THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF - 1967/12/01

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Tet Declassified
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 05974149
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: April 26, 2019
• Document Release Date: April 30, 2019
• Publication Date: December 1, 1967

Approved for Release: 2019/03/29 C05974149
The President's Daily Brief
ecret 1 December 1967
Approved for Release: 2019/03/29 C05974149
23
3.5(c)
 Approved for Release: 2019/03/29 005974149
TOP RET-
DAILY BRIEF
1 DECEMBER 1967
1. Cyprus
2, North Vietnam
3.3(h)(2)
Mr. Vance is postponing his return
as the Cypriots threaten the agreements
with 1ast7minute haggling over a para-
graph on eventual "pacification." In
Cypriot eyes, pacification would include
withdrawal of all Greek and Turkish
forces, but leave guns in the hands of
the Cypriot national guard. The Turks
will not stand still for this and all ef-
forts are being bent today toward convin-
cing the Cypriots that now is not the
time for Byzantine bargaining.
There now is some evidence that two
North Vietnamese divisions may be moving
south.
Several months may be needed to com-
plete this unprecedented deployment and
� it still is too early to say just where
these divisions may take up positions.
The two northernmost provinces of South
Vietnam would seem prime candidates.
3. Singapore Lee Kuan Yew goes to Cambodia tomor-
row for a visit with Prince Sihanouk.
3.3(h)(2)
TO CRET -
Approved for Release: 2019/03/29 005974149
3.5(c)
3.5(c)
Approved for Release: 2019/03/29 005974149
-16
164
160
NORTH
VIETNAM
Demilitarized Zone
k..QUANG TRI
!OS
. �
THAILAND
Hue
��(.THUA THIE
QUANG NAM
QUANG TIN
Nang
I CORPS
QUANG
NGAI
KONTUM
-14
BINH DIN
PLEIKU
PHU
BON
CAMBODIA
PHU
YEN
DARLAC
-12
PHNO
PENH
.1
QUANG
� Bo Du
Loc Nin.
rs. giluoc
�N., .."4 BINHONG
TAY
4., LONG song B
/ NINH
\...,
KI-IANH
HOA
CHAu
KIEN
PHONG
LAM DONG
NINI-I
THUAN
HAU
NOHI
KIEN
TUONG
D40
PHU ()UDC
�
GULF OF
� SIAM
AN
XUYEN
Iv CORPS
106
PH UOC
TUT
Vung,
u� III CORPS
Capital Special Zone
198
II CORPS
RANH
%x
so
.SOUTH VIETNAM
�
� � � � 2-5
50 75 100 Mdes
0 25 50 75 160 Kiiometers
110
16
14
12.
10.
3.
68810 11-67 CIA
Approved for Release: 2019/03/29 005974149
(c)
TOP RET
4, South Vietnam
Approved for Release: 2019/03/29 C05974149
The Communists appear to have estab-
lished a major "front" command group in
two III Corps provinces on the Cambodian
border (see map), The organization of a
"front" permits better coordination among
various units in areas of concentrated
3.5(c)
3.3(h)(2)
Communist military
"fronts" have
time in the
area of the
We began
"front" late
we have noted
munists are
enclave in
activity. Other
been in existence for some
Western Highlands and in the
Demilitarized Zone.
seeing signs of the new
last summer. More recently,
other signs that the Com-
trying to set up a main force
the new area. /
3.3(h)(2)
5. Cambodia
3.3(h)(2)
3.3(h)(2)
6. Rhodesia
3.3(h)(2)
TO ECRET
From all accounts, Sihanouk was sent
into an emotional tailspin by the US news-
men's discovery of the Viet Cong base camp
in Cambodia./
The Rhodesians plan an all-stops-out
reception for Barry Goldwater when he ar-
rives on 11 December for a six-day visit
Approved for Release: 2019/03/29 C05974149
3.5(c)
 Approved for Release: 2019/03/29 C05974149
7. Egypt
3.3(h)(2)
8. Czechoslovakia
3.3(h)(2)
9. Communist China
_u;.-p-s-EcwErr -
Nasir apparently has not closed the
door finally on Israeli use of the Suez
Canal
in his speech of 23 November.
The complete text of Nasir's speech
does suggest he was less hard-nosed than
it appeared at first. Nasir did not ac-
tually rule out Israeli use of the canal.
Rather, he linked it to a "just" settle-
ment of the Palestinian refugee question.
3.5(c)
Officials in Prague are having some
bad moments with unruly students. Over
the past month, there have been demonstra-
tions and threats of public sit-ins. While
the immediate grievances are petty, they
are symptomatic of growing restlessness
among younger Czechs.
Even the Russians are keeping a wary
eye on Prague.
We doubt that Prague will become an-
other Budapest, but the Czech Government
does seem to be in something of a quan-
dary on how to handle the students.
Peking is hedging against further
currency devaluations--and perhaps try-
ing to add its bit to pressure on the
dollar--with large gold purchases. In
the past week the Chinese bought $100
million worth in the London market. By
contrast, China bought $40 million in
gold in all of 1966.
The Chinese could probably go an-
other $100 million, but Peking alone
poses no real threat to US reserves.
3.5(c)
Approved for Release: 2019/03/29 C05974149
Approved for Release: 2019/03/29 005974149
cret
Approved for Release: 2019/03/29 005974149
Approved for Release: 2019/03/29 005974149
FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
Approved for Release: 2019/03/29 005974149
Tap oret 3.5(c)
16
1 December 1967
TOP CRET
Approved for Release: 2019/03/29 005974149
Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
1 December 1967
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
* * *
TO ECRET
3.5(c)
3.3(h)(2)
3.3(h)(2)
3.3(h)(2)
Approved for Release: 2019/03/29 005974149
3.5(c)
SECRET
Approved for Release: 2019/03/29 005974149
French Journalist" Impressions of Hanoi: The
French News Agency correspondent in Vientiane has told
US officials that French TV journalist Francois
Chalais, who recently returned from North Vietnam,
had gone to Hanoi seeking only the sensational. The
thesis of his 22 December French TV presentation is
said to be that military damage to North Vietnam is
slight because bombs are not hitting military tar-
gets. Chalais' camera crew reportedly photographed
the aftermath of the bombing of a "defenseless" vil-
lage, the destruction of a Catholic church, and the
use of antipersonnel pellet bombs.
Pro-Communist French journalist Gerard Chaliand,
who left Hanoi on 10 November, had a different im-
pression of the North Vietnamese capital, according
to the correspondent in Vientiane. Chaliand con-
cluded that North Vietnamese agriculture had not
been extensively impaired but that the bombing had
seriously affected military installations, trans-
port, and industry. The journalist had "considerable
doubts" about the ability of the North Vietnamese
population to continue resistance.
TO CRET -
-2-
3.5(c)
3.3(h)(2)
3.5(c)
Approved for Release: 2019/03/29 005974149
Approved for Release: 2019/03/29 C05974149
II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
Hanoi on McNamara: A Hanoi International Serv-
ice broadcast in English yesterday asserts that the
reported "dismissal" of Defense Secretary McNamara
is "another proof of the deadlock" of the US Govern-
ment's war strategy in Vietnam and of the "sharp
contradictions among the ringleaders of the US ag-
gressors." Hanoi claims that the "dismissal" will
be a "personal disgrace" for Secretary McNamara,
as well as "a setback for the whole Johnson clique
in their obdurate pursuance of the war of aggression
in Vietnam." The broadcast also claims that McNamara's
departure will make the picture of the "US war"
gloomier than ever. The broadcast closes by stating
that the Hanoi army daily Quan Doi Nhan Dan has pre-
dicted that whoever the new Defense Secretary is,
"he will certainly invite ignominious failure on
himself should he follow the beaten track of crim-
inal aggression."
* * *
Stokely in Denmark: According to a report from
the US Embassy in Copenhagen, Stokely Carmichael
briefly attended the tenth open session of the
Bertrand Russell War Crimes Tribunal on 29 November.
He was reportedly warmly welcomed by the first wit-
ness of the day, North Vietnamese Minister of Health
Pham Ngoc Thach-, for his fight against racial dis-
crimination in the US and for creating solidarity
between American and Vietnamese people. Carmichael
departed for Oslo on the 30th promising to return to
Copenhagen on 1 December.
-3-
3.5(c)
3.3(h)(2)
ECRET
Approved for Release: 2019/03/29 C05974149
3.5(c)
� T.OP CRET
Approved for Release: 2019/03/29 C05974149
Hanoi Comment on Westmoreland Program: North
Vietnam s army al y pu is e a eng y and scorn-
ful commentary on 26 November refuting point by
point General Westmoreland's four-phased program for
victory in Vietnam. The main theme is that West-
moreland's assertions are false and that the "de-
feated general" is being used not to fight the war,
but to fight US public opinion.
The daily acknowledges that in phase one US
intervention saved the South Vietnamese "puppets"
from defeat, but asserts that this paved the way for
an even bigger "strategic defeat of the Americans."
Even in phase one, says the daily, the US suffered
because the South Vietnamese were unable to carry
their share of the load, and because the "develop-
ing people's war" forced the allies to split up into
smaller units. Above all, the US failed to achieve
its "number one strategic objective of breaking the
backbone of the Viet Cong." This failure, said the
commentary, brought about the defeat of all the
tasks which Westmoreland had set for the first phase.
Regarding the second phase, the commentary
says that Westmoreland's report shows the "Ameri--
cans are retreating," while Communist forces have
not only preserved their units, but have also de-
veloped these units into division-sized ones. It
claims the US was dealt an "unexpected strategic
blow" in 1966 when it had to divert troops to the
Demilitarized Zone area to cope with the Communist
offensive there,
In describing the current situation, the com-
mentary quotes an unnamed US journalist as saying
recently that the Communists have the initiative and
are capable of engaging in coordinated actions on
a nationwide scalp. US strategy, the commentary
claims, has gone from crisis to stalemate, and the
winter-spring campaign is proving that the US mili-
tary situation has deteriorated and that US strategy
is deadlocked.
TOP RET
-4-
Approved for Release: 2019/03/29 C05974149
3.5(c)
3.5(c)
Approved for Release: 2019/03/29 005974149
Approved for Release: 2019/03/29 005974149
"11