Samuel A. Adams

Samuel Alexander Adams (June 14, 1934 – October 10, 1988), known as Sam Adams, was an analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He is best known for his role in discovering that during the mid-1960s American military intelligence had underestimated the number of Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army soldiers. Although his opinion was challenged, he pushed the case for a higher troop count. The issue under debate was called the Order of Battle (O/B). His efforts in 1967 met strong and persistent opposition from the Army (here MACV) which, in the short-term, prevailed against him.

Following his testimony for the defense during the 1973 prosecution of Daniel Ellsberg, Adams resigned from the CIA. In 1975 his critical article on Vietnam intelligence appeared in Harper's. He then testified before a House committee about the Viet Cong O/B. In 1982 he was a consultant for a CBS television documentary on Vietnam. Consequently, he was named as a co-defendant in a media-covered civil trial for libel, which was successfully defended. When he died, he was finishing his book about the CIA in Vietnam.