the Air Force. On Christmas, 1965, President Johnson promised a bombing halt on Vietnam. This "halt" turned out to be a redirection at Laos, conducted by the U.S. Air Force. McNamara sent a report to President Johnson that had 12 favors. Johnson urged for there to be another airstrike against North Vietnam. The president approved for the first time approval of airstrike against the North Vietnam and Viet Cong who were making their way into Laos. At years-end CIA-DIA analysis of the air attacks on the North since they began on February 7, 1965, they indicated that they had inflicted about $28.5 million worth of damage. The North's economy, however, showed no sign of disintegration. Laos 1968 By 1968, the CIA had a well-established system for conducting the U.S. war in Laos. The CIA led a ground campaign and established requirements to which the United States Air Force responded. However, according to the United States Air Force history; differences between the military and the CIA reduced the effectiveness of U.S. operations in Laos. However, the fall of Nam Bac caused much discord in northwestern Laos: "as the Americans feared, the loss of Nam Bac shattered FAR morale and virtually erased these forces as a factor in the war." More importantly, the fall of Nam Bac caused the CIA's intelligence gathering in the region to be quite insignificant and the CIA withdrew much of its personnel in the region: "the fall of Nam Bac also crippled the CIA's intelligence collection in northwestern Laos." Intelligence analysts also continued to wonder about Chinese objectives in the region, and there did not seem to be a conclusive decision on what exactly the Chinese were doing in the region at the time. Due to reasons of secrecy, the CIA refused to share its plans with the Air Force. Additionally, the CIA had a narrowed view of interests and underestimated the potential usefulness of the Air Force's airpower which further alienated the Air Force from assisting in the CIA's efforts. Laos 1969 A memorandum from November 12, from Kissinger to Nixon reviewed the procedure for attacks in Laos. Kissinger raised several questions in response to a CIA memorandum on Vang Pao's offensive in the Plain of Jars. A joint response from the CIA and the Departments of Defense and State said: U.S. ability to control (including veto) a Lao operation is to all practical purposes complete