CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1952/02/15

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 02698153
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: May 24, 2019
• Document Release Date: May 30, 2019
• Publication Date: February 15, 1952

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b- TOP SECRET
SECURITY INFORMATION
15 February 1952
Copy No. 4 9
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
�
DOCUMENT NO.
NO CHANGE IN CLASS.
DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO: I
NEXT REVIEW DATE:
AUTH: HR 70-
DATit
Office 9f Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
TOP
INFORMATION
-
REVIEWER.
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CRET
SUMMARY
USSR
1. Ignatiev'S appointment as Soviet Minister of State Security
confirmed (page 3).
2. Order suggests stockpiling for Soviet chemicalwarfare defense
program (page 3).
FAR EAST
3, US mission concerned over South Korean anti-cease fire campaign
(page 4).
4, Ex-South Korean soldiers serving with Communist army segregated
(page 4)
5. Burmese pressing investigation of Chinese Nationalists (page 5).
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
6, Egyptian Ambassador in Washington seeks Turkish support for
Egyptian demands (page 5).
7. Greek army morale deteriorating (page 6).
EASTERN EUROPE
8. Yugoslavia to propose the establishment of a condominium for
Trieste (page 6).
9. Yugoslavia continues to oppose membership in regional defense
pacts (page '7).
WESTERN EUROPE
10. Austria fears Polish retaliation for non-delivery of bearings
(page 8).
11. Switzerland may withdraw from economic organization (page 8).
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3.5(c)
USSR
I. Ignatiev's appointment as Soviet Minister of State Security confirmed:
Party affairs. There is
positions in the MGB.
there is
a new USSR Minister of State Security,
S. D. Ignatiev, whose previous career ap- �
pears to have been restricted to Communist
no record of his having previously held
a
personal request by the Yakutsk Party Secretary to Ignatiev resulted
in an order to replace within a period of two days an important MGB
official in Yakutsk,.
Comment: Since the preceding Minister
Abakumov had been primarily a police official, his replacement by
Ignatiev confirms and strengthens party control over the police apparatus.
2. Order suggests stockpiling for Soviet chemical warfare defense program:
\ a Ministry of Health
order which forbade the issuance of certain .
pharmaceuticals to the therapeutic establishments. It was requested
specifically that the Health Minister authorize the Tbilisi Institute to
issue belladonna extract necessary for the treatment of Parkinson's
disease.
Comment: Extract of belladonna is a major
source of atropine stilfate which is the agent of choice in treatment of
nerve gas poisoning. It also has a wide variety of therapeutic uses in-
cluding the treatment of the nervous disease mentioned.
3.3(h)(2)
3.3(h)(2)
3.3(h)(2)
3.3(h)(2)
3.3(h)(2)
3.3(h)(2)
3.3(h)(2
3.5(c)
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FAR EAST
3. US mission concerned over South Korean anti-cease fire campaign:
Ambassador Muccio reports that official
South Korean hysteria against a cease fire
is "sparked by President Rhee" and will
reach a crescendo as the possibilities of
a successful armistice grow. If the Rhee government boycotts the
armistice talks and the ensuing political discussions, Muccio ob-
serves, "our faces will be very red." However, he does not think
that South Korean forces will continue the fight after an armistice.
Comment: This is the first time that
Muccio has expressed any suspicion that Rhee might refuse to
accept the outcome of the truce talks. Presiderkt Rhee's public
statements that he could not accept an armistice and that South
Korean troops should ignore the negotiations and fight on "to the
Yalu" presage a more extreme line in this crusade against the Pan-
munjom talks.
4. Ex-South Korean soldiers serving with Communist army segregated:
An unidentified North Korean security
officer on 11 February ordered complete
histories on "the liberated enlisted men
who have been assembled from every
division." The ex-prisoners were to be assembled in "particular
secrecy" and a report submitted by 15 February.
Comment: The term "liberated" soldiers
is applied by the Communists to captured South Korean troops who
have been impressed into the Communist forces. The Communist
failed to list this category of prisoners in the list turned over during
negotiations at Panmunjom. The secret assembling of these prisoners
suggests that the Communists may be willing to negotiate further on
the question of their repatriation.
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5. Burmese pressing investigation of Chinese Nationalists:
Six high-ranking Burmese police officers
are reliably reported to have been sent to
Kengtung State in northeastern Burma to
collect evidence of American involvement
with the Chinese Nationalist forces there. This evidence, according
to the source, is to be submitted to the UN.
Comment:
the Burmese have already appointed a committee
of high government officials to compile a case against the Nationalists
for presentation to the United Nations. Nationalist activities in Burma
have been centered in Kengtung.
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
6. Egyptian Ambassador in Washington seeks Turkish support for Egyptian
demands:
The Egyptian Ambassador in Washington has
induced his Turkish colleague to inform
Ankara that evacuation of British troops
from the Suez Canal zone is the only accepta-
ble solution to the Anglo-Egyptian crisis.
The Egyptian representative urged that Turkey use its influence with
Britian, the US and France in order to promote a quick settlementof
the dispute.
Insisting that no Egyptian government could
agree to the presence of foreign troops in the Canal area, the Egyptian
Ambassador further maintained that the departure of British troops
would deprive the Communists of a very strong weapon which they
have been using to foment trouble in Egypt.
Comment: Turkey has recently attempted
to persuade Egypt that the establishment of the proposed Middle East
Command would solve British and Egyptian differences. Turkey has
been loath to become invoived more directly in the Anglo-Egyptian
dispute, believing that it could exert greater influence on Egypt by
not identifying itself too closely with Britain.
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3.5(c)
7. Greek army morale deteriorating
The morale and discipline of the Greek army
are steadily deteriorating according to Marshal
Papagos. He told the US Military Attache
that if he had the authority he would dismiss
four lieutenant generals and the Defense Minis-
ter. The Marshal emphasized that the US military mission must handle
the direction of the Greek armed forces firmly and that it should advise
the King on exactly what was happening.
Comment: These statements were apparently
designed to persuade the United States to halt the Greek government's
current purge of the army. The generals whose dismissal Papagos
favors are the ones believed responsible for the removal of several
high-ranking pro-Papagos officers during the last few weeks. Although
the Marshal's report is apparently biased, there is evidence of serious
political meddling with the army.
EASTERN EUROPE
8. Yugoslavia to propose the establishment of a condominium for Trieste
Yugoslavia, anticipating a failure of the ne-
gotiations with Italy on Trieste, will propose
in the next two or three months the establish-
ment of an Italo-Yugoslav condominium for
the Free Territory of Trieste,
Attached to this proposal will be the condition that a union of the two
zones will not be a preliminary step towards Italian annexation.
The Yugoslav Government, convinced that
the present Italian Government will not accept such a proposal, will
reportedly advance this tactic in an effort to appease the population of
Trieste and strengthen Yugoslavia's international position.
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3.3(h)(2)
3.3(h)(2)
3.5(c)
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3.5(c)
Comment�, Such a proposal would serve to
strengthen the heretofore negligible Yugoslav appeal among the strong
independent groups in Trieste and to embarrass the Italian Government
by forcing it to modify its present intransigent attitude or further weaken
its position in Trieste.
A recent report that Marshal Tito this month
will secretly receive one of the leaders of a strong independent group
in Trieste may be related to this Yugoslav proposal.
9. Yugoslavia continues to oppose membership in regional defense pacts:
he US Embassy in Belgrade believes that it
would be premature to press Yugoslavia in
the near future toward formal military arrange-
ments with Greece and Turkey, but that a favor-
able occasion may arise in connection with direct Yugoslav-US staff
talks in which the Yugoslays have professed interest.
The Greek Minister in Belgrade has informed
the Embassy that he does not believe that there has been any change in
Yugoslav opposition to involvement in Western political and military
blocs, and that the independent Yugoslav attitude in this respect is
possibly reinforced by their feeling that the immediate danger of Soviet
attack is lessening.
Comment: The Turkish Foreign Minister
recently informed Ambassador McGhee in Ankara that Greek and
Turkish officials had agreed upon the desirability of asking the Yugo-
slays to enter into secret military staff talks and would welcome US
aid in obtaining Yugoslav adherence.
While the Yugoslays would undoubtedly like to
know more about Greece and Turkey's relationship with NATO, they
continue to maintain that Yugoslavia cannot join such a pact or make
political or military arrangements with Western powers.
TS)P-SLE
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3.3(h)(2)
3.5(c)
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3.5(c)
WESTERN EUROPE
10. Austria fears Polish retaliation for non-delivery of bearings:
The Austrian Government fears the consequences
of its failure to deliver during January and
February the embargo-type ball bearings called
for under its trade agreement with Poland.
"Calling the US-requested action "a dangerous game being played with
Austria's vital coal supply," government officials warn that if Poland
stops coal deliveries, it may not start them again on the present terms.
The officials state that Polish coal cannot be iknmediately replaced
with high-priced American coal.
The Austrian Foreign Office expects a retali-
atory reduction in coal deliveries within two weeks.
Comment: American officials have pressed
the Austrian Government to suspend delivery of embargo-type bearings
to see whether Poland would actually stop coal shipments. The large
stock-piles of coal in Austria and Poland's recent failure to fulfill
other parts of the trade agreement appeared to offer favorable conditions
for such a test.
11. Switzerland may withdraw from economic organization:
The American Minister in Bern warns that 3.3(h)(2)
Switzerland will withdraw from the Organization
for European Economic Cooperation if that body
becomes the economic arm of NATO. Switzer-
and does not object too strongly, however, to covert cooperation between
OEEC and NATO.
3.3(h)(2)
Comment: The Swiss have been concerned
over the possibility of �EEC's subordination to NATO. They have in-
formally indicated that in such an eventuality they would try to maintain
economic cooperation with Western Europe through the Council of Europe,
which coordinates closely with OEEC on economic matters.
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