THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 30 JULY 1973

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1969-1977
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005993888
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2016
• Publication Date: July 30, 1973

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/06/14 : CIA-RDP79T00936A011700010015-1
The President's Daily Brief
30 July 1973
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Exempt from general
declassification scheduk of E.O. 11652
exemption category 93( I
declassified only on approval of
the Director of Central Intelligence
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF
30 July 1973
PRINCIPAL DEVELOPMENTS
Both the Lao Government and the Communists expect
to sign a final peace agreement within the week.
(Page 1)
The South Vietnamese may undertake a major counter-
offensive in the central highlands. (Page 2)
The leader of Chile's opposition Christian Democratic
Party is meeting with President Allende today, and
reportedly plans to present his party's demands in
the form of an ultimatum. (Page 3)
During talks in Washington this week, the British
Defense Minister is likely to dwell on his country's
misgivings regarding force reductions and European?
security talks. (Page 4)
Notes on
terrorist acts in
Cyprus, and on yesterday's plebiscite in Greece ap-
pear on Page 5.
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
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LAOS
Prime Minister Souvanna Phouma appears ready
to sign a final agreement with the Communists. On
July 27, Souvanna met with his personal envoy, Pheng
Phongsavan, and with the chief Communist negotiator,
Phoumi Vongvichit.
Souvanna flew to Luang Prabang on July 28 to
brief the King and presumably obtain his approval
for the terms of the agreement. The Prime Minister
anticipates little difficulty in the royal capital;
before his departure he told US Charge Dean that he
expects the two senior negotiators to have the final
text of the protocol ready for signature this week.
The Communists also expect an imminent agree-
ment. On July 28, Lao Communist officials informed
representatives of the International Control Com-
mission in Vientiane as well as the British and So-
viet ambassadors that all remaining issues in the
negotiations had been resolved and that the Commu-
nists anticipated signing the final agreement within
the week.
In an effort to prepare his rightist critics
for the agreement, Souvanna met with key members of
the National Assembly on July 26, and he plans simi-
lar sessions with senior military leaders.
The rightists will almost certainly coun-
sel him to hold out for further conces-
sions, but Souvanna apparently believes
that he now has the best terms the gov-
ernment can realistically hope to obtain.
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SOUTH VIETNAM
554492 7-73
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SOUTH VIETNAM
The South Vietnamese may undertake a maior
counteroffensive in the central hi hlands.
Ma-
jor General Toan, the commander of Military Region 2,
is considering moving the 22nd Division to Kontum
Province in an attempt to drive the Communists out
of the village of Trung Nghia and other positions
near the provincial capital. Toan reportedly has
lost faith in the ability of the 23rd Division to
do the job and thinks that reinforcing the 23rd with
the more aggressive 22nd could turn the tide. On
July 27, Toan briefed the Joint General Staff in
Saigon on his plans and claims the JGS posed no ob-
jections.
In the heavy fighting of the past seven
weeks, government troops have taken many
casualties in this sector, but have made
little progress; the fighting appears to
have developed into a test of wills be-
tween the two sides.
General Toan believes that by concentrating his
air and ground assets in the area, the operation
could be successfully concluded in about two weeks.
He recognizes that moving the 22nd Division out of
Binh Dinh will seriously weaken the government's
position there, but believes that the Communist 3rd
Division, which operates in the area, is too weak
to take advantage of the temporary shift in forces.
Toan will make his decision on implementing the plan
this week.
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
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CHILE
President Allende is scheduled to meet this
morning with Christian Democratic Party President
Aylwin, even though Allende apparently has not ac-
cepted the preconditions for the meeting set out
by Aylwin's party.(
Allende may also come under increased pressure
from private groups and some military officers to
invite the armed forces back into the cabinet. Busi-
ness groups reportedly will threaten to join the
truck owners' strike, and there could be demonstra-
tions of air and naval power.
Extremists of both the right and left have de-
nied involvement in the assassination of Allende's
military aide. Sporadic violence and acts of sabo-
tage continued over the weekend, most of them asso-
ciated with the truckers' strike. In addition, pub-
lic works and railroad professional workers were
due to begin a 48-hour strike this morning, and un-
confirmed reports indicate that bus owners in
Valparaiso have joined the truck owners' walkout.
Allende is anxious to ease tensions, but
he must get his Socialist and Communist
supporters to go along with the terms
for a political truce. There are indica-
tions that the Communists may be retreat-
ing from their recent intransigence, but
compromise with the opposition would sub-
ject Allende to the wrath of the Social-
ists and strain the Popular Unity coali-
tion. Allende may be willing to run this
risk, however, in order to head off the
possibility that a deteriorating situation
could provoke military action against him.
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UK
During talks in Washington this week, Defense
Minister Carrington can be expected to underscore
British misgivings about negotiations with the East
on force reductions and on European security.
The British remain concerned that force
reductions could lead to "neutralization"
of central Europe. London expects tough
bargaining from the Soviets and advocates
trying to smoke out their aims and approach
before tabling a firm Western-proposal.
As for the talks on European security, the
British want to prevent them from arousing
the kind of euphoria that would hinder
efforts to improve West European defense
cooperation. They have made clear their
distaste for what they call "pious rubbish"
and have kept pushing for even stronger
attempts to extract significant concessions
from the USSR.
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NOTES
Cyprus: Terrorist acts, including the kidnap-
ing of a cabinet minister and numerous bombings
around the island, have brought new tension to the
struggle between Archbishop Makarios and George
Grivas within the Greek Cypriot community. Makarios
blames Grivas directly for the kidnaping and has
vowed to end the terrorism; the archbishop had al-
ready strengthened the security forces, rounded up
scores of Grivas' adherents, and restricted the pro-
Grivas press. One cause of the current terrorism
is Makarios' attempt to purge the Cyprus church; if
he pursues the purge, he will encounter continuing
problems and probably violence.
Greece: The Greek Government claims that yes-
terday's plebiscite gave a landslide approval to
George Papadopoulos' plan to establish himself as
president of a new republic. Press reports based
on early returns showed a "yes" vote of over 80
percent, although the vote in Athens was almost
evenly divided. Prominent opposition figures have
already declared that the results are fraudulent
and contrary to the will of the people.
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Top Secret
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