THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 23 MARCH 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005974343
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: March 23, 1968

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The President's Daily Brief
-T`p?St 23 March 1968
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DAILY BRIEF
23 MARCH 1968
1. North Vietnam
2. Korea
3. Philippines
New armed units are apparently be-
ing organized in North Vietnam and seem
to be moving southward through the cen-
tral part of the country.
It is still unclear whether the
new groups are headed for South Vietnam
or whether they are to stay in the coun-
try to free regular troops for duty in
the South. It is also possible that
they are being mobilized because of some
new concern in Hanoi about an invasion
from the South.
Marcos has got himself in a first-
class mess. Some energetic newsmen are
playing up the discovery of a secret
training camp on Corregidor that was
apparently training Philippine guerril-
las to infiltrate Malaysian Borneo.
Congress is demanding a full investiga-
tion, and Marcos is said to feel he has
no choice but to agree. This won't
help his already difficult relations
with Congress, to say nothing of Philip-
pine-Malaysian relations.
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4. Eastern Europe
5. Rumania
An unusually tight curtain of se-
crecy surrounds the East German city of
Dresden as top Communist leaders from
six countries gather for their weekend
conclave. Even the fact that the meet-
ing is taking place is unknown to the
public.
The meeting was clearly, arranged on
short notice and on an urgent basis.
Events in Poland and Czechoslovakia, as
well as Rumania's recent defiance of
bloc solidarity, are likely to be at the
heart of the discussions.
The government appears to be bracing
for some kind of political or economic
pressure from its Warsaw Pact allies.
Its fears may be justified, and could
explain the efforts it has been making
in recent days to strengthen ties with
Yugoslavia. This may also be behind the
sudden call for Ambassador Bogdan to
come home from Washington for consulta-
tions.
Rumania is evidently the one pact
member not represented in Dresden this
weekend.
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6. Poland
7. Panama
8. Sweden
Prudent police action in Warsaw
yesterday has, at least for now, cooled
student agitation. Tension is still
high, however, and Gomulka has not yet
succeeded in insulating the public from
the student campaign. In fact, Warsaw's
industrial workers may be warming up a
bit to the student cause.
? Hope remains that this weekend will
pass without serious violence--but it is
sure to be eventful. Robles' opponents
remain dead set on pressing impeachment
proceedings, and the Assembly is to meet
for that exact purpose tomorrow. A
guilty verdict could come tomorrow night
or on Monday.
Most of the leading players are now
trying to keep cool. Robles apparently
intends to ignore the Assembly proceed-
ings in the expectation that the Supreme
Court will "rectify" the situation after
1 April. Arnulfo Arias, still scrupu-
lous about following the constitutional
path, has warned his hotheads to stay in
line. Vice President Max Delvalle, an
Arias man, is preparing to be sworn in
as president but says he will step down
if the court rules against him.
All this display of reason and mod-
eration could evaporate quickly, however.
It could happen during the big demonstra-
tions Arias is trying to pull off tomor-
row.
The government clearly intends to
press on with its critical line against
the US. Government leaders were as abu-
sive as ever during this week's parlia-
mentary debate on foreign policy. Even
the opposition--also with its eye on the
September elections--seems to have de-
cided to get what political mileage it
can from the Vietnam issue.
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Top Secret
FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
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23 March 1968
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
23 March 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
Contacts with Switzerland: The North Vietnamese
apparently received less than the full establishment
of diplomatic relations which they were seeking from
Switzerland. Less formal "contacts" have been set
up. The recent talks with the Swiss have neverthe-
less again served Hanoi's purpose of publicizing its
position on the war by putting the Communist case be-
fore a wider Western audience.
A communiqu?as issued by the Swiss Government
on 22 March at the end of a four-day visit by Mai Van
Bo, Hanoi's representative in Paris. It says that Bo
expressed a desire for an exchange of ambassadors,
but the Swiss claimed the time was not yet ripe for
such a move. The day before, Mai Van Bo was quoted
as saying that Swiss "recognition" of North Vietnam
would take place in a few days.
The communiqu?lso notes that Switzerland re-
mains ready to make available its good offices to
help end the war, and that during the visit Bo re-
peated Hanoi's standard line of being ready to nego-
tiate any time the US unconditionally halts the bomb-
ing.
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* * *
Hanoi's New Sedition Law: Hanoi has just publi-
cized a new decree on "crimes against the state" which
was put into effect last November. A broadcast of the
new law on 21 March, and an accompanying Nhan Dan edi-
torial on the same day, claim that the new law is a
formal codification and updating of existing regula-
tions. This explanation appears reasonable. The law
was passed at a time when the Hanoi regime was insti-
tuting a general tightening up of internal security
procedures throughout the country.
The need for new security procedures does not
appear to come from any significant increase in dissi-
dence. New procedures were necessitated in part by
the evacuation of large segments of the population
from urban areas and a breakdown in traditional se-
curity procedures.
An unusual admission in the newspaper editorial
of 21 March, however, is the reference to security
problems in the North Vietnamese Army and to antiwar
sentiment among the population at large. Hanoi does
not usually publicly admit the existence of such prob-
lems. The editorial specifically included "army ele-
ments who did not want to transform themselves"--a
possible reference to resistance to the draft or to
a reluctance to accept combat assignments. The edi-
torial also listed "the prevention of the Northern
people's support for the liberation war in the South"
as one of the crimes of counterrevolution.
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The new law also includes certain "counterrevo-
lutionary crimes" which have a distinct foreign flavor--
as though it were aimed at aliens fostering subversion
of North Vietnam from outside its borders. Captured
US pilots, for example, could be accused of some of the
crimes listed in the new law. Other crimes would seem
to apply specifically to the operation of US naval
forces off the North Vietnamese coast. Such crimes
could have been included in an effort to lay the legal
groundwork for Hanoi's handling of captured American
prisoners.
Most of the crimes included in the new law, how-
ever, have been crimes for years and would be crimes
against the state in any society. Furthermore, both
the law and the editorial stress the fact that the re-
gime will not treat the accused harshly or abusively.
The punishments threatened range from a two-
year prison term to capital punishment, but the ac-
cused are promised leniency if they can demonstrate
that they were "forced, misled, or enticed." The em-
phasis on leniency and the routine nature of the new
law tend to reinforce the belief that the regime's
concern about security does not represent extreme
anxiety, but is rather the usual and periodic type
of warning which Hanoi frequently gives to recalci-
trants, malingerers, and grumblers in an effort to
keep them in line.
*
II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
There is nothing of significance to report.
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