THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 8 JANUARY 1974

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1969-1977
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0006007641
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 14
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2016
• Publication Date: January 8, 1974

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The President's Daily Brief
January 8, 1974
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Exempt from general
declassification schedule of E.O. 11652
exemption category 5B( I
declassified only on approval of
the Director of Central Intelligence
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THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF
January 8, 1974
PRINCIPAL DEVELOPMENTS
Egyptian delegates at the Geneva disengagement talks
have shown their first impatience at Israel's failure
to offer concrete proposals. (Page 1)
Hanoi is
supplies
Military
declined
sending a substantial shipment of military
to the Cambodian Communists. (Page 2)
conscription in North Vietnam apparently
sharply last year. (Page 3)
South Korea's President Pak will issue a proclama-
tion today outlawing all efforts to revise the con-
stitution. (Page 4)
Soviet(
/Afghan
(Page 5)
French arms sales rose by 50 percent last year.
(Page 6)
Panama's General Torrijos seems pleased with recent
signals from Washington, and he is likely to fore-
stall any major violence on the tenth anniversary
tomorrow of the destructive riots protesting the US
presence in the Canal Zone. (Page 7)
Peron is considering new measures to combat the
wave of kidnapings that is discouraging potential
foreign investors in Argentina. (Page 8)
A note on monetary developments appears on Page 9.
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ISRAEL-EGYPT
The failure of Israeli representatives to pre-
sent a concrete proposal at the disengagement talks
in Geneva yesterday brought on the first show of
Egyptian impatience at the lack of specifics.
Asking for understanding of his government's
current domestic problems, General Gur said that
Israel was not yet prepared to present a formal
proposal. He said he had no instructions to go
beyond the disengagement "models" he had put for-
ward on January 4 and emphasized that they did not
constitute "proposals." One of the models, pre-
sented in the form of a general principle for dis-
engagement, involved an Israeli withdrawal to a
point 35 kilometers east of the Suez Canal and
called for a reduction in the strength and the arma-
ment of Egypt's forces on the east bank.
Egypt's General Maghdub had opened yesterday's
session with the suggestion that the US and the USSR
?be invited in to define the cease-fire lines of
October 22 if the Egyptians and Israelis could not
themselves decide on a wider disengagement. The
proposal was probably meant as a spur to movement
rather than as an indication of serious intent.
Following hasty consultation with Jerusalem, Gur
relayed his government's flat rejection of super-
power involvement.
Maghdub indicated in essence that the two sides
had nothing to negotiate until they could exchange
ideas on clearly defined territorial issues. When
the UN's General Siilasvuo suggested that the ne-
gotiators not reconvene until both sides could pre-
sent specific proposals, Gur urged that the meet-
ings be continued primarily for appearances' sake.
The next meeting is scheduled for tomorrow.
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CAMBODIA - NORTH VIETNAM
The Khmer Communist logistic position has im-
proved as the result of a substantial shipment of
military equipment from the Vietnamese Communists.
An insurgent message of January 1 states that the
total shipment--the first detected in the North Viet-
namese infiltration system directly earmarked for
the Khmer Communists--will amount to 900 tons, plus
296 trucks. The munitions will add significantly to
the Khmer Communists' ability to sustain a high
level of combat this year, and the trucks will al-
leviate some of the insurgents' chronic distribution
problems.
The wording of this and other messages suggests
that the scheduled shipments represent most if not
all of Hanoi's contribution to the Khmer Communist
military effort this dry season. Hanoi may judge
that this level of support is enough to retain some
leverage with the insurgents while avoiding a more
extensive supply effort that might dramatically al-
ter the present military balance.
During the last week in December initial deliv-
eries of some 150 tons and 96 trucks were made to
the Khmer Communists in northeast Cambodia. Inter-
cepts indicate that the insurgents are wasting lit-
tle time in allocating some of the new small arms,
heavy weapons, and ammunition to battlefield areas
near Phnom Penh. The Khmer Communist Central Com-
mittee has also stated that, with the new equipment,
five or six fresh battalions can be formed east of
the Mekong and a similar number in two other regions
near Phnom Penh.
The new deliveries are part of an arrangement
under which the insurgents have agreed to sell 5,000
tons of rice to Vietnamese Communist forces in the
central highlands of South Vietnam. As another part
of the deal, Vietnamese Communist forces are to be
allowed to move through areas of the Cambodian south-
ern border provinces of Kampot and Takeo, the scene
of numerous armed clashes between Vietnamese and
Khmer Communist units.
During the initial years of the Cambodian con-
flict, the insurgents received the bulk of their
equipment and supplies from Vietnamese Communist
units operating in Cambodia. Following the general
withdrawal of these units to South Vietnam in mid-
1972, the Khmer Communists appear to have depended
largely on stockpiled material, some local accommo-
dations with Vietnamese Communist units along the
border, and the sale or capture of war materiel from
Cambodian government stocks. During the past six
months, Khmer Communist messages have referred to
persistent shortages of arms and ammunition.
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NORTH VIETNAM
Military conscription in North Vietnam appears
to have declined sharply in 1973, and the reduced
recruitment suggests that Hanoi's military plans for
early 1974 do not call for heavy fighting.
Current troop infiltration trends are generally
in line with this low level of recruitment. So far,
fewer troops have left North Vietnam for South Viet-
nam and nearby areas of Laos and Cambodia by this
stage of the dry season than in any year since 1969.
North Vietnamese propaganda suggests that a new
induction drive has begun, but these troops will not
be ready for infiltration for several months. Some
reports indicate new recruits are being given six
months training. If that is typical, the new troops
will not be ready to move south until early summer.
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SOUTH KOREA
Recent evidence of open political dissent appar-
ently has strengthened President Pak's resolve to
resist major political change. US officials have
been informed that today Pak will proclaim that ef-
forts to revise the constitution will be regarded
as criminal activity.
The government's recent attempts to conciliate
dissenters had encouraged them to press openly for
concessions. Two respected members of Pak's own
party had resigned from the party in protest against
his authoritarian policies, and prominent members of
the two opposition parties appealed publicly for
liberalization.
Even while proclaiming new emergency measures,
Pak seems likely to continue his appeals for popular
support. His annual address to the nation later
this week will provide a further opportunity to
pursue that course, as well as to explain the ac-
tions taken today.
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AFGHAN I STAN-USSR
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FRANCE
Arms sales to foreign customers earned the
French about $1.5 billion last year, according to
a government estimate reported in Le Monde. This
is an increase of almost 50 percent over the year
before. Sales of aeronautical equipment were up
sharply, and orders for ground, naval, and elec-
tronic materiel were also higher than in 1972.
France is currently the world's third largest
arms supplier. Over the past few years it has
turned increasingly to developing countries for
lucrative sales contracts. Last year Abu Dhabi
and Zaire, for example, signed contracts to purchase
Mirage fighters; China bought several helicopters.
The French have also sold antitank missiles to Mid-
dle East countries not affected by Paris' embargo
on sales to belligerents in the 1967 war.
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PANAMA
The tenth anniversary tomorrow of the destruc-
tive riots protesting the US presence in the Canal
Zone is likely to be peaceful. A handful of radi-
cals might try to stage an incident in or near the
Canal Zone in the hope of creating a martyr, but
the Torrijos government probably is prepared to
forestall such action.
General Torrijos was pleased with the appoint-
ment of Ambassador Bunker as chief US negotiator,
and he considers the White House announcement that
it will seek congressional approval to transfer
two airfields in the zone to Panamanian jurisdiction
as further evidence of US seriousness in the nego-
tiations.
Torrijos' nationalism and his fear of signing
the "wrong" treaty are likely to remain the chief
obstacles. He knows that getting a treaty advanta-
geous to Panama would be his regime's most important
accomplishment, but he also realizes that he cannot
afford to sign a new treaty that does not satisfy
Panama's aspirations for full sovereignty in the
zone at an early date.
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ARGENTINA
Peron and his advisers are disappointed that
the security measures they have taken so far, in-
cluding a shake-up in military leadership, have had
little impact on the extreme leftist groups that
have been kidnaping foreign businessmen. They are
concerned that the security situation, together with
uncertainty created by Peron's poor health, is keep-
ing potential investors away. Some foreign companies
have already moved their executives out of the coun-
try.
The government has recently sent the Argentine
Congress bills to give police and the courts wider
means to combat terrorism; the congress is still
studying them.
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The contemplated actions do not seem likely to
bring any early dramatic successes against the well-
organized terrorists. The passage of new legisla-
tion might encourage the police to step up counter-
measures, but the military's wish to avoid involve-
ment may be a more important factor. New service
chiefs, like their predecessors, apparently view
terrorism as essentially the Peronists' own politi-
cal problem.
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NOTE
International Monetary Developments: The dol-
lar strengthened again in major currency markets
yesterday as Japan abandoned its support of the 280
yen per dollar exchange rate. Japan's central bank
allowed the yen to fall by 6.5 percent. Moderate
intervention began only when the exchange rate fell
to 300 yen to the dollar. Sterling and the Danish
krone fell to record lows in active trading, and
all other major European currencies also weakened
dramatically. Intervention by the Bundesbank yes-
terday reached $113 million as the mark continued
to fall.
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