Nelson Henry Brickham, Jr. (23 January 1927 – 1 February 2007) was a

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

officer, best known for his role in developing the

Phoenix Program The Phoenix Program () was designed and initially coordinated by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the Vietnam War, involving the American, South Vietnamese militaries, and a small amount of special forces operatives ...

Career

Brickham graduated from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

in 1949, and joined the

the same year. After some years in the Directorate of Intelligence, he transferred to the Operations Division in 1955, serving in the Soviet-Russia Division. In 1960 Brickham was posted to

Teheran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District. With a population of around 9.8 million in the city as of 2025, ...

, managing intelligence and

counterintelligence Counterintelligence (counter-intelligence) or counterespionage (counter-espionage) is any activity aimed at protecting an agency's Intelligence agency, intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering informati ...

operations against Soviet targets in Iran.Douglas Valentine (1990)
The Phoenix program
Morrow, p101-102 By 1964 he was working in the Sino-Soviet Relations Branch. In 1965-66 Brickham was the senior CIA officer in charge of Foreign Intelligence Field Operations throughout South Vietnam. In 1966 Saigon station chief John Limond Hart assigned Brickham to

Robert Komer Robert William "Blowtorch Bob" Komer (February 23, 1922 – April 9, 2000) was an American national security adviser known for managing Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support during the Vietnam War. Early life and education Born ...

's staff, where in late 1966 to June 1967 Brickham developed ICEX-SIDE (later renamed the

) as a single organizational structure to coordinate intelligence, military and police activities in Vietnam. The system was modelled on the

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational corporation, multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. T ...

's executive staff structure. It was also inspired in part by

David Galula David Galula (10 January 191911 May 1967) was a French military officer and scholar who was influential in developing the theory and practice of counterinsurgency warfare. Early life Born in Sfax, then part of the French protectorate of Tunisia ...

's ''Counterinsurgency Warfare'' (1964), a book based on Galula's experiences in the

Algerian War The Algerian War (also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence) ''; '' (and sometimes in Algeria as the ''War of 1 November'') was an armed conflict between France and the Algerian National Liberation Front (Algeri ...

which Brickham was "very taken" with and carried with him around Vietnam.Ann Marlowe (2010),
David Galula: His Life and Intellectual Context
',

Strategic Studies Institute The Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) is the U.S. Army's institute for strategic and national security research and analysis. It is part of the U.S. Army War College The United States Army War College (USAWC) is a United States Army, U.S. ...

, p15

References

External links

Interview recordings
1927 births 2007 deaths Yale University alumni American spies People of the Central Intelligence Agency American expatriates in Vietnam {{US-gov-bio-stub