THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 14 MARCH 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005974327
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 13
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: March 14, 1968

- Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005900200001-0
The President's Daily Brief
--Top---Seere.t--14 March 1968
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DAILY BRIEF
14 MARCH 1968
1. South Vietnam
2. Cambodia
Vice President Ky has told Ambas-
sador Bunker that the situation in
IV Corps is not good at all. Accord-
ing to information given Ky by General
Thang, the new commander, some 2,000
regular and irregular troops in IV Corps
are still unaccounted for, and 367 out-
posts had either been overrun or their
complements withdrawn. Ky claimed, how-
ever, that Thang was rapidly gearing
himself to move over to the offensive
in the delta.
Ky thinks Saigon needs to raise
another 100,000 to 125,000 men. He al-
so observed that in view of what he
claimed to be the enemy's superior weap-
onry, better equipment for South Viet-
namese forces is more important than
having more American troops.
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NORTHERN LAOS
CHINA
NORTH
VIETNAM
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3. Communist China
4. Laos
There are signs that the Cultural
Revolution disorders have had an ef-
fect on some military weapons programs.
The most telling indication is a
speech--just recently come tot light--
thatChou En-lai made in mid-January,
complaining of exceptional factional-
ism in the military industries. He men-
tioned specifically two rival factions
thought to be in a ministry involved
with the production of missile compo-
nents and lamented that some factory
equipment had been damaged.
Work has continued in the advanced
weapons program despite disorders cre-
ated by the Cultural Revolution. In all
defense industries in which production
can be gauged, output dropped in 1967.
The Cultural Revolution played some role
in this decline, although the exact ex-
tent cannot be determined.
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The Communists are keeping up their
pressure on government guerrillas in the
northeast. North Vietnamese 50X1
and Pathet Lao battalions are consoli-
dating their control of the area around
Phou Pha Thi, which they captured Mon-
day, ejecting government troops from sev-
eral smaller outposts in the area. A
likely next Communist target is the im-
portant guerrilla base at Na Khang4; The
loss of Na Khang in addition to Phou Pha
Thi would just about put the government
out of the business of observing and
harassing the enemy in the northeast.
The Communists are also continuing
their limited offensive against govern-
ment positions south of the Plaine des
Jarres. So far, however, they do not ap-
pear disposed to push as far south as Meo
leader Vang Pao's headquarters at Sam
Thong or the guerrilla base at Long Tieng.
There have been no new reports of
significant enemy activity in southern
Laos the past two days.
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5. Gold Rush
6. Poland
Yesterday was the worst yet with
sales on the London gold market reach-
ing $174 million. Sales for the first
three days of this week are already as
high as last week's five-day total of
$395 million. The British pound also
took a beating yesterday after London
published figures showing that Febru-
ary was a bad month for Britain's trade
balance.
Ambassador Gronouski reports that
Radio Free Europe broadcasts to Poland
during the present crisis have been
"especially appreciated by the Polish
audience." They are listening particu-
larly to RFE's detailed up-to-date ac-
counts of developments in the country
and to comparative treatment with de-
velopments in Czechoslovakia.
the broad-
casts are forcing the Polish media to
commit embarrassing gaffes in handling
the story.
* * *
There were no new student outbursts
in Warsaw yesterday, but widely scat-
tered demonstrations continued elsewhere.
The increasingly anti-Semitic slant in
the party's counterpropaganda suggests
the hardliners may be trying to improve
their position at the expense of a mod-
erate Jewish faction associated with
Gomulka. Gomulka himself has been lying
low since the riots broke out six days
ago, a failure in leadership which could
be held against him later on.
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. Panama
the opposition has
drawn up what seems to be a more leisure-
ly timetable for completion of impeach-
ment proceedings against Robles. Final
assembly determination of Robles' "guilt"
would be taken by March 26, after which
the National Guard Commandant would be
ordered to replace him with the pro-
Arias vice president. If the Guard re-
fuses, Arias would then call his follow-
ers into the streets.
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Top Secret
FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
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1-6
14 March 1968
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
14 March 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
* * *
Hanoi on Prisoner Exchanges: The North Viet-
namese charg?n Vientiane held the door open to fur-
ther discussions on the exchange of prisoners during
an initial meeting with US Embassy officials on 12
March. He also delivered a strong propaganda condem-
nation of US harassment of North Vietnamese coastal
shipping and seizure of North Vietnamese personnel
from these vessels. The protest, in the form of an
aide-memoire, suggests that it is intended as a North
Vietnamese position paper.
The charg?equested that the 12 March discus-
sions be. given no publicity. In this meeting the
North Vietnamese also officially agreed to accept
the three North Vietnamese naval personnel whom the
US proposes to repatriate, thus clearing the way for
their return to Hanoi on the next ICC flight sched-
uled for this Friday.
The official aide-memoire seems to set the
stage for Hanoi's future actions on the prisoner
issue. It attempts to make a distinction between
captured American pilots--whom the North Vietnamese
regard as criminals--and the "hundreds" of North
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Vietnamese civilians whom Hanoi claims the US has
captured in North Vietnamese waters, "arrested, and
illegally retained." The memoire insists that the
prisoner issue is not one of reciprocity. The US
is obliged, according to this argument-, to return
its North Vietnamese prisoners, whereas Hanoi hasi
released the American pilots as a gesture of good
will. Using this rationale,, Hanoi clearly intends
to retain the initiative and the control over the
timing of prisoner releases.
* * *
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Communists Plan World-wide Vietnam Demonstra-
tions: The Communist-front World Federation of Demo-
cratic Youth has called on its affiliates to organize
a "thousand demonstrations" world-wide for one month
beginning 24 March. The demonstrations are to be
against US policy in Vietnam.
Most likely trouble spots are in Scandinavia
and elsewhere in Western Europe where radical "new
left" groups are already conducting or preparing
for Vietnam protest demonstrations. There could be
violence against US property in these places.
The Communists' world youth group is also pro-
moting the idea of a meeting during the next few
weeks between "representatives of progressive Ameri-
can and Vietnamese youths."
* * *
Hanoi Comment on Saigon Politics: The North
Vietnamese are continuing to give close attention
to the political situation in South Vietnam. In
its English language broadcast on 13 March, Hanoi
claimed that recent changes in the personnel of the
Saigon administration and evidence of assembly dis-
satisfaction with the Thieu government had demon-
strated the "sharp contradiction among the puppets
and the scramble between Thieu and Ky for power."
Quoting Western press stories, the broadcast noted
that seven of the 44 province chiefs had been "fired,"
that the assembly had rejected Thieu's request for
more power, and that a petition of no confidence
in the Loc cabinet had been circulated among a num-
ber of senators.
* * *
II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
,US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearings:
At last check, neither Hanoi nor the National Liber-
ation Front has reported or commented on the hear-
ings.
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More Hanoi Comment on US Attitudes: Hanoi con-
tinues-rii-TEFITEUF-US- editorial opinion critical of
the American policy in Vietnam. In an international
English language broadcast on Wednesday, Hanoi re-
ported that the 10 March issue of Newsweek had com-
mented editorially that after three years of gradual
escalation, "President Johnson's strategy for Viet-
nam has run into a dead end." Newsweek was also
quoted as saying that the President's strategy was a
failure and urged him to get the US out of its dismal
situation by stopping the war in Vietnam.
The New York Times of the same day was also re-
ported to have called the US war in Vietnam "this
vain and costly effort," and to have pointed out
that it was clear that American military might could
not achieve a meaningful victory in Vietnam. The
Times urged an eventual orderly withdrawal from Viet-
nam, according to the broadcast.
* * *
Antiwar Activities Reported: In its latest
broadcast wrapping up antiwar activity, Hanoi re-
ported on 12 March that three more US soldiers had
deserted in Japan to protest US policy in Vietnam.
The broadcast also reported that opposition to the
war has increased sharply in the past year at the
University of Massachusetts. It quoted a recent sur-
vey conducted by a graduate student seminar which
indicated that 73 percent of the students who re-
sponded said they would vote against President John-
son in the election and that 78 percent of the gradu-
ate students said they oppose US involvement in Viet-
nam.
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Top Secret
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