Originally posted by cinemabon
Does it mention "The Pentagon Papers" by Daniel Ellsberg?
McNamera does talk about the incident you're referring to. Evidently a U.S. submarine's radar detected something that they thought was a missile fired by the North Vietnamese. This story was played up by the Johnson Administration and eventually was used to justify the escalation in the American offensive. In the documentary, McNamera points out that it was later determined (presumably in "The Pentagon Papers", though he doesn't say it by name) that it was very unlikely there was a missile or even a North Vietnamese ship in that area.