THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 4 OCTOBER 1969

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1969-1977
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005977021
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2016
• Publication Date: October 4, 1969

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A007600040001-9
The President's Daily Brief
4 October 1969
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
SOVIET UNION - COMMUNIST CHINA
We have nothing to confirm Radio Belgrade's assertion
on Wednesday that "the evacuation of the Soviet and Chinese
units stationed in the immediate vicinity of the border...
has started," but we consider a significant pullback by regu-
lar forces unlikely. On the Chinese side there are simply
not many regular troops stationed near the border. The Sov-
iets do have large troop concentrations in the border region,
but are tied to the Trans-Siberian Railroad, which supplies
them and which they are assigned to defend. The two sides
may, however, have worked out an agreement whereby their border
guard units would operate a bit farther from the frontier.
Satellite photography in August did disclose that a Sov-
iet motorized rifle regiment had been withdrawn from an ex-
posed position in a small salient on the Sinkiang border.
This almost certainly was an example of military prudence,
however, and not an effort to lessen tensions. (See The
President's Daily Brief of 5 September.)
The Belgrade report is quoting Soviet sources. All the
stories about,a reduction in border tension, in fact, have
come out of Moscow; the Chinese, except for their brief an-
nouncement of the Chou-Kosygin meeting, have been completely
silent on the subject.
SOVIET UNION - NIGERIA
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LIBYA
Newsweek's Armand de Borchgrave, after trying for days,
finally managed to interview a member of Libya's Revolution-
ary Command Council late Thursday night. His interlocutor
refused to give his name and had removed his badges of rank,
but he said he was 25 and had been a lieutenant. He gave
the following glimpses of the regime's attitudes and policies:
--The government's first priority is to "join the Arab
world." This will mean a more militant policy in general
and might include sending a contingent to the Suez Canal.
--The second priority is economic diversification, bet-
ter utilization of oil revenues, and agricultural improvement.
--Third is a 50 percent cut in the bureaucracy.
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--When asked if the Wheelus base agreement would be
terminated, the council member said, "That is so obvious it
is not worth discussing." He said, "Maybe, could be" when
asked if the agreement would be terminated before it expires
in December 1971.
--He refused to say how big the council was, but indi-
cated it had fewer than 15 members. Their average age, he
said, was 28.
--The ban on liquor is permanent, as is the Arabization
of Libyan street signs. The council member praised the cur-
few as a device to restore family life, but he said it will
not last much longer.
De Borchgrave told the US Embassy that his interlocutor
was "obviously bright, sincere, anclfairly sophisticated."
He comments that the council obviously has not worked out
some of its positions fully, but it has very firm convictions
on a good many subjects.
BRAZIL
The army high command has selected General Emilio Medici
to succeed President Costa e Silva, and Medici has agreed to
accept. The next step in the process is the approval of the
joint high command of the armed services. This is expected
to come on Monday. The designation will then be subject to
approval by the reconstituted congress, but under the circum-
stances that is little more than a formality.
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Top Secret
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