Career
Despite intense conflict amongst the FAR regional commanders, Ouane was pivotal in providing local military support against the North Vietnamese Army and the Pathet Lao in the northern regions of Laos. Ouane was also heavily involved in the trafficking of opium throughout Southeast Asia. Despite widespread conspiracy theories of Central Intelligence Agency complicity in drug trafficking, an investigation by the United States Senate found no evidence of Central Intelligence Agency involvement.
In his memoirs, Shackley unapologetically stated that the Central Intelligence Agency essentially turned a blind eye to the drug trafficking because their resources were already being sapped by the war in Vietnam.
