THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 15 JANUARY 1972

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1969-1977
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005993083
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 17
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2016
• Publication Date: January 15, 1972

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/06/14 : CIA-RDP79T00936A010300130001-8
The President's Daily Brief
4
15 January 1972
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/06/14 : CIA-RDP79T00936A010300130001-8
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/06/14: CIA-RDP79T00936A010300130001-8
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF
15 January 1972
PRINCIPAL DEVELOPMENTS
Government forces in Laos still hope to reverse
some of the Communist gains in the immediate Long
Tieng area, but Prime Minister Souvanna has now
authorized evacuation of the base, if necessary.
(Page 1)
Chinese
Pakistan. (Page 2)
The British remain pessimistic about the outcome
of renewed negotiations with Malta. (Page 3)
(Page 4)
Ghana's new rulers show little talent so far for
running the country. (Page 5)
(Page 6)
Annex
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LONG TIENG AREA
0 Governent-held location
....e 7
?Communist-held location
A Higpoint
0 \ 5
___,Allies
f- \
an Na
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Phou Se DES
/
Vuong Pot :4111RES
poou
10
L.
Cjha Tam Bleung
r
am Thong
Planned
ernment a
9/004.
ong Tieng
New um deployed
Planned government_
\ . sweep
ha Khoo
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Phone
Sal
52
Trail
/
552428 1-72 CIA
CONFIDENTIAL
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LAOS
Government forces are making an effort to re-
take Skyline Ridge overlooking Long Tieng. Four
irregular battalions are being withdrawn from iso-
lated positions in the Phou Long Mat - Tha Tam
Bleung area and moved to the western end of the
ridge, the only portion now in government hands.
Together with irregular units already in Long Tieng,
?they plan to attack the North Vietnamese units now
digging in on the east end. Late yesterday, govern-
ment troops succeeded, despite heavy resistance, in
reoccupying at least one position on the ridge.
The outcome of this effort will depend in
large measure on the government's ability
to move swiftly and on an early end of
bad weather, which has been hampering
close air support. The government's posi-
tion in Long Tieng will quickly become
untenable, however, if the North Vietnam-
ese can strengthen their hold on the ridge.
The Communists have already placed heavy
machine guns and a field gun of unknown
size on the ridge.
The government-is trying to pull some of its
units closer to Long Tieng either to help defend
the base or to screen a withdrawal to the southwest.
Units from the Phou Pha Sai area have moved to Pha
Dong and are to begin a sweep operation toward new
positions seven miles southeast of Long Tieng. In
addition,, battalions arrived in Long Tieng
on 13 January and are moving into positions south-
east of the valley.
1
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COMMUNIST CHINA - PAKISTAN
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MALTA-UK
The British have agreed to have Lord Carring-
ton resume negotiations with Mintoff in Rome today.
Before leaving Brussels, however, Carrington told
a US official that he was not at all optimistic
about the outcome. He added that, if the negotia-
tions fail, Britain will want to go ahead with com-
plete withdrawal from the island. In a similar
comment, a cabinet minister told US officials in
London on 13 January that Britain will not stay in
Malta unless Mintoff does a "total turn around,"
implying that London will not put up with any more
temporary settlements. The minister said that the
fundamental issue is Mintoff's unreliability and
the unlikelihood that any durable accord can be
reached with him.
Despite this assessment, the British are
willing to go along with the wishes of
their NATO allies to increase NATO's
offer to more than $31 million annually
when Valletta resumes talks with the UK
The British hope that this approach will
clearly establish that failure of the
negotiations is due to Mintoff's intract-
ability and not to any British machina-
tions.
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
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POLAND - USSR - WEST GERMANY
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Bolgatanga?
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
GHANA
Lieutenant Colonel ACheampong has moved to
consolidate his power by placing his supporters in
the key military posts. Hellas not,, however,
steps to fill the membership of his National Re-
demption Council, which is to include representa-
tives from all important interest groups. Acheam-
pong has announced that the unpopular austerity
measures of the ousted Busia regime will be either
rescinded or reviewed; but he has as yet formulated
no programs of his own*,
/t seems obvious that the coup against
Busia involved little planning for the
future, and that Acheampong has little
notion of what to do with the power he
now holds. The obscure and uninspiring
middle-level officers named to the Na-
tional Redemption Council's executive
appear to be:united onlyby a..common.dis-
satisfaction with past promotions and
with civilian interference with military
perquisites. All share a woeful lack of
governmental experience. Most of them,
however, appear to-be.admirers of the
US.
Former Prime Minister Busia left London for
Ivory Coast. He has issued a statement urging
Ghanaians to remove the "disgrace" in Accra
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NOTE
Indochina: Recent aerial photography and
pilot sightings indicate that one and possibly two
operational surface-to-air missile sites are lo-
cated in the vicinity of Muong Nong, Laos. Pre-
vious SAM sites were restricted to areas close to
the North Vietnam border and to Tchepone at the
time of Lam Son 719 last spring. The establish-
ment of a SAM site this far south confirms that
the North Vietnamese will continue to challenge US
aircraft over the logistics corridor. The Commu-
nists have also established several SAM sites close
to the DMZ that can fire on US aircraft flying over
northern South Vietnam,
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
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Al
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Top Secret
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