Brintnall, Clarke Mccurdy
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The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project BRIGADIER GENERAL CLARKE MCCURDY BRINTNALL Interviewed by: Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial interview date: May 2, 1996 Copyright 1998 ADST TABLE OF CONTENTS Background Born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska West Point graduate, 1958 U.S. Army Signal Corps, Darmstadt, Germany Soviet ,atching TD- mobile communications in .ran Fort Monmouth, N0. Signal Officer Course ST1.2E Command, MacDill AFB 194151942 Cuba crisis Army 7anguage School, Monterey 194251948 Portuguese Bra9il, 1io de 0aneiro 194851945 7anguage student Political and social environment Anti5Americanism English language instructor at Staff College US A.D :ernon Walters Panama 194451949 Cuba Special Forces Terrorism5regional Area responsibility of M.7G1Ps F55s Ft. Holabird, MD 194951970 .ntelligence school :ietnam 194951970 First Cavalry Division 1 :iet Cong capabilities A1:A capabilities Armed Forces Staff College 1971 0oint Chiefs of Staff Assignments 197151978 American Defense Board 0oint Bra9il5US Defense Commission US5Mexico Military Commission Bra9il, Brasilia 197851977 Assistant Army Attaché uclear safeguards issues Human rights issues Bra9il abrogates US military agreement Argentine concerns Environment Army War College 197751978 Defense Department, .SA 197851983 7atin American issues Cuba icaragua and Sandinistas Maldive issue Bra9il@s nuclear and space programs aval Unitas exercise Colombia cooperation Mexico@s attitude F51s and 7atin America Soviet arms programs in 7ain America U.S. Training and Doctrine Command Guantanamo Bay Bra9il, Brasilia 198351985 Attaché Ama9on developments 1elations ,ith Bra9ilians Bra9ilian military arcotics problems Defense .ntelligence Agency 198551984 Director for Attachés and Operations Selecting attachés Soviet Union Aattachés in) 2 Defense Department, .SA 198451988 Director of .nter5American 1egions Duties and responsibilities .ran CContra affair oriega Argentine relations Grenada invasion arcotics 1etirement 1988 ational Security Council 198851989 Panama Gen. Colin Po,ell Peru Brady Plan INTERVIEW $: Brintnall, what is the name from( B1. T A77D Brintnall is English. The family settled here about 1480 in Brookline, Massachusetts. .t ,as rather a small family. There are a fe, Brintnalls scattered around the country, and ,eEre all related in some ,ay or another. $: Tell me a bit about when and where you were born and a bit about your parents. B1. T A77D . ,as born in Omaha, Nebraska. My father ,as a metallurgist and my mother ,as a house,ife ,ho later on ,ent to ,ork for the government. had a rather uneventful childhood. gre, up in OmahaF attended public schools there. $: You were born when( B1. T A77D 1933. October 8, 1933. developed any early interest in the military. ,as active in High School in 1OTC and the Civil Air Patrol. When . graduated from High School . really didnEt kno, ,hat . ,anted to do. But . decided to go to a military 0unior College...Went,orth Military Academy. spent t,o years there and then transferred to the University of Nebraska. did ,ell in college but ,as not satisfied. After a semester at the University . decided that . ,ould like to go to West Point. $: We,re tal-ing about now...trying to -eep in mind that World War II is going strong, or was it( 3 B1. T A77D No. The 2orean War ,as going strong. World War .. ,as ,ell over. WeEre talking about 1953 at this point. applied for an appointment to West Point and ,as fortunate enough to find a Senator to sponsor me. took the examinations, received the appointment and ,as accepted. So, . ,as a late starter getting into West Point since . already had three years of college. $: What .lass were you in at West Point( B1. T A77D 1958. $: Now, the United States by this point had fought World War II, the Korean War...when you got out in 1918 we were landing in Lebanon. We had gone through the Sue3 and the 4ungarian Crisis and all. How mu.h of Ameri.a,s involvement in the world and sort of beyond the sort of guns and mar.hing business did you get out of West Point( I mean as far as international affairs( B1. T A77D There really ,eren@t a lot of guns...there ,as a lot of marching but that ,as really incidental. .t ,as basically a university education ,ith some military courses, mostly during the summers. $: Were you able to shape the .ourses you were ta-ing to meet what you felt you would want as a ma5or( I mean, obviously there were military .ourses to ta-e. But what were you ta-ing at West Point( B1. T A77D At that time ,e could shape very little. No, the Cadets can select their major. But at that time there ,ere only a half do9en electives. While language ,as reGuired, ,e could select the one ,e ,anted to study. -ou could validate certain courses. For example, . validated American History and took Diplomatic History. But the electives ,ere very fe,. We all graduated ,ith a degree of Bachelor of Science ,ith an emphasis in Engineering. $: What language did you ta-e( B1. T A77D . studied Portuguese. $: Portuguese( Really that,s -ind of odd...what got you off on Portuguese( Usually it,s 7ren.h, Spanish or Russian or something li-e that. B1. T A77D Some may have considered it an unusual choice. .n retrospect, it ,as a superb choice. More and more . think that there are certain things that one is supposed to do in life and one of those in my life ,as to study Portuguese. .t shaped my military career and my subseGuent career as a civilian. The small si9e of the department appealed to me. had al,ays had an interest in Bra9il, possibly . ,as influenced by my fatherEs stamp collection. One of his favorite acGuisitions ,as a set of Bra9ilian HBullEs EyesH. 4 gre, up liking Bra9ilian stamps and thinking a little bit about Bra9il so . said, HWhy not PortugueseIH $: I was just wondering whether...in the Foreign Servi.e sometimes the .al.ulation is made...8K, all my .olleagues are going after Russian this or that, why don,t I ta-e Serbian. That gives me a leg up on a spe.ifi. and I .an ha.- out a little room...was this at all the feeling with those ta-ing Portuguese at the time, or was this just a re9uirement( B1. T A77D . ,ish that . could say that this ,as a calculated decision and . ,eighed all those things. But . really didnEt. $: Well, :laughs) I thin- this is true of all of us, but I li-e to as- the 9uestion. You graduated in 1918, is that .orre.t( B1. T A77D -es. Then . ,as commissioned in the Signal Corps. We had our choice of first assignments. We couldnEt pick an actual unit but ,e could pick a theater55,e could pick 2orea, Germany, or the US, and . picked Germany because . ,anted to go overseas immediately. had al,ays enjoyed traveling. ,as commissioned a Second 7ieutenant in the Signal Corps and ,ent to Darmstadt, Germany. $: Where were you stationed in Darmstadt( I was at the Cambrai-7ris.h Kaserne... B1. T A77D . ,as tooJ $: I was in the Air For.e Se.urity Servi.e. I used to sit and listen to the Soviets. This was ba.- in 1913 or something li-e that. B1. T A77D The plumbing ,as probably even ,orse by the time . got there in 1940J .t ,as interesting. .t ,as a nice place to be stationed. Darmstadt ,as a delightful to,n. $: When one goes into the Signal Corps in the late 1910,s, what does one do( What type of wor-( B1. T A77D . ,as assigned to the 32nd Signal Battalion. .t supported : Corps ,ith hi freGuency and very high freGuency radio, communications center, and ,ire communications. .n those days, ,e ,ere involved in a lot of maneuvers...a lot of exercises. We spent a great deal of time in the field. .t ,as a great place to learn. The first assignment, first time out ,ith one@s o,n troops. And it ,as serious. We ,ere looking at the Soviets across the border in our Corps area. We took our security very seriously. We took our communications very seriously. We felt that one of those alerts ,ould be the real thing and that ,e ,ould be off to ,ar. $: What was the impression of the Soviet military threat at this time( 5 B1. T A77D We sa, them as a very strong army...a very strong military threat. And, ,e sa, ourselves as trying to contain a break5through if they decided to attack. But ,e probably gave then credit for being a little stronger than they ,ere. had very little contact ,ith the 1ussians but one contact ,as interesting. We had been briefed by the Battalion .ntelligence Officer on ,hat to do if ,e encountered a Soviet 7iaison Mission vehicle. The Soviets had teams in West Germany and ,e had teams in East Germany, each ,atching the other@s military activities. These teams ,ere allo,ed on the main roads but not in the maneuver areas. Well, the intelligence briefing did not make a distinction bet,een main roads and maneuver areas. sa, a Soviet vehicle, gave chase, and ,as finally able to stop him. then reported this by radio to my headGuarters. While ,aiting for help, . tried to engage the 1ussian in conversation, but he didn@t ,ant to talk. Finally, an American Colonel arrived by helicopter. KWhat are you doing lieutenantIL he asked. explained my instructions and ,hat had happened and ,as sent on my ,ay. Of course, the briefing had not been correct and . had no authority to stop the 1ussian on a main road. SubseGuent briefings ,ere more precise.