THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 12 DECEMBER 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005976509
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 16
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: December 12, 1968

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The President's Daily Brief
12 December 1968
23
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...A-I,' I
THE PRESIDENT'S
DAILY BRIEF
12 DECEMBER 1968
1. South Vietnam
2. Mexico
3. Thailand
The enemy appears to be making
ready to start some spectacular fire-
works, principally in III Corps. His
efforts could begin any time between
now and a few days before the Christmas
truce which begins on 24 December.
all indications point to offensive
actions ?soon, against military targets
outside the capital. Depending on the
success of these ventures, another at-
tack on Saigon might follow. A separ-
ate memorandum on the situation accom-
panies today's Brief.
New student demonstrations are be-
ing planned in Mexico City on 13 Decem-
ber. The demonstrators will renew their
previous demands for reform but may
spice up the affair by adding a denunci-
ation of Diaz Ordaz for "selling out
Mexico" at his meeting with President
Johnson. We believe the government
will take a dim view of any new and pro-
longed demonstration and is likely to
respond with stern measures against the
students--even including the closing of
schools.
Communist-led tribal guerrillas
are stepping up harassing attacks on p
lice and military units in the north
central area of Thailand. Insurgency
became a problem in this section of the
country only about two months ago. The
government's plodding village security
program has been seriously set back by
the security force's failure to respond
to terrorist pressure on the tribesmen.
Villages have been abandoned and tribal
loyalty to the central government, never
strong, has been further weakened.
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4. Egypt-Brazil-
Israel
5, Guyana
6, Jordan
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? Burnham is busy with planning to
secure victory for his People's Nation-
al Congress in the election scheduled
for 16 December.
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7. Soviet Union
Satellite photography shows that
the antiballistic missile launch sites
around Moscow will be externally com-
plete by mid-1969 and could be cpera-
tional by early 1970. No other anti-
ballistic missile complexes have been
detected in the Soviet Union although
developmental work at the test range
continues.
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MEMORANDUM
SC 12380/68
12 December 1968
SUBJECT: Indications of an Impending Communist Offensive
in South Vietnam
SUMMARY
There are numerous indications that the Communists
are prepared and positioned to kick off a new wave of
intensified military action any time between now and
Christmas. Most of the indicators point to III Corps
as the focal point for the upcoming attacks, particu-
larly those involving infantry assaults. There are also
some (but fewer) indications of preparations for ground
probes or assaults at various points in IV Corps. In
any event, though III Corps will probably be the primary
theater of operations, the enemy may launch numerous
mortar, artillery, and recoilless rifle attacks, accom-
panied by some ground action, on allied outposts and
population centers throughout the country. Some sharp
upsurge in Communist offensive activity is almost cer-
tain to develop within the next week or two, and one
reliable agent has reported that attacks in III Corps
are scheduled to begin on the night of 12-13 December,
i.e., during the late morning and early afternoon of
Thursday, 12 December, in Washington.
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9315012-68 CIA
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FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
.) Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
2.) North Vietnamese Reflections of US
Political Attitudes
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16
?
12 December 1968
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...A-I,' I
Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
12 December 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
Hanoi Again Has Protested US Flights Over North
Vietnam: A Foreign Ministry communique issued on
11 December charged that US aircraft struck villages
in.Nghe An and Quang Binh provinces on the 9th.
Since 1 November, Hanoi claimed, US aircraft have
bombed and strafed "densely populated areas deep in-
side North Vietnamese territory dozens of times."'
The statement was harsher and more ?threatening
than earlier Foreign Ministry complaints. It de-
manded an end "forever" to US acts of war against
North Vietnam and indicated that the Vietnamese would
"appropriately punish the US...for their new adven-
turous steps." Previous statements have not included
this kind of retaliatory threat.
* * *
New Liberation Front Negotiating Team: The Lib-
eration Front has appointed a new delegation to at-
tend the Paris talks.
The announcement did not specify when the dele-
gation would be sent to Paris. The Front's represen-
tatives now there apparently are empowered only to
discuss preliminary procedural problems. There have
been several indications that once these matters are
resolved, a new, higher-level team will arrive. The
announcement of a new delegation hints that the Com-
munists anticipate moving beyond procedural wrangling
into substantive talks relatively soon.
The new delegation is headed by four members of
the Front's central committee and includes experienced
diplomats. It also includes a Front political cadre
from the Saigon area and a military officer. Two mem-
bers of the Front's group now in Paris are also in-
cluded.
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The delegation will be headed by Tran Buu Kiem,
a member of the presidium and chairman of the for-
eign affairs commission of the Front's central com-
mittee.
? Madame Binh, who heads the delegation in Paris,
and Tran Hoai Nam, the chief Front representative in
Algeria, are the deputy heads of the team. Nam has
been a prominent foreign representative of the Front.
The fourth-ranking member, Nguyen Van Tien, heads
the Front's mission in Hanoi.
Schools Will Remain Dispersed Outside of Hanoi:
The government has ordered schools to remain dis-
persed in the countryside despite the US bombing halt.
In a directive sent to all provinces as well as Hanoi
and Haiphong city education offices on 2 November, the
education ministry instructed that the facilities which
have been evacuated are to remain in place and continue
security and air defense tasks "...in order to defend
against resumed enemy bombing."
According to a Western traveler who was in Hanoi
in late November and early December, the city's resi-
dents have been advised that they may bring their fami-
lies back at their own risk. Elementary and secondary
schools, however, will not be opened.
This directive probably stems partly from real
concern in Hanoi that the US might resume the bombing,
but it also reflects efforts to jolt the populace out
of their tendency to relax their efforts in support
of the war.
* * *
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Hog Cholera Epidemic in North Vietnam: An epi-
demic of hog cholera has developed in several provinces
of North Vietnam, according to an intercepted message.
The vice minister of agriculture, in a 5 December
order, directed personnel in North Vietnamese prov- .
inces.where hog cholera had broken out to discover it
quickly and to inoculate and quarantine infected
animals as well as inspect all animals prior to butch-
ering.
A cholera epidemic was responsible for the death
of a number of cattle in the northern province of
Lao Cal and Yen Bai in May of this year. At the be-
ginning of 1968, cholera was reported in three other
North Vietnamese provinces.
* * *
II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL ATTI-
TUDES ON THE WAR
There is nothing of significance to report today.
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