MONTHLY REPORT -- BANGKOK BUREAU -- AUGUST 1988

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-01355R000400050006-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 26, 2013
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: August 31, 1988
• Content Type: MEMO

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ROUTING AND RECORD SHEET
SUBJECT: (Optional)
Monthly Report -- Bangkok Bureau
FROM:
Chief, Operations Group
EXTENSION I- NO
TO: (Officer designation, room number, and
building)
DATE
August 1988
11(
STAT
DATE
OFFICER'S
INITIALS
RECEIVED FORWARDED
COMMENTS (Number each comment to show from whom
to whom. Draw a line across column after each comment.)
C/Ops
C/EUS
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4.
DD/FBIS
3
to,)(
D/FBIS
PO/RA
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8.
SA/CD
10.
12.
C/AS
C/BU/AS
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13.
14.
C/AG
15.
Exec. Reg.
FORM 61 0 USE PREVIOUS
1.79 EDITIONS
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31 August 1988
FBIS-3218-88
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director, Foreign Broadcast Information Service
THROUGH: Chief, Operations Group
SUBJECT: Monthly Report -- Bangkok Bureau -- August 1988
I. GENERAL
A. It isn't often that an ambassador gets upstaged by a
?beauty queen, but newly arrived U.S. Ambassador Daniel O'Donohue did
when he presented his credentials to the King on 23 August. Such an
event is usually given broad dissemination throughout the media, but
not this time. It seems the occasion just happened to coincide with
the arrival of Thailand's own Miss Universe, Phonthip Nakhirankanok,
and the media allotted all its space to her fascinating activities
that day (She had salted fish for breakfast). Then, apparently still
smitten by Miss Universe's charm, when the press finally did run
Ambassador O'Donohue's picture it identified him as the new
ambassador from Oman. However, he did receive a very warm welcome
when he visited the bureau 18 August for a tour and briefing. Well
aware of the value of the FBIS product from his Burma days, the
ambassador requested that the bureau arrange with the Embassy
Political Section to provide him with all FBIS priority and above
material on Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Among the first items
he received was the 5-take policy statement of the new Thai prime
minister.
B. On the local political scene, no sooner was Chatchai
Chunhawan sworn in as the new prime minister and his cabinet
appointed than controversy arose over his proposal to allow the
military to participate in cabinet meetings. Following several days
of strong opposition from various parties and the press, Acting
Military Supreme Commander Chawalit stated that if the public didn't
want the military in the cabinet, it didn't want to be in it, thereby
resolving the problem.
II. OPERATIONS
A. Monitorial /Editorial
Following a period of relative calm for this area of the
world, the bureau filed two nZZ's" during the month, neither of which
generated Critics.
The first took place on 12 August when Burmese military
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strongman Sein Lwin suddenly resigned as president and party chairman
after just 17 days in power following massive public demonstrations.
The two-person Burmese section of put in STAT
numerous hours of overtime, tuned in the Rangoon casts at home when
not on duty, and at one point actually translated most of a STAT
4-take speech by newly appointe a e Council Vice Chairman U Aye Ko
on his personal corrputer at home in order to meet the processing
deadline the bureau had promised.
In addition to covering Rangoon Domestic, the pair also
processed a number of items from Moscow and Beijing in Burmese and
BBC in both Burmese and English, and monitored Burma's Maymyo Defense
Forces radio in Burmese. The bureau also provided BBC with live
phone feeds of the 1330 GMT Rangoon Domestic casts from 11 August on
and furnished copies of the daily Burmese file to the Singapore
Embassy at its request. Both Headquarters and BBC (twice) expressed
their appreciation for a job well done, while the U.S. Ambassador in
Rangoon not only forwarded his thanks, but added: "We are pleased you
have added BBC broadcasts to your coverage since they enjoy a wide
audience here and are having an impact on Burmese thinking."
The second "ZZ" was filed on 17 August when Pakistani
President Ziaul Haq was killed in a plane crash along with several of
his top military aides and the U.S. ambassador. After being told by
the Wire on that date to be alert for any new developments in
Pakistani-U.S. relations but that no special watch was required, the
bureau went on open-speaker watch as a precautionary measure and soon
filed the initial announcement of President Zia's death. The South
Asian team then spent a long night filing follow-up reports on the
tragedy, radio behavior reports, and a four-take address to the
nation by Acting President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, for which the Wire
expressed its appreciation. The unit was finally able to go off open
watch following the president's funeral on 20 August.
The Vietnamese Unit translated the "Text" of SRV Foreign
Minister Nguyen Co Thach's 31 July letter to General John Vessey
informing him of the SRV's decision "to temporarily not allow the
United States to join Vietnam in the search for and exhumation of
the remains of Americans missing in action," citing Assistant
Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Gaston Sigur's 28 July
remarks to Congress as the main reason for the decision.
B. Communications
The bureau came within minutes of erroneously switching its
communications circuit and those of four pony line recipients from
baudot to 300 baud ASCII on 25 August. It seems that the Embassy
Commo Unit was informed that our circuit was to be switched on that
date but the bureau wasn't, while the bureau received a message that
wasn't routed to Commo actually postponing the procedure if one was
aware of the contents of the first message. Commo and bureau techs
were in the process of switching the circuit when bureau personnel
were shown the original message and realized the second pertained to
it.
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C. Lateral Services
1. At Ambassador O'Donohue's request, a wrapup of items
filed over the past few months on the food situation in Vietnam was
prepared for him by Vietnamese Unit Chief Vinh Din Nguyen
2. Requests from AmEmbassy Vientiane and the Drug
Enforcement Agency, AmEmbassy Bangkok were fulfilled for Lao Domestic
items on a drug trial in that country involving a number of Thai
nationals.
3. At the request of the AmEmbassy Brunei, the bureau filed
it the Democratic Kampuchean proposal for a comprehensive political
solution to the Cambodian problem broadcast by the (Clandestine)
Voice of the National Army of Democratic Kampuchea.
4. At a Headquarters consumer's request, numerous Thai
press items were filed on the new prime minister's controversial
proposal to have the military attend cabinet meetings and on the
upcoming military reshuffle.
5. At AG's request, the bureau is now filing all Hanoi
Domestic and Voice of Kampuchea program summaries to it.
D. Technical
1. Following continuous LAN crashes for reasons unknown,
Headquarters advised that a LEC team would be arriving at the bureau
in early September to try and resolve the problem.
2. It was found that the hard disk to the AFP Facsimile
machine did not function properly despite long-distance
trouble-shooting from FED, and was rushed back to Headquarters for
repair so that it will be back here in time for the fax's conversion
to a digital system.
E. Cruising
1. Since 2 August, what is believed to be the Indian
satellite INSAT-1C has been observed at azimuth 207.61 degrees and
elevation 72.19 degrees, putting its position at approximately 94
degrees East.
2. Since 19 August, Malaysian Television Channel 3 (TV3) has
been observed on the Indonesian satellite 113E Palapa B2P at RF 3820
Mhz with good reception. Color system is Pal and audio subcarrier is
at 6.6 Mhz.
3. After checking for Radio Hong Kong's transmissions in
Vietnamese to Vietnam for several days at BBC's request, it was
learned that the station never did go on the air due to
insurmountable technical difficulties.
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4. Again at BBC's request, the bureau's cruisers spent
several days checking for Radio Television Hong Kong shortwave
transmissions in English, Mandarin, and Vietnamese with negative
results.
III. ADMINISTRATION
A. Personnel
1. After more than 37 years service, Bureau Engineer_____STAT
STAT and his wife, Bureau Secretary ; retired on 31 AugustSTAT
and departed on 1 September for a month's trip through India, Egypt,
STATand Europe before eventually settling down in Arizona. and
STAT who started his career early by joining the Marines when he
was 14 (they never did find out and he spent more than 8 years in the
military), were honored at parties hosted by NIA, the Bang Ping crew,
the bureau, and the bureau chief. Among the gifts they received were
matching gold counterfeit Rolex watches as souvenirs of Bangkok
Bureau. ,
2.
the Embassy CLO.
was appointed FBIS representative to STAT
B. Building and Grounds
1. The construction of the retaining wall around the
righthand side of the operations building began at Bang Ping, with
completion scheduled in mid-September.
IV. VISITS
A. To the Bureau
1. New Ambassador Daniel O'Donohue on 18 August for a tour
and briefing.
Chief, Bangkok Bureau
STAT
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?
30 August 1988
TO: Engineer, Deputy Chief, Chief
FROM: Satellite Cruiser
SUBJECT: Monthly Satellite Cruising Report for August
1. Since 2 August, what is believed to be the Indian satellite
INSAT-1C has been located at azimuth 207.61 degrees and elevation
72.19 degrees; putting its position at approximately 94 degrees
East. ,A telemetry signal is located at RF 4031 MHz with other
two unknown signals at RFs 4035 and 4038 MHz in lefthand circular
polarization'. Measurement of carrier signals are:
- Bandwidth 0.5 MHz
- Bandwidth 0.8 MHz
- Bandwidth 0.5 Mhz
RF
403/
MHz
- SIN
Ratio
18
db
RF
4035
MHz
- S/N
Ratio
12
db
RF
4038
MHz
- S/N
Ratio
24
db
.2. Since 19 August, Malaysian Television Channel 3 (TV3) has been
. observed on the Indonesian satellite /13E Palapa B2P at RF 3820
MHz with good reception. Color- System is PAL and audio subcarrier
is at 6.6 MHz. The video carrier has a signal to noise ratio of
34 db and a bandwidth of approximately 20 MHz with righthand
circular polarization. This is the third Malaysian television
intercepted via Bangkok ROSET in addition to the RTM #1 on 113E at
RF.3900 MHz and the RTM 412 on 66E at RF 3.8.28 MHz (LHCP).
3. Since 9 August, Swiss Radio International in English, French,
Spanish, German,- Italian, Arabic, Portuguese, Romansch, and
Esperanto have been observed on the 60E Intelsat at RF. 3962 MHz,
-channel frequencies 160 Khz and /64 Khz, with good reception.
These transmissions are also broadcasting in parallel with various
HF frequencies with poor/fair reception at Bangkok Bureau.
4. From approximately 2300 to 2315 gmt on 17 August, an unscheduled
television feed in Urdu from Pakistan was observed in progress on
the 60E Intelsat at RF 4165 MHz with fair reception. The color
system used was NTSC and audio subcarrier located at 6.6 MHz. The
video-feed consisted of clips of a news reader reading a brief report
on Pakistan President Zia's death, cabinet meeting and prayers and.
Acting President Ghulam Ishao Khan reading his address. Feed ended.
at 2305 gmt and was repeated until 2315. gmt when video carrier
dropped off the air. At the beginning of the feed, a screen notice. ?
"Stand by for news feed from Pakistan Television Karachi -studios"
was observed.
5. Since 2 August, Radio France Internationale in French/English
on the 63E Intelsat at RF 3980 MHz has been observed to relocate
its channel frequency from.96 Khz (inverted) sto 400 Khz (upright).
Reception is good.
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? 6. Since 23 August, cruising checks of Soviet satellites on the
-53E,'90E and 140E have revealed following changes:
Audio for Moscow TV 2nd program Double-IV on 53E at RF 3875 MHZ
(formerly carrying sound-in--sync audio) has been located at
subcarrier.7.5 MHz. Reception is good.
? Moscow radio 1st program Orbita-1 on 140E at RF 3875 MHz has
relocated its audio subcarrier from 7.5'MHz to 7.0M Hz.
Audios for Moscow IN 2nd program Double-I. on 90E at RF 3915 MHz
- and on 140E at RF 3875 MHz .(formerly carrying sound-in-sync audio)
have been located at.subcarriers 7.5 MHz with good reception.
7. Since 29. August, cruising checks on?DPA:radioteletype
transmissions in English on 60E Intelsat at RF 3877.MHz have
.re.iealed followed changes:
DPA transmission at channel frequency 232 Khz Upright has been
moved to 472 Khz Upright with its center.frequency at 1735 Hz
normal. The VET stack at ?channel frequency 232 Khz is no longer
observed.
DPA transmission at channel frequency 576 Khz Upright, center
frequency 1185 HI normal, is no longer observed (VFT stack no
longer observed).
DPA .transmission -at channel frequency 100 Khz Inverted, center
frequency 1625 Hz normal (formerly reported as channel frequency
096 Khz Upright, center frequency 2375 Hz normal) remains no
'change.
The DPA transmission at channel frequency 472 Khz is in parallel
with channel frequency 100 Khz with a 10-minutes time lag.
'r
STAT
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30 Aug 1..tst 1908
TO Deputy Chief, Chief
FROM:' HF Cruiser
SUBJECT: Monthly HF Cruising Report for August 88
1. Cruising project for Aug 88:-
Priority :- VODK/VONADK/VOK/VOMD/V0P8/VRR
Vientiane domestic
Routine:- Kuala lumpur dom/intl
Singapore
STAT lecked France intl svc in frence for to compared with
630 Roset heard in parallel on 15200/11995/11670khz(0020gmt/1 Aug)
3. Rangoon dom freq shift up from 9730 to 9735khz with fair
reception(0330gmt/2Aug).
4. Checked on HF bands between 4 and El mhz for Mr.Nives to compared
with 80E Roset(RF3775 1F84.30mhz) in vietnamese,no HF freqs heard
in parallel with 80E Roset(0509gmt/2 Aug).
5. Rangoon dom freq shift down to normal on 9730khz(fair)-.
6. Observed on MoscoW.intl svc due to minor frequencies adjustments
(1000=1715gmt/3. Aug)
7. Checked Rangoon dom for Rh un sally heard with very poor due to
strong interference from adjacent stations on 5985 khz(1147gmt/
5 Aug).
8. Hanoi ? domestie in Vietnamese heard on intl freg of 12035(fa1r)
in parallel with 10060,6450and 4895khz(0400gmt/9 Aug).
9. Hong kong radio was intercepted on 9685khz in english with poor/
fair reception at0933gmt/10 Aug.
10.Checked on Hong kong radio on 7295khz but unheard at 0003 -OPOOgmt/
15 Aug.
11.Jakarta intl svc heard in additional language of arabic on 15150,
11790khz(0300-0400gmt/15 Aug).
12.Received the cruising message from 1380:(TB1808160088) request for
cruising check on Jakarta :Intl svc new transmission adjustments.
13.Request for cruising check on Hong kong radio(T82208180688) at
0700-1600gmt on 9685 khz.
14.Checked Hong kong radio on 9685khz but unheard(0700-0900gmt/23Aun)
15.jakarta intl svc the announced frequencies of 9675,7225,7125khz
all -urheard(last check 26 Aug).
116. Hong kono radio unheard on 9637.1khz at0900-1300gfilt/4 Aug.
17.Sending cruising messages of all cruising project of Aug incdud
Jakarta intl nevJ schedule to bureau(Obt1)5gmt/29 Pug),
STAT
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