Dr. Morris also points out that both of these individuals are well-schooled in the "art" of disinformation and deception, and they held positions that are relatively high and important within the ruling Soviet infrastructure.  I feel it necessary to point out that they don't appear to be individuals likely to blindly allow false information to disseminate within their departments or nest within their archives.

I cannot professionally confirm the authenticity of the "Quang 1205" document because I am not an expert in verifying the credibility of such documents.  Like those within the U.S. Government, I can only rely upon my common sense and the reliability, credibility and judgment of those who are the experts in this field...and it appears that quite a few 'experts' and those-in-the-know have given the "Quang 1205" document a genuine thumb's up.

According to Congressional Records labeled S16404 through S16419:

• Dr. Rudolf Germanovich Pikhoya (Chief State Archivist of the Russian Federation) stated "I am absolutely certain that the numbers--that is the numbers of POWs cited by General Quang are true.  I believe the data still exists in Vietnam which deals specifically with U.S. POWs...I am absolutely positive that the 1,205 figure is absolutely true and correct as far as intelligence data is concerned.  As an archivist and someone who has analyzed a great many documents, military and otherwise, I can tell you this is an absolute truth."
• General Dmitri Volkogonov stated: "I have studied exhaustively the mechanism used to gather this document, and I can state that I do not know of any case where such information could have been fabricated."
• Captain 1st Rank Alexander Sivets (Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff) stated "I will reaffirm that the 1205 document could not have been used for propaganda purposes.  It was a top secret document not intended for anyone outside the chambers of the Vietnamese Communist Party to see.  The document that was sent to the Central Party Committee is, in fact, an original document and not a fake.  We consider that the Vietnamese leaders, in their desire to exploit the POW problem for their own interests, would officially cite a lower figure than the real one.  This is something that we do not doubt.  We believe there were more POWs then Vietnam was officially admitting to."
• Colonel General Ladygin (Chief, Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff Ministries of Defense) stated his belief that "General Tran Van Quang, according to the position he held in the Vietnamese military political leadership in 1982 would have been fully competent in the matters stated in the report and qualified to speak about them at Politburo sessions of the Vietnamese Communist Party Central Committee.
• In speaking of normalizing relations with North Vietnam, Dr. Henry Kissinger stated "If that document is authentic, and it is hard to imagine who would have forged it, for what purpose, then I think an enormous crime has been committed, and then we should--I do not see how we can proceed in normalizing relations until it is fully cleared up."
• During an interview on the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, Former National Security Adviser (NSA) Zbigniew Brzezinski was asked "What convinces you this document is real?"  Brzezinski replied "Its style, its content, the cover note to the Soviet Politburo.  One would have to assume a really, very complex Byzantine conspiracy to reach the conclusion that this is not an authentic Soviet document based on a Vietnamese document."  "As far as Vietnam is concerned, I think if this document is sustained, and it looks unfortunately to be sustainable, we have the right to ask the present Vietnamese government to place those responsible in war crimes trials."

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