A less cheery outlook was coming from the State Department’s bureau of intelligence and research (INR). Their report noted that one result of the enemy offensive was that communist main-force units had “returned in strength to base areas deep inside South Vietnam” and had “significantly expanded” their influence in rural areas.25 The INR estimated that the percentage of the rural population under Saigon’s firm control had dropped from 74.4% to 58.9% during the previous six months,
