LONG TIENG, LAOS – We met in the Laotian capital of Vientiane, not far from the spot on the Mekong River where the Xiong family fled to Thailand one night in May 1975. At the time of their escape, it seemed unlikely that they would ever again see their old home of Long Tieng far away in the highlands. But one morning in November 2023, a Hmong driver came to pick us up and set out on a journey from the capital to the former CIA-run airbase. Long Tieng was so secret when the Xiongs lived there