THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 1 AUGUST 1972

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1969-1977
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005993441
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2016
• Publication Date: August 1, 1972

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The President's Daily Brief
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1 August 1972
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Exempt from general
declassification schedule of Ea 11652
exemption category 5B(I ),(2),(3)
declassified only on approval of
the Director of Central Intelligence
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF
1 August 1972
PRINCIPAL DEVELOPMENTS
In Vietnam, heavy fighting continues on the northern
battlefronts. South Vietnamese Marines are battling
enemy units inside Quang Tri City and to the north
and east. (Page 1)
The South Vietnamese are preparing contingency plans
for a cease-fire. (Page 2)
The publication of a joint editorial by China's
three leading journals, the first of its kind in
many months, suggests that at least some progress
has been made toward resolving problems connected
with the purge of Lin Piao. (Page 3)
The Soviets
Eastern Europe. (Page 4)
Warsaw Pact leaders met yesterday in what appears
to have been a hastily arranged session to discuss
Middle East developments. (Page 5)
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
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r
Demarcation Line
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FSB Nancy m
My Chanh River defense line
SOUTH VIETNAM
ang
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Quiang Ngai
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50 Kilometers
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VIETNAM
Heavy fighting continues on the northern battle-
fronts. South Vietnamese Marines are battling enemy
units inside Quang Tri City and to the north and
east. To the south, at least two regiments of the
North Vietnamese 304th Division are attacking air-
borne positions west of Route 1 and are shelling
other government positions in the area. The Commu-
nists presumably hope to cut Route 1 near Fire Sup-
port Base Nancy.
Farther south in Thua Thien Province, units of
North Vietnam's 324B Division are attempting to push
past South Vietnamese 1st Division forces southwest
of Hue. The enemy may be trying to get into the
lowlands in preparation for a major assault against
Hue sometime soon.
Several pitched battles are under way in north-
ern Binh Dinh Province, where strong resistance to
the government's counteroffensive has developed.
Both sides are sustaining heavy casualties in a
see-saw contest.
In the southern half of the country, enemy ac-
tivity has been at a low level, with most action
in Tay Ninh Province. Early this morning, however,
Bien Hoa air base northeast of Saigon was hit with
60 artillery and mortar rounds, the first major at-
tack on this installation in more than a year.
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SOUTH VIETNAM
The US Embassy in Saigon has recently obtained
a copy of a secret South Vietnamese contingency
plan for Military Region 3 in the event of a cease-
fire. The plan deals with the situation and mis-
sions of "military and armed civilian forces" in
the periods just before and after a cease-fire. It
assumes that North Vietnamese forces will remain in
place in the south and that a quasi-military form
of "political warfare" will continue even after the
cease-fire goes into effect. The plan calls for
the government, among other things, to take "dis-
creet" measures to assassinate and kidnap Communist
cadres and to use the various resources at its com-
mand during the cease-fire, including the army if
necessary, to expand the areas under its control.
It is becoming clear that this year's
enemy offensive, summit diplomacy, the
resumption of the Paris talks, and the
US election campaign are stimulating cease-
fire talk and contingency preparations by
both the government and the Communists.
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CHINA
On the occasion of Army Day, China's three leading
journals have issued a joint editorial, the first
of its kind in many months. The regime's decision
to publish such an editorial now, after letting sev-
eral appropriate occasions pass without comment,
suggests that the leadership has made at least some
progress toward resolving problems connected with
the purge of Defense Minister Lin Piao.
The editorial' appears to exonerate the Chinese armed
forces from blame for the Lin affair. Ever since
the Lin purge, the army has been subjected to a
propaganda campaign calling on it to place itself
under firm party control. The new editorial, how-
ever, states flatly that the military is "loyal to
the party and the people" and that it is unified.
It also declares that any conspirator who wanted to
undermine the army--a clear reference to Lin--would
be "only daydreaming."
Although Peking has recently confirmed to foreigners
the story that has been circulating since last Oc-
tober about Lin's attempted coup against Mao and his
subsequent abortive flight to the Soviet Union, Lin
is not mentioned by name in the editorial. Peking,
by endorsing this account, may have hoped to take
some wind out of the sails of the Nationalist Chi-
nese, who have themselves been publicizing the story
in a number of foreign capitals recently, while
avoiding the embarrassment that would accompany any
denunciation of Lin by name in the official press.
Even this step, however, required a decision at the
highest levels, and suggests that the regime is at-
tempting to tie up loose ends relating to the purge
and to project an image of public unity.
Peking, however, still has not provided answers to
several questions concerning army-party relations.
It has not, for example, identified former marshal
Yeh Chien-ying as Lin's successor in the post of
defense minister, despite reports circulating in
China that this would occur on Army Day. Nor has
it filled a number of other important military and
civil'ian posts that have been vacant for a long
time. Thus it appears that the personnel and policy
issues that have been in dispute among the leader-
ship are yet to be fully resolved.
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
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USSR - EASTERN EUROPE
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NOTES
USSR - Warsaw Pact: Leaders of Warsaw Pact
countries, plus Mongolia, met in the Crimea yester-
day in what appears to have been a hastily arranged
session. Moscow announced that the foreign leaders
were on "a brief rest," but only Czechoslovakia's
Husak was known to have been vacationing in the So-
viet Union. We believe that a principal topic of
the meeting was the expulsion of Soviet advisers
from Egypt, together with advice to Pact members on
their relations with the Arab states.
Syria-USSR: Satellite photography shows enough
SA-3 canisters and launchers at the Hims SAM-support
facility in western Syria to equip two SA-3 sites.
SA-3 equipment was scheduled to arrive in Syria early
this summer, and this is the first photography of
such equipment there.
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
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Top Secret
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