THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 4 SEPTEMBER 1969

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1969-1977
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005976969
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2016
• Publication Date: September 4, 1969

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A007500040001-0
The President's Daily Brief
4 September 1969
19
Top Secret
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A007500040001-0
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A007500040001-0
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
VIETNAM
Some tactical military shifts by the new North Viet-
namese leadership may appear soon.
There are no signs yet, however, that any shift has
actually begun.
intercepts in fact indicate that as
recently as Wednesday some units were still under orders
to attack.
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
The carefully staged campaign to discredit Dubcek,
Smrkovsky, and Cernik seems about to come to a climax.
A plenary meeting of the party's central committee is
scheduled for this
ready. The plenum
send the three men
has long demanded.
month--it may in fact have begun al-
will give Husak the opportunity to
into political oblivion, as Moscow
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COMMUNIST CHINA
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A007500040001-0
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
SOVIET AFFAIRS
Recent satellite photography of the Kazan airframe
plant shows a new prototype supersonic swing-wing bomber.
The aircraft is about 140 feet long, has an extended wing
span of about 105 feet, and apparently is powered by two
engines mounted in the fuselage. It can be expected to
undergo four to six years of testing before it is ready
for operational service. This is the first evidence that
the Soviets are working on a new strategic bomber.
Satellite photography has also disclosed a Y-class
(Polaris equivalent) submarine at the Komsomolsk shipyard
in the Soviet Far East. This confirms earlier estimates
that Y-class units are in production at Komsomo1sk as well
as at Severodvinsk in European Russia, where nine of this
class have been launched so far.
Continued unfavorable weather dims the outlook for
the Soviet grain harvest this year. Cool weather delayed
planting and retarded crop development during the spring
and summer in the European USSR, while crops in the New
Lands were harmed during June and July by hot, dry weather.
More recently, excessive rain and wind have delayed and
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
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complicated harvesting. Only one-third of the crop, rather
than the usual one-half, had been harvested by late August.
Unprecedented effort and good weather will be needed through-
out September to assure a satisfactory harvest.
MIDDLE EAST
The Lebanese Government's ability to curb the fedayeen
based on its territory--already questionable--is diminishing
as fedayeen strength grows./
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Israeli
warnings to Lebanon about fedayeen attacks probably will be
ineffective.
The Israelis mounted another air strike against fedayeen
bases on Mount Hermon yesterday.
LAOS
yang Pao's guerrillas have occupied most of the Plaine
des Jarres and have also made significant gains to the north
of it.
The ease of yang Pao's advance suggests that the Commu-
nists were not preparing for a major drive west?of Muong Soul,
3
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A007500040001-0
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A007500040001-0
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as government leaders feared. The virtual absence of any
Communist response, in fact, adds weight to claims of local
villagers that large numbers of North Vietnamese left the
Plaine last month. There is little reason to doubt, how-
ever, that when the weather begins to improve in October
the Communists will not only undo yang Pao's effort but
will also cut deeper into the government's overextended
lines.
4
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A007500040001-0
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A007500040001-0
Top Secret
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A007500040001-0