THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 20 MAY 1972

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1969-1977
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005993309
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2016
• Publication Date: May 20, 1972

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/06/14 : CIA-RDP79T00936A01070-0180001-9
The President's Daily Brief
20 May 1972
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/06/14 : CIA-RDP79T00936A010700180001-9
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/06/14 : CIA-RDP79T00936A010700180001-9
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF
20 May 1972
PRINCIPAL DEVELOPMENTS
The circumstances of yesterday's party central com-
mittee meeting in Moscow suggest that Brezhnev may
feel the need to protect his domestic position.
(Page 1)
Despite completion of parliamentary action in Bonn
on the Eastern treaties, final ratification may
still be delayed, while a shift in Moscow's position
on transmitting the all-Bundestag resolution spells
more trouble for both Brandt and Barzel. (Page 3)
In Vietnam, the An Loc relief column reports en-
countering a heavy ground attack this morning.
(Page 4)
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SOVIET UNION
The party central committee, meeting in a one-
day session yesterday, approved a report by Brezhnev
on the international situation, which almost cer-
tainly included an outline of the leadership's plans
for its meeting with President Nixon. The circum-
stances surrounding the plenum, particularly the
timing so close to the summit, suggest that Brezhnev
may feel the need to protect his domestic position.
According to TASS, the session in addition to
discussing Brezhnev's speech also heard a report by
party secretary Kapitonov on the exchange of party
documents.
Brezhnev had proposed an exchange of party
membership cards--which provides an oppor-
tunity to review and perhaps weed out party
members--in his report to the 24th Congress
in March 1971. However, neither Brezhnev
nor his closest allies have referred to
the subject since then, and Politburo mem-
ber Shelest (who has opposed Brezhnev on
detente policy among other matters) has
wondered aloud why the exchange was not
yet under way. It is thus possible that
Kapitonov's report on this topic was added
to the agenda to quiet Brezhnev's opponents
on domestic issues.
The plenum also named Boris Ponomarev an alter-
nate member of the Politburo. He is a long-time
party secretary and chief of the central committee's
international department that handles relations with
countries and parties outside the "bloc." He is
probably a protege of senior party ideologist and
foreign affairs expert Suslov. Ponomarev was re-
ported to have opposed the 1968 Czech invasion, be-
cause of the opposition he knew it would arouse
among international parties. His boss, Suslov,
helped provide the ideological justification for the
new, opening to West Germany in early 1969.
Ponomarev's promotion would thus seem to
bolster the commitment to detente policies
a bit, but not to add to Brezhnev's per-
sonal strength.
The central committee is usually convened
either well in advance of an important event or
after it has taken place, to put its seal of ap-
proval on the Soviet position. The general line on
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
summitry was, in fact, laid down at the last plenum
held in November 1971. It is therefore highly un-
usual for the central committee to be convened at
this time on the very eve of the President's arrival.
These pieces of evidence, .plus the seem-
ingly counterproductive way in which the
Soviet ambassador to Bonn handled the East-
ern treaties yesterday (see the next item),
do not add up to clear proof of important
difficulties within the Soviet leadership.
Against the background of the strains
arising from the situation in Vietnam,
the summit, and the cliff-hanger in Bonn,
however, they suggest to us that such is
the case. If so, the problems of pre-
serving unity may affect the leadership 's
maneuverability at the summit.
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WEST GERMANY
Parliamentary consideration of the Eastern
treaties is now complete, but final ratification
may still be delayed. A legal challenge was lodged
yesterday by a conservative politician, who asked
West Germany's constitutional court to issue an in-
junction against the promulgation of the treaties.
Although the court is likely to reject a request
made by an individual, the Bavarian state government,
dominated by anti-treaty Christian Socialists, is
considering a similar action. The court's willing-
ness to hear a challenge would delay the entry into
force of the treaties by at least several weeks.
Another difficulty arises from a last-minute
change in Moscow's position on transmitting the all-
Bundestag resolution that was the opposition's price
for not opposing the treaties. The Soviets provided
only oral acknowledgment of the resolution, rather
than a written aide memoire as previously agreed.
They attribute this switch to the CDU failure to
vote for the treaties.
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VIETNAM
The government relief column edging toward An
Loc reported itself under heavy ground attack this
morning. Preliminary reports indicate that seven
enemy tanks have been knocked out. Yesterday a So-
viet ZSU-57-2 tank with twin 57-mm. gun mounts was
captured in the besieged town--the first time this
weapon has been seen in South Vietnam.
In other parts of the country, scattered shell-
ings and ground attacks continue. The Communists
have been especially aggressive around Kontum City. ,
Yesterday the government abandoned Fire Support Base
November just to the north and moved its defenders
into the provincial capital. Government troops con-
tinue to expand their defenses around Hue. An as-
sault against enemy positions northwest of Fire
Support Base Birmingham caught over 400 enemy troops
in the open, and heavy artillery strikes were called
in on them.
The Communists are still moving substantial
amounts of supplies and equipment south along Cam-
bodian roads near South Vietnam.
heavy truck traffic in the northeast along recently
widened Route 975, linking south Laos with the Stung
Treng area of Cambodia--the jump-off point for Com-
munist supplies destined for the southern half of
South Vietnam. South of Stung Treng,
heavy Communist use of Route 13, particularly
between Kratie City and Snuol, just north of South
Vietnam's Binh Long Province. Numerous enemy tanks
were observed parked along the roadway on 18 May.
Hanoi continues to show anxiety that the Vietnam
peace talks might be broadened. Yesterday a Radio
Hanoi broadcast reiterated criticism of proposals to
give the United Nations a direct role in the negotia-
tions and scored the British for calling for a new
Geneva Conference. Labeling the idea of "interna-
tionalizing" the Vietnam problem "a sinister scheme
of US imperialism," the broadcast insisted that the
matter must be settled between the US and Vietnam
at the Paris conference.
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NOTE
China:
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Top Secret
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