FOREIGN BROADCAST INFORMATION SERVICE NEWSLETTER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP05-01430R000100060003-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 13
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 16, 2012
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: November 3, 1986
• Content Type: REPORT

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FBIS
Foreign Broadcast
Information Service
SECRET
Edition 86-6
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NOTICE
~~.eed Bwceau~s cute nemti~.ded ghat cap~.e~s aU zl~,v~
New~.2e~,telc ~shau,~d be ders~tc.ayed a~~elc nead~.v~g
by U.S. S~a~~ emp.~oyee~s. Thus New~s.2e~,telc ,v~
nod be to ne~ac:~ied tin ~~.e2d buneaws .
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COVERAGE OF EL SALVADOR DISRUPTED BY EARTHQUAKE
Panama Bureau's remote monitoring operation, manned by a USIA local
employee at the chancellery in San Salvador, was disrupted to some extent
by the earthquake that rocked the city on 10 October. The FBIS
contractor, equipment, and circuits all escaped injury, but the American
Embassy itself sustained significant structural damage and embassy
operations iaere moved to temporary locations. Remote coverage capability
of the main San Salvador station remains, however, and Panama Bureau is
coves the rebel radios from poorly heard shortwave transmissions.
HEADQUARTERS AUTOMATION
A functional Design Review for the Classified Segment is scheduled
for 17-20 Povember. This segment is the most complex, with capabilities
similar to those available through SAFE: profiled mail delivery, word
processing, data base management systems and text search. The most
significant feature caill be a 20-year FBIS Product Data Base.
The first equipment for the Unclassified Segment is scheduled for
delivery in two 18-wheelers to Reston the first week in November. This
segment continues ahead of schedu~th initial transition operations
planned for late March 1987.
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A detailed training and transition plan has been developed for the
phaseover of the Wire, the Dail Re ort, and JPRS from their present
MIDAS or manual modes to the ATEX XYVISIOid system. Transition of Commo
and the^Wire is scheduledd fob April, the Daily Report for late May,
Vienna's automation experience (see "From the Field Bureaus") teas
been expanded to include the capture on a dedicated PC file server of
incoming English-language press agencies and their selection and
subsequent transmission--all in soft copy without any rekeying. Vienna's
communicators are now using the IBM PCs on the LAN for all outgoing
messages. ADD is conducting an extensive evaluation of word processing
and text editing programs in an effort to identify a solution to the soft
copy edit vs hard copy edit trace issue. The next major effort in Vienna
will take place early next year and will involve additional monitorial
and editorial workstations together with an intensive review of the
Key West Bureau will receive a simplified version of the Vienna LAN
software and hardware in December to take advantage of a new 300-baud
communications link. Communications upgrades ma be possible for
additional bureaus using a similar approach.
Lockheed is continuing with design of the low cost automated bureau
(LCAB). Present plans call for an initial design review in December.
Lockheed will be working directly with CRtV on the development of BACH 1.3
and subsequent BACH releases. This guarantees that lessons learned this
summer will not have to be repeated. ~~
Health insurance open season will run from 10 November through
S December. Employees will be able to switch to a different insurance
plan or to change options within their current plan. V' briefings
are being prepared and are available to field bureaus.
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"Good evening. Herr ii lhir rvening't Weser, according to ldeviiron."
The FEIS Television Center is producing a series of videotapes
chronicling the Chernobyl nuclear accident as broadcast by Soviet
television since the first announcement last 28 April. The series
includes all Soviet news coverage of the accident, special documentaries,
and press conferences. To date, 13 hours of video have been supplied to
a wide range of community~~~ndpther Government consumers. The project is
expected to last a year.
FBIS was able to provide organization consumers and the {Jhite House
Situation Room with the text of the 14 September Moscow television
interview with former CIA employee Edward Howard within 5 hours of
broadcast time. The interview was also monitored locally using the
Headquarters TYRO antenna and videotape recordings were passed to key
consumers.
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A member of Vice President Bush's staff asked FBIS to provide him
with a grief analysis of a P.RAVDA article criticizing the Vice President
for comments he made on the Soviet role in the Middle East peace
efforts. The analysis, characterizing overall Soviet commentary on the
Middle East and describing the background of the author, was
the Vice President along with a copy of the PRAVDA article.
Responding to high-level consumer interest, London Bureau expedited
handling of A1-Qadhdhafi's televised speech delivered to mark the
1 September revolution anniversary. A satellite feed of the 3-hour
address was arranged through V' don, allowing analysts to view
the videotapes the next day.
Three TREP]DS articles prepared by AG China Branch were passed to
Secretary of Defense tiVeinberger prior to his rture for China by the
chief of the President's Daily Brief Staff. ~ 25X1
State's Bob Bentley phoned ELAAD/West Europe Branch to request the
services of a French interpreter for the Justice Department for a 15-16
October meeting at the Justice Command Center at which the case of Georges
'Abdallah, the Lebanese being held by French authorities on terrorism
charges, was to be discussed. To be present at the meeting were a French
criminal latiryer hired by the U.S. Government to discuss legal strategy in
the case as well as a Paris Embassy st and organization personnel.
served as the interpreter. 25X1~5X1
The Actin DDS$T on 7 October presented the Intelligence Medal of
Merit to retired chief, Operations Group, FBIS, at
a ceremony at I-Iea quarters. was cited for outstanding
managerial and executive abi ity in contributin si nificantly to the
mission of the organization for 31 years. came to FBIS
from the former OCR with the FDD merger in 1967 and served in the
field as chief, Caribbean Bureau, Puerto Rico, and chief, London Bureau.
He served twice as chief, Production Group, and retired in January
1986. ~~
25X1
25X1
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PdE~9 FOREIGN NATIONAL UNIT
FBIS Administrative Staff has created a new Foreign National Unit
(FNU), which is separated from Personnel Branch Chief, FNU is responsible
for all aspect of administrative personnel matters concerning bureau FBil
employees, including TCN's and PRA's, and is the point of contact for
ersonnel liaison with various Agency and Government components. 25X1
has been assigned as Chief, FNU, effective 10 November. ~ 25X1~~~~
REORGANIZATION OF PERSONNEL BRAI?dCH
Personnel Branch continues to be responsible for support of all U.S.
staff and U.S. contract employees in both Headquarters and the field. It
has been reorganized into two foreign field support units, one responsible
for Europe, Near East, and Africa, and one for East Asia, Latin America,
and ICey Nest, and a Headquarters unit responsible for all personnel
assigned to FBIS tiVashin ton. These units are he~by
and respectively.
?5X1
25X1 5X1
The first issue of UD's ECOPdON~IC PREVIFV+IS appeared in August. The
new FBIS product, issued on FOREIGN PRESS NOTES letterhead, alerts
consumers to a number of particularly significant items being translated
f~ublication in the seven USSR reports dealing with economic topics.
UD compiled 260 pages of articles translated from tYie Soviet press
on the Chernobyl accident. The material was published in a special
subtitled report of the JPRS series POLITICAL AivD SOCIOLOGICAL AFFAIRS.
Topics covered included the nuclear power plant fire, the sealing of the
reactor, evacuation of the area, cleanup and mobilization, and
environmental and health as ects of the accident. At the request of the
Department of Energy, of UD coordinated participation by FBIS
in a rush translation o t e 384-page advance report submitted by the USSR
to the International Atomic Energy Agency on the Chernobyl accident. TYie
translation was used to brief the U.S. delegation prior to its departure
5
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for the IAEA meeting in Vienna. ~ also provided the linguistic support
for the third and fourth edited installments of Moscow Television coverage
of the Chernobyl cleanup. lie identified the portions of "Vremya"
newscasts to be clipped and combined chronologically by MOD, This project
was undertaken by FBIS at the request of NPIC and the chief, Nuclear
Energy Division, OSi~R.
At the request of OSIVR, FLASC translated a series of Russian-language
technical terms needed by the U.S. delegation to the Pduclear and Space
Talks with the Soviets in Geneva. The delegation tiaanted accurate
translations of the to o provide clear language for any documents
drafted at the talks.
S~,T Center Chief (briefed a working group of the
Committee on International Science Engineering and Technology, a
committee of the National Science Foundation composed of re resentatives
of the I~Vhite House, State, Commerce, the USTR, and NSF. ~ discussed
SST-related products of FBIS, and especially PERSPECTIVES. The NSF had
requested information on foreign basic research and asked for aid in
setting up an overseas operation similar to FBIS' overseas S$T units.
The organization's military reserve unit, the Joint Military Reserve
Training Command, is sponsoring a series of seminars on Afghanistan during
October-November. All employees have been invited to attend the series,
held Mondays just after regular duty hours and addressing such subjects as
"Soviet Forces and Operations," "The P.ebels and Their Support '~ "U.S.
Policy and Prospects." Seminar leaders are staff employees.
Data collected in the course of the economic survey of material
carried by the broadcasters of Romania and Bulgaria, carried out at
Austrian Bureau at the request of the BBC, was collated and the results
forwarded to Chief, Operations, and Chief, London Bureau. Considerable
un' economic information was found, but mostly of a very lo~a level.
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Total bureau wordage processed and filed using the Vienna local area
network (VLAN) constituted 20.5 percent of Austrian Bureau's total
wordage during September alone. Press agency wordage increased from
7,000 in August to 42,980 in September, Anticipating the installation of
a computer in each of the four bureau radio monitoring units, monitors in
the sections started looking over the shoulders of experienced VLAId users
and started producing items for wirefiling using any free work stations
they c~nd. Phase 1B of the VLAN was installed in August by an ADD
team,
In Cyprus, the August terrorist attacks on the British base at
Akrotiri prompted another upswing in Embassy concern over security.
Embassy and Nicosia Bureau employees were reminded yet again to observe
good personal security practices and to report promptly any suspicious
activity or problems.
premises
Jordan Bureau involvement in tiie use of its personal computers is
progressing quickly. In addition to normal word processing applications,
the bureau is using the PC's for the monthly staff and nonstaff personnel
reports, monthly Telex bills for the Embassy, and the nonexpendable
property inventory to produce the Annual Dollar Value Report.
Tel Aviv Bureau used the occasion of the recent visit by the deputy
chief, Operations Group, to hold a formal open house for the bureau's new
contractors involved in construction of the building and the bureau, and
representatives of the diplomatic missions and companies located in the
ding. Some 125 visitors showed up for the wine and cheese buffet.
Invited were a 1 em assy o icers an sta represen a Ives o e
Nicosia Bureau administrative assistant
visited 25X
Tel Aviv Bureau in Se tember to work closely wit Te Aviv admin
assistant
to review bureau budgetary and administrative 25X1
practices. 25X1
A 12-member State Department Foreign Buildings Office chancellery
site selection team visited Abidjan Bureau in September and inspected
five sites around the city. An area near the Hotel Ivoire in the Cocody
section of Abidjan remains the primary site. The team very tentatively
offered 1992 as completion date for the new chancellery. A4embers of the
team are
led to return in the spring for the next phase of the 25X1
process.
IC. Spence Richardson, the new
in August for a briefing and tour.
}1 general, visited Okinawa Bureau
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Okinawa Bureau communications su ervisor known to ~~^'
generations of editors as retired on 30 September, 5 days shy 25X1
of 38 years with the bureau and 41 years with U.S. Forces Japan, at the
age of 59. Q who began working for Okinawa Bureau in 1948, the 25X1
bureau's first full year of operation, was feted at a dinner at the
Kadena officers club. He received flowers from the communications
section, a framed letter from the director, FBIS, the FBIS career service
medal, and a framed certificate of appreciation from the Kadena base
commander. The new corununications supervisor is a 25X1
teletypist since 1966. n 25X1
A television tuner capable of receiving bilingual Japanese and
English audio ha n installed in the Japanese television booth at
Okinawa Bureau.
Seoul Bureau employees, their families, and invited guests
celebrate the 10th anniversary of the bureau's founding at a picnic on
31 August. Followin hamburgers, volle ball and a short speech by
bureau chief senior editor
performed a ceremonial
cutting of the anniversa cake and presented the first piece to
associate editor the bureau's first local employee, who 25X1
entered on duty as an administrative assistant in August 1976.
25X1
later announced her plan to r~
husband to the United States.I
~'~?~
in October in order to accompany her
25X1
Hong Kong Bureau's arrangement with Philippine Airlines to receive
the Manila papers from the first daily Hong Kong-Manila flight is proving
successful. ltlhile deliveries have not always been completely reliable,
the earlier arrival of the papers has enabled the bureau to scan, select,
and file reports before the normal close of business. This means that
consumers receive items some 16-24 hours earlier than had been the case
with the earlier eveni~delivery and is more effective use of editors'
and monitors' time.
Bong Kong was officially declared cholera-free on 20 August, 17 days
after it was identified as an infected area. V~Ii0 regulations mandate a
lapse of 10 days of ter the last confirmed case before an area can be
declared free of infection. During the scare 22 cases of the disease
were confirmed and thousands rushed to vaccination centers as the
government tried to find the cause. Most of the victims cane from a
~'ac.tQry area of Kowloon or had eaten food sold by street vendors there.
Bangkok Bureau reports what it calls significant gains in experience
in the use of in-house personal computers. The bureau is preparing the
monthly FSR's, budget messages, satellite and radio cruising messages,
the monthly report, cabinet and diplomatic lists, and finding other
administrative uses. Satellite cruising messages are nor done on
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diskettes as of September. About half the monitors are using PC's;
their items are edited on the PC's and are given to the teletypists,
who attach the ~ropriate message headers but no longer need to repunch
the messages.
ROSET wordage at Paraguay Bureau jumped from 13,600 in July to
19,500 in August,. to 58,250 in September, reflecting bureau coverage of
the Brazilian Government news agency, to ne~rscasts from Rio de Janeiro
Rede Globo television, and, in September, coverage of C~il,ean events
following the assassination attempt against Pinochet.
on 5 September.
Three employees at Panama Bureau have marked their silver
anniversa with FBIS: senior cruising monitor on 9 Jul ,
monitor on h August- and chief technician
The Key West city commission recently heard complaints from some
concerned citizens that the concrete marker at the official southernmost
point of the continental United States, which is just next door to the
new housing area for Key 1Vest Bureau, is a "place of iniquity" where
people indulge in "numerous illicit, immoral, and dangerous acts." The
bureau chief notes that the Navy fortunately long has had a fence
separating the U.S, property from the "lewd behavior, nudity, drint:ing,
and smoking of illicit substances." n
9
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~~
'25X1
5X1
25X~
25X1
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