CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1952/07/18

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 02064605
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: June 6, 2019
• Document Release Date: June 27, 2019
• Publication Date: July 18, 1952

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SECURITY FORMATION
18 July 1952
Copy No.
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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ET
SUMMARY
GENERAL
I. Britain still opposes American position on Far East trade
controls (page 3).
SOVIET UNION
2. USSR improves air defense along European perimeter (page 3).
FAR EAST
3.
4.
6.
Karen and Chinese Nationalists reported cooperating in Burma
(page 6).
Burmese report foreign aid to Chinese Nationalists (page 6).
Chinese Nationalists in Burma reportedly may defect to
Communists (page 7).
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
7. Britain rumored considering withdrawal from Middle East (page 7).
8. Comment on Iran's new Prime Minister designate (page 8).
EASTERN EUROPE
9. Czechs offer unused tire production capacity to other Satellites
(page 8).
2
T(34135E.Cliff
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T&P SfiET
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GENERAL
I. Britain still opposes American position on Far East trade controls:
In a strong demarche to the American Em-
bassy in London, the British Foreign Office
has urged the United States to take the initi-
ative in getting a quadrilateral agreement
with France and Canada on the method for associating Japan with
Western trade control machinery in advance of the negotiations with
Japan beginning on 28 July.
The Foreign Office called attention to the
generally favorable reaction to Japan's request fOr full membership
In COCOM. According to the Embassy, the Foreign Office also
Indicated that even if Japan were persuaded to accept the American
proposal for a separate Far Eastern organization, Britain would be
most reluctant to participate.
Comment: Britain's position on this issue
is influenced by its desire to protect the British economic position in
South and Southeast Asia by deflecting Japanese competition toward the
Chinese mainland, and also by its intention to relax restrictions on
trade with China in the event of a Korean settlement.
SOVIET UNION
2. USSR improves air defense along European perimeter:
the USSR has
reorganized the Air Defense Regions along
Its European perimeter. Six new air
warning sectors nave been established with control centers at
Bblomorsk, Riga, Minsk, Lvov, Balta, and Tiflis. (See map on
following page.) The new sectors, which had previously been units
within larger air defense regions, now report directly to the Moscow
control station of the main Soviet air warning net.
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T7,10111'
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TOP SECRET
WESTERN U.S.S.R.
STATIONS OF THE MAIN SOVIET AIR DEFENSE NET
(1) New Air Def Sector HQ (2) Air Def Regional HQ (3) Military District HQ
. (4) Naval HQ (5) Groups of Forces Outside USSR
60,
(Merlin
WIlegnitz
(5)vi.
45 (4) �CI
Izmai
(5)
ConstanW
15 0 45
(1)
Belo rsk
Petroz sk
ngrad
(2)
d Vologda
Vitebsk
Smolensk
(1)
�Balta
.Kishinev Zaporozh'ye
Khemon
to
250 500
STATUTE MILES
0 250 500
KILOMETERS
30
BARENTS
SEA
za.nsk
Kalinin
(2)
�Kharko
.Stalino
Rostov
Opel
Irasnotiar
4)
Sukhumi
Batumi
Seratov
60
Nar'yan-Mar
.YosMer-Ola
Stalingrad
Astrakhan
Molotov
Kuybyshev
Ural.
Urarsk
42134
Tiflis
(2)
Baku
�Yerevan
Some boundaries shown on this map are de facto boun
aries (:452), not necessarily recognized as definitive by the
United States Government: the United States Government
has not recognized the incorporation of Estonia, Latvia,
and Lithuania into the Soviet Union.
Gur'yev
�Ufa
75
�....v.g-r
6Sverdlovsk
.Kurgan
Chelyabinsk.
.Aktyubinsk
Kandagach�
Krasnovodsk
lrysh
Bayko,ur
Syr ,
KyzI
Tashkent(
Nukui.
LirgenCh
.0?
Ashkhabad
..,�� \Bukhara.
45
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Comment: Establishment of the smaller
sectors and the elimination in some cases of one stage of the re-
porting sequence should increase the efficiency of the Soviet air
defense system. The main air defense communications net now
has 33 stations.
A concomitant development adding to Soviet
capabilities for defense against air attack is the probable integration
since last April of the air warning systems in the European Satellites
with that of the Soviet TJnion.
FAR EAST
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4� Karen and Chinese Nationalists reported cooperating in Burma:
The American Embassy in Rangoon is
disturbed by the increasing reports of
cooperation between Karen and Chinese
Nationalist forces in Burma
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Government has thus
with great restraint despite
Chinese complicity with
can relations with Burma.
According to the Embassy, the Burmese
far treated the Chinese Nationalist problem
the widespread belief of US involvement.
the Karens could seriously undermine Ameri-
Comment: Reports of Karen-Chinese
Nationalist cooperation
are supported by the appearance of newly-
acquired military equipment in the hands of Karen forces in eastern
Burma.
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5.
Burmese report foreign aid to Chinese Nationalists:
Chinese Nationalist forces in northeast
Burma are being supplied by regular air
drops and are being trained by approxi-
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mately 100 Americans,/
Comment: further evidence
of Burmese efforts to collect intelligence on Chinese Nationalist activi-
ties for possible presentation to the United Nations.
Although no reliable evidence is available to
substantiate these Burmese allegations, they will tend to convince the
Rangoon government of the validity of its suspicions that the National-
ists are being supplied from abroad.
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6. Chinese Nationalists in Burma reportedly may defect to Communists:
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there is no
that the Communists were attempting to gain
control of the Nationalist force. because 3.3(h)(2)
of contention over the distribution of arms and supplies, allegedly
flown in biweekly by CAT planes, the Nationalists may defect to the
Communists "in sheer desperation" unless corrective measures are
taken by Taipei or the United States,
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
7. Britain rumored considering withdrawal from Middle East:
The British Government is rumored to be
thinking seriously of relinquishing its com-
mitments in the Middle East, especiall in
the Suez area,
unofficial London reports confirm this thinking, which is attributed
to deteriorating British financial conditions. Foreign Secretary
Eden is said to have hinted to Secretary Acheson that Britain desires
to shift its military responsibilities in the Eastern Mediterranean to
the United States.
Comment: The Churchill government's
position on various Middle Eastern questions suggests a firm deter-
mination to retain British commitments even under extremely adverse
conditions. However, Britain is willing to make some tactical con-
cessions in favor of multilateral arrangements, as in the case of the
Suez Canal base.
Regardless of their accuracy, such reports
will strengthen Egyptian determination not to compromise with Britain.
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8. Comment on Iran's new Prime Minister designate:
The appointment of former Prime Minister
Ahmad Qavam as the new Prime Minister suggests that Iran may
adopt a more reasonable attitude on the oil issue. Friendly to Britain
and pro-West in attitude, octogenarian Qavam is one of the most astute
politicians in Iran.
If he is confirmed, he will be hampered by a
long-standing antipathy of the Shah, the country's near bankruptcy,
continued British intransigence on the oil issue, and strong national-
ist opposition. Even Qavam, who has indicated a willingness to com-
promise on the dispute with Britain, has insisted that no prime minister
who agreed to return the British to a controlling position in the oil
industry could remain in office.
EASTERN EUROPE
9. Czechs offer unused tire production capacity to other Satellites:
On 11 June Czechoslovakia informed its
commercial representatives in the other
Satellites of unused plant capacity for the
manufacture of over 40,000 truck and
passenger tires with tubes. The offer
stipulatedthth�hr Satellites furnish the necessary natural
rubber and other materials or their equivalent in sterling exchange.
Comment: This is further indication that
the Western embargo on strategic goods is effective.
This technique of overcoming production
losses may establish a new trend of economic coordination within the
Orbit.
This number of tires and tubes represents
only three percent of estimated 1951 production in Czechoslovakia,
the bloc' s second largest producer.
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