THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 6 DECEMBER 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005976499
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: December 6, 1968

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006600150001-8
The President's Daily Brief
6 December 1968
23
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006600150001-8
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006600150001J.,,(1
THE PRESIDENT'S
DAILY BRIEF
6 'DECEMBER 1968
1. Czechoslovakia Both Dubcek and his conservative
Soviet Union rivals are concentrating at the moment
on drumming up,support among party and
government workers, while the Soviets
work quietly, to bolster the conserva-
?tives and "realists." Their maneuver-
ing is taking place against a backdrop
of continuing demands from the media
and the populace at large to end the
erosion of pre-invasion liberties.
2. Israel -
Arab States
3, Cuba
4, Cambodia
The Israelis have placed an order
with a US firm for equipment to con-
vert some of their helicopters into
gunships. They may in fact have used
an armed helicopter in their reprisal
raids in Jordan this week.
The Israeli helicopter fleet has
grown from 46 to over 75 aircraft since
the June 1967 war,. and more helicopters
,are on order.
Havana has given considerable
propaganda support to the Black Power.
:Movement in the:US.r
50X1
50X1
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006600150001-8
? Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006600150001-8 ri
...A-I" I
5?Thailand
? 6. Iran -
Soviet Union
50X1
Thai military leaders are getting more
? and more nervous about the durability
?of the US commitment in.Southeast Asia.
? What passes for strategic planning in
'Bangkok is being done on?the assumption
that a Vietnam _settlement may not pro-
tect Thai interests, that .SEATO is no
longer dependable, and that the US it-
self may withdraw from the area. Some
Thai 'leaders are even talking about a
detente with Peking.
All this worry seems unlikely; to
produce much change in Thai policy,
however. -The alternatives to the links
with the US_are either unrealistic or
unpalatable, and in any case the Thai
are usually able to avoid facing up to
difficult questions such as these.
? _TheShah,treated.Governor:Scranton
,to some of his trademarked-..Soviet-
menaCe:rhetoric in%their.conversation
this week. .Recent-Soviet naval .visits
in.the:Persian:.Gulf.and.the.:Indian
.0ceanllavetheightened-his Anxieties,
.and.he:told.the Governor:that both.he
-and theSaudis are on the alert ..for
more radical.noises.froM1Cuwait,-which
.is:currently interested in.acquiring::So-
.viet.arms.
-The Shah also said his-visit:to Mos-
cow 'in late September left him with the
impression that.Kosygin (whom he likes)
has dropped from number two in the,'So-
viet hierarchy, having been replaced by
,Podgorny (whom_he distrusts). -This wor-
ries the'Shah, who evidently,places more
'weight on apparent shifts in the Krem-
lin's pecking order than we are able to-do
as long as the top 'Soviet leadership,re-
mains collegial.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006600150001-8
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006600150001-8
ZX
ANNEX
Cuba
? A=1
50X1
50X1
50X1
50X1
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006600150001-8
? Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006600150001-8
...A.J" I
A-2
50X1
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006600150001-8
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006600150001-8
Top Secret
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006600150001-8
' Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24: CIA-RDP79T00936A006600150001-8
Top Secret
FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
1.) Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
) North Vietnamese Reflections of US
Political Attitudes
Top Secret
6 December 1968
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006600150001-8
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006600150001,1,0
Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
6 December 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
* * *
50X1
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006600150001-8
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A00660015000178,0
zMorePrbtests Hanoi has
issued another strong protest over allied military.
operations in the Demilitarized Zone and north Of
the 17th Parallel. On 5December a foreignAninistry
statement was broadcast on Radio Hanoi's domestic
service claiming that US aircraft struck villages
in southern North Vietnam on'3.December. Although
the statement used language similar to that in pro-
tests earlier this month, it claimed for the first
time that the battleship,New:Jersey, had ,shelled the
northern half of the Demilitarized_Zone.
* * *
Burchett Activities: The peripatetic Austra-
lian journalist and self-proclaimed explainer of
Hanoi's views is a much sought after man in the UN,
where he holds temporary press accreditation. A
good many newsmen are trying to get his help in ob-
taining invitations to North Vietnam.
Food Problems: Distribution problems are con-
tinuing to make North Vietnam's food situation dif-
ficult, although imports from other Communist coun-
tries probably have offset shortages.
-2-
50X1
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006600150001-8
50X1
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006600150001-8 ri
...A-I" I
j Poor harvests since 1965 have
intensified shortages in traditionally food-deficit
areas, and the regime has attempted to assure minimum
levels of consumption. The ration system has been
inhibited to some extent by diversion of food to the
black market.
Imports of food during the first eleven months
of 1968 amounted to 681,300 tons--an increase of
about 50 percent over the eleven-month total last
year.
II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
There is nothing of significance to report today.
_3_
50X1
50X1
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006600150001-8
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006600150001-8
Top Secret
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006600150001-8