 He continued to believe that the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) would hold Saigon and the Mekong Delta area after observing ARVN's tenacious 12 days of fighting in the Battle of Xuan Loc under the command of General Le Minh Dao.His delays in initiating an evacuation cost thousands of lives as the options of travel out of the country dwindled down to the final option – Marine helicopters to Navy ships.In fact, in the NSA history "The Secret Sentry", the author says