he was sent to work against the government of Ho Chi Minh in North Vietnam, at first in a propaganda campaign to persuade Southern Vietnamese not to vote for the communists and then to help with arming and training local tribesmen, called the Montagnards working under CIA station chief William Colby. Conein was an intelligence agent in Vietnam in 1961 and 1962. Allen Ginsberg described him as "the crucial person" in the CIA's link with the Southeast Asian opium trade. During the November 1963 coup against Ngô Đình Diệm which resulted in Diệm's assassination, he served as Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.'s liaison officer with the coup plotters and delivered $42,000 of cash disbursements. In 1968, Conein left the CIA and became a businessman in South Vietnam. In 1972, President Nixon appointed Conein as chief of covert operations for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). He was considered by former CIA colleague E. Howard Hunt for the group that undertook the 1972 Watergate burglary of the Democratic National Committee. Conein told Stanley Karnow, "If I'd been involved, we'd have done it right." Conein retired from the DEA in 1984. Personal life Conein married Elyette B. Conein in 1957. They had three children. At the time of his death, he was survived by six sons, one daughter, 11 grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. Death Conein died of a heart attack, aged 79, at Suburban Hospital, Bethesda, Maryland in June 1998. Note References Bibliography Hougan, Jim (1978). Spooks: The Haunting of America & the Private Use of Secret Agents. New York: William Morrow. . Further reading Fussell, James A. (Sep. 20, 1998). "Conein... Lucien Conein." Kansas City Star [Kansas City, Miss.]. pp. G3, G8. Rust, William J. (Dec. 2019). "CIA Operations Officer Lucien Conein: A Study in Contrasts and Controversy." Studies in Intelligence, vol. 63, no. 4. pp. 43-58. Washington, D.C.: Center for the Study of Intelligence. Central Intelligence Agency. Thomas, Kenny. "Lucien Conein and the Prouty Hypothesis." Steamshovel Press. umsl.edu. Valentine, Douglas (Mar. 8, 2003). "Will the Real Daniel Ellsberg Please Stand Up!" CounterPunch. External links Lucien Conein at IMDb Lucien Conein at Arlington National Cemetery Lucien Conein at Encyclopedia Britannica Lucien Conein at Military.com Lucein Conein at NameBase Lucein Conein at Spartacus Educational Lucien Conein at Weisberg Collection Lucien Conein's OSS Personnel File 1919 births 1998 deaths People of the Central Intelligence Agency CIA personnel of the Vietnam War People of the Office