LETTER OF INFORMATION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83-00586R000300260008-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 21, 2013
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: May 25, 1967
• Content Type: MEMO

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Naar S-E-C-R-E-T Nier
25 May 1967
MEMORANDUM FOR: Staff Personnel
SUBJECT: Letter of Information
GENERAL
1. Reorganization of FBIS: The reorganization of FBIS, with operating
components divided into two areas under the Chief of Production and the
Chief of Operations, took effect as projected on 1 May. A revised
"Designation of Cfficers" notice was issued 24 April to indicate key
appointments under the new structure. Initially the relocation of offices
was minimal, with the office of the Chief of Production in ROOM 412 and that
oR the Chief of Operations in Room 1104, Key Building. The existing
allocation of space will later be modified to provide a more efficient
layout of offices conforming to the new organization. (FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY)
2. Arab-Israeli Crisis: At the request of the State Department
Operations Center, the FBIS Wire Service on 23 May filed the monitored texts
of Nasir's 22 May speech on the blockade of the Gulf of Aqaba and the
23 May Soviet Government statement on the Middle East crisis to the U.N.
delegation in New York. Ambassador Goldberg had asked the Department for
the immediate dispatch of these texts for his use. The Nasir speech had
been filed by the Mediterranean Bureau, and the Soviet statement from the
London Bureau. (CONFIDENTIAL)
3. African Bureau Situation: The African Bureau successfully covered
the 17 April abortive coup in Ghana despite an outage of normal
communications. High precedence messages on the coup were handcarried
to the American Consulate and transmitted from there, being received
in Headquarters within a few hours of punching time. Communications
nonetheless remained a serious problem, with the local landline and the
microwave channel to Lagos out solidly between 11 and 30 April, Priority
and higher traffic was transmitted from the consulate, with tapes of
routine traffic airmailed to Lagos. Plans moved ahead to supply the
African Bureau with a VHF communications link between the bureau and the
Nigerian P&T terminal in Kaduna provided the Nigerian Government grants
permission. The bureau has also been authorized to install two miles of
overhead lines to replace the underground leg between the two points in
Kaduna. (CONFIDENTIAL)
4. Cyprus Situation: Employees of American installations in Cyprus
were put under tight travel restrictions in April when fighting erupted
Group I
Excluded from automatic down-
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Name Nue
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SUBJECT: Letter of Information, 25 May 1967
between Cypriot National Guardsmen and Turkish fighters near the village of
Mari, on the Nicosia-Limassol road. The dust had scarcely settled over
the Mari outbreak when the 21 April coup in Greece brought another period
of uncertainty, with American installations in Cyprus on emergency standby
until after the critical Orthodox Easter weekend, 28 April-1 May, which
passed without incident. (CONFIDENTIAL)
5. Bangkok Bureau: The arrival of an Indonesian-Malay monitor at the
Bangkok Bureau on 18 May from Saigon completed the transfer of non-
Vietnamese coverage from Saigon to Bangkok. The Okinawa Bureau's Burmese
monitor will also be transferred to the new Bangkok operation. Among the
bureau's initial efforts were the processing of a speech by Thai dissident
leader Phayome Chulanon over Peking's international service, and the
slipplying of recordings in the Meo language from the Hanoi and Pathet Lao
radios for USIS Thailand. To backstop the bureau's allocated circuit to
Saigon, action is being taken to provide the bureau with access to the
common-user system. (CONFIDENTIAL)
6. Vietnam Services: In connection with the tense military situation
developing in the northern portions of South Vietnam, the Saigon Bureau
responded to a request from the Joint U.S. Public Affairs Office in Saigon
for monitored summaries of the main local news programs of Radio Hue for the
next three months.
Among a number of special services on Vietnam provided by the
Propaganda Analysis Division, a compilation of Hanoi propaganda pickups of
statements by U.S. officials and other prominent Americans, culled from
material phblished in the Daily Reports since January, was prepared for
the Director of INR, Department of State. PAD also issued a second
followup to the March report listing Hanoi propaganda claims of civiliah
casualties from U.S. air strikes against North Vietnam, in response to a
standing request from the State Department. Background on some aspects of
the Soviet public position on a protracted armed struggle by the Viet Cong
was supplied to the White House. General background on Hanoi's public
position on a political settlement was provided for the National Indications
Center in response to an inquiry about an article in the April issue of Hoc
Tap by DRV Foreign Minister Nguyen Duy Trinh. (CONFIDENTIAL)
7. Epecial Services: Two White House requests for translated material
were filled during the past month. One was an editorial in the Finnish
Communist Party paper Kansan Uutiset 20 April calling for more "diplomatic
flexibility" on the past of the Viet Cong. The Western Europe/Africa Branch
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%of S-E-C-R-E-T Nod
SUBJECT: Letter of Information, 25 May 1967
of the Europe/Africa/Latin America Division translated for the White House a
spoof entitled, "At Adenauer's Funeral?De Gaulle-Johnson Conference for
Eternal Peace," which had appeared in the French satirical weekly Canard
Enchaine on 26 April. (FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY)
At the request of Assistant Secretary of State William Bundy, an
interview on Vietnam with Australian correspondent Burchett, broadcast by
Radio Prague and filed by the London Bureau 6 May, was sent to the U.S.
Embassy in Saigon. (FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY)
The Okinawa Bureau is supplying, for an Organization component
interested in Sino-Soviet broadcasts to Afghanistan, program summaries of
Moscow in Afghan-Persian and Pushtu. (CONFIDENTIAL)
8. Lateral Services: Beginning 3 May, the Voice of America newsroom
in Washington began receiving directly by wire from FBIS field bureaus
material on Latin America and Africa. The Chief of the News Division of
VOA later confirmed the value to VOA of the faster service. The material
which was not filed on the FBIS Wire Service had previously been supplied
to VOA by courier. (FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY)
The Tokyo Bureau supplied an Organization component with the
videotape of a Tokyo television film, "Along Route One," dealing with Vietnam.
The bureau is now videotaping daily six regular Tokyo television newscasts
in addition to selected documentaries and features as a service to a
local consumer and an Organization component. (CONFIDENTIAL)
At Mediterranean Bureau request, the London Bureau during the Greek
crisis filed material from the "Voice of Truth," the Greek-language
clandestine radio, to the American Embassy in Nicosia. The Mediterranean
Bureau, in response to a State Department requirement, filed to the American
Embassy in Cairo all Radio Cairo reports and comment on U.S.-Yemen
differences. (FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY)
The Tokyo Bureau is sending its daily roundup of Japanese press
items on China to the American Consulate General in Hong Kong and the
Political Section of the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo as well as to Headquarters
where it is carried on the Wire Service. (FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY)
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Nome NINO
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SUBJECT: Letter of Information, 25 May 1967
9. Press Exploitation: The Western Europe/Africa Branch of the
Europe/Africa/Latin America Division contributed to OCR's projected
Biographic Handbook on Upper Volta with photographs and biographic data
on members of the new Upper Volta Government. (CONFIDENTIAL)
Processing of the first of the Voyennaya Mysl (Military Thought)
publications recently received was completed 2 May; 86 pages of this issue
will be published as a Foreign Documents Translation Report. The first
of a new unclassified series, "Translations on USSR Fishing and
Oceanography," composed mainly of translations prepared on a reimbursable
basis for the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, Department of Interior, by
the contractual facility, was published 3 May. Selections by the USSR
Division on fishing and oceanography will be included in the series as
appropriate. An item on oil prospecting in the Arctic, extracted from
Sovetskaya Latviya by the USSR Division, served as the basis for an article
in the OSI Surveyor of 24 April; the same issue included data from an
article treating the need for centralized control in computer development.
(SECRET)
At the request of the Collection Guidance Staff, the serial
publication, Press Information Report on Iran, will be continued another
year. CGS described the publication, issued by the contractual facility,
as a "very useful addition to the reporting on Iran" in that it "contains
information rarely reported elsewhere." (CONFIDENTIAL)
At the request of the Agriculture Branch of ORB, Asia Division
analysts completed a 93-page statistical report from 1957 issues of three
provincial Chinese newspapers that will provide a new base for computing
agricultural production. A collated report on "Administrative Divisions
-of Mongolia" was published in FPIR-Far East on 5 May. Twenty-eight pages
of information on overseas Chinese organizations in Cuba were included in
FPIR-Latin America. (CONFIDENTIAL)
The Mediterranean Bureau at Headquarters request processed from an
Athens newspaper the names of 279 Greek organizations banned by the new
regime--the fastest means Headquarters had of obtaining this information.
It was disseminated in raw form and will be published by the contractual
facility. (CONFIDENTIAL)
10. Use of FBIS Material: The Department of State sent an airgram
to U.S. diplomatic posts in Latin America urging that greater use be made
of FBIS material in countering communist bloc activities in Latin America.
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Noe
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SUBJECT: Letter of Information, 25 May 1967
The airgram describes FBIS services, gives details on communist broadcasting
to Latin America, and states that each post will be added to the distribution
of the USSR/East Europe Daily Report and the Survey of Communist Propaganda
to keep them better informed. Bureaus covering communist broadcasts to
Latin America will be sent a copy of the airgram. Further, on the basis
of information in the FPIR-Latin America of 4 April, the State Department
sent an airgram to Latin America posts asking for biographic information
on Henri Edme, who had attackbd the revolutionary theories of Regis Debray.
Edme's writings had been reported by Latin America Branch/EAD from a
Havana publication. (CONFIDENTIAL)
An unusually large number of State Department cables referred to
FBIS. The American Embassy in Bangkok made its first reference to Bangkok
Bureau material in commenting on Cambodian material monitored by the
"local FBIS bureau" on 3 May. References in messages to and from embassies
in the Middle East included a Department request that Jordan be asked to
refrain from public statements on U.S.-Yemeni differences, the Jordanian
broadcasts having been reported by the Mediterranean Bureau. The American
Embassy in Jidda compiled a resume of anti-Saudi Arabian material broadcast
by Radio Cairo and monitored by FBIS between 22 January and 31 March to
document a report on a UAR propaganda campaign to undermine King Faisal's
regime. (SECRET)
The Navy Bureau of Personnel reported that a Hanoi press
transmission supplied by FBIS on the capture of Douglas Hegdahl, who fell
overboard from the cruiser Canberra off North Vietnam, was the first word
that Hegdahl was a prisoner. (FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY)
11. Consumer Surveys; In view of the extensive interest in Asia
Division coverage of Red Guard newspapers and handbills, a survey of
consumers was conducted to determine the need for continuing the "Review
of the Vietnam Situation in Jen-min' Jih-pao," periodically included in
FPIR-Far East. Major consumers agreed there was no longer need for the
review although they had found it useful. (CONFIDENTIAL)
The Mediterranean Bureau completed a survey of its lateral
consumers to confirm the responsiveness of its services to their
requirements. (FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY)
A survey of consumer use of the Soviet/East Europe Roundup indicated
that publication in the Daily Report was no longer necessary. Henceforth
this roundup will be disseminated in Headquarters solely by the Wire
Service. (FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY)
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Nod S-E-C-R-E-T Nale
SUBJECT: Letter of Information, 25 May 1967
12. Reports and Supplements: The USSR and East Europe Daily Report
issued five supplements totaling 353 pages containing the texts of two
Ulbricht speeches and information on the SED Congress. Two of these
supplements had been prepared in finished form--translation, editing, typing
on mats?and airmailed by the German Bureau. The procedure may provide a
model for similar treatment by other bureaus.
PAD Special Report CD.276 discussed the debate over the role
of the military in the new Soviet command structure. (CONFIDENTIAL)
13. Daily Retort Procedures: To enable the Publications Division to
process more copy and to devote more time to training new editors, Daily
Report editors' responsibilities were redefined. Experienced Headquarters
editors no longer repolish field copy but concentrate on its substance.
As a preliminary to merger of the two typing sections, Daily Report and
Foreign Press Information Report section supervisors exchanged roles, and
twelve Press typists were trained in Daily Report typing. A pilot project
aimed at training selected typists to add stylistic elements on minimally-
edited copy was initiated. The Processing Branch became responsible for
pagination and editors were allowed to discontinue line counting. Plans
were made to locate all Publications Division typists and editors on the
same floor. (FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY)
14. Publications Distribution: Arrangements were completed to
centralize in the Liaison and Requirements office the distribution records
and related coordination activity for Daily Reports, Foreign Press
Information Reports, the Consolidated Translation Survey, and two
biographic card projects. L&R coordinates quantity and address changes
directly with the Printing Services Division rather than through OCR/
Dissemination. (FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY)
15. Renaming of EAD Branches: Following the reorganization of FBIS on
1 May, the Europe/Africa/Latin America Division (EAD) renamed its
components as follows: the North East European Satellites Section (NES)
became the East Germany/Poland Branch (EPB); the Mid East European Satellites
Section (MES) became the Czechoslovakia/Hungary Branch (CHB); the South
East European Satellites Section (SES) became the Balkan Branch (BB); the
Western Europe/Africa Section (WEAS) became the Western Europe/Africa
Branch (WEAB); the Latin America Section became the Latin America Branch
(LAB); and the Special Service Section (SSS) became the Language Services
Branch (LSB). (CONFIDENTIAL)
16. Commendations: The Chief, Assignments Branch, Division of
International Affairs, Atomic Energy Commission, in a letter 3 May
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Nair 'NW
SUBJECT: Letter of Information, 25 May 1967
commended the USSR Division for a "splendid job" in translating portions
of a book for AEC Chairman Seaborg. The official added that "the Chairman's
office appreciates the fine service given by your office in accommodating
these requests." (FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY)
17. Briefings and Visits: On 10 April Maj..Gen. Charles J. Denhoim,
Commanding General, U.S. Army Security Agency, and several other officers
visited the Hokkaido Bureau. 0/PPB, visited Caversham
26 April for a briefing on London Bureau and BBC operations.
Messrs. Carl Fischer and William Mitchell of the Bureau of the u et, and
Howard Stoddardman of the Department of Defense, visited Mediterranean
Bureau I May. (CONFIDENTIAL) Mr. Charles J. Curran, BBC Director, External
Broadcasting, and Mr. P.G.F. Sewell, new head of the BBC monitoring unit
in Hong Kong, were briefed at the London Bureau. (FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY)
Gerard A. Donohue, VOA program director for Thailand and Vietnam,
visited the Bangkok Bureau 21 April. Mr. Ed Burgini, director of VOA
Munich, visited the German Bureau 14 April to discuss mutual communications
problems. The Chief, Key West Bureau, briefed Rear Adm. Frederick J. Brush,
USN, new commandant of the Key West base, on 21 April. (FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY)
18. Progress Reports: Progress reports submitted by field bureaus
should be addressed to the Chief of Operations. (UNCLASSIFIED)
FIELD OPERATIONS
19. Field Bureau Production: Several field bureaus recorded unusually
productive months during April. Extensive coverage of the Punta del Este
Conference pushed East Coast Bureau's publishable wordage to more than half
a million, highest monthly total output since March 1963, and Panama
Bureau's productivity to 15,000 words per day during the 12-15 April period.
Radio and press coverage of the 17-21 April Seventh SED Congress yielded a
combined total of 262,400 words produced by the German Bureau, of which
188,400 were wirefiled and 74,000 sent to Headquarters on multilith mats.
London Bureau's daily average wordage during April was 71,600, highest
since October 1961. (FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY)
20. Chinese Coverage: Seasonal deterioration of reception of Chinese
regional radios in Okinawa has continued. A survey of reception at the
Bangkok Bureau indicates only one program that could be covered better
than at other bureaus. To permit augmentation of Chinese coverage at the
Hokkaido Bureau, one monitor has been transferred from Okinawa on TDY and
a second will be transferred on PCS. (ODNFIDENTIAL)
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Nagir S-E-C-RZE-T
SUBJECT: Letter of Information, 25 May 1967
21. MOS Support: The Monitoring Operations Section supplied the State
Department and the Federal Communications Commission with information
for projects on interference and propaganda from high-powered Cuban
transmitters that are causing problems in the United States, Caribbean,
and Latin American countries: The material is for Congressional
presentations and international negotiations: (FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY)
22. Broadcasting Developments: Radio Moscow made its change to higher,
summertime frequencies on 20 April, adding two new languages to its
broadcast schedule, Telugu and Afghan-Persian: FBIS has no capability in .
Telugu, which is a Dravidian language of South Central India, but is covering
the Afghan-Persian. With the introduction of the summer schedules; Moscow
.
more than doubled its Mandarin output: As of 15 May, Peking was broadcasting
315 hours weekly in Russian and Moscow 185 hours weekly in Mandarin: Red
China's broadcasts in international and offshore services totaled 1,323
hours weekly as of 1 May, second among world broadcasters in volume of
output (with the USSR remaining first). (FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY).
ENGINEERING
23: Field Bureau Construction: The construction contract for the
Caribbean Bureau is now estimated to be 65 percent completed. The
projected completion date is now 13 September 1967; although the official
GSA-approved contract completion date is 7 August 1967. Installation of
the microwave system began 18 Aril. (FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY)
The contract for the erection of the FBIS IYUSAHOMES" it the new
Hokkaido Bureau site was signed in mid-April. By 24 April ten of the
housing units had been delivered to the site. (UNCLASSIFIED)
24. Line Counters: Operational tests on the solid state teletype
line counters designed to replace the mechanical counters have been
completed and Cooke Engineering Co. has been authorized to produce 25
solid state counters. Delivery is expected within 60 days and will meet
the outstanding requirements of field bureaus. (UNCLASSIFIED)
ADMINISTRATION
25. Training: The following personnel attended training courses
during the reporting period: (CONFIDENTIAL)
23-28 April:
Chief of Operations; Senior Management Seminar,
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Nist Not
SUBJECT: 'Letter of IafOrtation, 25 May 1967
Chief of the Czechoslovakia/Hungary Branch,
Europe/Africa/Latin Amends Division; Mid-Career Executive Development,
10-19 May. ?
7
Chief Economic Branch,USSR Division, Management
Chief, Wire Services Staff, 'Defense Intelligence
Agency Orientation-Projeet HELPFUL, 9-10 May. .
26. "Area Familiarization:;
EuroPe/Africa/Latia America Division, departed
30 4411:tFia7aea familiarization tour of Scandinavia. (CONFIDENTIAL)
c 27. .Regulatori-IssuanCesr'The-follOWing regulatory issuances were
disseminated: (CONFIDENTIAL)
PERSONNEL (CONFIDENTIAL)
28.' New Employees
AasignMent
Editor,.M/AF/WE/LA Branch,, Publications
Division
Teletype Operator, Wire Services Staff
DOcument Analyst, USSR Division
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29:
Reassignments".
From
To
(Rotation)
Document Analyst, Europe50X1
Africa/Latin America
Division
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ler S-E-C-R-E-T
SUBJECT: Letter of Information, 25 May 1967
Reassignments (Conted) From
(Rotation)
30. Resignations
31. Retirement
Editor
Publications Division
Editor
Mediterranean Bureau
Editor
Publications Division
Editor
Publications Division
Editor
Publications Division
Editor
London Bureau
Cruising Monitor
East Coast Bureau
From
To
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Document Analyst, Europe/
Africa/Latin America
Division.(Ohief, FLASO)
.Editor
Caribbean Bureau
Editor
Wire Services Staff
Editor
Bangkok Bureau
Editor
London Bureau
Editor
German. Bureau
Editor, USSR/EE Br.,
Publications Division
Cruising Monitor
Caribbean Bureau
Document Analyst, Europe/Africa/Latin America
Division '
From
Document Analyst
Document An
ROGER G. SLY
Direator
Foreign Broadcast Information Service
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