LETTER OF INFORMATION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83-00586R000300270014-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 15, 2013
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: January 26, 1968
• Content Type: MEMO

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/15: CIA-RDP83-00586R000300270014-7
Ns, Nwe
S-E-C-R-E-T
.26 January 1968
MEMORANDUM FOR: Staff Personnel
SUBJECT: Letter of Information
GENERAL
1. Pueblo Incident: The Okinawa Bureau monitored the first ?
Pyongyang Radio announcement on the seizure of the USS Pueblo at
.1040 GMT 23 January, with the item clearing the Wire'Service,21
minutes later. Coverage of North Korea was immediately intensified
with subsequent material on the Crisis carri the Wire Service
well in advance of press agency reporting. 50)6
? Okinawa's monitoring of an alleged "confession" by the
Pueblo commander, Comdr. Lioyd-M.'Bucher, occasioned widespread
activity directed toward obtaining a tape of the broadcast in
Washington as rapidly as possible. Both the Department of Defense
and White House expressed urgentinterest on a high level, and the
National Military Command Center arranged for SAC aircraft to bring
the tape from Okinawa to Washington. The recording was also 1 ?
transmitted by military voice circuits from Okinawa.' West Coast 50X1
Bureau, which intercepted a rebroadcast, also Made Special arrange-
.ments for delivery by plane, The Defense Department subse uentl
issued a statement based on the FBIS-monitored recording,
On 26 JanuaryAbe State Department issued a statement
concerning North Korean threats to "punish" the Pueblo crew, also
based on FBIS monitoring. 50X1
2. ?Cyprus Situation: While the agreement on withdiawal of
"illegal! troops from Cyprus removed the immediate 'threat of war
and permitted a return to normal living and working,eonditionst.it
contributed nothing to a solution of underlying Cyprus political .
problems., Another serious.threat deVeloped over Ns* 'Year's weekend
when the Turkish- Cypriot leadership apnouheed formation of.a
visional administration!' for,the'Turkish community. The nuisance
bombings. that occurred in Kyienia during the crisis were ended through
a.eombiriation of .strict? police surveillance and'nighttiMe patrolling
by police' and civil, defense volunteers. 50X1
Group 1 ' ? '
Excluded trot automatic down-
grading and declassification
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/15: CIA-RDP83-00586R000300270014-7
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/15: CIA-RDP83-00586R000300270014-7
Nwe Ns,
SUBJECT: Letter of Information, 26 January 1968
3. Caribbean Bureau: .The overall building contract for the.
Caribbean Bureau is now more than 98 percent completed, with the
final inspection date set for 27 February. All rooms of the operations
building are now in use. Monitors, editors, and teletypists moved into
the new building '3 January.. The Naval Research Laboratory began
extensive tests utilizing the new Wire Grid Lens antenna on 10 January.
The phased transfer of all East Coast Bureau coverage to the Caribbean
Bureau will be completed by 18 Mar a total of
25 Staff employees were on duty.
SERVICES AND REQUIREMENTS
4. Special Services: In response to an urgent Organization'
requirement, the Wire Service carried the entire 11-take text of
Fidel Castro'S 2 January speech reporting fuel shortages in Cuba,
? which had been monitored by the Key West and East Coast Bureaus. ' The
East Coast Bureau also. supplied copies of new Anatolia News Agency casts
%from Turkey for USIA. Other Special services included the supplying'
of material to Congressman Melvin Laird and Sen. Clinton Anderson;
material for the State Department on a Moscow attack on Ethiopia for
receiving Vice Pr?dent Humphrey; and a tape of U.S. prisoners in North
Vietnam singing Christmas carols, provided by the East Coast Bureau for
. Voice of America from a Havana broadcast. During the Greek crisis,
the London Bureau provided the U.S. Embassy London with monitored
-reports on developments and the U.S. Naval Attache in London with
special Soviet materials.
5. Sihanouk Statements: The 1 January?Phnom Penh press conference
in which Cambodia's Prince Sihanouk denied giving permission for U.S.
troops to cross the Cambodian border in hot pursuit was broadcast at
0002 GMT 1 January and an FYI was carried on the Wire Service at 0128
GMT, beating press agencies by 14 hours. Significant references to
Ambassador Bowles' activities were also supplied to the U.S. embassies
in Dapgkok and New Delhi, and cable traffic from Bangkok indicated the
State Department depended on FBIS monit rim on of the
Cambodian release On the Bowles visit.
6. Coordination of POW Information: Community interest in
information on U.S. prisoners of war in'North Vietnam remains high,
but unintentional duplication of effort by U.S. agencies is a
continuing problem. PHIS has sought to acquaint other USIB components
with the extent of the FBIS collection effort. In early January the
Liaison and Requirements Office briefed members of the interagenc
- 2 -
S-E-C-R-E,T
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/15: CIA-RDP83-00586R000300270014-7
50X1
50X1
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/15 : CIA-RBP83-00586R000300270014-7
8-E-C-R-E-T
SUBJECT: Letter of Information, 26 January 1968
POW committee regarding FBIS services on POW matters, and State .
Department officers were also briefed after indications that the
Embassy in Bonn was duplicating efforts of the German Bureau in
obtaining television picutres. Field bureaus are asked to provide
a full trajoscription and complete tape recording of any own-voice
songs or poems by POW's; identification of POW's is now being-attempted
through voice-print techniques. To centralize handling and dissemination,
an Organization acilitv is reproducing tape recordings received from
field bureaus.
7. Support of U.S. Missions At the request of an Organization
component, pertinent FBIS-monitored material relating to a Latin
American cultural conference held in Havana from 4-11 January was
filed laterallY to more that 20 U.S. Embassies in the Latin America
area.
8.. Propaganda Analysis: A Special Memorandum was prepared by
PAD in response to a request from an Organization component for a
study of Sovigt,Propaganda on foreign bases with a view to identifying
any chane: in the official line: PAD found no evidence of significant
change.
Speeial Report RS. 85, "The Bolivian Guerrilla Adventure,"
documented Cuban, Latin American communist, and other communist ,
propaganda on the seven-month guerrilla movement that collapsed with
Che Guevara's-death. Soviet press photographs were examined in
Special Report RS. 86 for indications of the rankings of junior
members of the CPSU Politburo. ,Special :Report RS. 87, "New Quotations
from Mao Tse-tung," was a compilation af statements by Mao given initial
release in CPR provincial media during'1966'ind 1967;
Items prepared by PAD for the FBIS Wire included a roundup of
propaganda on statements of the South Vietnam National Liberation Front
missions in foreign countries, background on recent statements by DRV
Foreign Minister Trinh regarding negotiations and information on CPR
regional radio behavior.
9. . Press and .Document Exploitation. The London PMU began
operating from its Wembley Park offices on 13 December, .PMV teletype
equipment had been connected by leased duplex circuit te the Embassy's:
unclassified teletype room on the 12th. One Polish,.onegAlbanian, and
? '
- 3 -
S-E-C-R-E-T
I Declassd in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/15: CIA-RDP83-00586R000300270014-7
50X1
50X1
50X1
50X1
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/15: CIA-R5P83-00586R000300270014-7
mfte
N1.0
SUBJECT: . Letter.of-Information,. 26 January 1968
'four. Russian' press monitors :entered on duty during' the menthe ,
With the issues of 19'January the PMU.Was cOvering'a'total Of 12
.Soviet newspapers. On'8.January, the Chief of PrauctiOn sentA
'letter of evaluation:and guidance to' PMU noting the unit's Continued
progress and good quality of.the product.
The Language Services:Branch'of EAD translated:somAEngiish
.texts on Chinese Missile tests into Spanish on a priority basis for
an Organization component. The material was SUbsequently Used by
Organization officers at a briefing in'Spain'for cabinet-level
officials.
The.USSR Division translated 160 pages of selected material
from:two issues of the tightly-controlled Soviet journal Military'
?Mount. The Division also 'translated some Russian correspondence
received by the American Society for.Teating'Materials, and furnished
.0SI with a translation of a French classified'document providing
pathological data.on presumed gas victims in Yemen. The Division
.also expeditiously translated a Lithuanian newspaper interview with
a Soviet cosmonaut after a Western news agency-quoted'the.CosmonaUt
as stating that the Soviet Union was planning a110-man Spacesbot in
1968; the FBIS translatioi revealed the news agency story to-be a
distortion of the facts.
During the month ieadquarters received 84 Red Guard'hewsp4ters,
45 miscellaneous bulletins and leaflets, and 118 issues of secret
People's Liberation Army and militia publications from Communist China'.
in Iraq, a new press law abolished existing newspapers and henceforth
publications will be authorized only by .the Ministry of Guidance and
'Culture; FBIS received two of the five new titles authorized by the law.
Asia Division provided an Organization component with a priority
translation of a BeirutSt_artithedowning of a Soviet
Aircraft by Yemeni Royalists.
- -
S-E-C-R-F-T
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/15 : CIA-R0P83-00586R000300270014-7
50X1
50X1
50X1
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/15: CIA-R5P83-00586R000300270014-7
\-w
'SUBJECT: Letter of Information,'26 January 1968
PUBLICATIONS
10. *Larger DailY.Report: On 22 Jenuaiy the Daily Report was.
expanded'from six to' seven books with separation of the USSR &.East
Europe repdit into the :Daily Report "Eastern Europe" (orange cover)
and the Daily Report "Soviet Union" '(salmon cover). FdUr former
Foreign Press Digest dailies and two semi-veeklies were diecontinued
and their items will be included either in the Daily Report or in a
contractual publication. This aehieves a major goal of merging radio
and press monitoring material. The Soviet Union book has a new Table
of Contents breakdown; International.Affairs, Domestic Affairs,
Economic Affairs, Scientific Affairs, and Military Affairs. The
Eastern Europe book :lbw presents countries alphabetically'. "Hriefe"
will be presented in any available spade as "fillers." .The area books
will Continue to be printed overnight, while the White Book; limited
to 70 pages; will be dietributed with a one day lag. This procedure
provides 70 additional pages of text for the Daily Report, a total of
376 pages daily, or nearly 50% more than ayear ago. Further, FBIS
is attempting to obtain a page allocation from PSD which will permit
any area book to reach the 88-page maximum on any given day:
U. Reaction Snort: A Special Memorandum; "Foreign Radio and
Press Reaction to President Johnson's State Of the Union Message,?
was pUblished 22 January through the joint efforts of the Publications
and Propaganda Analysis Divisions. At the request of the White House,
advance co ies were delivered to high-level officiale.
12. Supplements: Seven "Supplements" to the Daily Report were .
published in the past month: "Text Of Spedch by kiM 4-Song to Fourth
Supreme Peoples Assembly on 16 December 1967 preeenting DPRIC Government
Political Program," dated 21 December 1967, 39 pages; "Materials on
Soviet Republic Party Central Committee Plenums,' October-November
1967;" dated 27 December 1967, 57 paged; "Materials. on.6-8 December
National Conference of the Rumanian Communiet Party ,7 Part II, dated
29 December 1967,.84 nages (typed on mats by the Austrian Bureau and
airmailed to Headquarters for pUblicatiOn); "Materials on 20-22 December
Session of the Huhgariap.National.AsseMbly," dated 5 January, 59 pages;
"Materials on 50th Anniversary'of the Soviet State Security Organs,"
dated 10 January 1968,-58 pages; "Materiels on 26.-28 December Session of
50X1
50X1
50X1
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/15: CIA-RDP83-00586R000300270014-7
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/15: CIA-RDP83-00586R000300270014-7
S-E-C-R-E-T
. . ? ?
SUBJECT: Letter of Information, 26 January 1968
the Rumanian Grand National Assembly," dated 11 January 1968, 55
pages; "Materials on Ukrainian SSR 50th Anniversary Festivities,"
? dated 19 January 1968, 72 pages.
13.. Quality Control: A new quality control procedure designed
.tb improve the accuracy of tranilations and the style of presentation
of the domestic contractual facilitios publications wad formalized at
the beginning of the year. The;first translations by new contractors
'are being checked by linguists in the area divisions, whose findings
' will be fed back to the contractor through the Publications Division.
A review of material: translated by veteran, and more frequently used
=tractors is also being undertaken.
FIELD OPERATIONS
14. Okinawa Communications: The Okinawa. Bureauinitiated full
scale use of .SATRAP, the automatic tape relay device, for processing
MA's English radioteletype,file on-6 December. By the end of
December the bureau had processed 215 items through SATRAP, or
approximately 80% of the SCNA English file for the period.
50X1
50X1
50X1
' 15. Panama Communications: A dedicated teletype circuit between
Headquarters and' the Panama Bureau has been reineited through the
Office of Communications and the Defense Communications System.
Bccessive delays in the receipt at Headquarters of high priority
traffic via., the cOtmon-user system, and occr Ionel corm lete loss of
messages have made this action necessary.
? ? 16. Hokkaido-Tokyo Voice. Circuit: An equalizing amplifier has
been installed at-the Tokyo end of the Hokkaido voice feed line that
is being used experimentally for recording programs in Tokyo which
are received better- at Hokkaido. Progress on this experiment has been
delayed for some months due to poor quality of reception in Tokyo of ;
material relayed over the feeder circuit.
17. Broadcast Developments: 'Radio Havana International Service
to Europe and North America now includes a program entitled "Voice
of Vietnam," being covered by the East Coast Bureau. Broadcast in
English and "dedicated to the American people," it is carried three
times daily to North Aterica and once to Europe.
? The first known use of European-based transmitters to relay
Peking'sleternational'BerviCewas.noted on 1 January when
transmitters from the Albanian International Service began carrying
Pekines SerbOCCroatian broadeasts'to-Europe and other programs to North
and South America. The BBC is cOVering:the Serbo-Croatian transmissions,
- 6 -
S-E-C-R-E-T
50X1
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/15: CIA-RDP83-00586R000300270014-7
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/15: CIA-RDP83-00586R000300270014-7
S-E-C-R-E-T Ns,
SUBJECT: Letter of Information, 26 January 1968
while the latter programs are being
4nvered by the
ast Coast; .
West Coast, and Caribbean Bureaus.
50X1
ENGINEERING
le. Bangkok Equipment:
Electronic equipment for a UHF
communciations link between the
Bangkok Bureau and the military
communications center was airshipped to Bangkok 19 January. It
is anticipated that this equipment kill be installed and operational
within 30 days nd will result
in improved communications to
Headquarters.
r
50X1
Asia Division linguists
verified a discrepancy in the
woraing of one of the most controversial passages of Nasir's 23
November speech as reported by various
nmag MAdia coma ing it
with the version carried in Al-Ahram.
50X1
MISCELLANEOUS
19. Briefings and Visits: The Chief of Operations briefed the
Critical Collection Problems Committee of the .USIB on 16tJanuary
regarding FBIS collection capabilities on North Korea. The Chief, .
Engineering Staff, visited the Caribbean, Key West, and Panama Bureaus
during the 14-23 January period. Several Headquarters. personnel visited
Voice of America and met with new VOA Director John Daly.
Visitors to bureaus included Head of the 50X1
toring Service, at London Bureau, '1 December;
50X1
Chief BBC News Bureau, at the Austrian Bureau, 12-14.Dece er; 50X1
Col. Joseph Williamson and Lt. Col. J. B. Kelly, Commanding Officer
nnA Denntle Conmpnder, Fort Clayton, at the Panama Bureau, 12:Decemben
20. Plans and Programs: FBIS Plans and Programs for Fiscal Years
1970-1974 were forwarded to higher authority on 10 January. The submission
included a statement of progress during calendar year 1967 toward -
implementing plans projected in the directorate's 1969-73 plan as well
as details of 11 FBIS objectives supporting directorate objectives for
1970-74. The program budget, prepared. by the Executive Staff is the
initial phase of the Planning, ProgramMing, Budgeting cycle.
-
S -E -C -R -ELT :
50X1
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/15: CIA-RDP83-00586R000300270014-7
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/15: CIA-RDP83-00586R000300270014-7
%Fiel
,
$-E-C-R-E-T
SUBJECT: Letter Of Information; 26 January -1968
?
21. Press Monitors: With the movement of press monitoring
activities overseas a varietra position titles are being used
at field bureaus for foreign national personnel concerned with
monitoring newspapers and journals.. Whereas the formal job desig-
nation will vary in accordance with local wage scales, Headquarters
prefers the term "press monitors" for thole strictly engaged in press
and jOu.rnal monitoring.
22. Duplication Prevention: The Consolidated Translation Survey
of Publications Division processed about 1,300 requirements and
inquiries during December 1967. One hundred and twenty-six of these
requests were for translations already available; which repres
6,318 pages of translation, or approximately $31;000, saved.
23. Bureau Quality Control. A program has been initiated at
Mediterranean-Bureau in which a two or three week sample of a
monitor's copy is reviewed by the chief editor or senior editor,
who then meets with the Monitor to critique his work. In addition
a monitor-is asked to read selected passages of Blumenthal's "English
1200." a nroaramed grammar review, and is then tested on the material.
ADMINISTRATION
24. Summer Employment. The following is reproduced from the
November issue of Personnel Neve. It may be'of interest to Staff. '
employees whoie?Children maV wish to:apply for non-Organization stunner?
only jobs. .
?
?
?
' -
' A new eummer employment examination for 1968 will be.
given iliroughout the Nation on 10 February and 9 March: This
exam Will replace tWo separate nationwide exams given last
year; 'Pederaragencies will'hegin.zeking selections after
the first test has'been.Trotessed. The me* examination will
provide candidates for seasonal assistant jobs in the postal.
service and a number of jobs in the grade range of 66-1 through.
68-4, such as typists,. stenographers, clerks, and engineering
and science aids in otherefederal agencies. Candidates
who achieved eligibility for'exoployment last year must re-
compete if they wish to be considered for summer work in 1968.
?
- 8 -
S-E-C-R-E-T
50X1
50X1
50X1
50X1
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/15: CIA-RDP83-00586R000300270014-7
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/15: CIA-RDP83-00586R000300270014-7
\id
S-E-C-R-E-T
. , ?
,
SUBJECT: _utter of Information, 26 janUary 19.68
25. Credit and 'Reference information. -All personnel returning
to Headquarters from the field should contact the FBIS Security
Officer in the Administrative Staff prior to relering information
for credit or -reference purposes.
26. Training, thn fnllnvina nArsonnel recently attended
training courses:*
a.
Development
'partment of
Acting Chief, Asia Division -Management
Program for Federal Executives, U.S. De-
Agriculture Graduate School, 12 January 1968
, Chief, USSR Division - Advanced
Management Planning, 14 - 19 January 1968
.? ,
.27. Regulatory Issuances. The following regulatory issuances
vire 'disseminated:. ,
r9_
S-E-C-R-E-T
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/15: CIA-RDP83-00586R000300270014-7
50X1
50X1
50X1
50X1
50X1
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/15: CIA-RDP83-00586R000300270014-7
?ft, Nosie
S-E-C-R-E-T
?
50X1
SUBJECT: Letter Of Information, 26 January 1968 -
PERSONNEL
,
28. New Employees
Assigament
Typist, ? Publications. Division
Typist, Publications Division
Editor, Publications Division
Teletypist, Wire Services Staff
50X1
29.
Rettesignments
From
To
Mdnitor.
Monitor
50X1
East' Coast Bureau.
Caribbean Bureau
Editor
Editor
Publications Division
London Bureau
Editor
Editor
African, Bureau,
Editor
Publications Division
Editor
Mediterranean Bureau
Publications Division
-10 -
S-E-C-R-E-T
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/15: CIA-RDP83-00586R000300270014-7
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/15: CIA-RDP83-00586R000300270014-7
S-E-C-R-E-T
SUBJECT: 'Letter of:Information, 26'4January 1968
30. Resignaifons '
31; Retirements
32. Deena:sea
33. Awards
. . .
Teletypia, at Coast Bureau
Editor, Publications Division
TfalistriptiOniht,'Pubiicnnions Division
, .
. ,
From
Area Offieer, Asia Divielon
Deputy Chief, Field Operations Staff
. . ? .
Aiea Officei, Aiia Division
ifonitor. 'West Coast Bureau
Area Officer - Certificate of Distinction in
.recognition of sustained superior
performance
OGER G. SEELY
Director
Foreign Broadcast Information Service
- 11 -
S-B-C-g-g-T
50X1
50X1
50X1
50X1
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/15: CIA-RDP83-00586R000300270014-7