CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1957/11/11

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 03178399
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2019
• Document Release Date: December 20, 2019
• Publication Date: November 11, 1957

/. A 2019/12/10
CURRENT
INTELLIGENCE
BULLETIN
�G 9 ;Pr, e
11 November 1957
copy No. 13S 3.5(c)
3.3(h)(2)
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NO CHANGE IN CLASS.
DOCUMENT NO.
f DECLASSIFIED
CLASS.EV
EC111EAZATEDT:O: N t
DATEN4 MEVIEWER:
AUTH: HR 70-2
OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
TOP RET
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CONTENTS
10 KHRUSHCHEV SAYS USSR WILL LAUNCH "MUCH HEAVIER
SPUTNIK" (page 3)0
2. SOVIET DIPLOMAT DISCUSSES IMPLICATIONSOF_RECENT_
RUSSIAN TECHNOLOGICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
(page 4).
3, INTENSIFIED EAST-WEST BERLIN TRANSIT CONTROLS
PLANNED FOR MID-NOVEMBER (page 5).
4. BRITAIN MAY REDUCE ITS NUCLEAR ROLE IN WESTERN
DEFENSE (page 6).
5. TUNISIAN PRESIDENT MAY PUBLICIZE WESTERN ARMS
SHIPMENT (page 7).
6. SHAH N MAY BE FORCED TO ACCEPT SOVIET
LOAN page 8).
7. INDIA AND USSR SIGN $125.000,000 CREDIT AGREEMENT
FOR INDUSTRIALIZATION (page 9).
At; 8. BRITISH ACQUIESCING IN PATHET LAO SETTLEMENT
(page 10).
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KHRUSHCHEV SAYS USSR WILL LAUNCH "MUCH
HEAVIER SPUTNIK"
Comment on:
Khrushchev told
that the USSR was going
to launch "a much heavier Sputnik" He
gave no specific indication on timing, but
� - .1_1- � .-.
The Tyura Tam launching site has been ex-
ecuting four-hour practice countdowns daily since 4 November,
possibly indicating preparation for launching an earth satellite
or ICBM soon.
a
a man would be launched soonh
11 Nov 57
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IMPLICATIONS OF RECENT
RUSSIAN TECHNOLOGICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
Comment on:
A member of the Soviet UN delegation
has recently stressed the political
and military implications of the USSR's
technological achievements in an appar-
ent effort to induce France to revise its disarmament posi-
tion.
the
USSR's possession of missiles capable of reaching the United
States marks a turning-point in postwar history and signals
the end of the imbalance between the United States and the USSR
which was due to Soviet inability to strike the American conti-
nent from Soviet territory, radical
changes in military strategy and the disarmament problem
brought about by the Soviet ICBM, the only feasible solution
is to restore confidence by agreeing to prohibit the use of nu-
clear weapons.
public statements by Soviet leaders regarding the impossi-
bility of conducting a limited war, and asserted that if any
country aligned with the United States should launch an armed
attack at any point on the globe, the USSR would strike the
United States immediately.
11 Nov 57
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3. INTENSIFIED EAST-WEST BERLIN TRANSIT
CONTROLS PLANNED FOR MID-NOVEMBER
Comment on:
Plans are under way in East Berlin to
intensify controls at the sector border
with West Berlin by mid-November
The purpose apparently will be to halt the flow
of new East marks to the West, which is steadily undermin-
ing the new currency, as well as to reduce the flight of skilled
East German workers,
Measures under consideration are: a
special tax on all border crossers, reduction iri the number
of crossing points, and a regulation requiring all crossers
to re-enter at the same point they leave. Between 1,000
and 2,000 police and customs guards are being trained in in-
spection techniques at a special school in the Potsdam area.
None of these measures would directly
apply to the three Western occupying powers, but all Berliners
would be affected. East Germans are already doing their
Christmas shopping in West Berlin in anticipation of tighter
controls,
11 Nov 57
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4. BRITAIN MAY REDUCE ITS NUCLEAR ROLE IN
WESTERN DEFENSE
Comment on:
The British government is consider-
ing reducing its reliance on the nuclear
deterrent in favor of greater concentra-
tion on mobile conventional forces.
The change in British views was re-
flected in Defense Minister Sandyst
statement to Parliament on 7 Novem-
ber. He stressed that only about 15 percent of Britain's
total defense effort now goes to the nuclear deterrent and
generally placed less emphasis than previously on nuclear
weapons.
The rethinking of British defense plans
announced in the defense white paper of last April was stim-
ulated by the rebellion in Oman which brought an increased
appreciation of the importance of efficient mobile conven-
tional forces. Also, recent evidence of Soviet technical
advances and the revival of Anglo-American cooperation have
lessened British leaders' emphasis on an independent role in
international affairs.
A high defense ministry official has told
the American embassy that some specific steps in allocating ,
defense production among NATO allies might help the Brit-
ish government save face in readjusting its nuclear armament
plans.
11 Nov 57
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5. TUNISIAN PRESIDENT MAY PUBLICIZE WESTERN
ARMS SHIPMENT
Comment on:
Tunisian President Bourguiba may feel
impelled to publicize the purchase and
arrival of American and British arms -
with sufficient fanfare to offset antici-
pated Egyptian propaganda when an Egyp-
tian ship bearing a "token gift" of 2,000
Egyptian-made rifles arrives in Tunis.
Publicity for the Western arms shipments
would revive the strong French antagonism toward the United
States manifested in the National Assembly during debate of
the Algerian reform statute last September. French Premier
Gaillard, who expects to obtain cabinet approval on 12 Novem-
ber for France to supply arms for one battalion of the Tunisian
army, told Ambassador Houghton on 9 November that France
would consider American and British delivery of weapons to
Bourguiba, prior to announcement of the French decision, an
"unfriendly act." He expressed astonishment that the United
States and Britain might deliver arms even if France supplied
the Tunisians and urged that in this event the action should be
co-ordinated.
Bourguiba is said to feel that American and
British shipments--consisting of 500 American M-1 rifles and
ammunition and approximately an equal number of British auto-
matic weapons and ammunition�are "very token compared to the
Egyptian gift." The Egyptian arms were offered to Bourguiba in
August and were accepted in September as a means of inducing
Western sources to meet Tunisian arms needs. The date of
arrival is still unknown.
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ions/
6. SHAH SAYS IRAN MAY BE FORCED TO ACCEPT
SOVIET LOAN
Comment on:
The Shah of Iran has made an "impas-
sioned" plea for a loan from the United
States to offset anticipated budget def-
icits during the next two fiscal years,
according to the American ambassador in Tehran. The
Iranian ruler warned that unless funds were obtained to meet
both the general budget and development projects of the Iranian
Plan Organization, it might be impossible to reject a Soviet
loan on attractive terms.
Both the Shah and Prime Minister Eqbal
have recently intensified their requests for additional Amer-
ican aid. The Shah believes that Iran will have a budget def-
icit during the next fiscal year of $50-55,000,000. The Amer-
ican embassy estimates the deficit at $30-35,000,000.
Until oil revenues coVer all government
expenditures, the Iranian government can be expected period-
ically to seek help from the United States.
11 Nov 57
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7. INDIA AND USSR SIGN $125,000,000 CREDIT AGREEMENT
FOR INDUSTRIALIZATION
Comment on:
The industrial aid agreement signed in
New Delhi by Indian and Soviet negotia-
tors on 9 November gives effect to the
$125,000,000 loan offered by Moscow to
the Indian government in November 1956.
It will enable New Delhi to carry out several high priority
projects to speed industrialization under its Second Five-Year
Plan without further drains on its declining foreign exchange
reserves, and will also expand substantially Soviet participa-
tion in India's development program.
The credit will be utilized to establish
with Russian equipment a heavy machine-building plant, an
optical glass works, a thermal power station and various en-
terprises connected with the coal industry. The loan will be
repayable in twelve yearly installments at an interest rate of
2.5 percent beginning one year after delivery of the machinery.
Training facilities will be provided in the USSR for Indian per-
sonnel required for the projects, and Russian technicians will
supervise construction in India.
The original Soviet loan offer contained a
provision that the funds could not be utilized until 1959� The
Indian government's press statement on 9 November that the
agreement would help to conserve foreign exchange "in the im-
mediate future" suggests, however, that New Delhi was suc-
cessful in persuading Moscow to withdraw this restriction.
11 Nov 57
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8. BRITISH ACQUIESCING IN PATHET LAO SETTLEMENT
Comment on:
A letter from Prime Minister Macmillan
to Prime Minister Souvanna Phouma indi-
cates that the British are no longer oppos-
ing the Laotian settlement with the Pathet
Lao. For some months London has con-
sidered that time is working against the free world in Laos,
and evidently fears that continued' opposition to the coalition
policy might hurt Western interests in the long run,
Macmillan's letter, which was delivered
to Souvanna by Lord Reading, former minister of state in the
Foreign Office, expressed support for Souvanna's efforts to
bring about a "united and prosperous Laos." Souvannav accord-
ing to his French adviser, interpreted the letter as approving
his solution.
11 Nov 57
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