 In order to keep the campaign as low @-@ key as possible , General Abrams had suggested that the commencement of the incursion be routinely announced from Saigon . At 21 : 00 on 30 April , however , President Nixon appeared on all three U.S. television networks to announce that " It is not our power but our will and character that is being tested tonight " and that " the time has come for action . " He announced his decision to launch American forces into Cambodia with the special objective of capturing COSVN , " the headquarters of the entire communist military operation in South Vietnam . " COSVN as a single headquarters for control of PAVN operations in South Vietnam probably did not exist , or , at least , was never found . 
