THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 30 APRIL 1970

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1969-1977
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005977429
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 14
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2016
• Publication Date: April 30, 1970

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The President's Daily Brief
30 April 1970
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF
30 April 1970
PRINCIPAL DEVELOPMENTS
Our assessment of the Cambodian situation appears
on page 1.
The Communists in Laos have moved against targets
in the south. (Page 3)
The second wave of the spring offensive is shaping
up in South Vietnam. (Page 5)
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
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CAMBODIA: Current Situation
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98374 4-70 CIA
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
CAMBODIA
The military situation is far from settled
but a number of things appear to be a good
deal clearer than they were in the weeks
immediately following Sihanouk's downfall.
On the military front, the Communists have
moved rapidly to drive Cambodian forces in-
land away from Communiat border bases--this
has now been largely accomplished--and they
have created trouble for the Cambodians in
the interior. This process is continuing
and involves two kinds of activities. Com-
munists have threatened or harassed a se-
ries of major Cambodian towns, among them
Snoul and Mimot in the north, and Svay
Rieng, Takeo, Kampot, and Kep in the south.
Except for Mimot, all of these towns are
still in Cambodian hands. In addition,
Communists have harassed the major roads,
rail lines, and waterways Leading from Phnom
Penh to the eastern region.
These actions could give the Communists
control over a wide swath of Cambodian ter-
ritory where they can get foodstuffs and
recruits, where they can set up a Sihanouk
liberation government, and finally where
they can move their bases back away from
now threatened border sanctuaries.
To date, although there has been some waver-
ing in Phnom Penh, the Communists have not
succeeded in shaking the resolve of the Lon
Nol government. If anything, Lon Nol and
Matak are more determined than ever. ?The
prospect of US material assistance obvi-
ously has been extremely important.
It is significant, however, how much the
Communists have achieved, at Least in a
tactical sense, with the expenditure of
relatively few resources. Most signifi-
cantly, the enemy has not used any of its
main force units in operations in Cambodia
since the fall of Sihanouk; the enemy has
not needed them.
(continued
1
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The government military post at Mimot in Kom-
pong Cham Province was taken by enemy troops on 27
April(
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, almost all of the government defenders were?
either killed or captured. Meanwhile, an employee
of the French plantation at Mimot has told US of-
ficials that a fleet of 50 trucks and a substantial
amount of Cambodian currency were left behind when
the plantation was evacuated.
The region near the port city of Kampot came
under Communist harassment for the first time yes-
terday. Few details are available, but the govern-
ment claims fighting there is continuing. The ac-
tion in the Kampot area is the most southwesterly
extension of Communist military activity to date.
Recently available information indicates that
the Communists have been attacking truck convoys
between Phnom Penh and the provincial capital of
Svay Rieng. One convoy was immobilized and another
was forced to return to Svay Rieng on 26 April. The
Communists also overran a government outpost six
miles north of Svay Rieng on 27 April, suggesting
that they may be closing in on the town itself.
The large-scale allied sweep operation launched
into the "Parrot's Beak" area of Svay Rieng yester-
day may compel some Viet Cong elements to move deeper
into the Cambodian interior.
The long drawn-out fighting near the town of
Angtassom in Takeo Province is continuing. Govern-
ment forces apparently have removed Communist road-
blocks between Ancitassom and Phnom Penh.
2
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Laos: Current Situation
BURMA
THAILAND THAILAND
GULF
OF
7:ON KIN
communist-controlled territory
Contested territory
TNAM
Limit of area claimed under
Communist and Neutralist
control, June 1962
THAILAND
CAMBODIA
98373 4-70 CIA
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
LAOS
, the commander of the
600-man government force in the provincial capital
of Attopeu decided to abandon the town following a
heavy mortar attack. Casualties were reported to
be very heavy. One unconfirmed report states that
the town had been attacked by a regimental-size
North Vietnamese force but this may reflect the cus-
tomary exaggerated claims of Lao army officers.
Although the military importance of At-
topeu is minimal, its .loss will be a se-
vere political and psychological setback
to the government. Along with the city
of Saravane, which is just northeast of
the Bolovens Plateau, Attopeu has long
figured prominently in the war of nerves
in southern Laos. It has been attacked
before, but the Communists have never made
a substantial effort to capture it; they
have clearly had the capability to do so,
however.
There have been reports circulating in southern
Laos for the past month that local Communist forces
intended to break the lull in military activity in
the ?anhandle.
The Communists have not mounted a major
offensive in this area of Laos since early
1968, when North Vietnamese forces recap-
tured the Se Done Valley and virtually
surrounded the provincial capitals of
Saravane and Attopeu. Major North Viet-
namese elements withdrew from the Bolovens
Plateau area during the last rainy season.
The attacks may have been designed to fore-
stall any additional deployments of govern-
ment forces from the panhandle to northern
Laos. They could also have been the result
of some breakdown in local arrangements
which some of the regular army commanders
in the Bolovens area have established with
the Communists.
(continued)
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It is too early to determine whether the
attack on Attopeu is the harbinger of an
important shift in Communist strategy in
Laos or represents only the kind of spo-
radic flareup that has occurred in the
south in past years. At a minimum, it is
a fresh reminder of the extreme fragility
of the government's position in all of
southern Laos, and of the relative ease
with which North Vietnamese troops can
move westward out of the infiltration cor-
ridor to strike at a time and place of
their own choosing.
The military situation in the north has remained
essentially stable during the past 24 hours.
4
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
SOUTH VIETNAM
There are mounting signs that the second round
of the Communists ? spring offensive will begin soon,
most likely during the first week of May.
5
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Soviet Buildup Continues on Sino-Soviet Border
SIBERIAN
MILITARY DISTRICT
TRANS-BAIKAL
MILITARY DISTRICT
Lake
Baikal
Naushki
Tanks ?Chita
stockpiled
FAR EAST
Helicopter-lifted
MILITARY DISTRICT ,
units -Fr
A Ground force
division
moving in
BelogorsIc
*Khabarovsk
Ulan Bator?
MONGOLIA
? 98371 4-70. CIA
? FROG-7
Tactical rocket launcher
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
NOTES
USSR-China: Recent satellite photography shows
that the Soviets are continuing in a deliberate
fashion to move men and equipment to the Sino-Soviet
border. There were 277 tanks--almost enough for a
division--seen stockpiled near Naushki, in the
Trans-Baikal Military District. Division-level
equipment and more than 650 tents observed at Choy-
balsan indicates that the number of divisions in
Mongolia has been increased to three.
USSR:
FOR THE
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USSR:
Guatemala:
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)
Top Secret
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