MONTHLY REPORT--AUSTRIA BUREAU--DECEMBER 1987

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-00733R000100020001-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 15, 2012
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: January 5, 1988
• Content Type: MEMO

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/15: CIA-RDP88-00733R000100020001-1
ROUTING AND RECORD SHEET
SUBJECT: (Optional)
Monthly Report -- Austria Bureau
FROM:
EXTENSION
NO.
Chief, Operations Group
0
DATE
ST
December 1987
TO: (Officer designation, room number, and
building)
DATE
OFFICER'S
COMMENTS (Number each comment to show from whom
RECEIVED
FORWARDED
INITIALS
to whom. Draw a line across column after each comment.)
C/Ops
Z3
2.
C/EF~PS
4.
DD/FBIS
PO/RA
SA/CD
9.
10.
C/AS
11.
12.
C/AG
13.
Admin Staff 1P5
14.
15.
Exec. Reg.
FORM 610 USE PREVIOUS
-.. EDITIONS
GPO : 1983 0 - 411-632
ILLEGIB
AT
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5 January 1988
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director, FBIS
THROUGH Chief, Operations Group
FROM Chief, Vienna Bureau
SUBJECT Monthly Report - Austria Bureau - December 1987
The ultimate fate of the free-falling dollar was a primary topic
of conversation in the U.S. Mission during the month as each week
seemed to bring record lows. With as many theories and projections
available as there were "experts", the bureau chief resorted to his
trusty dart board, previously used with great reliability in plotting
DRD editorial assignments, for assistance in formulating fiscal year
1990 budget projections. On a more serious note, however, five
Bureau FBN employees are now affected by "pay cap" limitations
triggered by the falling value of the dollar. These long-time
employees are being deprived of as much as $1,000 per month in salary
earned, not because they are being paid more in Austrian schillings
(they are in fact being paid less virtually every payday), but simply
because it requires more dollars to buy the number of schillings that
represents their rate of pay.
Informal COM approval has been sought for the addition of one
staff slot and one nonstaff slot to increase Bureau T/O to 6 and 44
respectively. The two additional positions, if approved, will be
used for a third staff editor and a fourth Czechoslovak monitor.
Although very initial indications are positive, a final response is
not expected until after Ambassador Grunwald arrives, hopefully in
mid-January. Meanwhile, applicants have been selected and placed in
pre-employment processing to fill the vacant communications operator
and electronic technician slots, and advertising for applicants to
fill the vacant monitor technician slot will be run in early January.
It was learned during the month that the Embassy has become -r
involved in negotiations with the Austrian Finance, Foreign and
Education ministries in an effort to preserve the current status of
the American International School in Vienna. Most children of Bureau
staff and TCN employees attend AIS. The situation at present is
quite complex and involves parochial and conflicting interests of the
three Austrian ministries. Should AIS lose its current status which
J
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provides a number of customs and tax privileges, it could very well
have to close. Although at least one other English-language school
is available, it probably would not be able to accept all of the
displaced AIS students.
The Embassy GSO has formally requested that the Bureau begin l45
preparations to drop out of the GSO-administered residential
enable it to ensure proper service to FBIS should it remain in the
pool. We must now decide whether to try to administer our own
furniture pool or recommend to Headquarters that we revert to a
full-shipment post.
Unusual weather conditions, which have prevailed in much of
southern Europe for several weeks bringing unusually warm
temperatures, created some of the most hazardous driving conditions
Vienna has seen in many years 16 December when a freezing rain coated
streets and sidewalks with glare ice. A record number of accidents
orted and several Bureau employees left their cars in the
were re
p
parking lot and slip ed home as best they could on foot. Romanian 'STAT
monitor walked to work after backing his car out into
4-U- nn sidewise almost a kilometer down hill
before easing to a stop against a light pole.
A. Monitorial/Editorial
1. Major party plenums, conferences, and other meetings
held in December in the CSSR, the GDR, Romania, and Poland, as well
as a People's Assembly session in Albania contributed to publishable
wordage for the month reaching 878,950 -- an all-time high for the
bureau. Although about 70 percent of the wordage was concentrated in
the last half of the month, no editorial or communications processing
backlogs were experienced.
2. In connection with the above and due to high expressed
Headquarters and consumer interest in the CPCZ plenum and the RCP
conference, the Czechoslovak and Romanian sections canceled all leave
and worked several overtime shifts over a 2-week period to process
the voluminous materials generated by the respective meetings. The
German and Polish sections also turned in outstanding performances in
dealing with the huge amounts of material facing them.
3. On two occasions the BBC expressed praise and
appreciation to the bureau staff for their rapid and professional
handling of events -- once for the 2 December meeting of Brasov
(Romania) vehicle factory representatives following the disturbances
there and the second time for the 14-16 December RCP National
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Conference. The bureau also received a note of appreciation from
C/DRD for the fine job done in providing East European media
reportage and comment on Gorbachev's summit in Washington.
4. The BACH 2.0 and BACH 2.07 database upgrade packages
and the press agency upgrade release 1.08 were received at month's
end. The 2.07 database upgrade and new press agency release were
installed successfully 30 December and are operational. Problems
were encountered, however, in installation of BACH 2.0,and a DR has
been filed.
B. Lateral Services
1. On the 11th of the month, a member of the MBFR
delegation phoned the bureau with a question about remarks Gorbachev
had made on arrival in the United States about the possibility of
agreement on conventional weapons. After extensive research of our
incoming and outgoing files, the caller was contacted and provided
with available information about Gorbachev's monitored remarks on
conventional weapons while in the U.S.
2. On the 15th, the VOA in Munich called to express
interest in an item -- Mikoyan's Memoirs -- published in the latest
edition of the Soviet journal OGONEK. This interest was relayed to
PMU in Caversham for further action.
3. In mid-month LRB informed the bureau that Washington
area consumers had stressed the usefulness of the program summaries
of the main Sofia and Tirana newscasts that the bureau recently began
wirefiling each day.
C. Technical
Wiring was completed during the month to provide remote
control operation of the satellite dish and remaining FM antennas
from main Radio.
A. Personnel
1. The Embassy Financial Management Center announced 2~1
December that "in the near future," all salaries of foreign national
employees would be deposited electronically by RAMC Paris through
Creditanstalt-Bankverein rather than by issuing checks. The
announcement raised a bit of a stir among Embassy and Bureau FN
employees, and Embassy Disbursing Officer Greg Genco met with most
Bureau employees 16 December to explain the system and to respond to
questions. As of month's end the system had not yet been
implemented.
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2. Two long-time Bureau employees ended their FBIS careers
31 Decemb . German Czech monitor and Communications
Operator retired after 31 and 19 productive years,
respectively, with FBIS.
3. Albanian monitor
agreement effective 29 December 1989.
4. Headquarters advised 23 December that following the PMCD
audit, the Bureau's System Administrator and Deputy SA positions had
been established at FBN-09 and FBN-08 respectively.
B. Building and Grounds
1. New 110/220VAC circuit breaker boxes were installed in
the basement during the month beginning an effort to bring some
semblance of order to the electrical wiring in the Bureau. Temporary
wiring to the mains still exists, but 60% of the final wiring to the
breakers has been completed on the 220VAC box.
2. Inspection of the Bureau's water lines following receipt
of a massive water bill indicated a serious leak in the main line
entering the building. With Headquarter's quick approval to obligate
SOC 2501 funds, the line was replaced by month's end.
A farewell heurigen fort land) Ion the
occasion of their retirement and the annual Bureau Christmas party
brought a number of retirees and former employees back to join in the
festivities. Among those attending were
former chief mon
senior engineers
former Hungarian
monitor;
former engineer; and
former admin assistant.
STAT
STAT
I
Qq
STAT
STAT
STAT
STAT
STAT
STAT
STAT
STAT
Chief, Austrian Bureau
cc: Chief, FBIS London Bureau
Attachments:
Production Report
Staff Personnel Report
Non-Staff Personnel Report
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 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/15: CIA-RDP88-00733R000100020001-1
Austrian Bureau Production Report for December 1987
I. TOTALS FROM ALL SOURCES:
TOTAL PUBLISHABLE WORDAGE FILED DURING MONTH: 878,950
TOTAL NON-PUBLISHABLE WORDAGE FILED DURING MONTH: 37,860
TOTAL NUMBER OF PUBLISHABLE ITEMS FILED DURING MONTH: 1,361
BROAD- PRESS PUBLI-
CASTS AGENCIES CATIONS
II. INPUT OF REGULAR COVERAGE: 12,300 15,865 325.99
(minutes or issues per mon min. min. issues
ALBANIA
Tirana Domestic Service in
Albanian
Tirana ATA in
English
Tirana BASHKIMI in
Albanian
Tirana DRITA in
Albanian
Tirana PUNA in
Albanian
Tirana RRUGA E PARTISE in
Albanian
Tirana ZERI I POPULLIT in
Albanian
Tirana ZERI I RINISE in
Albanian
5,600
10,440
510
0
11,900
0
AUSTRIA
Vienna Domestic Service in
German
Vienna ORF TELETEXT in
German
Vienna Television Service in
German
5,500
770
5,340
Vienna NEUE AZ in
German
1,710
Vienna DIE PRESSE in
German
7,890
Vienna KURIER in
German
2,440
Vienna NEUE KRONEN ZEITUNG in
German
Vienna PROFIL in
German
0
Vienna VOLKSSTIMME in
German
3,750
Vienna WIENER ZEITUNG in
German
7,410
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BULGARIA
Sofia Domestic Service in
Bulgarian
Sofia BTA in
English
Sofia ANTENI in
Bulgarian
Sofia LITERATUREN FRONT in
Bulgarian
Sofia NARODNA ARMIYA in
Bulgarian
Sofia NARODNA MLADEZH in
Bulgarian
Sofia NOVO VREME in
Bulgarian
Sofia OTECHESTVEN FRONT in
Bulgarian
Sofia POGLED in
Bulgarian
Sofia RABOTNICHESKO DELO in
Bulgarian
Sofia STURSHEL in
Bulgarian
Sofia TRUD in
Bulgarian
Sofia ZEMEDELSKO ZNAME in
Bulgarian
CHINA
Beijing International Service in
Albanian
Beijing International Service in
Serbo-Croatian
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
Prague Television Service in
Czech
Prague Television Service in
Slovak
Prague CTK in
English
Prague LIDOVA DEMOKRACIE in
Czech
Prague MLADA FRONTA in
Czech
Prague NOVA MYSL in
Czech
Prague PRACE in
Czech
BROAD- PRESS PUBLI-
CASTS AGENCIES CATIONS
11,350
28,430
0
0
7,040
0
0
5,460
1,070
43,770
0
3,930
1,740
0
1,060
4,990
1,210
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BROAD- PRESS PUBLI-
CASTS AGENCIES CATIONS
Prague RUDE PRAVO in
Czech
Prague TRIBUNA in
Czech
Prague VECERNI PRAHA in
Czech
Prague ZEMEDELSKE NOVINY in
Czech
Fratislava PRAVDA in
Slovak
Bratislava ROLNICKE NOVINY in
Slovak
Bratislava SMENA in
Slovak
Bratislava VECERNIK in
Slovak
FRANCE
Paris AFP in
English
Paris ZNAKI CZASU in
Polish
GDR
East Berlin BERLINER ZEITUNG in
German
East Berlin DER MORGEN in
German
East Berlin EINHEIT in
German
East Berlin HORIZONT in
German
East Berlin NATIONAL ZEITUNG in
German
East Berlin NEUE ZEIT in
German
East Berlin NEUES DEUTSCHLAND in
German
East Berlin NEUER WEG in
German
HUNGARY
Budapest Television Service in
Hungarian
Budapest KULPOLITIKA in
Hungarian
Budapest MAGYAR HIRLAP in
Hungarian
Budapest MAGYAR NEMZET in
Hungarian
42,300
80,950
0
0
0
36,310
950
1,460
2,380
310
770
1,840
0
0
31,350
1,990
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Budapest MAGYARORSZAG in
Hungarian
Budapest NEPSZABADSAG in
Hungarian
Budapest NEPSZAVA in
Hungarian
Budapest PARTELET in
Hungarian
Budapest TARSADALMI SZEMLE in
Hungarian
ITALY
Rome ANSA in
English
POLAND
Warsaw KULTURA in
Polish
Warsaw NOWE DROGI in
Polish
Warsaw POLITYKA in
Polish
Warsaw PRZEGLAD KATOLICKI in
Polish
Warsaw RZECZPOSPOLITA in
Polish
Warsaw RZECZYWISTOSC in
Polish
Warsaw SLOWO POWSZECHNE in
Polish
Warsaw SZTANDAR MLODYCH in
Polish
Warsaw TRYBUNA LUDU in
Polish
Warsaw ZOLNIERZ WOLNOSCI in
Polish
Warsaw ZYCIE PARTII in
Polish
Warsaw ZYCIE WARSZAWY in
Polish
E'.rakow TYGODNIK POWSZECHNY in
Polish
ROMANIA
Bucharest Domestic Service in
Romanian
Bucharest AGERPRES in
English
BROAD- PRESS PUBLI-
CASTS AGENCIES CATIONS
25,000
11,060
0
37,490
3,810
1,510
0
12,160
0
42,490
0
970
350
54,850
1,020
3,690
42,490
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BROAD- PRESS
CASTS AGENCIES
PUBLI-
CATIONS
Bucharest AGERPRES in
French
Bucharest BULETIN OFICIAL in
Romanian
450
Bucharest ERA SOCIALISTA in
Romanian
1,470
Bucharest LUMEA in
Romanian
0
Bucharest ROMANIA LIBERA in
Romanian
1,810
Bucharest SCINTEIA in
Romanian
64,450
USSR
Moscow in
Albanian to Albania
Moscow in
Bulgarian to Bulgaria
Moscow in
Macedonian to Yugoslavia
Moscow in
Romanian to Romania
Moscow in
Slovene to Yugoslavia
Moscow ISTORIYA SSSR in
Russian
0
Moscow KOMMUNIST VOORUZHENNYKH SIL in
Russian
0
Moscow KOMMUNIST in
Russian
6,440
Moscow MEZHDUNARODNAYA ZHIZN in
Russian
0
Moscow MIROVAYA EKONOMIKA I
MEZHDUNARODNYYE OTNOSHENIYA in
Russian
Moscow OBSHCHESTVENNYYE NAUKI in
Russian
Moscow PARTIYNAYA ZHIZN in
Russian
Moscow PLANOVOYE KHOZYAYSTVO in
Russian
Moscow POLITICHESKOYE
SAMOOBRAZOVANIYE in
Russian
Moscow PROBLEMY DALNEGO VOSTOKA in
Russian
Moscow PROBLEMY MIRA I SOTSIALIZMA in
Russian
Moscow RABOCHIY KLASS I SOVREMENNYY
MIR in
Russian
Moscow SOTSIOLOGICHESKIYE
ISSLEDOVANIYA in
Russian
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BROAD- PRESS PUBLI-
CASTS AGENCIES CATIONS
Moscow SSHA: EKONOMIKA, POLITIKA,
IDEOLOGIYA in
Russian
Moscow VOPROSY EKONOMIKI in
Russian
Moscow VOPROSY FILOSOFII in
Russian
Moscow VOPROSY ISTORII KPSS in
Russian
Moscow VOPROSY ISTORII in
Russian
Moscow VOYENNO-ISTORICHESKIY
ZHURNAL in
Russian
Kiev PRAVDA UKRAINY in
Russian
Kiev RADYANSKA UKRAINA in
Ukrainian
YUGOSLAVIA
Belgrade Domestic Service in
Serbo-Croatian 14,720
Fristina Domestic Service in
Albanian 0
Fristina Domestic Service in
Serbo-Croatian 720
Belgrade Television Service in
Serbo-Croatian 0
Belgrade TANJUG DOMESTIC SERVICE in
Serbo-Croatian
Eelgrade TANJUG in
English
Belgrade BORBA in
Serbo-Croatian
Belgrade KOMUNIST in
Serbo-Croatian
Belgrade NARODNA ARMIJA in
Serbo-Croatian
Belgrade NIN in
Serbo-Croatian
Belgrade POLITIKA in
Serbo-Croatian
Belgrade SOCIALIZAM in
Serbo-Croatian
Ljubljana DELO in
Slovene
Movi Sad DNEVNIK in
Serbo-Croatian
Pristina RILINDJA in
Albanian
0
12,970
4,810
26,820
0
3,670
0
8,590
0
5,170
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BROAD- PRESS PUBLI-
CASTS AGENCIES CATIONS
Sarajevo OSLOBODJENJE in
Serbo-Croatian
Skopje NOVA MAKEDONIJA in
Macedonian
Titograd POBJEDA in
Serbo-Croatian
Zagreb DANAS in
Serbo-Croatian
Zagreb VJESNIK in
Serbo-Croatian
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