| Operation Hardnose | |
|---|---|
| Part of Laotian Civil War; Vietnam War | |
| Type | Espionage operation |
| Location | |
| Planned | January 1963 |
| Planned by | Mike Deuel |
| Commanded by | Mike Deuel, John F. Kennedy, Robert McNamara, William Westmoreland |
| Objective | Report on activities on the Ho Chi Minh trail |
| Date | August 1963—1972 |
| Executed by | CIA, PARU, MACV-SOG, Royal Thai Army Special Forces, Air America, USAF |
| Successful; superseded by the Hark-1 program | |
Operation Hardnose was a Central Intelligence Agency-run espionage operation spying upon the Ho Chi Minh trail that began during the Laotian Civil War. Started in Summer 1963, it soon attracted the attention of the U.S. Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara. By December 1963, he was calling for its expansion. Operation Hardnose expanded and continued to report on the Ho Chi Minh trail even as American military intelligence activities mounted against the communist supply artery. In an attempt to adapt technology for use by illiterate Lao Theung, some of the U.S. Air Force's survival radios were modified by the CIA for use by their spies.
By 1968, Operation Hardnose was being marginalized by use of other intelligence systems, such as air- and ground-based electronic sensors. Also, with the advent of the AC-130 Spectre gunship, which both generated its own targets as well as struck them, there was little use for Hardnose spotting enemy vehicles. Hardnose faded into insignificance after that.