WASHINGTON, DC

AN INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING note about Russian casualties in Ukraine that found its way to President Joe Biden’s desk, has caused embarrassment among American officials when it was found to have referred to the Russians as “VC” (Vietcong).

“It’s either a dumb mistake or – and this is where it gets scary – the US intelligence community has just dusted off a decades-old casualty report from the war in South-East Asia and used that,” says Lyndon McNamara of Search And Destroy Magazine, a strategic analysis publication based in Istanbul. “Just be grateful Biden didn’t read it out.”