THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 20 DECEMBER 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005976523
• 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 20, 1968

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006600270001-5
The President's Daily Brief
20 December 1968
23
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?THE PRESIDENT'S
DAILY BRIEF
20 DECEMBER 1968
1. Vietnam
2. Egypt
3. Laos
Intercepted messages have revealed
that the North Vietnamese are deploying
up to company-size units back into the
Demilitarized Zone. So far, enemy
troops in the Zone have engaged mainly
in patrol and reconnaissance activities,
but the possibility, exists that Hanoi
is planning new offensive operations in-
to areas immediately south of the Zone.
As they did in 1968, Egyptian offi-
cials are again scurrying around trying
to find for next year the two million
tons of wheat the country needs to im-
port annually. The French have con-
tracted to supply about half a million
tons of wheat flour by September of 1969.
We believe the Soviets, who reluctantly
supplied Nasir with over half his wheat
imports in 1967, have again warned the
Egyptians that they must look elsewhere
next year for the great bulk of their
wheat imports.
The government appears to have won,
at least temporarily, the battle of Ban
Thateng. Latest reports indicate the
North Vietnamese, after suffering at
least 300 killed, have withdrawn from
the area. Laotian troops have reoccu-
pied most of the town, meeting only
occasional sniper fire. The victory
will be a big morale booster for Sou-
vanna's government and his troops. It
should stiffen their resolve to hold
other outposts likely to come under at-
tack in the near future.
In the north, government forces
have retaken Phou Pha Thi9 the radar
site overrun last March.
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4. Soviet Union
on 12 December during an.
antiballistic missile firing from the
test site (previously
noted in the Brief for 12 December)
suggests that the operation probably
'was conneeted with modificatiOn of the
Galosh antiballistic. missile. This is
the system currently being installed
around Moscow.
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5. Soviet Union -
Common Market
6. Peru
. The Soviets are showing increasing
interest in the European Common Market
after years when they,first 'ignored and
then attacked it. For the Second time
in recent weeks, a Soviet diplomat has ?
called on a Common Market official in
Brussels and. expressed Concern that So-
viet-trade with the member countries
would suffer as a result ot Common Mar-
ket commercial policies. We believe
the Soviets, who have long opposed an-in-
crease in trade between Eastern_Euro-
pean-states and the Market, may hope -
to use these contacts in Brussels:to
keep-tabs on dealings involving East
Europe. ? - ? ?
A government-sponsored mass demon-
stration protesting US action is slated
for Lima tonight. The rally is designed
to show popular support for Velasco in
his current dispute with the US over
compensation for Peru's expropriation
of holdings of the International Petro-
leum Company. The US Embassy is only a
short distance from the site of the dem-
onstration and Peruvians, whipped into
nationalistic frenzy by recent govern-
ment propaganda and speakers at the
rally, may prove to be more than the se-
curity forces can handle.
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7. Guinea
8. West Germany -
Berlin
An army coup, similar to the one
recently pulled off in Mali, may ?be in
the works against Sdkou Tourd. Tourd,
obviously nervous over this possibility,
recently called a mass meeting of troops
in the Conakry area and promised he
would make them "full participants" in
his socialist revolution, whatever that
means.
If coup plotting is under ?way, we
believe it involves the older French-
trained officers, who are appalled at
the chaotic state of the economy and
fearful that Toure means to dilute the
army's military mission by assigning
troops to civic action and economic de-
velopment programs.
Bonn finally announced on 18 Decem-
ber that the West German presidential
election will be held in Berlin in
March. The consequent Soviet warnings
have thus far been in low key. Even
Pankow has confined its reaction to a
veiled threat that East Germany might
retaliate by tightening up travel re-
strictions.
Indicative of a generally relaxed
Communist posture was Berlin Mayor
Scheutz's unhampered auto trip from
West Germany to Berlin on 19 December.
Scheutz was turned back when he tried
to make the same trip in April 1968,
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Top Secret
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Top Secret
FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
1.) Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
2.) North Vietnamese Reflections of U S
Political Attitudes
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-16
20 December 1968
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OW\ I
Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
20 December 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
US Prisoners in the North:
Hanoi plans to use
US prisoners held in North Vietnam to obtain what
it wants on other matters.
Hanoi would permit rela-
tives of the captives to visit them in North Viet-
nam if the Paris talks result in a "lessening of
hostilities."
North Vietnam holds more
than 500 US prisoners, including some captured in
South Vietnam. Many wounded prisoners have died,
but they have been buried with proper
identification markers and their remains will be
sent home when the war is ended.
While details of the information may
be questionable, the North Vietnamese are quite pre-
pared to use US prisoners to make a political point
or two. It seems reasonable to expect further man-
euvers by Hanoi or the Liberation Front involving US
captives, including hints that relatives would be
permitted to enter North Vietnam or that additional
prisoners would be released.
* * *
Repair of Bomb Damage in Hanoi: By 22 November
most of the damaged transportation facilities in the
Hanoi area had been repaired
Repair and reconstruction work
on roads, rail lines, bridges, and canals began in
earnest in the late spring and early summer of this
year, presumably when the North Vietnamese became
convinced that the partial US bombing halt would be
prolonged. Restoration efforts were concentrated
on key bridges linking Hanoi with Haiphong and areas
to the south.
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major damage to rail
yards south of the capital in Gia Lam and Hai
Duong had not been repaired. However, truck trans-
port was used extensively in these areas. Rail
yards and roads in the capital itself had never
been seriously damaged.
destroyed or
damaged buildings within Hanoi have been cleaned
up to avoid the danger of collapse or falling
debris, but most bombed-out areas remained vacant,
* * *
II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
There is nothing of significance to report.
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Top Secret
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