U.S. Army Field Manual 30-31B

The US Army Field Manual 30-31B is Cold War-era hoax conducted by the Soviet intelligence services. It is an alleged classified appendix to a US Army Field Manual that describes top-secret counter insurgency tactics. In particular, it identifies a strategy of tension involving violent attacks which are then blamed on radical left-wing groups in order to convince allied governments of the need for counter-action. It has been called the Westmoreland Field Manual because it is signed with the alleged signature of General William Westmoreland. It was labeled as supplement B (hence "30-31B"), however, the publicly released version of FM 30-31 only has one appendix, Supplement A.

The U.S. government and academic sources describe the document as a forgery. The document first appeared in Turkey in the 1970s, before being circulated to other countries. It was also used at the end of the 1970s to implicate the Central Intelligence Agency in the Red Brigades' kidnapping and assassination of former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro.

History
An alleged appendix to F.M. 30-31 was first mentioned in the Turkish newspaper Barış (sometimes anglicized to Barish), in 1975. The same newspaper had announced the existence of F.M. 31-15: Operations Against Irregular Forces, the bible of the Turkish branch of Operation Gladio, the "Counter-Guerrilla", in a 1973 article titled "Şiddetin Kaynağı" ("The Root of the Violence"). The reporter who broke the news was allegedly disappeared before he could publish the details.

A facsimile copy of F.M. 30-31B first appeared a year later in Bangkok, Thailand, and in various capitals of Northern Africa. In 1978, it appeared in various European magazines, including the Spanish Triunfo and El Pais. The January 1979 issue of CIA critic Philip Agee's CovertAction Quarterly produced a copy as well. The Italian press picked up the Triunfo publication, and a copy was published in the October 1978 issue of L'Europeo.

A wide range of Field Manuals including 31-15 can be accessed through web sites that catalog the obsolete US Field Manuals. The supposed supplement B is not among the field manuals published by the military.

The “Westmoreland Field Manual” was mentioned in at least two parliamentary commissions reports of European countries, one about the Italian Propaganda Due masonic lodge, and one about the Belgian stay-behind network. The latter says that “the commission has not any certainty about the authenticity of the document”.

Authenticity
U.S. official sources, including the U.S. House Intelligence Committee, and the U.S. State Department, maintain that it is a forgery. A KGB defector testified before the U.S. Congress that it was a forgery of Soviet origin. The Danish Defense Intelligence Service (DDIS) concluded in 1976 that the forgery was part of a disinformation campaign waged by the KGB.

The discovery in the early 1990s of the Operation Gladio (NATO stay-behind networks) in Europe led to renewed debate as to whether or not the manual was fraudulent. The former deputy director of the CIA, Ray S. Cline, stated he "suspects" it may be genuine although he "never saw it". According to Daniele Ganser, Licio Gelli, the Italian leader of the anti-Communist P2 freemason lodge told the BBC's Allan Francovich, "The CIA gave it to me".