THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 8 APRIL 1967

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005973720
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: April 8, 1967

--- Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24: CIA-RDP79T00936A005100160001-3
The President's Daily Brief
----M174-e194-P- 8 April 1967
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DAILY BRIEF
8 APRIL 1967
1. South Vietnam
2. Vietnam
3. Aden
Another civilian political leader
is about to enter the presidential con-
test. Former prime minister Tan Van
Huong is planning to announce this week-
end;
Like Constituent Assembly Chairman
Suu, the other main declared civilian
candidate, Huong is a prominent south-
erner. This means that the largest
potential reservoir of votes against the
military candidate in the coming elec-
tion could well be split two ways.
The United Nations "fact finding"
mission--after six gunfire-ridden days
spent mostly locked in hotel rooms and
presumably under the beds--left yester-
day with more haste than dignity. The
three members--a Venezuelan, a Malian,
and an Afghan--saw almost nothing, re-
fused to talk to the local government,
and were spurned by the nationalists for
whose cause they showed considerable
bias.
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4. Israel-Syria
5. Soviet Union
6. Soviet Union
The border is quiet so far today,
following major ground and air engage-
ments yesterday'. The clashes were
touched off when Syrian troops fired on
Israeli tractors working fields in a
disputed border area.
There Are conflicting claims as to
losses in the air battles. The Israelis
certainly came off best, however, and
probably consider they have proved their
military superiority. )
For their
Tart, the Syrians probably realize they
are unlikely to get much beyond propa-
ganda support from Cairo ,and their other
Arab friends'.
There may be some further clashes,
but we doubt that either side will soon
seek another major engagement.
An unusually large number of flights
into Tyuratam over the last week suggests
that the Soviets are preparing a major
space launch. It is difficult, however,
to be sure about the nature or ?timing of
an event solely from flight activity. We
expect to pick up other indications, such
as deployment of space support ships.
Last year Soviet gold reserves in-
creased about 10 percent--the first up-
swing after a decade of steady decline
from some $3 billion down to $1 billion.
Barring an emergency similar to 1963-65,
when wheat purchases from the Free
World necessitated massive sales of
gold, we expect Moscow's reserves will
rise slowly through the next several
years.
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7. Dominican Republic
8. Venezuela
9. Turkey
President Balaguer has misgivings
about being out of the country next
week. He fears right-wing civilians
may try a coup, or otherwise embarrass
the government during his absence.
While we agree that serious strains
are developing in the country', we see no
indication of specific plans to take ad-
vantage of Balaguer's absence. He is
expected to show up at Punta del Este--
and ask for assurances of continued US
ecOnomic,and-political backing.
Guerrilla activity in rural areas
has increased markedly in recent weeks.
In the cities, however, the government's
countermeasures have put a real crimp in
terrorist attacks. The problem now is
that practically all government troops
are already committed to counterinsur-
gency operations, leaving no reserve to
cope with new outbreaks.
President Sunay's visit is getting
extensive and favorable attention in
the Turkish press. Stories about the
bomb incident at the Turkish Embassy
are receding in favor of those about
the communiqu?Sunay's press club ap-
pearance, and his invitation to Presi-
dent Johnson to visit Turkey.
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