 In May , MACV attempted to obtain a compromise from the CIA by maintaining that Viet Cong militias did not constitute a fighting force but were essentially low level fifth columnists used for information collection . The agency responded that such a notion was ridiculous , since the militias were directly responsible for half of the casualties inflicted on U.S. forces . With the groups deadlocked , George Carver , CIA deputy director for Vietnamese affairs , was asked to mediate the dispute . In September , Carver devised a compromise : The CIA would drop its insistence on including the irregulars in the final tally of forces and add a prose addendum to the estimate that would explain the agency 's position . George Allen , Carver 's deputy , laid responsibility for the agency 's capitulation at the feet of Richard Helms , the director of the CIA . He believed that " it was a political problem ... [ Helms ] didn 't want the agency ... contravening the policy interest of the administration . " 
