MONTHLY REPORT -- NICOSIA BUREAU -- SEPTEMBER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP87-01104R000100100004-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 3, 2012
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: October 2, 1986
• Content Type: MEMO

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/04/03: CIA-RDP87-011048000100100004-7
? _. MNC-6143
? 02 October 1986
I~MORANDtAi FOR: Director, Foreign Broadcast Information $ervicv
?BHOOaB Chief, Operations Group
SOBJ=CT Monthly Report -- Nioosia Bureau -- Septeaber
A. Construction at our nap site focused this month on finishing pork
in the aain building -- both interior and exterior palls have been
plastered; doorfrases and pindopfraaes have been installed; eleatriaal
outlets, boxes and Miring have been put in place; and the pouring of
floors has begun. In addition, tpo of the three outbuildings, the
electrical substation and the meter house, have been coapleted, and the
third, the guardhouse, is pall underpay. The construction of the bureau
parking lot has begun, With grading complete and compaction in progress.
Finally, late in the south, tpo satellite antenna pads pare poured under
the supervision of S.T. Reaearah contraotora.
lrlsanphile, the bureau completed the deaigaa for various pieces of
furniture for the nap site, and contracts for its fabrication have been
let.
B. At the end of the south, the embassy alerted us to a nap
possibility of terrorist action directed against U.S. facilities in
Cyprus. As a result, the bureau has taken steps to ensure that all
eaployees are as alert and as Pell prepared as possible. A seourity
apeafaliat from Frankfurt pill visit the bureau shortly to assess our
physical security situation.
C. With Cyprus' reversion from Daylight Savings Time to Standard Time
on 28 September, bureau operating hours changed from 0990-2400 (li~tT to
0490-0100 (iMT.
II. OPERATIONS
A. Monitorial/Editorial
1. The 5 September hijacking of a Pan American airliner at Raraahi
Airport proapted the bureau to place Nicosia sources on open patch, phen
the hi3ackers demanded that they be flopn to Larnaca. Embassy offiaiala
Pere kept apprised of developments in the hi3acking as they pertained to
Cyprus, including a claim of responsibility for the incident by a caller
in Nioosia speaking on behalf of the Libyan Revolutionary Cells; the
hi3ackera' dsaand for the release of "comrades" imprisoned in Cyprus,
three for the killing of Israelis aboard a yacht at Larnaca marina last
year, and. one being held in connection pith the August attack on the
British bane at Akrotiri; and the Cypriot t3overnment'a refusal to allop
the hi3aaksd plane to land in Larnaca. The bureau stood dope from its
blanket coverage of Nicosia sedia folloping reports that the plane had
bean atoreed in Karachi that evening, ending the incident.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/04/03: CIA-RDP87-011048000100100004-7
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/04/03: CIA-RDP87-011048000100100004-7
2. Reports linking the expected summit between Egyptian President
Huani Mubarak and Israeli Prime Minister Shim'on Peres to the prerequisite
signing of an arbitral compromia agreement on the Tabah dispute, in
tandem with the Egyptian foreign minister's 10 September announcement that
"important Wawa" would be forthcoming that evening on the issue, prompted
the bureau to place Cairo radio on open-speaker watch and to extend its
operating hours to ensure proper coverage of events. The arbitral
compromia agreement was, in fact, signed in the early hours o! it
September, and Egypt announced that the Mubarak-Peres summit would take
plane in Alexandria later that day. The bureau filed all pertinent
reports, and then closed.
3. Bmba:sy officers expressed appreciation for the bureau's
notification of 16 8epte~aber reports on the arrest of three Iranians in
the possession of a "sophisticated booby-trapped case" at Ankara Airport
as they were preparing to fly to northern Cyprus. The Cypriot Glowrnsent
apokeamaa, siting a statement by Turki:h police, said that the three had
planned to carry out a "bomb attack in the free areas of Cyprus."
4. Working with the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, the bureau was oaae
again able to procure a specific edition of a Beirut newspaper -- the 29
August AL-NAHAR -- in response to the intense interest of Washington
aonawera in the U.B. hostages in Beirut. The paper, which published a
photograph of hostage David Jacobsen next to a statement by the Islamic
Jihad Organisation warning against any "military operation" to free the
hostages, was sent to Washington via commercial air courier on 3
September.
5. The bureau placed Beirut Voice of Lebanon on open-speaker watch
on 27 September, following a Beirut Domestic Servioe report that the "new
building" housing VOL had been occupied in the course of fighting between
rival factions of the Lebanese Forces. Despite a subsequent Voioe of
National Resistance radio report noting that "pitched battles" were taking
place around VOL's studios in Saain Square, the radio continued to oarry
its regularly scheduled programming without interruption. VOL later
reported that Samir Ja'Ja, chairman of the Lebanese Foraea Executive
Committee, whom it supports, had visited the building that evening to
announce that his forces had "cleansed Baat Beirut." In light of this
statement and earlier reports that the Aray and Ja'Ja'a Lebanese Forosa
had gained control of the situation, the bureau obaerwd its normal COB.
6. Thy bureau alerted the Embassy's Regional Security Officer to
several reports in the course of the month referring to possible terrorist
attacks on Cyprus. The 19 September edition of the rightwiag paper ALITHIA
carried a report noting that "Israeli targets" might be attacked, while
the 24 September edition of the EDEK Socialist Party paper TA NSA oited
Kuwaiti facilities as the intended targets of a planned terrorist
operation on the inland. The independent paper 0 FILBLBVT8BRO8 was
somewhat more vague in a 21 September report, merely noting that strict
security measures had been implemented at various Western embassies and
the residences of Western diplomats. The 28 September edition of TA NBA
took a different tack, however, reporting that the Israeli secret services
have chosen the "free areas" of Cyprus as the place to "settle scores"
with the Palestinians, and have planned various operations.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/04/03: CIA-RDP87-011048000100100004-7 _,,,~,,,~~
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/04/03: CIA-RDP87-011048000100100004-7
? ~ -3-
7. Despite a reported "bomb alert" at the Paris headquarters of AFP
on 19 September and the emergency evacuation of its personnel, Niaoafa
Bureau observed no delay or interruption in the traffic carried over the
AFP English beam monitored here.
8. Upon completion of a productivity study, the bureau proposed
that coverage of 8 of of the 18 Cairo Domestic Service oasts monitored
daily be dropped, and received MOD and BBC concurrence in the deoision.
B. Lateral Servioea
1. Aoting on a request from the U.S. Embassy in Beirut !or bureau
assistance in supplying "timely FBIS material," we proposed and LRB
implemented a new lateral service for the Embaaay, to be applied despite
the minimise that is in place. The embassy expressed its satiafaotion with
the service as proposed and noted its appreoiation of our assistance.
2. In response to a query from MOD, the bureau sought oonfirmation
from the BBC o! our coa~itment to backstop record all Libyan radio
broadoasta, first undertaken in the spring of this year, and was advised
that the baokstopping is no longer necessary. The requirement wan
therelore dropped on 15 September.
C. Technical
1. Eighteen new Ertel Comacribe teleprinters were received from
Headquarters to replace the bureau's ITT Creed and Extsl AF-11 printers;
eight have been installed to date.
III. ADMINISTRATION
A. Personnel
1. Bureau Administrative Assistant
to provide 1`DY assistance 14-18 September.
praised by the chief of Tel Aviv Bureau.
STAT
was in Tel Aviv
s were later STAT
2. aucceaafully completed his 9-month editorial STAT
training TDY and departed Cyprus on 29 September.
B. Visitors
1. RECD engineer, arrived on 7 September to oversee STAT
the construction of the new bureau, following the island-Hide vacation
period in August.
2 . P'BIS Deputy Chief of Operations visited the
bureau 8-11 September, during which time he met with bureau staffers
individually and as a group to brief them on progress made in
Headquarters' modernization and relocation plans.
9. P'ED/F8B Engineer accompanied
Reianer, engineers represen ng searc to N
to discuss plans for the new bureau's satellite mo
STAT
STAT
ATTACffi~IENT: Production Report
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/04/03: CIA-RDP87-011048000100100004-7
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/04/03: CIA-RDP87-011048000100100004-7
Nicosia Bureau F'r-oduction Report for September 1986
TOTAL PUBLISHABLE WOF;DAGE FILED DURING MONTH: 314330
TOTAL NON-PUBLISHABLE WORDAGE FILED DURING MONTH: 113b8O
TOTAL NUMBER OF PUBLISHABLE ITEMS FILED DURING MONTH: 1061.
BROAD- PRESS FUBLI-
CASTS AGENCIES CATIONS
II, INPUT OF REGUL.AR~COVERAGE: B76q.gq 2226O.Oq 11'x.00
(minutes or issues per week:) min. min. 'issues
III. OUTPUT FROM ALI__ SOUF;CES:
(publishable words per month)
CHINA
Beijing in
Persian to Iran
CLANDESTINE (LEVANT)
q
(Clandestine) Radio Free Lebanon in
Arabi c
17g4t?
*