THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 1 APRIL 1970

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1969-1977
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005977379
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 15
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2016
• Publication Date: April 1, 1970

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A008200010001-5
The President's Daily Brief
1 April 1970
50
Top Secret
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A008200010001-5
_
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A008200010001-5
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF
1 April 1970
PRINCIPAL DEVELOPMENTS
The enemy's "highpoint"?of military activity in South
Vietnam yesterday does not seem to have been as in-
tense as similar efforts last year. (Page 1)
While Peking has been soft-pedaling its polemics,
Moscow has become shriller in its propaganda attacks
on the Chinese. (Page 2)
The North Vietnamese continue to put troops into the
infiltration pipeline but at a rate considerably
less than what it was for the same period last year.
(Page 4)
China
(Page 5)
The situation in the Cambodian countryside is fairly
`quiet, but this may be only temporary. (Page 6)
(Page 7)
50X1
50X1
50X1
50X1
50X1
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A008200010001-5
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A008200010001-5
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
SOUTH VIETNAM
Communist forces hit over 100 US and South Viet-
namese positions last night. Among the targets of
generally light shelling attacks were Da Nang, Camh
Ranh Bay, and three US division headquarters north
of Saigon. Some ground fighting was reported along
the Cambodian border, but none of it lasted very
long. First reports put American casualties at
eight killed and almost 100 wounded.
This surge is one of the biggest Communist
efforts of the current winter-spring pe-
riod, but it does not seem to measure up
to the enemy's periodic "highpoints" in
1969. There is some indication that yes-
terday's action may be followed by a sec-
ond phase of attacks. The enemy has sup
ply problems, however, and the current de-
ployment pattern of most of his larger
units suggests that the Communists will
be unable to maintain this activity for
long.
1
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A008200010001-5
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A008200010001-5
t
Chinese Maintaining Defensive Positions
on Ussuri River Islands
CHINA
Chi-I i?chin
Darn anskiy/Chen-pao Island
z
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A008200010001-5
50X1
50X1
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-14DP79100936A008200010001-5
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
USSR-CHINA
Soviet propaganda attacks on China are becoming
shriller. While Peking has been soft-pedaling its
polemics, Moscow has been hammering away at the Chi-
nese on a-variety of issues. An article in Red Star
on 31 March, for instance, accused China of taking
"openly provocative" military measures, including
large-scale military. construction, in areas border-
ing the Soviet Union and: Mongolia.
Actually the Chinese have taken only limited
defensive measures in these areas. Such
accusations are probably Moscow's way of
countering the Chinese allegations that the
Soviets are forcing them to negotiate under
military pressure. They also help the rec-
ord in case the Peking talks collapse.
Satellite photography indicates
that the Chinese are maintaining their defensive?
positions on the contested islands in the Ussuri
River. Since the most recent previous photography--
-the Chinese had cleared snow from defen-
sive trench networks on Damanskiy/Chen-pao Island,
where they clashed with the Soviets a year ago, and
from a small segment of the trench network on Chi-li-
chin, a larger island nprth of Damanskiy/Chen-pao.
50X1
50X1
50X1
50X1
(continued)
2
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A008200010001-5
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIAIRDP79T00936A008200010001-5
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
3
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A008200010001-5
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A008200010001-5
North Vietnam: Total Estimated Infiltration Starts
40,000
JAN FEB MAR APR MAY
JUN JUL
JAN
FEB
AUG
1 .968
21,000
18,900
SEP OCT
1969
19,800
25,000
NOV DEC
1970
13,500
11,700
,
' MAR
32,600
17,100
11,500 (Prelim.)
1968
APR
38,900
2,300
MAY
32,800
1,700
1969
1970
JUN
JUL
23,500
21,800
100
100
AUG
- 11,000
600
? SEP
2,200
600
OCT
2,800
4,500
NOV
5,200
7,300
DEC
30,000
6,300
TOTALS
240,700
85,400
36,700
98076 4-70 CIA
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Cop; Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIAIRDP79T00936A008200010001-5
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A008200010001-5
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
NORTH VIETNAM
Over the past week, new battalion-sized groups
have been entering the infiltration system at the
rate of. one a day. This had been forecast in an in-
tercept of 20 March, which said such a rate would
be maintained between 25 March and 2 April. A more
recent message indicates, moreover, that new depar-
tures will continue at least through 4 April.
With most of the returns in, it now looks
as if the total input for March will be
about 11,500. For the first quarter, then,
about 37,000 have entered the pipeline, as
compared with some 61,000 during the same
period last year.
4
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A008200010001-5
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A008200010001-5
Newly Discovered Chinese Missile Site at Wu-chai
USSR
Urumchi%
NORTH.
KOREAV
P.4r." 'SOUTH',
KOREA
Shuang-ch'eng-
eking
PAK.
hanghai
INDIA
PAKISTAN ?
K'un-m in
400
Nan ?? '
98084 3-70 CIA
NORTH
VIETNAM
LAOS
THAILAND
Canton
ONG KONG
MACAO (U.K.I
(PONT.)
TAIWAN
PHILIPPINES,
50X15oxi
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA:RDP794T00936A008200010001-5
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A008200010001-5
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
COMMUNIST CHINA
A missile about 70 feet long aboard a trans-
porter-erector is discernible on the pad in photog-
raphy of 15 November 1968. The missile length gen-
erally equates with the Chinese MRBMs seen on sev-
eral occasions at the Shuang-cheng-tzu test range.
5
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
50X1
50X1
50X1
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A008200010001-5
50X1
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A008200010001-5
anibodia: Current Situation
GULF
OF
SIAM
MILES
98083 4-70 CIA
104
106
SOUTH
CHINA SEA
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA--RDP79T00936A008200010001-5
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copytj Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : dIA:RDP79T00936A008200010001-5
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
CAMBODIA
Western correspondents who have motored. into
Svay Rieng and Takeo provinces report civilian traf-
fia back to normal, but they say that Cambodian se-.
curity forces are maintaining roadblocks along major
routes into Phnom Penh. The journalists saw no evi-
dence of new demonstrations nor any sign of the
peasant bands that Were. active in Takeo earlier in
the week.
The government has also been picking up some
welcome support in the capital. Large crowds of
enthusiastic youths turned out in Phnom Penh in re-
sponse to government appeals that they enlist in
the armed forces. The influential head of the prin-
cipal Buddhist order? addressed the nation in a radio
broadcast that was hardly flattering to Sihanouk.
Along the South Vietnamese border, .more Commu-
nist attacks against government positions have been
reported. Several posts south of-Snoul were overrun
yesterday, in what seems to be a continuing Vietnam-
ese Communist effort to drive Cambodian forces away
from the border.
6
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A008200010001-5
50X1
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A008200010001-5
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A008200010001-5
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A008200010001-5
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
NOTES
USSR:
USSR: The Soviet naval force operating in the
Mediterranean has now increased to some 64 ships,
including 27 warships and 13 -submarines. Most of
the ships have been occupied with small-scale exer-
cises and. surveillance of NATO naval forces. The
helicopter carrier Leningrad is conducting ASW train-
ing near Crete; its sister ship Moskva, is operating
west of Malta.
Cuba-USSR: Raul Castro, Cuba's armed forces
minister, has accepted Soviet Defense Minister
Grechko's invitation to visit Moscow early in April.
Raul has been in the USSR several times before, most
recently in November 1966. No reason for his April
visit has been announced--it is described only as
11 an official friendly visit"--but it seems probable
that he and Grechko will get around to discussing
Soviet military aid. to Cuba.
7
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A008200010001-5
50X1
50X1
50X1
?
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A008200010001-5
Top Secret
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A008200010001-5