Operation Silverlake pre-dated the United States' involvement in Vietnam and the wider South East Asia conflict, and was a CIA led program that was started during the Korean War. It belongs to the Bourne novels continuity. Silverlake was conceived to infiltrate the regular army with a covert cadre of highly trained and motivated operatives drawn from elite regiments including the 101st Airborne and the Army Rangers. Their objective was to seek and destroy potential communist double agents operating in American uniforms but secretly loyal to the enemy.