Editing Phoenix Program (section)

===Operations and Tactics===
PRUs conducted “snatch-and-grab” missions to capture VCI members for interrogation or defection, but killing was common when capture was not feasible. Operations were based on intelligence from informants, defectors, or District Intelligence and Operations Coordination Centers (DIOCCs), which compiled lists of suspected VCI.

PRUs often operated under cover of darkness, raiding villages or safehouses identified as VCI hubs. These raids could involve killing suspects on the spot if they resisted or if capture was deemed too risky.

Critics, including Douglas Valentine in The Phoenix Program (1990), argue that PRUs functioned as de facto assassination teams, with orders to eliminate high-value VCI targets. Official reports confirm 26,369 VCI were killed between 1968 and 1972 (South Vietnamese estimates cite up to 41,000), with PRUs responsible for a significant portion. While CIA officials like [[William Colby]] claimed killings were a last resort, accounts from PRU operatives and Vietnamese sources suggest targeted assassinations were routine.

PRUs were designed to instill fear in the VC and their supporters, using tactics like leaving calling cards (e.g., the “Phung Hoang” logo, a mythical bird) at raid sites to signal their presence and deter collaboration with the VC.