THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 15 APRIL 1974

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1969-1977
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0006007723
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2016
• Publication Date: April 15, 1974

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Declassified in Part- Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/07/19 : CIA-RDP79T00936A012000010057-1
The President's Daily Brief
April 15, 1974
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/07/19 : CIA-RDP79T00936A012000010057-1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/07/19 : CIA-RDP79T00936A012000010057-1
Exempt from general
declassification schedule of E.O. 11652
exemption categoiy 5B(11,12),(3)
declassified only on approval of
the Director of Central Intelligence
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF
April 15, 1974
PRINCIPAL DEVELOPMENTS
Israeli aircraft sorties over the Golan Heights and
southern Lebanon were unusually, heavy over the week- .
end, and Israeli military authorities claim that .the
Syrians are moving SA-7s and conventional antiair-
craft artillery to the Mount Hermon area. Israeli
President Katzir, meanwhile, is consulting with
party leaders about forming a new government, and
reportedly will turn to the right-Wing Likud if the
Labor Alignment has not cote up with 'a candidate
within the next two weeks. (Page 1)
Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia yesterday named
his 21-year-old grandson as his successor, removing
Crown Prince Asfa Wossen as heir to the throne.
(Page 2)
Prime Minister Tanaka will press for ratification
of the civil air agreement with Peking, which report-
edly Will be initialed today, despite possibly dam-
aging political effects to him and Foreign Minister
Ohira. (Page 3)
Recent statements by Chinese officials to diplomats
in Peking confirm earlier indications that the crew
of a captured Soviet helicopter will be tried for
espionage. (Page 4).
A note on the USSR appears on Page 5.
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
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Damascus
Al Qunaytirah
Israeli
' Battle Lih
Sy ian
Ba i e Line
Lake
Tiberias ?
iberias
555672 4-74 CIA
0 5 10 15 Kilometers
0 5 10 15 Miles
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
ISRAEL-SYRIA-LEBANON
Israeli aircraft sorties over the Golan Heights
and southern Lebanon were unusually heavy over the
weekend, totaling about 180 on Sunday and more than
50 on Saturday. In yesterday's action, Israeli
ground forces also were thrown into the Mount Hermon
battle. At least 15 Syrians were killed in the at-
tack. The Israelis admit to only 17 wounded.
Israeli military authorities claim that the
Syrians are moving SA-7s and conventional antiair-
craft artillery to the Mount Hermon area. The Israe-
lis reported yesterday that the Syrians fired numer-
ous surface-to-air missiles of all types at Israeli
aircraft.
Israeli President Katzir has begun consultations
with party leaders over the formation of a new govern-
ment. According to press reports, if the Labor Align-
ment has not found a suitable candidate within the
next two weeks, Katzir,will turn to the right-wing
Likud.
The Israeli cabinet yesterday named Major Gen-
eral Mordecai Gur as chief of staff of the Israeli
Defense Forces with the rank of Lieutenant General.
Gur, who was serving as military attache in Washing-
ton at the outbreak of the October war, is free of
any taint of responsibility for Israel's unprepared-
ness.
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
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ETHIOPIA
Emperor Haile Selassie yesterday named his
21-year-old grandson Zara Yacob as his successor,
removing Crown Prince Asfa Wossen from the line of
succession.
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CHINA-JAPAN
Prime Minister Tanaka will press for ratifica-
tion of the civil air agreement With Peking, Which
reportedly will be initialed today, despite possibly
? damaging political effects to him and Foreign Min-
ister Ohira. Taipei has reacted to the agreement
by announcing its readiness to suspend air service
with Japan, and Tanaka's critics in the. right wing
of the ruling Liberal Democratic.Party will attack
the governments failure to reach a prior agreement
with-TaiDei.
The Taipei government is not averse to cooper-
ating in the effort to weaken Tanaka and Ohira, but.
the Tokyo air link is important to Nationalist China
both politically and economically. In the end the
Nationalist leaders will probably consent to new air
:arrangements on a."private" basis with Tokyo,
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
')c)(1
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
CHINA-USSR
Recent statements by Chinese officials to diplo-
mats in Peking confirm earlier indications that the,
crew of a.captured Soviet helicopter will be tried
for espionage. Peking will probably heavily publi-
cize the trial and attempt to link the incident with
the expulsion from China in January. of five Soviet
diplomats accused of spying. The Chinese could use
bOth'events to continue their polemics-against al-
leged Soviet expansionism and worldwide espionage
activities.
.The Soviets'are Also spreading the line that
the Chinese may hold a show trial of the helicopter
crew. Moscow, however, will probablybe restrained
in its treatment of the trial itself, in line with
current efforts to keep comments on Sino-Soviet af-
fairs in a low key.
4
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
NOTE
USSR: The.Soviets early Saturday morning brought
down the unmanned spacecraft they had launchedon
April 3. During the ten-day flight, the craft, prob-
ably a modified Soyuz, performed 4 series of orbital
maneuvers that may have been designed to test modifi-
cations in the control and propulsionsyStems. The
flight probably is related to a manned mission ex-
pected soon and could also be in preparation for the
joint Apollo7Soyuz mission scheduled for next year.
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Top Secret
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