MINES DIVERT MORE SHIPS, U.S. REPORTS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-01601R000300350056-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 13, 2000
• Sequence Number: 56
• Publication Date: May 13, 1972
• Content Type: NSPR

STATINTL
Approved For Release 200','/ i .?eli ~fDP80-01601 R000
i ~ MAY 1972
acs Divert-
.More Ships,
The' movement. of the two'
ships, however, could repre-
sent the start of a gradual So-
viet naval buildup.
Contrary to some reports
enot'ts ,from Hanoi, Friedheim said
.the North Vietnamese have
made no effort to clear the
By Michael Getler mines from their harbors and
Washington Post Staff Writer reiterated that Hanoi has no
North Vietnamese offensive;
which relies heavily on tanks,
trucks and mobile artillery'
and air defenses.
A Soviet end-run around the
Haiphong mitre fields would
get the fuel into"the area just
north of the border and sub-
ject it to bombing-the less
effective of the two-pronged
The Pentagon reported yes-I ships actually equipped to get U.S. effort to shut off the sup-
terday that "several more'', these deadly and hard to re-i plies.
move explosives out of their There were about 25 ships
ships" that were. en route to'harbors. heading toward North Viet-
North Vietnam have apjrar- Another sign that -Commu- narn before the mines were
ently been "diverted" because nist ships bringing supplies to laid, about half of them So-
of the U.S. mine barrier. !the North may go to China in. viet. About five or six turned
Pentagon spokesman ' Jerry stead was reported by The As- back toward the Soviet Far
1W. Friedheim announced the sociated Press from London East port of Vladivostok.
changes in the ship move- yesterday. Friedheim also disclosed
menns, but refused to provide According to the AP, senior yesterday that two and possi.
any information on their Communist diplomats there- bly three more ships got out
courses. unidentified in the report- of Haiphong just before the
Other sources said, however, named two South China ports mines were activated at 7 a.m.
that "it is possible, and it is !e-I that could., handle the ship (EDT) Thursday. These are in
gitintate speculation" that inents. They forecast that de addition to five ships that
soma Soviet bloc ships may be spite the continuing Sino-So-' were previously reported ash
' he.acfed for Chinese ports neaqviet feud, the U.S. mining poI- having left, That means that
North Vietnam to unload their!
cargoes for transshipment to'
.their original destination.
These sources caution that "it
is too early to, tell" with cer-
tainty.
If the ships do head for
China, it could signify a So-
viet intent to outflank the U.S.
to extension of the existing the mines in Haiphong
rail-supply agreement among At least one and possibly
China, Russia and North Viet- two of the three freighters
nam to include use of Chinese that also got out are Russian,
ports. The other was flying a Somali
The Soviets for years have flag. -
made extensive use of two Friedheim also revealed
main rail lines through China that two Chinese vessels were
mining operations while avoid- ,to North vetnam. bottled up in Vinh, and two
ing a naval confrontation with i rrt,,, i,.... ......4.. --1 1..,, ,.,,,, Cnvinf chine q4 f'.,n,.,i,., t,.,
Two Soviet warships-a
Cruiser and a missile-equipped
destroyer-were reported yes-
terday by the Japanese Self-
Defense Agency to be steam-
ing southward through the
Tsushima Stz=ait between
Japan and South Korea, an
area more than 1.500 miles
north of Hanoi.
The ships, from the Soviet
port of Vladivostok, were said' The CIA estimated then
to be the first Russian naval that "all of the war essential
l
vesse
seen going south imports could be brought into
Pakistani-Indian war last De-
cember.
But officials here said there
was no way to tell where they
were headed. They noted that
the ships were steaming at 10
.knots, far less than their top
speed of about 30 knots.
To pose any serious chal-
J
the vast U.S. arinada in the The CIA still contends that
area the Soviets would have' most of the actual awns--guns
to send scores of ships, planes, and ammunition-continues to
submarines and, most impor- arrive overland.
tantly, minesweepers. The major fuel, food and
So far, informed sources say I truck shipments arrive by sea
no major Soviet naval move-. through Haiphong. The fuel,
ment is underway nor do So-1, however, is viewed as particu
viet of Chinese minesweepers; tarty _ crucial to the current
appear to be headed toward
the area. Approved .For1Release 2001/03/04: CIA-RDP80-01601 R000300350056-3
Ch'iiilisien, both near major smaller coastal type freight-i
road and rail networks about ers, The two ports are among
100 miles north of Hanoi. six other relatively small bar-
Pelhat was mentioned along boys that were mined in addi-
with the larger ports of Can- tion to Haiphong.
ton and Fort Payard by he U.S. - Central Intelligence
Agency in its report to Presi-
dent Nixon's National Security
Councl in early 1969 on Viet-
Vietnam over rail lines or
roads. from Chifra in the event
that imports by sea were suc-
cessfully denied,"
The United States is now
heavily bombing those over-
land lines, but defense ana-
lysts. are far less convinced
that the bombing will work as
well as the mining to shut off
 STATINTL
Approved For Release 2001/03/04: CIA-RDP80-0160
MIDDLETOWN, CONN.
PRESS MAY 13 19 ' ,
E - 19,771
approaches will keep North Vietnam suf-
. One can only conclude that the Russians
ave decided that various combinations of
jagreement with the CIA assessment.
rtam work?
The CIA and the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
accordin lie Pentagon papers have dis-
g to
agreed. over the question for some time, pre-
sumably they still do. In March of 1968 a
Pentagon staff group working for Secretary
.of Defense Clark Clifford concluded: "It has
become abundantly clear that no level of
bombing can prevent the North Vietnamese
from... carrying on the war in the South". It
then went on to deal with mining: "The re-
maining.issue on interdiction of supplies has
to do with the closing of the port of Hai-
phong. Although this is the route by which
some 80 per cent of North Vietnamese im-
ports come into the country, it is not the
point of entry for most of the military sup-
plies and ammunition. These materials pre-
dominantly enter via the rail. routes from
China... In 1969, the CIA reaffirmed this po-
sition, and this was in the early days of the
Nixon administration. At that time, the
Joint Chiefs were reported in total dis-
one: Will mining the harbors of North Viet-,
here is no exact answer to the . practical
Will minning -shore ork` 07
Quite apart from all other questions,,
ficiently supplied, and they have probably
rightly concluded that the United States is
not about to engage in the air unarmed So-
viet supply planes, should it be necessary to
resort to an airlift. The U. S. itself has been
utilizing its huge cargo planes to replace
the 60 tanks which have been destroyed by
the North Vietnamese attackers, And just as
soon as the South Vietnamese can find the
tank crews that deserted, or were separated
from their units, the new 60 tanks will be in
action. The North has no such problems ---
its tank crews are no doubt assembled and
awaiting new tanks.
The sum and substance of it all is that
the chances look like alternate supply routes
can be developed, but the absolute state-
ment can not be made. This. is especially
true, because one study indicated that 21/2
times the amount of supplies that have ever
come into North Vietnam from all sources,
could be moved on existing rail and canal
lines from China. The process would `be
less efficient, but because supplies nor" in
North Vietnam are so extensive, there prob-
ably is time to get the new process ir> ac-
tion.. At the least, the Soviets have to be
in no hurry to find a solution, and i} fact.
they don't have to be reminded that none
of their men are dying as the war drags on.
Approved For Release 2001/03/04: CIA-RDP80-01601 R000300350056-3
 STATINTL
TEE OKL. AHO. ff?JI"80-0l Approve d For Release 2001 //R601 800030035
an 11 didate Critical Of Nixon
By STEVE DIMICK?
Of The Journal Staff,
U: S. senatorial hopeful Jed Johnson spent
more than two years as an undercover agent for
.the Central Intelligence Agency during the early
-19Ws, he said Friday.
Johnson said he carried on CIA activities
in more than a dozen Asian,, African and Latin
American countries while working for one of
the front organizations exposed in the "CIA
.on. campus" scandals in 1967.
The former Sixth District congressman Fri-
day released a copy of a speech he will de-
liver to the Oklahoma Jaycees convention Satur-
day, in which he reveals his CIA involvement.
He said a controversial trip to Cuba he made
-while a student at Oklahoma University which
,.was. later thrown back at. him during his 1964
congressional race, also as actually a gov-
ernment-sponsored "intelligence-gathering"
trip.
In his speech to the Jaycees, Johnson will
)"attack President Nixon's new interdiction pol-
icy against North. Vietnamese supply routes.
He bases his criticism largely on his knowledge
of be CIA, which reportedly has claimed that
the blockade-will not work.
Johnson quotes from the "Kissinger Papers,"
a. secret, government study conducted by the
CIA and other' information gathering groups
and made public by columnist Jack Ander-
son two weeks ago. The study reported the
CIA's belief that no amount of ' interdiction
will be. successful in stopping the flow of war
'materiel to North Vietnam.
"I am personally acquainted in some depth
with the degree of precision that the CIA oper-
ates within its intelligence activities, because
1 worked under contract as a covert agent for
the CIA prior to my election to the Congress,"
'Johnson said.
"At that time, the CIA had extremely de-
-tailed information on such things as which
hand an obscure African provincial chief
.would eat with and the vintage of his favorite
twines," he said.
"I am convinced after reading the Kissinger
4Papers that the CIA estimates of-our capacity
to interdict supplies was done with similar at
;tention to precision and gave absolutely no
treason for encouragement that this military
`action will successfully bring the war to a con-
elusion."
In an interview with The Oklahoma Jour-
nal before his announcement Saturday, John-
son said he worked for the CIA from 1962 to
1964. He said his experience as an agent has
caused him to have "complete faith" in the
,
, pr
CIA's assessments of various situations and ters.
"I know that the CIA is very, very meticu-
lous and careful in its evaluations and is ac-
curate and precise," he said. "I also did get information on what the
"The point is, if the CIA has given such an political ideology was of up-and-coming poli.
evaluation lof the Vietnam blockade), I know tical leaders," he said.
'
they
ve done a thorough assessment of the sit-
uation. They're very capable people and are
not political; they're very apolitical.
"While I was never involved in CIA
operations in Southeast Asia, I know per-
sonally that they literally can tell you the
minutest details about minor African political
figures and I'm sure they have done the same.
type of investigation in Vietnam," Johnson
said.
Johnson" said he was not at liberty to dis-
overseas," he said.
He came back to the U.S. early in 1964, on
leave from the Foundation, and then resigned
from the organization before he made his suc-
cessful race for Congress.
Johnson served in Congress from 1-964-66.
He said the "whistle was blown" on the cover
. Johnson- balked at the word "propaganda"
when asked whether his job entailed more
gathering of information or disseminating
propaganda.
"It involved a lot of both," he said. "But we
'
were
never told what to say by the CIA. We
were never giver- any orders about what to say
in a speech.
I was simply a youth leader telling them what
we believe, why . our' economic system is the
Johnson's undercover activity began when he
which later returned to haunt him during his
congressional race in 1964.
"There were charges made during the cam-
paigning that I? had, taken this trip with other
student leaders in defiance of the State De
partment," he said. ''This was untrue. The
trip was sponsored by the U.S. government.
"I was asked by people -in the State Depart-
ment to make the trip to get information about.
what was going on," he said.
of the dummy foundation In 1967. At the time the-group?of young student lead-
"I'm still not sure how much I'm at liberty made the trip, shortly after the Cuban re-
to tell you," he said. y volution, "we -didn't know that things in Cuba
The former he
student .leader at the University would go the way they went," Johnson said.
was to
He said Oklahoma said he was approached by the CIA 'debate o gnot r his missions
!referred to among agents as ",the firm"I in young Communist ~leaiiers in Cuba.
1962, a after his However, he was not able to reveal in 1964
year graduation from col that he had known in 1959 that the Cuban trip
lege, was a government-sponsored one.
"They contacted you to see if you were in-
terested and then did. a very thorough security "It was a very interesting experience, but
clearance," he said. "Later, you were taken it was frustrating that I couldn't rebut some of
to a hotel room where you had to sign an oath the charges made against me," he said..
saying you would not divulge any secrets or '.`As a result of that trip and some other ac-
critical information. . tivities I was involved in, I was later asked to,
"After that, I was what they call `under become an agent for the CIA."
contract' to the CIA until I resigned," he During his years as an agent, tinder the
said. code name "Mr. Page" ("I chose that name
"It was fascinating work," he said. .-If I. because I had been a page in the Senate and
hadn't run for Congress, I might have made thought it would be easy to remember,"),
a, career out of the CIA." he was at liberty to tell only his wife of his
Johnson said he actually worked for the U.S. activities.
Youth Council, which was funded by the Foun- "There were a couple of agents befo
re me
dation for Youth and Student Affairs, which in who had just disappeared," he said.
turn was funded by the CIA. Johnson says he still has faith in the per-
His duties, about which he was never too suasive and example type of diplomacy, the
specific, involved basically being a sort of good-. former the kind he said is practiced by the
will ambassador-cum-spy.
CIA
.
"I led delegations of yoqng Americans to de-
veloping nations and'spoke before various le
gislative assemblies," he. said, "We met with
leaders of countries
presidents
ime minis-
close his former CIA ties while he was a mem-
ber of Congress because the Foundation for
Youth and Student Affairs, the dummy foun-
dation for which he worked, was still in busi-
ness.
"For me to say anything would have literal-
ly endangered the lives of some of our people
. in the ?aaencvAp?p?jgd ftiorRel ease ?2W1J02J0AianGA4kQW 191&01 R000300350056-3
rupathi, India, I debated- a. couple of older