Trần, Quốc Hoàn (Tran Quoc Hoan) 1916- 1986

Trần Quốc Hoàn reviews cases against foreign and domestic spies in the Vietnam Wars.

In 1971, North Vietnam’s Public Security Service (the North Vietnamese equivalent of the former Soviet KGB, known at the time as the Ministry of Interior) held a national conference to review the status of the Service’s efforts targeted against the Vietnamese Catholic Church over the past decade and a half and to formulate plans and policies for its future operations directed against the Church. In this speech given at the opening of the conference, Party Politburo Member and Minister of Public Security General Tran Quoc Hoan [Trần Quốc Hoàn], outlined the successes that he said had been achieved in gaining the sympathy and support of the Catholic “masses” and in combatting what he called “reactionaries exploiting the Catholic religion”.

The East German Minister of State Security, Erich Mielke, meets with the head of North Vietnam’s Technical Operations Sector, Nguyen Minh Tien. Tien requests the transfer of expertise from East Germany in a number of different areas, including covert photography, remote surveillance (e.g. “bugging”) and counterfeiting.

Tran Quoc Hoan writes requesting further technical assistance and training from the Stasi.

East German Minister Erich Mielke and North Vietnamese Minister Tran Quoc-Hoan are the two main speakers. Hoan requests two additional comrades be trained by East Germany in indexing, information on concealment techniques, a small number of infrared binoculars, and “gamma encryption” technology. Mielke states that the technical equipment will be purchased from capitalist countries since they are not available in East Germany.