THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 27 DECEMBER 1967

Document Type: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
0005974192
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
T
Document Page Count: 
10
Document Creation Date: 
September 16, 2015
Document Release Date: 
September 16, 2015
Sequence Number: 
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
December 27, 1967
File: 
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PDF icon DOC_0005974192.pdf578.79 KB
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005700110001-2 The President's Daily Brief Top Secret 27 December 1967 23 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005700110001-2 50X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005700110001-2 DAILY BRIEF 27 DECEMBER 1967 1. Communist China 2. Communist China 3. Cambodia Civil disorder and violence are spreading. In some areas, local con- ditions appear to be as bad as last summer. There are an increasing num- ber of reports that Red Guards are again using machine guns and other military weapons. The army seems to be doing little or nothing to prevent outbreaks, but intervenes only to keep the violence from spreading. The International Control Commis- sion was unimpressed by its investiga- tion of the Viet Cong camp reported by two American correspondents. 50X1 50X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005700110001-2 50X1 50X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005700110001-2 ? . ? LAUNCH COMPLEX J Tyuratam Missile Test Center, USSR 11 December 1967 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005700110001-2 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005700110001-2 4. Soviet Union 5. Yemen 6. Aden Recent satellite photography has given us a glimpse of the model (not for certain an exact model) of the huge space booster which the Soviets are ex- pected to launch in the latter part of 1968. A vehicle about 320 feet tall and 50 feet in diameter--a bit shorter and fatter than Saturn V--was seen on one of the two giant launch pads under construction at Tyuratam. The over-all size of this object, probably an engineering mock-up to check out the pads and their support facili- ties, is quite close to what we had es- timated. The setting up of this check- out vehicle before structural portions of the launch area are completed sug- gests that the Soviets are wasting no time in readying these facilities. 50X1 50X1 50X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005700110001-2 50X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005700110001-2 Top Secret Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005700110001-2 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005700110001-2 Top Secret FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY Special Daily Report on North Vietnam Top Secret 50X1 18 27 December 1967 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005700110001-2 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005700110001-2 Special Daily Report on North Vietnam for the President's Eyes Only 27 December 1967 I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION Giap Fails to Show: Preliminary news accounts of the attendance at the 23 December celebrations in Hanoi indicate that Defense Minister General Vo Nguyen Giap was not present. Army Day is an occasion which 50X1 50X1 50X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005700110001-2 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005700110001-2 General Giap not only normally attends, but on which he speaks, and his absence is unusual. Hanoi has not reported on Giap's activities since he was re- ported returning from the Soviet anniversary cele- brations in mid-November. Hanoi Chary on Contacts Issue: The Vietnamese Communists are still maintaining a cautious silence on President Johnson's press interview comments about possible contacts between the Thieu government and the Liberation Front. On two recent occasions authoritative Hanoi and Front spokesmen have avoided specific comment on this particular subject when the occasion presented itself. Hanoi issued two propaganda attacks this past weekend in which the President's five points were condemned in general terms, and his joint statement with Thieu in Aus- tralia and his pre-Christmas travels were described as tricks and peace frauds. The issue of Thieu-Front contacts was not discussed. The same reluctance to openly discuss the issue of contacts between the Liberation Front and the Thieu government was demon- strated by a Front representative in an interview for a French newspaper. * * * II. .NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL .ATTITUDES ON THE WAR Antiwar Protests Reported by Hanoi: In a 26 De- cember English language broadcast, Hanoi noted with- out comment a number of antiwar activities that took -2- 50X1 50X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005700110001-2 50X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005700110001-2 50x1 place during Christmas week in the US. A "stirring demonstration" near the UN building on 21 December was reported as well as a press conference by Har- yard Professor H. Stuart Hughes on the same date, in which Hughes called for an "immediate end to the bombings of North Vietnam." -3- 50X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005700110001-2 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005700110001-2 .? Top Secret Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005700110001-2