire cost of the Royal Lao Army's salaries.

On August 9, 1960, Phoumi’s government was removed in a lightning coup d'état by a group termed the Neutralists led by Capt. Kong Le, a paratroop officer of the Royal Lao Army. PEO headquarters in Vientiane became inactive following the coup, but the PEO branch office in Savannakhét -- Phoumi's headquarters -- continued to supply and pay Phoumi's troops. Eventually, Phoumi re-captured Vientiane. In April 1961, the PEO was upgraded to a Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG), and its members were allowed to wear uniforms. The MAAG was withdrawn in 1962 under the terms of the Geneva Agreement, and CIA personnel operating from a base in Thailand took over the support of those opposed to the Pathet Lao.