Fred Branfman

Fred Branfman is an American anti-war activist and author of a number of books about the Indochina War. Working as the Director of Project Air War in 1969 he wrote about the U.S. bombing in Indochina, which he claimed was directed at civilians.

Branfman worked as a policy advisor for former California governor Jerry Brown, Gary Hart and Tom Hayden. Branfman was working as an educational advisor for the U.S. government in Laos, when in September 1969 thousands of refugees fled into the Laotian capital of Vientiane. Working as a translator for international media, he began to interpret thousands of villagers' stories, telling of planes dropping bombs.

Told by U.S. officials in Laos that Americans had nothing to do with the bombs, Branfman became consumed with the desire to understand what was happening. Gathering details, he journeyed to Washington and spoke at a special session of the U.S. Senate Committee on Refugees, exposing the U.S. government's covert activities.

Today Branfman works as a writer, living in Santa Barbara. His articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Harper's, Playboy, Salon and the New Republic. He contributes to the Glendon Association and works with Robert W. Firestone He also contributed to the traveling exhibition Legacies of War, that was created to raise awareness about the history of the Vietnam War-era bombing in Laos. In the acclaimed 2007 TV documentary now released on DVD, Most Secret Place On Earth: CIA's Covert War In Laos Branfman is one of those who speak to camera.

Books

 * The Third Indochina War, Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation, ISBN 0-85124-048-8, ISBN 978-0-85124-048-0
 * The Old Man: A Biographical Account of a Lao Villager.
 * Voices from The Plain of Jars, Life Under an Air War, Harper & Row 1972.
 * Life under the bombs, Project Air War, Harper & Row, 1972, ISBN 0-06-090300-7, ISBN 978-0-06-090300-8
 * The Village of the Deep Pond, Ban Xa Phang Meuk, Laos, International Area Studies Programs, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 1978, ASIN: B0000E92G5