TALKING POINTS ON "YELLOW RAIN"

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 05472641
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 28, 2022
• Document Release Date: September 26, 2017
• Case Number: F-2012-01432
• Publication Date: August 4, 1982

Approved for Release: 2015/01/05 005472641
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THE DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE
WASHINGTON, D. C. 20505
National Intelligence Officers
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director of Central Intelligence
VIA
Chairman, National Intelligence Council
FROM Hans Heymann, Jr.
National Intelligence Officer at Large
SUBJECT Talking Points on "Yellow Rain"
DDI/NIO #6388-82
4 August 1982
1. The attached talking points are for your meeting this afternoon
with Judge Clark. There are three points worth making:
o The new DCI Intelligence Working Group on CBW Toxin
Use is working well.
o There is important new scientific evidence received
yesterday that extends our knowledge and confirms
our previous judgments about mycotoxin use in South-
east Asia.
o With one exception, we have received no good reports
of lethal CW use in Afghanistan since March. There
has also been a fall-off of new reports from Southeast
Asia, but this may be due to reporting artifact.
Attachment
Talking Points
44,4/3.
Hans Heymann, Jr.
CL B
signer
DECL
DERIVED au
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TALKING POINTS on "YELLOW RAIN"
O Intelligence Working Group on CBW USE
Because of the continuing importance to policy of the CBW Use
issue, I have recently established a new Interagency Working
Group to manage and coordinate all collection, analysis and
reporting on this issue.
The new group is working well and has developed a mechanism
to expedite the processing of intelligence data and its
transfer to State and other policy people in support of major
current policy initiatives including arms control, compliance
and verification.
A past problem area the Working Group is concentrating on is
the streamlining of the sample analysis process through the
appropriate laboratory and reporting phases.
O New scientific evidence
Within the past few days, several sets of samples from attacks
in early 1982 in Southeast Asia have been reported out of lab
analysis.
They include, for the first time, pathological and tissue analysis
from autopsy material performed by both US and Canadian forensic
specialists, new blood results, and physical-environmental samples
from attack sites.
The results further confirm our earlier judgments of mycotoxin
use in Southeast Asia and enhance our knowledge of mycotoxin
effects on human victims.
The Working Group is evaluating the meaning and significance
Of these results in parallel with their declassification and
dissemination of the results to State/PM and the UN.
O Sharp diminution of new attack reports
-- Since March of this year, there has been a significant fall-off
of reporting on new attack incidents, inspite of a considerably
enhanced collection effort. Only a single credible report of
CW use has been obtained from Afghanistan, and relatively few new
incidents have been reported from Southeast Asia.
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-- It is too early to draw conclusions from this relative quiescence,
sinc e it may only be an hiatus for seasonal or tactical reasons.
-- But we cannot rule out the possibility that the Soviet leader-
ship, in the face of the widely publicized US charges, have
decided to put a halt to the attacks.
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tillBJECT: (Optional)
FROM:
Hans Heymann, Jr.
NIO-at-Large
TO: (Officer designation, room number, and
FORM
1-79
6l 0 USE PREVIOUS
EDITIONS
DATE
RECEIVED
FORWARDED
EXTENSION
OFFICER'S
OFFICER'S
INITIALS
NO.
DDI/NIO #
DATE
4 August 1982
COMMENTS (Number each comment to show from whom
to whom. Draw a line across column after each comment.)
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