THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 4 MAY 1970

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1969-1977
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005977436
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2016
• Publication Date: May 4, 1970

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The President's Daily Brief
4 May 1970
46
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF
4 May 1970
PRINCIPAL DEVELOPMENTS
Vietnamese Communists in Cambodia have managed to
avoid a major confrontation with the advancing al-
lies. (Page 1)
Cambodia
(Page 2)
Hanoi.'s propagandists swing into action. (Page, 4)
The. USSR is sending its top leaders to Prague to
sign the new friendship treaty:. ,(Page 5)
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Cambodia-South Vietnam: Current Situation
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98403 5-70 CIA
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
CAMBODIA - SOUTH VIETNAM
Enemy forces continue to avoid major combat
with allied soldiers operating against their Cambo-
dian base areas, but their casualties are mounting.
Contacts in both the "Fishhook" and "Parrot's Beak"
areas have been sporadic and generally light thus
far. Enemy losses of both materiel and personnel
have risen over the weekend, however, largely be-
cause of successful allied air strikes.
The COSVN radio stations that went off the air
abruptly on 1 May--shortly before allied forces moved
across the border--now have resumed communicating.
However, the number of messages being passed is less
than one-quarter of the former daily total. There
is tenuous evidence that some of these radio termi-
nals have begun dispersing throughout the Mimot area.
Despite their lack of heavy resistance to the
allied sweeps to date, some enemy forces have been
deploying within the operational area, according to
communications intelligence, and could be planning
counteractions. Two regiments of the North Vietnam-
ese 7th Division and the division headquarters have
converged on an area along the northeast Tay Ninh
Province - Cambodian border that places them behind
allied units participating in the Mimot operation.
?A third regiment which has been monitoring allied
moves near the border appears to be preparing for
some tactical activity in western Tay Ninh Province,
Within South Vietnam, the Communists are carry-
ing on with their current offensive phase. The night
of 2-3 May was one of the most active periods since
1 April. Most of the action was in the III and IV
Corps areas covering the southern half of the coun-
try. Mortar or rocket fire struck two US air in-
stallations, including Bien Hoa air base. In the
delta, rural outposts manned by local security forces
seemed to have been particularly singled out for
harassment.
1
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
CAMBODIA
In military action this weekend, Vietnamese
Communists apparently have captured the Neak Luong
ferry, thereby cutting Phnom Penh's access to Svay
Rieng Province. The government is launching an
operation to retake the position. Heavy fighting
has also flared again in Takeo town, which has been
under sporadic harassment for several weeks Ac-
cording to an intercepted Cambodian message-, the
Communists occupied the town of Snoul, northeast of
the Fishhook area, on I May.
(continued)
2
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The fresh emergence of the Cambodian left was
also revealed in an anti-US statement of the Prach-
eachon ("People's Group") recently broadcast by Hanoi.
Long considered to be a front of the Cambodian Com-
munist Party, the Pracheachon has been either under-
ground or moribund for almost a decade.
3
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
NORTH VIETNAM
The Vietnamese Communists have begun to denounce
the US action in Cambodia with sharp and sometimes
vitriolic words, but they have given little indica-
tion of what their next move will be. The Communists
accuse Washington of open aggression, escalation of
the war, and violation of the 1954 Geneva accords,
and contend that the US is now committed to seeking
a military victory rather than a political settle-
ment.
Aside from leaving an impression that an
even deeper freeze in Paris is in store,
the rhetoric of the Communists so far sug-
gests that a holding operation is under
way. By issuing these hard hitting but
noncommittal statements, Hanoi is able to
gain time for its decision-makers to re-
flect on the new situation and perhaps
consult with its allies.
Various Radio Hanoi broadcasts charged that
waves of aircraft attacked several populated areas
in two provinces of southern North Vietnam, Inter-
cepted North Vietnamese civil communications listed
nearly 30 civilians killed by air strikes ata state
farm and water conservation project on 1 and 2 May.
A, Foreign Ministry communique issued on 2 May
declared that the air strikes were "intolerable,
?
calculated acts in violation of the US "pledge" in
November 1968 to halt all bombing of the North and
that they "will seriously affect" the Paris talks.
Although threatening no specific retaliatory action,
the statement hinted that Hanoi may no longer con-
sider itself under constraints regarding military
use of the DMZ or attacks on South Vietnamese cities.
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
CZECHOSLOVAKIA-USSR
A high level delegation, including Brezhnev,
Kosygin, and Gromyko, is expected in Prague this
week to sign a new bilateral friendship treaty.
East Germany's Ulbricht and Poland's Gomulka may
also be there for the ceremony.
The treaty might become a model for future
treaties between the USSR and the other
East European countries. Some East Euro-
peans fear that it will include a state-
ment stressing the need for joint Czecho-
slovak-Soviet defense of Czechoslovakia's
western border, which would be a step to-
ward closer military integration within
the Warsaw Pact. No one expects the
treaty to give permanent status to the
Soviet troops now stationed in Czecho-
slovakia.
The treaty and the visit will tend to re,-
inforce Husak's position. It could be
the occasion for- Brezhnevto endorse Husak
more warmly than he yet has.
5
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Laos: Current Situation
'
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NORTH
Government forces briefly
reoccupy outpost%Bovom Long
Long Tieng?
VIENTIANE
VIETNAM
ong (he
Ban
Karol
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ernilitorized Zone
Quang Tri
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Wiliton Sok
VIETNAM
(onto on
CAMBODIA
98402 5-70 CIA
Stung men
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
NOTES
Laps: Maintaining moderate pressureon govern-
ment positions in southern Laos,. Pathet Lao and North
Vietnamese troops overran a small post near the Se
Kong River on I May. Communist forces may also be
closing in on the government position at Ban Sok, a
few miles to the north.
additional enemy troops have moved onto the
Bo ovens Plateau, and three of the government's guer-
rilla outposts on the plateau are threatened. Lao
military officers are also expecting an attack against
Paksong, a village on the main road-from Pakse.
In northern Laos, there have.been some clashes
in the Bouam Long and Long Tieng areas, but no severe
fighting has developed there in the last few days.
Egypt: Foreign Minister Mahmud Riyad summoned
Donald Bergus to his office Saturday evening to state
that Nasir's May Day speech actually was an "appeal
for peace directed at President Nixon." Riyad ex-
plicitly denied that, a threat was intended. He char-
acterized-the speech as a statement of Egyptian pol-
icy and claimed it was not just "propaganda for local
consumption."
6
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Top Secret
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