THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 23 JANUARY 1975

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1969-1977
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0006007923
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2016
• Publication Date: January 23, 1975

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The President's Daily Brief
January 23, 1975
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Exempt from general
declassification schedule of E.O. 11652
exemption category 511(1 ),12).(3)
declassified only on approval of
the Director of Central Intelligence
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
January 23, 1975
Table of Contents
USSR: The Soviet Union continues to offer assur-
ances that collapse of the US-Soviet trade
agreement does not signal a turn from detente.
(Page 1)
MBFR: The Soviets have laid out their negotiating
position for the fifth round of the Mutual
Balanced Force Reduction talks, scheduled to
begin next week. (Page 2)
Cambodia: The small ammunition convoy that was
stalled yesterday in the lower Mekong
River reached Phnom Penh last night.
(Page 3)
Portugal: The cabinet has completed work on the
controversial labor bill, and passage
now seems assured. (Page 4)
Panama: The round of canal treaty negotiations just
concluded brought considerable progress on
the status of forces agreement that would
be a key part of a new treaty. (Page 5)
Notes: OPEC; Mexico (Page 6)
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USSR
The Soviet Union continues to offer
public and private assurances that col-
lapse of the US-Soviet trade agreement
does not signal a turn from detente. At
the same time, Soviet criticism of the US,
particularly as expressed in the media,
remains at the unusually high levels of
the past month.
The Soviets may have enlisted their allies in
the effort to reassure the US on detente. A Polish
Central Committee member sought out a US official
last week to rebut as "nonsense" Western speculation
about a return to the cold war.
The Soviets reportedly are concerned that
the West Europeans might interpret action on the
trade agreement as marking a change in the USSR's
attitude toward detente in Europe.
The Soviet central press continues to affirm
Moscow's commitment to detente and to give heavy
coverage to recent statements by you and Secretary
Kissinger that detente with the USSR will be con-
tinued and strengthened. Soviet media have resumed
frequent and positive reference to the Vladivostok
arms control understandings, presumably in an ef-
fort to offset the "step backward" in trade rela-
tions.
Otherwise, criticism of the US in the media
remains high. The Soviets are concentrating on US
domestic economic problems, Washington's policy
toward the Middle East, alleged abuses by the US
intelligence community, and continued US support
of South Vietnam.
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MBFR
Chief Soviet delegate Khlestov dis-
cussed prospects for East-West force re-
ductions in his dialogue with Ambassador
Stoessel in Moscow on Monday. The fifth
round of the negotiations begins next
week in Vienna.
Khlestov claimed he is optimistic about the
negotiations and said the Soviets still are inter-
ested in reaching an agreement. He declared that
the negotiations are "condemned to succeed," but
he gave no indication of any new flexibility on the
part of the Soviets. Instead, he called for the
US to put pressure on its NATO allies to move the
negotiations along. The tenor of his remarks sug-
gests that the USSR expects another lackluster
round of talks.
Much of Khlestov's presentation was a reiter-
ation of standard Soviet positions. For example,
he stressed the need to reduce West German forces
from the outset, arguing that it is especially im-
portant to resolve this issue during 1975, the 30th
anniversary of the end of World War II. This ap-
peal prompted Ambassador Stoessel to ask whether
the Warsaw Pact had not, in fact, -already agreed to
US-Soviet reductions as an initial phase. Khlestov
maintained that that concession had been made in.
the Warsaw Pact's proposal for "symbolic reductions."
When asked about NATO's objective of reaching
a "common ceiling," Khlestov did not reject the
concept outright but repeated the usual Soviet
argument that Moscow could not accept a disadvan-
tageous agreement. He added that any reductions
should consider total "firepower," reflecting the
Soviet position that reductions limited to ground
forces would be unsatisfactory.
Khlestov perhaps also was suggesting that the
Soviets eventually might be willing to accept un-
equal reductions of ground forces if they were ac-
companied by cuts in air and nuclear elements.
Khlestov explained that the Warsaw Pact's
proposal of November 1973 to reduce each alliance's
forces by approximately 15 percent still is valid,
and has not been replaced by subsequent attempts to
win acceptance for various concepts of token reduc-
tions.
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CAMBODIA
The small, heavily escorted ammuni-
tion convoy that was stalled yesterday
in the lower Mekong reached Phnom Penh
last night. Its arrival will boost
morale in the capital but will do little
to ease the tight civilian supply situa-
tion. The government will try to get a
larger convoy through shortly.
Effective support from the navy and air force,
amphibious landings at several points along the
river, and the destruction of a communist-built
barricade at a vital river narrows made the 60-mile
?run possible. Intercepted messages indicate the
Khmer communists will keep heavy pressure along
the river, and the growing reluctance of crews and
river pilots to risk the trip could become a major
problem for the government.
In Phnom Penh itself, rice and fuel are being
rationed. The city continues to be hit by rockets.
Civilian deaths are mounting, partly because of the
influx of refugees from outlying areas. Fighting
has also picked up outside the city, and the US
embassy reports that since widespread fighting be-
gan on January 1, casualties on both sides have
averaged about 1,000 a day--the heaviest of the
war.
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PORTUGAL
The Portuguese cabinet completed de-
liberation yesterday on the labor bill
that has caused serious division within
the Armed Forces Movement as well as in
the three-party coalition government.
The cabinet vote reportedly ended in a tie;
it was broken by Prime Minister Goncalves, who
favors the bill. The bill will now be considered
by the legislative council of state; two thirds of
the 21 members are military men, and passage seems
assured.
Reports circulating in Lisbon indicate that
the Armed Forces Movement was not as united on
this issue as its press releases had suggested.
According to these reports, the Movement's 200-
member assembly failed to reach agreement in an un-
ruly session and bucked the problem to the supe-
rior council of the Movement, where the vote was 11
in favor and 9 opposed.
Many moderates within the Movement may be un-
comfortable about their apparent alliance with the
Communist Party on this issue. As if to dispel
this notion, the superior council issued a commu-
nique last weekend restating its determination to
hold a national election on schedule this spring.
The Communists have been searching for ways to
block an election.
The leaders of the Socialist Party are plan-
ning to meet on Sunday to decide whether to remain
in the government. Foreign Minister Soares, the
Socialist leader, is opposed to withdrawal but
says there is considerable pressure in the party
for such a move. Soares told Ambassador Carlucci
yesterday that the bill as now drafted would en-
able the Socialists to participate in the labor
movement despite Communist control of the leader-
ship of a single labor confederation. Other re-
ports throw doubt on this assertion.
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PANAMA
The round of canal treaty negotia-
tions just concluded in Panama brought
considerable progress on the status of
forces agreement that would be a key
part of a new treaty. The Panamanian
negotiators seemed particularly concerned
with acquiring the symbols of sovereignty,
such as flying their country's flag over
defense sites that the US would retain
under a new pact. Discussions will con-
tinue during the next round of negotia-
tions, scheduled to begin in Washington
on January 27.
General Torrijos' public and private statements
reflect his confidence that a new treaty can be
drafted this year, He has lived up to his commit-
ment to keep the details of the bargaining confi-
dential, Within this limitation, the administration
has launched a campaign to prepare the public for a
treaty that will not be "perfect" from Panama's
point of view, but that will achieve many of its
basic goals. This includes setting a specific date
for the transfer to Panama of all responsibility
for defense and operation of the canal.
Torrijos actually would prefer to hold off
public debate until the entire draft agreement has
been completed. He has had to start defending his
handling of the negotiations because of criticism
from ultra-nationalists that he is acting in se-
crecy and is giving away too much. These critics
maintain it is a mistake to sign a new treaty now,
because they believe that within a few years the
pressure of world opinion will oblige the US to
withdraw unilaterally from the canal area,
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NOTES
OPEC states' oil, finance, and foreign minis-
ters are scheduled to meet in Algiers on Friday to
begin preparations for an OPEC chiefs of state sum-
mit conference.
The participants will attempt to develop a
common strategy for the proposed joint conference
of oil-producing and oil-consuming countries. They
probably will discuss the recycling issue and a
guarantee against inflation's weakening the value
of OPEC members' investments in developed countries.
They will be principally interested in tying oil
prices to other prices. Considerable attention
also is likely to be focused on the new US trade
law, which excludes OPEC members from preferential
treatment.
mexican authorities have had Major successes
against narcotics traffickers this month.
Despite this success,
Mexico remains the leading source of heroin smug-
gled into the US. In fact, more than 60 percent
of the heroin seized or purchased by our narcotics
agents last year was of Mexican origin. US assist-
ance to the Mexican police effort against traffick-
ers is helping, but Mexico for the foreseeable fu-
ture will remain a convenient country for narcotics
growers and smugglers.
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