who had been designated the Operations Officer for an interagency Task Force in charge of political, military, economic, psychological, and covert character, was to go to Vietnam. Changes of policy in Washington however, transferred these responsibilities to the military and diplomats, and Lansdale was no longer involved with Vietnam. On May 11, 1961, President Kennedy gave the authorization to begin "a program for covert actions to be carried out by the Central Intelligence Agency which would precede and remain in force after any commitment of U.S. forces to South Vietnam." Kennedy was giving the CIA the job of preparing for the eventual landing of U.S. troops. Later that year, in October 1961 the Director of Central Intelligence Allen Dulles approved a massive counterinsurgency program with the goal of launching a "village defense program in the lightly populated but strategically important Central Highlands." The involvement of the CIA rose substantially when they were given the task of supporting "irregular formations" that did not fall under other agencies’ jurisdictions, which include civil wars, guerrilla wars, and rebellions. They were given this job because of an interagency task force recommendation in January 1962. Later that year in May 1962, Defense Secretary McNamara promised the Far East Division chief Desmond FitzGerald "a blank check…in terms of men, money, and material." This illustrates the important mission given to the CIA by the Department of Defense and the White House. CIA begins to sponsor and train the Civilian Irregular Defense Groups (CIDG) in the South Central Highlands. These were local defense operations with a mobile support component, "Mike Force", made up primarily of Nung mercenaries. Most CIDG units eventually became Vietnamese Rangers. These forces were intended to help combat the guerrilla tactics of the Vietcong.The CIDG grew out of a Military Operations Section (MOS) program led by Gilbert Layton. Layton's priority was strengthening the intelligence network in the country, specifically in the border regions with Cambodia and Laos. Layton sought to find locals that could gather intelligence on Viet Cong installations in the area. He proposed a program "designed to recruit as many as 1,000 tribesmen to operate in the guerrilla-infested high plateau areas bordering on northern Cambodia and South Laos." His proposal for a crop station and seed distribution was approved but it suffered many delays and problems. CIA Deputy Chief William Colby expanded the intelligence gathering operation into a defense building operation known as