CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1956/12/16

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 03178386
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 15
• Document Creation Date: October 25, 2019
• Document Release Date: October 31, 2019
• Publication Date: December 16, 1956

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CURRENT
INTELLIGENCE
BULLETIN
16 December 1956
L.Opy NO.
1/0` �
DOCUMENT NO,
NO CHANGE IN CLASS. 7PIC
DFCLASSIRED
CLASS. CHANZ':E0 TO: TS 3 to
1
NEXT REVIEW OM E-
411
AUTH: HR 70-
DATE *
1REVIEWER:
OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
This document contains classified information affecting
the national security of the United States within the
meaning of the espionage laws, US Code Title 18, Sections
793, 794, and 798. The law prohibits its transmission
or the revelation of its contents in any manner to an un-
authorized person, as well as its use in any manner
prejudicial to the safety or interest of the United States
or for the benefit of any foreign government to the detri-
ment of the United States.
TOP SECRET
W/711/7/7/17A
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CONTENTS
1. SOVIET MIG-17 AIRCRAFT ARRIVE IN SYRIA
(page 3).
2. NEHRU URGES EGYPT TO MODERATE TACTICS AND CO-
OPERATE WITH US (page 4).
3. CONTINUING ARAB HARASSMENT OF MIDDLE EAST OIL
FACILITIES (page 5).
4. ARRIVAL OF CZECH ARMS EXPERTS IN YEMEN
(page 7).
5. .NASR PROPOSES ARMS PURCHASE FOR ALGERIAN REBELS
(page 9).
6. INTENTION TO ASSASSINATE IRAQI PRIME MINISTER RE-
PORTED (page 10).
7. POPULAR DISSATISFACTION IN SOVIET UNION CONTINUING
(page ii).
8. THE SITUATION IN POLAND
(page 12).
9. STRENGTH OF HUNGARIAN REGIME MAY BE GROWING
(page 13).
10. MILA.ffY AGREEMENT WITH BRAZIL FACES NEW THREAT
(page 14).
16 Dec 56
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1. SOVIET MIG-17 AIRCRAFT ARRIVE IN SYRIA
Comment on:
The first shipment of Soviet military
equipment to Syria under the new arms
agreement signed in November arrived
in the port of Latakia on 13 December on
the Soviet freighter Voroshilov.
observation of the vessel in-
dicates that at least ten crated aircraft
were on board. The November contract
provided for Soviet delivery of an un-
specified number of MIG-17 aircraft to Syria
twelve MIG-17's were expected to arrive in Syria on
about 12 December.
16 Dec 56
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Nur' No0
2. NEHRU URGES EGYPT TO MODERATE TACTICS
AND CO-OPERATE WITH US
Nehru called in the Egyptian ambassador
in New Delhi and told him
that Cairo should tone down its anti-West-
ern propaganda and rely on patience, care-
ful strategy, and co-operation with the
United States to obtain a solution to the situation in Egypt and
the Middle East,
The Egyptian ambassador asked Nehru to
urge President Eisenhower to "consolidate" an American policy
divorced from the "colonial" policy of Britain and France.
Nehru hinted that a settlement with Israel
would largely defeat the purpose of "the colonial powers' inter-
vention in the Middle East:' and expressed his concern about
the Syrian situation on the grounds that tranquillity in the area
was necessary if the United States were to continue to support
Egypt.
According to the ambassador, Nehru agreed
that the Baghdad pact was one of the main causes of trouble in
the Middle East and that the present Iraqi government was ex-
tremely shaky.
16 Dec 56
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3. CONTINUING ARAB HARASSMENT OF MIDDLE EAST
OIL FACILITIES
Comment on:
There is increasing evidence that Nasr
and other Arab leaders will continue to
make trouble for Western oil interests
in the belief that Western dependence on
Arab oil must force the West to meet
Arab terms.
Egyptian foreign minister Fawzi recently
stated Ohat he had "little hope" /stases
methods would be changed. the prevail-
ing attitude in the Egyptian government had been expressed by
an Egyptian officer in Washington who was convinced the West
could do nothing in the Middle East without Arab co-operation
and that Washington must go along with the Arabs.
Following the recent sabotage in Kuwait,
16 Dec 56
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efforts were being made to make the Kuwaitis believe the
sabotage was actually a British plot to make an excuse for
occupying Kuwait.
According to US naval reports, the sabo-
tage in Kuwait has increased Saudi Arabian apprehension that
the American-owned Trans-Arabian Pipeline may be the next
target, and Saudi guards at pumping stations have been doubled.
ARAMCO is reported to have taken precautions at the
pumping stations, but is not confident that a determined sabo-
tage effort can be stopped,
Iraqi prime minister Nun i has told the
British manager of the Iraq Petroleum Company that he con-
siders IPC "out of date!' Nun i said the company should oper-
ate and market its products on the same basis as the con-
sortium in Iran, although perhaps nationalization was the an-
swer. Nun i is also reported to have suggested that the British
interest in IPC's pipelines to the Mediterranean be turned over
to the Americans and that the French interest in IPC be nation-
alized. IPC ownership is shared equally among British, French,
Dutch and American interests. Syrian minister of economy
Kailas has declared, meanwhile, that his government would not
permit repair of the sabotaged IPC pipelines to the Mediterra-
nean until the last British, French and Israeli soldiers had
left Egyptian territory.
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4. ARRIVAL OF CZECH ARMS EXPERTS IN YEMEN
Three Czech arms experts and an in-
terpreter will arrive in Yemen by air
via Saudi Arabia
The ex-
penis are reportedly bringing instructions concerning "the
antitank guns," and are prepared "to discuss the best means
of obtaining the remainder of the goods:'
Comment
A cargo of bloc arms was delivered to
Yemen by a Soviet shin 9n 12 October.
the Czechs ad-
vised YemenTs representative in Cairo that additional shipments
UNCLASSIFIED
16 DECEMBER 1956
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16 Dec 56
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had been postponed "until settlement of the Suez situation:'
The imam of Yemen has, meanwhile, requested air delivery
of bazookas with "extreme speed."
The arrival of Soviet-bloc arms in Yemen
has been accompanied by greatly increased Yemeni-inspired
dissident activity in the northwest area of Aden Protectorate.
the situation has become more
serious in view of increasing Yemeni contacts among tribes
in the Aden hinterland. Increased introduction of arms from
Yemen has been reported in both the western and eastern parts
of Aden Protectorate.
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5. NASR PROPOSES ARMS PURCHASE FOR
ALGERIAN REBELS
Egyptian president Nasr has proposed
that arms for the Algerian rebels be
purchased in Europe with Saudi Arabian
funds,
Comment
Nasr con-
tinues active support ox tne Algerian
rebellion.
When France seized five rebel leaders
on 22 October, a Saudi Arabian subscription drive to aid the
Algerians was sponsored by King Saud, who personally con-
tributed about $250,000. By 28 October this fund allegedly
was more than $1,400,000. Algerian nationalists have com-
plained that earlier Saudi contributions routed through Egypt
were appropriated by the Nasr regime.
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6. INTENTION TO ASSASSINATE IRAQI PRIME
MINISTER REPORTED
three fedayeen had been
sent to Baghdad "a week ago" to assassi-
,r1 iV111.11br Nun i Said. claimed the till
assassination was planned by the Jordanian chief of staff,
an aide to the King of Jordan, and the head of Syrian intelli-
gence, Colonel Sarraj.
Comment There have been no reports or indications
of any attempts against the Iraqi prime
minister. However, Arab hostility toward Nuri is high inside
and outside of Iraq, and his apparent decision to stay in office
despite strong internal and external pressures for him to step
down may lead his enemies to think in terms of assassination.
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7.. POPULAR DISSATISFACTION IN SOVIET
UNION CONTINUING
Comment on:
Displays of "negative attitudes," par-
ticularly among Soviet students and in-
tellectuals, continue, and there is increas-
ing evidence in the Soviet press of the re-
gime's dissatisfaction with the political
orientation of the people.
The American embassy in Moscow re-
ports that a Communist youth unit in
Moscow University recently adopted a three point program
calling for more equal distribution of income, "broader in-
formation" in the Soviet press, and publication of statistics
on living standards in all countries. Probably as a result of
this and other critical student meetings, the Moscow Univer-
sity newspaper noted that 200 students have already been ex-
pelled and it threatened a further crackdown against those who
"display a petty-bourgeois ideological lack of discipliner
Soviet press reports on 13 December indicate that dissatis-
faction has also been voiced recently by students in Leningrad.
At a public meeting in Moscow on 11 De-
cember, the subject of wage disparity was raised again. The
entire audience hooted when the speaker expressed doubts that
such disparity exists and several people made disparaging re-
marks aimed obliquely at Khrushchev, hinting that he and others,
and not Stalin alone, were responsible for the past failures in
agriculture.
As a result of this reaction and perhaps
presaging a tougher line on ideology at the forthcoming central
committee plenum, the Soviet central press as well as papers
in Leningrad and in the Lithuanian and Belorussian republics
have stepped up their propaganda attack against ideological
deviation.
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8.. THE SITUATION IN POLAND
Comment on:
mbassador Jacobs in Warsaw believes
hat the uneasy state of public order in
oland will continue. The population,
specially the youth, is predisposed to
uch activity by the years of Communist
isrule followed by the sudden easing
f controls. The ambassador cautions,
owever, against accepting all of the
eports in the Western press of disor-
ers.
he regime is attributing these outbreaks
to "hooligans" in order to play down their
anti-Soviet character. The government is particularly con-
cerned about the possibility of attempts to sabotage rail lines
used by Soviet troops lest the USSR seize on such acts as a
pretext for intervention.
These unsettled conditions reportedly are
being further aggravated by the sharp reductions the regime
is making in the size of the Communist party bureacracy.
Several thousand dismissed party officials and workers are
reported making common cause with the pro-Soviet ele-
ments in the party who oppose the new leaders.
While Gomulka probably can override this
opposition as long as he retains strong popular support, he
believes that he has only a four- to six-month -period of grace
in which to nroduce economic improvements
There is a growing feeling
in official Warsaw circles that the USSR, in order to create
an opportunity for reimposing Soviet controls, will not give
Poland needed economic assistance.
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9. STRENGTH OF HUNGARIAN REGIME MAY BE GROWING
Comment on:
The Hungarian regime has made some
progress in weathering the storm aroused
by its inauguration on 9 December of a
program of severe repression and may
have improved its prospects for imposing
political and economic order. Although
still faced with major obstacles, the re-
gime apparently has recently been able
to reduce passive resistance and out-
bursts of violence.
Because of sit-down strikes and growing
shortages of fuel and power, productive work has in many
cases not been resumed, but most workers now appear to
have returned to their factories. Mass demonstrations in
the cities and armed conflicts in the countryside appear to
have passed their peak, in large part because of measures
taken by the regime. The situation resembles, in many
respects, the period which preceded the 9 December decrees--
partial strikes, passive hostility and economic disorganiza-
tion. It differs significantly to the extent that the workers now
find themselves without leaders who can negotiate with the re-
gime. The individual factory workers' councils have not been
able to assume the political role formerly exercised by the re-
cently outlawed district workers' councils. Unity of action by
divers groups of workers and other forces appears to have been
hamstrung by the regime's oppressive tactics,
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10, MILITARY AGREEMENT WITH BRAZIL FACES
NEW THREAT
Comment on:
President Kubitschek�while promis-
ing action "within a few days" on one
aspect of Washington's request for a
missile-tracking base and other mili-
tary facilities in Brazil--has also
spoken of the probability of "inter-
minable" delays should his cabinet
decide the matter must go before the
Brazilian congress. Early in the al-
ready protracted negotiations, Foreign
ry o icials cautioned that nationalist concern over the
'sovereignty" issue would prevent congressional approval.
Public demand for congressional hear-
ing a mounted during the past ten days following a series
of press leaks on the supposedly secret negotiations, Kubit-
schek now appears extremely fearful of proceeding with an
executive agreement in the face of continued nationalist at-
tack unless he has the unqualified support of his cabinet and
his congressional leaders. He told the American ambassa-
dor on 13 December that his National Security Council and
various legal advisers have questioned the constitutionality
of an executive agreement.
The Foreign Ministry this week started
press briefings in an attempt to portray the talks as a poten-
tial diplomatic success for Brazil. SuccessfuLeonclusion of
an agreement, however, will still severely tax President
Kubitschek's personal courage and political leadership.
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