SNIE 100-7-59: SOVIET TACTICS ON BERLIN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79R01012A014700040003-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 17, 2013
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: June 19, 1959
• Content Type: MEMO

Declassified in Part- Sanitized Copy Approved forRelease2013/12/17 : CIA-RDP79R01012A014700040003-4
R-E-T
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
19 June 1959
MEMORANDUM FOR THE UNITED STATES INTELLIGENCE BOARD
SUBJECT: SNIE 1004-59: SOVIET TACTICS ON BERLIN
On 15 June the U.S. Delegation
at Geneva requested the views of the U.S. intelligence community
on the qmestion of the likelihood of Soviet interference with
civil access to Berlin as one of the possible courses of action
discussed in SNIE 100-7-59. The USIB authorized the following
reply' at its meeting on 16 June:
"Implicit in our thinking was the belief that the
Soviets overriding aim was to force the Western powers
themselves to agree to withdraw their forces from Berlin,
or at least consent to weakening the status of daeir
presence there. We felt that the Soviets would believe
any dramatic or broad measures obstructing civil traffic
with Berlin would lessen rather than increase the chance
of obtaining this objective and might lead to strong
Western countermeasures. We had visualized the possibility
of some minor harassment of civil access under our Course II.
We believe, however, that the degree of such harassment
would be carefully controlled so as not to be construable
by the West as an economic blockade of Berlin. Subtle and
indirect measures aimed, for example, at weakening business
and banking confidence in Berlin might be undertaken. We
would consider such steps subsumed under para 4 of our
estimate. Last sentence of para 4 should now read: We
think steps of this kind, including some harassment of
Berlin civil traffic to reduce business confidence, would
be open, etc."
Accordingly, all holders of SNIE 100-7-59 should correct
their copies so that the last sentence of para 4 reads (added words
50X1
S- C-R-E-T
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/12/17: CIA-RDP79R01012A014700040003-4
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/12/17: CIA-RDP79R01012A014700040003-4
, A COP) c10)
S-E-C-R-E-T
are underlined): "We think steps of this kind, including some
harassment of Berlin civil traffic to reduce business confidence,
would be open to the Soviets to take, and that their course of
action after Geneva would probably be of this character."
,
01ESTER L. COOPER /
Deputy Assistant Director
National Estimates
Distribution "A"
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/12/17: CIA-RDP79R01012A014700040003-4