THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 20 JANUARY 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005974234
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: January 20, 1968

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The President's Daily Brief
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t 20 January 1968
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69357 1-68 CIA
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DAILY BRIEF
20 JANUARY 1968
1. South Vietnam
2. Guatemala
3. Bolivia - Cuba
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The attack on Pleiku airbase yes-
terday is one of many signs pointing
toward an early enemy offensive in the
western highlands. /
The Communists consider Kontum
and Pleiku as a single command, the
"B-3 Front." ? There are two major
troop concentrations involving at
least five North Vietnamese infantry
regiments plus extensive combat support
units.
* * *
There have been several bomb in-
cidents in Danang this week and leaf-
lets have been scattered about town
warning the population to stay away
from Americans. US officials in Danang
have taken precautions.
Security forces are said to have
made several hundred arrests in Guate-
mala City in an effort to find the
Communist terrorists. The capital has
been relatively quiet for the past two
days. In spite of strong security pre-
cautions the city remains tense, and
Communist or right-wing extremists
could carry out further assassinations 50X1
at any time.
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. Soviet Union
5. Italy
6. Denmark
Ambassador Thompson understands
that Kosygin's trip to India will not
come off next week on schedule. A
meeting of the Soviet Central Committee
which is supposed to begin next Thurs-
day to take up economic problems is
probably the reason for delay.
For the first time in some fif-
teen years, the non-Socialist parties
see a good chance of toppling Prime
Minister Krag's Social Democrats in
special elections on Tuesday. Denmark's
economic problems have dominated the
election campaign; foreign policy and
defense issues have remained in the
background.
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Top Secret
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a?./
FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
Top Secret
Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
Top Secret 50X1
is
?O.January 1968
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
20 January 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
North Vietnam on San Antonio Formula: Hanoi
has not commented specifically on President
Johnson's State of the Union address, but on
18 January it broadcast a recent article again re-
jecting the President's San Antonio formula as an
unacceptable method of getting talks started.
The article is from the 15 January issue of the
Vietnam Courier, a magazine Hanoi puts out in
English and French for international consumption.
It offered an unusually detailed critique of the
US position. It said the San Antonio speech was
unacceptable because it called only for a "condi-
tional cessation" of the bombing. The article
claimed there had been no evolution in the US posi-
tion on negotiations since the President's Baltimore
speech in April 1965, The San Antonio formulation,
it said, specified three prerequisites for the US
to end the air and naval bombardment, and claimed
that this was a challenge to common sense. The US,
it said, does not have a right "to set conditions"
for the cessation of the bombing.
The article also repeated the recent "will
talk" statement of Foreign Minister Trinh and said
that this answered the question of what Hanoi would
do if the bombing stopped.
Mai Van Bo's 16 January elaboration of Trinh's
"will talk" bit is still being stressed by Hanoi.
The Los Angeles Times correspondent in Hong Kong
and Rarrison Salisbury both were referred to the
Bo statement by Hanoi in response to their queries
about clarification of Trinh's formula.
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* * *
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* * *
-Red Cross Visit Turned Down: Hanoi has in-
formeU-TET-TRTTYETMEWT-Ra?C7-6-ss that it will
not be able to accept the visit of Andre Durand,
the IRC's delegate in Phnom Penh. Durand has been
trying to get to Hanoi for some time in an attempt
to secure Geneva Convention coverage for US pris-
oners in North Vietnam. The North Vietnamese used
their standard excuse for rejecting the visit--
"intensification of the war,"
II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
Nothing of significance to report.
-4-
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Top Secret
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