THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 23 OCTOBER 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005976423
• 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 23, 1968

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006500090001-6
The President's Daily Brief
23 October 1968
23
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THE PRESIDENT'S
DAILY BRIEF
23 OCTOBER 1968
1. Panama
2. South Vietnam
With Arias out of the Canal Zone,
tensions continue to abate in Panama.
The flow of messages recognizing the
junta has begun.
Arias' exploits yesterday will
doubtless prompt the junta to keep a
wary eye on him for some time to come.
We have another example of the
sort of coup-plot rumors ?that are
peddled to Thieu.
There is no other information
that would suggest there is any more
substance to this story than to the
earlier ones which triggered alerts,
and, considering the furor he stirred
earlier this month, Thieu probably will
move this time with more circumspection.
He is not clapping Ky's Air Force
friends in jail, but, given Thieu's
highly suspicious frame of mind, he can
be counted on to keep a close watch on
them.
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3. Warsaw Pact -
Czechoslovakia
4. Israel-
Arab States
5. North Korea -
South Korea
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two more Soviet divisions will
pull out of Czechoslovakia early next
week.
r CS SF A
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The Israeli cabinet is thinking 50X1
of making a statement to Jarring on the
territorial question, but Deputy Premier
Allon told our charg?esterday that he
thought the cabinet would not authorize
any new moves without advance assurance
of support from the US. Allon made it
clear that any Israeli statement would
propose substantial changes in prewar
boundaries.
Allon last week put a further chill
in the atmosphere by announcing that
more agricultural and urban settlements
were to be established in those occupied
areas which are "vital for Israeli se-
curity or of special historical signifi-
cance for Jews."
More North Korean infiltrators were
killed in the week ending last Monday
than in any other seven-day period this
year. In previous years, infiltration
has slacked off in the fall, in part be-
cause the disappearing foliage makes the
effort more hazardous. Pyongyang's per-
sistence this year probably can be traced
to dissatisfaction with the results of
the regular-season campaign.
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6. Japan
7. Western Europe
8. Bolivia
The far left's emphasis on vio-
lence, coupled with police restraint,
seems to have further eroded the left-
ists' popular support. The Japanese
press and public, which have often
criticized the government's control
measures in the past, generally ap-
proved of the way Monday night's riots
were handled.
A four-nation consortium which is
trying to develop an all-European com-
bat aircraft is having its troubles.
The four--Britain, West Germany, Italy,
and the Netherlands--are currently hung
up on basic performance specifications;
they have managed to agree that the
plane should have a swing-wing but are
arguing over almost everything else.
Once these disputes are ironed out, the
haggling will begin again over assign-
ment of design responsibilities for the
plane's various components.
Barrientos says Cuban guerrillas
are active again in Bolivia. He told
Ambassador Castro his troops are not
equipped to meet the challenge. More-
over, he said, his inability, to keep
the Army paid and supplied is causing
a rift between himself and the military.
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Top Secret
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006500090001-6
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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
16
23 October 1968
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'-'LI,' I
Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
23 October 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
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Logistics: A message intercepted on 26 Septem-
ber indicates that the North Vietnamese are shipping
about 10,000 rounds of 76-millimeter ammunition to
South Vietnam--two to three times more than has been
noted in any previous month.
London Demonstration: The antiwar march sched-
uled for this coming Sunday is causing some uneasi-
ness in both government and public quarters. The
number and mood of the marchers are subject to a
wide range of estimates. Police are guessing at
about 25,000, while press speculation puts the fig-
ure at 100,000. The march, organized by a mixed bag
of leftists, is supposed to wend its way peacefully
to Hyde Park, but some of the radicals are planning
to split off and head for the US Embassy. American
firms also have been threatened.
The embassy is in close contact with police and
believes they will be able to control the march.
* * *
Front Commentary: Hanoi yesterday broadcast,
on its international service in English, one of the
Front's toughest statements in some time. The broad-
cast did not refer to current press speculation on
-2-
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new diplomatic initiatives, but it did restate all
the old terms on negotiations. The commentary said
the bombing must be stopped unconditionally, immedi-
ately, and without reciprocity.
Front propaganda is often more rabid than Hanoi's.
* * *
On Released Sailors: Hanoi ungraciously acknowl-
edged the return of the 14 North Vietnamese sailors in
a domestic broadcast yesterday. The Communists used
the occasion to chastise the US for the "illegal seiz-
ure of North Vietnamese citizens" and said that all
such citizens held by the US should be returned imme-
diately and without any, special agreement between the
two sides.
* * *
II, NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
There is nothing of significance to report today.
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,
Top Secret
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