THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 10 DECEMBER 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005976505
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: December 10, 1968

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006600180001-5
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The President's Daily Brief
10 December 1968
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-THE PRESIDENT'S
DAILY 'BRIEF
10 DECEMBER 1968
1. SovietTJnion.- The Sovief.Centrar.Committee met
.Czechoslovakia yesterday. and attended to the. routine
business of passing on the draft.eco-
nomic plan and budget.for 1969, These
drafts will be given final approval at
the session of the Supreme Soviet'which
opened this .morning.. The Central Com-
mittee also heard a speech by.Brezhnev
which presumably included some comments
on foreign affairs,:althoughYFASS did
not give any specifics. -
2. South Vietnam
The Czechoslovak leaders, fresh
from their weekend meeting with theSo-
viets in Kiev and faced with meetings
of their own central committee and leg-
islature in the next week or so, doubt-
less are.anxiously:testing the tempera-
ture of the breezes from Moscow,
Some portents of a possible Commu-
nist offensive are appearing in III
Corps. Elements of two enemy divisions
are moving from the Cambodian border in
.the general direction of Saigon. A
third division is going into Tay. Ninh
Province.
Communist message traffic is heavy
and the bulk of the.North.Vietnamese
now in the infiltration pipeline appear
to be headed for III Corps. .Prisoners-
also report plans to attark
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3. Cambodia
4. Philippines-
Malaysia
5. Japan-Okinawa
The Cambodian Army is making a
special effort to intercept allied
ground reconnaissance teams operating
in Cambodia. -Local commanders in
-Kratie:Province were instructed on
5 December-to-set.up eight "ambush"-po-
sitions. In this intercepted message,
the commanders were told allied "spies"
had been landedby helicopter and ob-
served by the Cambodians.
Marcos will not make any more
moves in the Sabah dispute until after
the Malaysian elections next spring,
We have had other indications
that:Marcos plans to keep the lid on
the issue. He is doing so partly: to
win points with the new US administra-
-tion, but we suspect he is also having
trouble thinking of new moves to make.
As the Japanese legislature con-
venes in extraordinary session today,
the opposition's .campaign against us
bases in Japan is coming into focus.
The Komeito Party, an up-and-coMing mod-
erate opposition group, has just pub-
lished the first part of a lengthy, study
which demands that the number of bases .
be reduced. The study has already been
commented on favorably by the Japanese
press.
Sato is feeling the pressure from
Okinawa as well. Chobo Yara, the newly
elected Okinawan chief executive,
last week warned US au-
thorities to expect further agitation and
extralegal measures from Okinawan left-
ists who oppose the stationing of B-52s
on the island.
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6. Rumania -
East Germany
All the states in Eastern Europe
still want to get along with each
other, notwithstanding the differences
which crystallized after the invasion
of Czechoslovakia. In a classic ex-
ample of this instinct, the Rumanian
foreign minister turned up yesterday
in East Germany on a fence-mending of-
ficial visit.
7. France- There was no follow-through to the
Soviet Union strike last week at Renault, partly be-
cause the Communist labor federation
which called the walkout suddenly became
less militant. Parisians are speculat-
ing that the federation got word fom
Moscow to cool it.
8. Soviet Union -
Nigeria
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Although we have nothing to sub-
stantiate this rumor, it does not strike.
us as improbable. The Soviets value the
detente they have achieved with De Gaulle.
They have left the impression more than
once that they would go to some lengths
to avoid making trouble either for him or
for the franc. -Moreover, they have often
showed concern that politically motivated
labor agitation could get out of hand, as
it did in France last May.
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Top Secret
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Top Secret
FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
.) Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
2.) North Vietnamese Reflections of US
Political Attitudes
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1_6
10 December 1968
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OUAI
Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
10 December-1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
Local Government Reorganization: As part of its
effort to restore the economy and return local con-
trols to civilian authorities, Hanoi is currently
pushing plans to revitalize its local government
structure. Recent public speeches by high party
leaders have implied that local authorities were
pretty thoroughly neutralized during the years of the
bombings as party and military officials took over at
all administrative levels to enforce wartime measures
and ensure the uninterrupted movement of men and sup-
plies to the South.
* * *
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II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF:US-POLITICAL
-ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
day.
There is nothing of significance to report to-
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Top Secret
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