MONTHLY REPORT -- NICOSIA BUREAU -- FEBRUARY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP87-01104R000100100011-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 3, 2012
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: March 3, 1986
• Content Type: MEMO

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/04/03: CIA-RDP87-01104R000100100011-9
MNC-6133
03 March 1986
MEMORANDUM FORS Director, Foreign Broadcast Information Service
THROUGH s Chief, Operations Group
SUBJECT s Monthly Report -- Nicosia Bureau -- February
A. The badly flawed areas of the new bureau's foundations,
discovered in January, were demolished and ready for recasting at month's
end. Repair of the remaining flaws was postponed until the arrival of
new epoxy materials. Five 15-meter sections of the perimeter wall had
also been constructed at month's end. Following a visit to the project
by RECD engineers in late January, the Office of Logistics, with
Headquarters concurrence, decided that RECD should assume primary
responsibility for the structural aspects of the project.
B. The embassy was alerted in early February that it might be the
target of unidentified Arab hit teams. The usual precautions were taken,
including briefing of personnel.
1. On 24 February, acting without prior notice, AFP changed the
file received on the bureau's hardwire link from the "EXOR" beam to the
press agency's North European file, circuit B. The AFP representative in
Vienna explained to Austria Bureau that the ANB circuit we now receive
carries the same material as Austria's ANI circuit, albeit with a
somewhat closer focus on the Middle East and Asia. We can only hope that
this latter point proves true, given our relatively heavy Middle East and
Far East coverage commitment.
2. Events in Lebanon and Egypt required extended operating
hours at the bureau this month. Intensive Israeli operations in southern
Lebanon in search of two soldiers abducted by the "Islamic Resistance"
and subsequent reports and denials of the execution of one of them
prompted us to remain open on 17 and 19 February to cover all monitored
Lebanese radios until sign-off.
Civil disturbances involving conscript units of the Central
Security Forces in parts of Cairo frequented by tourists or containing
foreign diplomats' residences resulted in an open watch on Cairo radio
during bureau operating hours from 26 February through 1 March, and the
extension of editorial operations until Cairo MENA's signoff and the
completion of Cairo radio's 2300 GMT newscast during this period.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/04/03: CIA-RDP87-01104R000100100011-9
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/04/03: CIA-RDP87-01104R000100100011-9
3. Cairo Voice of Arabs renewed its anti-Libyan campaign on 28
February, following a hiatus that began on 8 January, with a commentary
lambasting the "pygmies" of Libya for having distorted and falsified
recent events in Egypt, an apparent reference to calls broadcast by
Tripoli's Voice of the Greater Arab Homeland urging Egyptians to take
advantage of the civil disturbances in Cairo and revolt against the
regime. On 4 February President Mubarak had lauded the reported
cessation of Libya's media campaign against Egypt, declaring that the
employment of a radio station "to defame a state is simple to do, but we
have discarded such methods."
4. Muhammad Haykal, the controversial Egyptian journalist,
returned to print in 15 February following an absence of several years
from the Cairo press. Cairo MENA thus far is providing extensive
publicity of his initial "Frankly Speaking" articles published in the
AKHBAR AL-YAWM newspaper.
1. The bureau scheduled 24-hour teletypist shifts on five
occasions to clear substantial traffic backlogs at our switching center.
1. The regional security officer at the Nicosia Embassy was
alerted to articles in the 7 February editions of the pro-government
paper ELEVTHEROTIPIA and the communist paper KHARAVYI reporting that the
Cyprus Government had warned the U.S. Embassy of possible terrorist
action against it planned by a group of Arabs said to have arrived on
the island in mid-January.
1. The bureau purchased a nine-system JVC television/monitor,
model AV-2OME, and a five-system JVC VHS videocassette recorder for use
by Swaziland Bureau.
III. ADMINISTRATION
A. Personnel
took off-island leave 9-25 February.
STAT
1. members of a computer STAT
security audit team from Headquarters, visited the bureau on 27 February
to assess security aspects of the use of our IBM personal computers.
Their inspection revealed no problems.
STAT
ATTACHMENTS Production Report
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/04/03: CIA-RDP87-01104R000100100011-9
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/04/03: CIA-RDP87-01104R000100100011-9
Nicosia Bureau Production Report for February 1986
TOTAL PUBLISHABLE WORDAGE FILED DURING MONTH: 300450
TOTAL NON-PUBLISHABLE WORDAGE FILED DURING MONTH: 87850
TOTAL NUMBER OF PUBLISHABLE ITEMS FILED DURING MONTH: 993
BROAD- PRESS PUBLI-
CASTS AGENCIES CATIONS
II. INPUT OF REGULAR COVERAGE: 8565.00 22260.00 117.00
(minutes or issues per week) min. min. issues
III. OUTPUT FROM ALL SOURCES:
(publishable words per month)
CHINA
Beijing in
Persian to Iran
CLANDESTINE (LEVANT)
(Clandestine) Radio Free Lebanon in
Arabic
(Clandestine) Voice of the Mountain in
Arabic
CYPRUS
Nicosia Domestic Service in
Greek 6340
Nicosia Domestic Service in
English 0
*Nicosia Television Service in
Greek 660
Nicosia Cyprus MAIL in
English 1060
*Nicosia ELEVTHEROTIPIA TIS
DHEVTERAS in
Greek 360
Nicosia ELEVTHEROTIPIA in
Greek 1850
Nicosia I SIMERINI in
Greek: 1110
Nicosia I SIMERINI tis DHEFTERAS in
Greek: 0
Nicosia k::HARAVYI in
Greek 51o
Nicosia KHARAVYI tis DHEFTERAS in
Greek 640
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/04/03: CIA-RDP87-01104R000100100011-9
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/04/03: CIA-RDP87-01104R000100100011-9
Nicosia 0 FILELEVTHEROS in
Greek
Nicosia 0 FILELEVTHEROS tis
DHEFTERAS in
Greek
*Nicosia TA NEA in
Greek
EGYPT
Cairo Domestic Service in
Arabic
*Cairo Voice of the Arabs in
Arabic
Cairo MENA in
Arabic
Cairo MENA in
English
FRANCE
Paris AFP in
English
GREECE
* (Editorial Report in
Greek)
Athens Domestic Service in
Greek
Athens ATHENS NEWS in
English
Athens ELEVTHEROTIPIA in
Greek
Athens I KATHIMERINI in
Greek
Athens k::IRIAK:ATIKI ELEVTHEROTIPIA in
Greek
Athens RIZOSPASTIS in
Greek
IRAQ
Baghdad in
Persian to Iran
LEBANON
Beirut Domestic Service in
Arabic
BROAD- PRESS PUBLI-
CASTS AGENCIES CATIONS
1540
1680
250
1700
1980
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/04/03: CIA-RDP87-01104R000100100011-9
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/04/03: CIA-RDP87-01104R000100100011-9
*Beirut Domestic Service in
Engl i sh
Beirut Voice of Lebanon in
Arabic
Beirut Ihdin Radio of Free c,, Unified
Lebanon in
Arabic
Beirut AL NAHAR in
Arabic
Beirut AL SAFIR in
Arabic
Beirut MONDAY MORNING in
English
LIBYA
*Tripoli Voice of Greater Arab
Homeland in
Arabic
Tripoli Domestic Service in
Arabic
TURKEY
Ankara YANKI in
Turkish
Istanbul CUMHURIYET in
'Turkish
Istanbul DUNYA in
Turkish
Istanbul GUNAYDIN in
Turkish
*Istanbul GUNES in
Turkish
Istanbul HURRIYET in
Turkish
Istanbul MILLIYET in
Turkish
Istanbul TERCUMAN in
Turkish
UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS
Moscow in
Greek to Cyprus
Moscow in
Persian to Iran
BROAD- PRESS PUBLI-
CASTS AGENCIES CATIONS
1110
9730
3590
0.0
1430
U
480
2510
2230
1430
2400
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/04/03: CIA-RDP87-01104R000100100011-9