THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 17 JANUARY 1969

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005976567
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: January 17, 1969

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The President's Daily Brief
M73"-Srm4a.,17 January 1969
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THE PRESIDENT'S
DAILY BRIEF
17 JANUARY 1969
1. Soviet Union
2. Nonproliferation
Treaty
Soyuz 4, with its crew of three,
returned safely to the Soviet Union
early this morning. Soyuz 5 remains
in orbit. The next opportunity for
recovering it occurs early tomorrow
morning. The Soviets probably ful-
filled the major goals for this mis-
sion--the docking of two manned space-
craft and the transfer of two crewmen
from Soyuz 5 to Soyuz 4. These ac-
complishments represent important de-
velopments in proving some of the hard-
ware and techniques required for space
rescue and for orbiting and maintaining
manned space stations.
Italy has recently contacted sev-
eral holdout governments in an effort
to induce them to join it in signing
the treaty late this month. According
to a foreign ministry official, the
results were as follows:
--Turkey has agreed to sign at
about the same time as Italy.
--Indonesia gave a "positive re-
sponse" but no precise date.
--Australia and Japan apparently
will sign after US ratification.
? --Switzerland will consider the
matter again in the spring.
--Spain wants to link its signa-
ture with the Gibraltar issue.
--West Germany is awaiting further
talks with the US.
--Israel is not yet ready to sign
in view of the still unresolved problem
of "American security guarantees."
(This is Israel's first explicit con-
nection of its willingness to sign with
its desire for security assurances from
the US.)
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3. Poland
4. Brazil
5. Mexico
Party leader Gomulka appears to
be using the knife on one of his main
challengers, party secretary and alter-
nate politburo member Mieczyslaw
Moczar. He is reported to have engi-
neered some shifts of provincial party
leaders aimed at weakening Moczar's
support. In addition, it is rumored
that Moczar men in the Internal Affairs
Ministry--which Moczar once headed--
are being ousted.
Moczar has been out of public
sight for more than two weeks; this
has fed further speculation that he is
under house arrest.
Yesterday, additional prominent
Brazilians--including several supreme
court members and a number of congress-
men--were stripped of their political
rights. More may follow. This action
is primarily a victory for those hard-
line elements in the government who have
been demanding that Costa e Silva use
his dictatorial powers to "clean out
subversives."
Two Soviets, ostensibly trade union
officials, have been expelled for med-
dling in Mexican affairs. Their arrival
last week from Cuba was by invitation
from a Communist union which recently
hit a sensitive nerve by calling for
drastic action on agrarian problems.
The Soviets were summarily deported af-
ter contacting a second labor union de-
spite a government warning against such
interference. Thus far, the Mexicans
have not publicized the incident.
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6. Peru
7. South Vietnam
8. Turkey -
West Germany
The government appears ready for
a final move against the International'
Petroleum Company. A source close to
President Velasco now says that regard-
less of whether the company pays a dis-
puted bill for oil products drawn from.
its expropriated refinery, its remain-
ing assets will be seized "within a few
days." These assets are largely dis-
tribution facilities.
The Liberation Front delegation
in Paris is preparing to smear South
Vietnamese chief delegat6 Pham Dang
Lam by publishing in Saigon the story
that he brought his mistress, an ac-
tress, to Paris.
Vice President Ky fought this kind
of extra-delegation activity, hoping to
avoid scandal. True or not, the story
will not endear Lam to Ky, who already
is opposed to having Lam on the delega-
tion.
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Top Secret
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Top Secret
FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
.) Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
2.) North Vietnamese Reflections of U S
Political Attitudes
Top Secret
16
17. January 1969
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
17 January 1969.
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
Ranking Soviet Official to Go to Hanoi:- Our
embassy in Moscow has learned from the Lao ambassa-
dor that the chief of the Southeast Asia division
of the Soviet Foreign Ministry, Mikhail Kapitsa,
expects to leave on a trip to Southeast Asia later
this month. Kapitsa's trip supposedly is to in-
clude Hanoi as well as Phnom Penh, Vientiane, and
maybe Djakarta. If the report is true
he would be the
first top drawer Soviet we have identified as stop-
pingin Hanoi in three years.
* * *
* * *
Agricultural Cooperatives Permit-Too Much Pri
vate'Ehterprisel?Contracts are being let to indi-
vidual families for the tilling of collective lands,
and this was criticized by the party's main daily,.
Nhan Dan, .on 10 January. The ideologues apparently
are worried that this will lead to "letting everyone
do What he likes." This bothers them because they
are in a dilemma: under present conditions, the con-
tract system "is needed to stimulate peasant eager-
ness to work."
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Management Problems: The 11 January issue of
Nhan Dan declared that "in recent years, many pro-
duction units have neglected organization and mana-
gerial tasks...." As a result, "labor output in
general has declined, whereas the cost of products
has remained high. Wasting manpower and wealth have
become relatively popular practices." These prob-
lems, it was said, must be overcome if 1969 economic
work is to improve and the plan for the year ful-
filled.
Since the bombing halt, the North Vietnamese
press has been quite candid in discussing problems
in management and labor efficiency. It is possible
that these problems have been aggravated by a psycho-
logical letdown among the population and that the
government is attempting to counter this tendency.
Power Plant Construction and Repairs: Since
April 1968 there has been a continuous program of
repairs to the nine power plants in the Hanoi-Hai-
phong network, according to photography. The re-
pairs have apparently been restricted to the less
heavily damaged boilers and generating equipment,
or to equipment for which parts could be easily ob-
tained. Blast walls have been completed or are
under construction at all nine plants. Meanwhile,
construction has been resumed on new hydropower
plants near Lao Cai on the Chinese border, and Lang
Chi, which is northwest of Hanoi in the Red River
delta.
II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
There is nothing of significance to report to-
day.
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