THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 6 SEPTEMBER 1969

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1969-1977
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005976973
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2016
• Publication Date: September 6, 1969

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A007500060001-8
'01
The President's Daily Brief
6 September 1969
19
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A007500060001-8
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A007500060001-8
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
SOVIET UNION - COMMUNIST CHINA
volunteered to a 50X1
US Embassy official on Thursday that the Russians intend to use
"new weapons" against China if there is a further outbreak of
border fighting. He made the assertion in a context which did
not exclude the use of tactical nuclear weapons.
The
, sought to make it clear that he
50X1
was revealing the thinking of "higher levels" in Moscow. He
has given the embassy accurate information in the past in con-
nection with the Sino-Soviet issue. On this occasion he said
that if the Chinese persist, as Moscow thinks they will, in
provoking armed clashes along the border, the Soviets will use
"new weapons" to demonstrate that they do not intend to be "bled
white."
These are not entirely new notes. The letter which Mos-
cow sent Communist Party also had 50m.
said that Moscow was determined not to be bled white by the
Chinese. As for weapons, a Soviet diplomat had claimed last
spring that the Soviets had shown the Chinese a "new weapon or
two" during the second clash on the Ussuri River. He denied,
at the same time, that he meant nuclear weapons and his refer-
ence then may have been to improved conventional munitions such
as controlled fragmentation artillery rounds.
In this most recent episode, however,
passed 50X1
up the chance given him to rule out the use of nuclear weapons
against the Chinese. He claimed that Moscow would let the Chi-
nese "know" before using "new weapons"--therby implying a
1
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A007500060001-8
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A007500060001-8
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
nuclear threat. At the same time he disavowed press reports
that Moscow was planning a pre-emptive strike against China,
ascribing these to a US attempt to disturb further relations
between Moscow and Peking.
Despite the ambiguities of
meaning he came
as close as any Soviet source has yet come to saying that Mos-
cow is ready to escalate its military response to Chinese bor-
der provocations.
Chou En-Lai has already left Hanoi for Peking, and
Kosygin is not scheduled to arrive in the North Vietnamese cap-
ital until today. Wittingly or not, the two thus have managed
to avoid the embarrassment of a graveside meeting.
CZECHOSLOVAKIA - SOVIET UNION
The Czechoslovak party plenum scheduled to open on Thurs-
day was postponed at the last minute, apparently as a result of
disagreements between Husak and the party's conservatives. Mean-
while,
Prime Minister Cernik,
one of the main targets of the conservatives, may survive the
upcoming purges.
Cernik has a reputation for turning up on the winning side
in intramural Communist struggles. On 27 August, in what was
2
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
50X1
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A007500060001-8
50X1
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A007500060001-8
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
50X1
widely regarded in Prague as an effort to save his own skin,
he made a sharp public castigation of Dubcek4
BRAZIL
There is mounting opposition in the Brazilian military
to the government's decision to release 15 political prisoners
in exchange for Ambassador Elbrick. A meeting of high-ranking
officers and members of the ruling junta has been set for to-
day to reconsider the question of the prisoners' release.
VIETNAM
Enemy military activity during the night of 4-5 Septem-
ber was typical of the "highpoint" tactics the Communists have
used since early spring. Although 86 shellings were reported,
3
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A007500060001-8
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A007500060001-8
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
mostly against military targets in III and IV corps, along
with a few ground attacks northwest of Saigon, allied casual-
ties and damage were light. /
MIDDLE EAST
4
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A007500060001-8
50X1
50X1
50X1
50X1
50X1
50X1
50X1
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A007500060001-8
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
5
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A007500060001-8
50X1
50X1
? ?
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A007500060001-8
Top Secret
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A007500060001-8