Committee for the Defence of National Interests

The Committee for the Defence of National Interests (original name in French: Comite pour la Defense des Interets Nationaux; abbreviated CDNI or CDIN) was an anti-communist right-wing political party founded in the Kingdom of Laos on 17 June 1958. Dismayed by the election of Lao communists to the National Assembly in the May 1958 elections, younger politicians and military officers founded CDNI as an alternative to older Lao politicians and senior officers then in power. The CDNI pronounced itself as a force for anti-corruption efforts in the Royal Lao Government. It was backed by the United States embassy; American support was manifested in political advice and civic actions such as Operation Booster Shot. In the 24 April 1960 elections, which were obviously rigged, the CDNI won 32 of 59 seats. The Pathet Lao leadership had been detained during the election; on 23 May 1960, they escaped to join their insurrection in the mountains. This ended the governing coalition, and fighting began in the Laotian Civil War.

During the First Indochina War, on 23 December 1950, the United States began aid to the French war effort in the French Protectorate of Laos. The 1954 Geneva Conference ended the war and established a free Kingdom of Laos. The United States continued to support the Royal Lao Government and the Royal Lao Army. It established both an aid program and a military mission within the U.S. Embassy during 1955. It also supplied political expertise to Lao right-wing politicians through such actions as Operation Booster Shot. The U.S. objective was prevention of a communist takeover of a coalition government.

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