THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 20 MARCH 1967

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005968846
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: March 20, 1967

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005000450001-2
The President's Daily Brief
?TorS-tf-Fgt._ 20 March 1967
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005000450001-2
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DAILY BRIEF
20 MARCH 1967
1. South Vietnam
2. North Vietnam
3. Soviet Union
Ambassador Bui Diem--now in Saigon--
says that approval of the draft consti-
tution by the Armed Forces Council will
be "merely a formality.")
The council will probably be con-
vened soon after the Guam Conference,
with the constitution itself being
promulgated early next month. The elec-
tion date for president and vice presi-
dent has been set for 3 September; 4 Sep-
tember for the upper house and 1 October
for the lower house.
Peking went out of its way in
speeches and editorials over the week-
end to reaffirm its support for Hanoi.
The ostensible reason for this was the
17th anniversary of "Vietnam Day Against
US Imperialism." The primary purpose,
however, was to reinforce the North
Vietnamese conviction that Hanoi will
win in the long run and that negotiation
would be useless. The Chinese probably
see the Guam Conference as leading to a
sizable US escalation, and these latest
statements out of Peking are meant to
stiffen Hanoi's resolve.
A Soviet officer in Moscow has
promised the US defense attach?hat
next summer's air parade will be "very
interesting." A big show in this the
50th year since the October revolution
would certainly not be surprising. The
Soviets have several developmental air-
craft which they might unveil, including
fighters, transports, and a prototype
vertical take-off and landing plane.
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4. French Somaliland
5. Saudi Arabia
The French are in the saddle and
cracking down hard on protesting Somali
tribesmen following Sunday's success-
fully rigged referendum. A curfew has
been imposed in Djibouti, where the
Somali community lost a number of lives
in postelection rioting. Leaders of
the pro-independence party have been
arrested.
Djibouti
looks like an armed camp--the native
quarter is closed off with barbed wire
and French troops and gendarmes are
highly visible. Paris is also said to
have reinforcements ready to send to
Djibouti if necessary.
Those two interested bystanders--
the Somali Republic and Ethiopia--con-
tinue their watchful waiting.\
the Ethio-
pians, with the referendum coming out
the way they wanted it, might be just
as happy to leave it to the French to
clamp down on Somali dissidents inside
the colony.
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6. France
Signs are mounting that the French
plan nuclear tests in the Pacific either
late this spring or early next summer.
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If the French do as they 50X1
have in the past, danger warnings to
ships and aircraft will be issued at
least a month before tests actually be-
gin.
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005000450001-2
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005000450001-2
Top Secret
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005000450001-2