latter organization of the data and its sorting onto file cards. Then he could more easily cross-reference and, if warranted, extrapolate. Careful examination of MACV and South Vietnamese records indicated unexplained contradictions. He evidently had a 'moment of discovery' in his back office at CIA HQ in Virginia, where he did most of his work. As a result, he concluded that the number of VC was more likely at least twice what was then considered accurate. Some MACV intelligence officers quickly agreed to his higher numbers. Other MACV officials, however, refused to acknowledge his findings. Although the majority of CIA analysts who studied the matter agreed, CIA as an agency at first remained uncommitted. The reception of his findings began to become a contentious issue at CIA. Adams suspected that the intelligence he presented was being politically tainted, i.e., intentionally misinterpreted to conform to a government agenda. As an institution MACV registered its disapproval of his reports with higher numbers of VC and PAVN. The discussions did not reach consensus. Adams' opinion hardened into the view that the intelligence was being doctored, certainly to accommodate the generals who ran MACV, and probably the political advisors whose opinions prevailed in the Johnson administration. These Johnson officials were the primary consumers of the CIA's intelligence reports. More abstractly put, the political primacy of 'domestic affairs' in achieving, or at least in explaining, the military strategy in Vietnam, necessitated that certain intelligence findings be available to facilitate continuance of set policies. Yet the independent streak in Adams made him a problematic political operative. His persistence, however, eventually led him beyond the CIA, and resulted in media activity, his magazine article, his trial testimony and appearance before Congress. Split within CIA The issue as it arose thus had several components, simplified as: a) the existing war narrative, b) the prior numbers broadcast to the public, and c) what type of combatants were included in the count. In 1966 in South Vietnam, that would be: a) a war of attrition, b) about [200,000], and c) conventional and guerrilla, excluding the other categories. The Army had been counting primarily only PAVN, and VC conventional and combat guerrilla forces. In part, this was due to the Army's established doctrine in which it viewed the struggle in more conventional terms, rather than as a revolutionary insurgency fighting a political war. A people's struggle would be half political and