THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 17 OCTOBER 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005976413
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: October 17, 1968

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006500040001-1
The President's Daily Brief
o See. 'ret 7 October 1968
23
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006500040001-1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006500040001-1 -50X1
? .THE PRESIDENT'S
DAILY BRIEF
17 OCTOBER 1968
. Czechoslovakia -
Soviet Union
2. Soviet Union
3, Soviet Union
Moscow now has a status-of-forces
agreement which it can cite as legal
authority for the continued presence
of its forces in Czechoslovakia. The
agreement was signed last night in
Prague by Premiers Kosygin and Cernik.
The text of the treaty has not yet
been published, but it will probably
allow the Soviets to maintain some
100,000 troops in occupation. Kosygin
said yesterday that other Warsaw Pact
forces will be withdrawn by stages
within the next few months.
Having gained one major goal,
Moscow may now try to pressure Prague
into a formal admission that the in-
tervention was justified by the exist-
ence of a "counterrevolutionary" situa-
tion. Such an admission would open,the
gates to a broad purge of the Czecho-
slovak party and government.
The Soviets will probably try an-
other circumlunar mission this year,
but not this month. Soviet space sup-
port ships in the Atlantic and Indian
oceans have left their stations for
nearby ports,
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006500040001-1
50X1
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006500040001-1
?4. Communist China -
United Kingdom
5. United Kingdom -
Rhodesia
The Rhodesians are keeping the
door open to further negotiations on
the terms offered by Wilson in the
talks at Gibraltar. Although Wilson
made concessions of form, he did not
yield on the basic question of ulti-
mate majority rule in Rhodesia.
The Rhodesians are no more ready
now than before to accept this. Yet
Ian Smith, now back in Salisbury,
stated yesterday that there is "a dis-
tinct possibility" of settlement if
London will drop its demand that Rho-
desia accept the final authority of
the British Privy Council.
This authority is important in
providing London a means of seeing
that the terms of an agreement are
carried out. Smith will probably con-
tinue negotiations with Commonwealth
Secretary Thomson in Salisbury.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006500040001-1
50X1
50X1
50X1
? Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006500040001:1,0
6. Guyana
7. Philippines-
Malaysia
Prime Minister Burnham is still
not publicizing his plan to dissolve
parliament next month and call for
elections in December. He feels that
conditions are favorable to him this
year, while they might not be next
?March, by which time elections must be
held. The junior party in Burnham's
coalition government could withdraw
even before the dissolution of parlia-
ment, since the partners are at logger-
heads over a proposed election law.
Cheddi Jagan admits his party has
no chance in an election run by Burn-
ham, but he will stay in the race just
the same. Cheddi is looking further
into the future and is trying to con-
vert his party into a tightly knit Com-
munist organization.
The Philippine-Malaysian ministe-
rial talks planned for next week in
Tokyo have been scuttled by a provoca-
tive speech made by Philippine Foreign
Secretary Ramos at the UN on Tuesday,
apparently on instructions from Presi-
dent Marcos. Ramos asserted that Ma-
laysia has no authority to represent or
speak for Sabah. The reaction of Ma-
laysian Prime Minister Rahman was to
,call off the Tokyo meeting.
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006500040001-1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006500040001-1
Top Secret
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006500040001-1
' Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006500040001-1
Top Secret
FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
1.) Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
2.) North Vietnamese Reflections of U S
Political Attitudes
Top Secret
50X1
17 October 1968
16
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006500040001-1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006500040001-1,
Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
17 October 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
Le Duc Tho Moves On: Le Duc Tho left Moscow on
16 October after two days of consultations with the
Soviets./
* * *
Radio Commentary on Paris Talks: A Hanoi Radio
domestic commentary on 15 October reviews the Paris
talks in familiar hard-line terms and carries on the
theme that a bombing halt will create favorable con-
ditions for a "correct" settlement of the war. .It
offers no clues to Hanoi's current tactics and prom-
ises nothing specific for a postbombing period. ?
After reaffirming Hanoi's "sacred right" of:
"fighting and chasing the aggressors anywhere)" the
broadcast stresses that "the Vietnamese people" have..
always been ready to move toward a "correct settle- -
ment" on the basis of the Four Points and the
politi-
cal program of the Liberation Front. Such a settle-
ment, it said, must be based on the "independence,
sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity" of
Vietnam "as recognized by the Geneva Agreements," It
also requires, according to the broadcast, that the
US end its "aggression," withdraw its troops from the
South and "recognize" and "talk" with the Front about
"the related problems in South Vietnam.'"
The broadcast gave short shrift to the matter
of South Vietnamese representation, saying only that
the US had used the Paris talks to "make propaganda
in favor of the Saigon puppet regime." On the bomb-
ing issue, the broadcast quoted President Johnson's
speech of 10 October expressing hope for an early end
to the war. Seemingly in response to the President,
50X1
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006500040001-1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006500040001-1
it said that "if the United States ends the bombing
of North Vietnam soon, it will have conditions for
correctly settling the Vietnam problem."
* * *
-2-
50X1
50X1
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006500040001-1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006500040001-1
...A-I,' I
Coal Industry Problems: In a "recent" speech
to coal miners, Pham Van Dong stated that their in-
dustry had "failed to achieve progress in the past
few years" even though "the amount of equipment
and material supplies to the mining areas have been
further increased." Pham accused the workers of
failing to,work satisfactorily, of not working all
the workday, and of failing to uphold labor disci-
pline. He also accused them of failing to regard
coal production as a revolutionary or anti-US strug-
gle and hence falling into "bureaucratic or un-
realistic" leadership practices.
* * *
II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
day.
There is nothing of significance to report .t
-
50X1
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006500040001-1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006500040001-1
Top Secret
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006500040001-1