MONTHLY REPORT--JORDAN BUREAU--MAY 1983

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP86-00040R000100220007-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 19, 2008
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: June 6, 1983
• Content Type: MEMO

Approved For Release 2008/03/19: CIA-RDP86-00040R000100220007-4
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6 June 1983
MJN 8312
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director, Foreign Broadcast Information Service
THROUGH: Chief, Operations Group
SUBJECT: Monthly Report--Jordan Bureau--May 1983
Conclusion of the long-awaited agreement between Lebanon
and Israel generated voluminous reaction during May, and by
the end of the month seemed to be the cause of greater regional
tension rather than less. Immediately following the successful
negotiation of the agreement, Secretary of State Shultz paid an
overnight visit to Amman on 7-8 May to brief King Husayn on it.
The secretary won assurance of Jordanian support during his brief
visit, but the agreement was immediately denounced by the Syrians.
Throughout the month Syrian officials and media issued a steady
stream of statements and propaganda hostile to the agreement and
its supporters, and Syrian envoys fanned out across the Arab
world to round up support for their position. By the end of the
month, tensions were rising as it seemed less and less likely
that the Syrians would withdraw their forces from Lebanon, the
condition set by the Israelis for implementation of their part
of the agreement. Syrian military maneuvers and an attempt by
the Syrian Air Force to intercept Israeli reconnaissance
planes over Lebanon contributed to the uneasy feeling.
In an apparently related development, the month also saw
the beginning of a mutiny within the main faction of the PLO,
Yasir 'Arafat's own Fatah movement, when several officers
stationed in Lebanon's Biqa Valley rebelled against what they
saw as 'Arafat's too moderate policies. The mutiny was continuing
and apparently growing more serious at the end of the month.
In Amman, reaction to the month's events, specifically to
the Lebanon-Israel agreement, took a sudden turn to violence
one night when two bombs exploded at "soft" American targets,
the offices of the American-Arab Insurance Company and those of
the American Friends of the Middle East. Although there were no
injuries and damage was moderate, no one could help but see the
parallel with the more tragic Beirut Embassy bombing.
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--Adm i trat ve 't a,
MJN-8312
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A. Monitorial/Editorial
1. Pursuant to discussions at the Bureau Chiefs Conference,
Jordan Bureau assumed coverage of the Lebanese factional radio
of Major Sa'd Haddad, Voice of Hope in English and Arabic, on
9 May.
2. Following a 26 May AFP report that Turkish armed forces
had crossed the border into Iraq, the Bureau began an open watch
on Baghdad media and, the next day, began checking the twice
daily Arabic broadcasts from Ankara. On the evening of the 27th,
Baghdad radio and INA reported a statement issued by the Iraqi
Foreign Ministry indicating that Iraq had had advance knowledge
and had given its approval of the Turkish operation, which was
said to be against "outlawed armed groups" who had been attacking
people in the border region, including some Turkish soldiers.
B. Lateral Services
1. At the request of the Embassy Political Section, the
Bureau provided a special file of FBIS material on the Middle
East to Secretary Shultz' party during his 7-8 May overnight
visit to Amman.
2. A Voice of Lebanon report filed by Nicosia Bureau that
Soviet Embassy personnel were leaving Beirut and that those in
Amman and Damascus might soon follow, was called immediately to
the attention of the Embassy by duty editor On the
basis of the report, high ranking Embassy o is wa e no time
in contacting the Soviet Embassy in Amman to seek clarification.
C. Technical.
Modification of the Bureau's Extel ROs to enable to editors
to monitor "pinkie coding" performance was completed in May. The
modified machines print a # symbol to represent the "blank"
capitalization code.
III. ADMINISTRATION
Personnel
1. Teletype operators
received PSIs on 1 May.
lit
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STAT
STAT
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MJN-8312
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2. veteran translator for the Embassy Political STAT
Section, entered on duty on 1 May as Jordan Bureau's newest
trainee monitor. ~brings the monitoring team back to full STAT
strength.
3. The Bureau is continui efforts to recruit another
monitor to replace senior monitor who transfers STAT
to Cyprus in July. The resume and test results of a promising
candidate interviewed by Tel Aviv Bureau Chief ere STAT
received during the month, and Tel Aviv has been asked to arrange
for more extensive testing. However, new restrictions on emigration
from the West Bank, recently imposed by the Government of Jordan,
cast some doubt on whether or not the Bureau will be able to
hire this candidate, regardless of the results of the additional
test.
To the Bureau
C/FEB, with contract engineers
l-14 May, for phase II of the INTERNET
std
2.I (Nicosia Bureau Technician, 30
May-3 June, for familiarization.
STAT
STAT
STAT
From the Bureau
Deputy Chief to London Bureau, 26 May, for STAT
familiarization and consultations in conjunction with private
travel.
STAT
Chief) Jordan Bureau
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2. veteran translator for the Embassy Political STAT
Section, entered on duty on 1 May as Jordan Bureau's newest
trainee monitor. ~brings the monitoring team back to full STAT
strength.
3. The Bureau is continui efforts to recruit another
monitor to replace senior monitor who transfers STAT
to Cyprus in July. The resume and test results of a promising
candidate interviewed by Tel Aviv Bureau Chief ere STAT
received during the month, and Tel Aviv has been asked to arrange
for more extensive testing. However, new restrictions on emigration
from the West Bank, recently imposed by the Government of Jordan,
cast some doubt on whether or not the Bureau will be able to
hire this candidate, regardless of the results of the additional
test.
To the Bureau
C/FEB, with contract engineers
l-14 May, for phase II of the INTERNET
std
2.I (Nicosia Bureau Technician, 30
May-3 June, for familiarization.
STAT
STAT
STAT
From the Bureau
Deputy Chief to London Bureau, 26 May, for STAT
familiarization and consultations in conjunction with private
travel.
STAT
Chief) Jordan Bureau
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