Army Foreign Intelligence Assistance Program The US Army Foreign Intelligence Assistance Program , was a 1960s program . One part was " Project X " , a military effort to create intelligence field manuals drawn from counterinsurgency experience in Vietnam , specifically from the CIA ' s Phoenix program in South Vietnam , an assassination program designed to identify and " neutralize " the infrastructure of the Viet Cong . The manuals influenced the " KUBARK Counterintelligence Interrogation - July 1963 " , " Human Resource Exploitation Training Manual - 1983 " . as well as intelligence manuals used at the School of the Americas . Project X . The Project X counterinsurgency manuals were " a guide for the conduct of clandestine operations " against insurgents and political adversaries calling for social reform . Some of the material used until 1991 included manuals on " Agent Handling " and " Counterintelligence , " which " provided training regarding the use of sodiopentathol [ truth serum ] compound in interrogation , abduction of adversary family members to influence the adversary , prioritization of adversary personalities for abduction , exile , physical beatings and execution . " The manual suggests the creation of inventories of families and their assets to keep tabs on the population . One of the lessons described " a general introduction to censorship to include reference to Armed Forces Censorship . . . and National Censorship . " Students are warned of the dangers of the electoral process . Guerrillas , " can resort to subversion of the government by means of elections , " it said . " Insurgent leaders participate in political contests as candidates for government office . " Peaceful democratic activity is equated with terrorists . " It is important to note that many terrorists are very well trained in subversion of the democratic process and use the system to advance their causes , " the manual said . " This manipulation ends with the destruction of the democratic system . Discontent that can become political violence can have as its cause political , social , and economic activities of terrorists operating within the democratic system , " it adds . The manual describes the director of the Peace and Justice Resource Center , Tom Hayden , formerly a California state senator , as " one of the masters of terrorist planning . " The CIA manual on " Handling of Sources , " states that , " the CI [ Counterintelligence ] agent must consider all the organizations as possible guerrilla sympathizers . " Counterintelligence agents are instructed on targets for " neutralizing " , which was a euphemism for execution of , " political leaders , and members of the infrastructure . " The targets to be " neutralized " are what the manual describes as " front groups " for the guerrillas , such as " paramilitary groups , labor unions , and dissident groups . " Citizens were put on " ' black , gray or white lists ' for the purpose of identifying and prioritizing adversary targets . " Export . The doctrine contained in the Project X manuals was transmitted to the armed forces of 11 South and Central American countries , including El Salvador , Guatemala , Colombia , Honduras , Ecuador and Peru , among others . The manuals were distributed through the Army ’ s Foreign Officer Course , Special Forces Mobile Training Teams ( MTTs ) and the U . S . Army School of the Americas ( SOA ) , a training center for Latin American armed forces , based in Fort Benning Georgia . The school ' s curriculum placed great weight on ideological conditioning and " steeped young Latin American officers in the early - 1950 - era anti - Communist dogma that subversive infiltrators could be anywhere . " In 1992 , all Project X material was ordered destroyed by the Department of Defense ( DOD ) .