Rufus Colfax Phillips III (August 10, 1929 – December 29, 2021^[1]) was an American writer, businessman, politician, and Central Intelligence Agency employee.^[2]

Phillips was born in Middletown, Ohio and was raised in rural Charlotte County, Virginia.^[3] He attendee Woodberry Forest School and then Yale College from 1947 to 1951. He was a Central Intelligence Agency officer in Saigon in the 1950s.^[4]

In 1954, Phillips joined the United States Army and became an officer. He served as a military advisor to the South Vietnam government. Phillips was a protégé of General Edward Lansdale and participated in the 1962 RAND Counterinsurgency Symposium alongside other counterinsurgency experts such as David Galula and Frank Kitson.^[5] In Vietnam, Phillips was one of the architects of the Chieu Hoi program to persuade Vietcong fighters to defect. Phillips then lived in Fairfax County, Virginia and was president of the Inter-Continental Consultants, Inc. He served on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and was a Democrat. He ran for the United States House of Representatives in 1974, and lost the primary election.^[6][7][8]

Phillips is the author of Why Vietnam Matters: An Eyewitness Account of Lessons Not Learned.^[9] He is a regular guest on The John Batchelor Show and discusses topics on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.^{[citation needed]}

• Why Vietnam Matters: An Eyewitness Account of Lessons Not Learned Naval Institute Press, 2017. ISBN 9781682473108, OCLC 992225373