CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1951/12/19

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 02008395
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: April 15, 2019
• Document Release Date: April 22, 2019
• Publication Date: December 19, 1951

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SECURITY INFORMATION
19 December 1951
Lopy .NO. 47
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
DOCUMENT NO.
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Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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SUMMARY
FAR EAST
2. Comment on current fighting in Indochina (page 3).
SOUTII ASIA
3. Comment on recent traffic from Sinkiang into northern Pakistan and
Kashmir (page 4).
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
b. France rejects Tunisian petition; appoints new Resident General
(page 5).
EASTERN EUROPE
6. American Ambassador in Prague concerned over safety of Western
diplomats (page 5).
WESTERN EUROPE
7. West Germans balk at size of financial contribution for European
defense (Daze 61.
U. Italian Budget Minister's financial policies at variance with American
defense objectives (page 7).
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2. Comment on current fighting in Indochina:
Coordinated Viet Minh attacks, beginning about
1 December, have continued against the southern and western edges of the
French defense perimeter in Tonkin. Fragmentary and ambiguous French
communiques maintain that the Viet Minh has been repulsed everywhere,
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but the Viet Minh has been successful at 3.3(h)(2)
several points and has seriously infiltrated French defenses at others.
Heavy French losses are suggested by the number of litter cases airlifted
from Saigon and by the statement of a French official in Paris that much
equipment has been "chewed up" and that replacements were badly needed.
SOUTH ASIA
3. Comment on recent traffic from Sinkiang into northern Pakistan and Kashmir:
Between September and November 1951 several
hundred Kazakh tribesmen from Communist-controlled Sinkiang arrived in
eastern Kashmir, while two trade caravans from the same area reached
northern Pakistan and Kashmir. This unusual new movement across a
border closed since 1949 coincides with the Chinese Communist occupation
of western Tibet and growing Communist activity in the area of Nepal. If
Communist penetration of both the northern and eastern Himalayas increases
appreciably, India may shortly be faced with a police and military problem
of considerable magnitude.
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
3.
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5. France rejects Tunisian petition; appoints new Resident General:
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The French Cabinet has rejected the Tunisial.3(h)(2)
petition for a greater share in government, but
has proposed to prolong the term of the Tunisian
Grand Council and to establish a French-
Tunisian commission which would consider the formation of a truly repre-
sentative legislature.
The Cabinet has also selected Pierre Voizard to
replace the present Resident General.
Comment: The French Cabinet delayed denying
the Tunisian petition until it was certain that the UN General Assembly would
not discuss the Moroccan issue. Nationalist disappointment over the French
Cabinet's action will be somewhat lessened by the replacement of the un-
popular and dictatorial Resident General Perillier. Although demonstrations
against the French decision are probable, no serious disorders are likely at
this time.
EASTERN EUROPE
6. American Ambassador in Prague concerned over safety of Western diplomats:
Ambassador Briggs in Prague, commenting upon
the recent arrest of two British Embassy em-
ployees, points out that the personal safety of
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all Western diplomats in Czechoslovakia may now be in jeopardy. It is not
known whether the Czech charges are true or false, since the British
Ambassador in Prague has refused to discuss the case with his American
colleague and the British Government has remained silent.
Czech propaganda has accused the United States
of instigating the plot and financing the operation out of funds appropriated in
the Mutual Security Act.
Comment: The Czechs have, as a result of this
Incident, a valuable propaganda weapon to employ against the Mutual Security
Act. In any case, the affair provides a ready pretext for possible restrictive
actions against Western diplomats in Czechoslovakia.
WESTERN EUROPE
7. West Germans balk at size of financial contribution for European defense:
Chancellor Adenauer told the Allied High 3.3(h)(2)
Commissioners on 14 December that Germany
will probably be unable to contribute the full
amount assigned by NATO as the German share
o Western � e ense costs. He alleges that a constitutional amendment per-
mitting the federal government to tax sourCes of revenue which the state
governments now tax would be required in order to raise this sum.
Adenauer doubts that Parliament would pass such an amendment.
Comment: The Allied High Commissioners
anticipate great difficulty in getting the West Germans to accept their
3. 2 billion dollar share of European defense costs, but believe that additional
revenue can be raised by a revision of the income tax structure. The
coalition parties are loath to raise taxes in the upper-income brackets,
however, and the Chancellor probably hopes that a considerable part of the
German contribution can be financed by internal or foreign loans.
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9. Italian Budget Minister's financial policies at variance with American
defense objectives:
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The US Embassy in Rome evaluates Budget
Minister Pella's recent speech on Italian financial
policy as "conservative, full of old, frequently
repeated themes, and at variance with the
s renu s e or s o icials are now making to bring about a bold Italian
defen program with the help of US aid."
Pella said that Italy must make a defense effort
compatible with "its need to safeguard civilian investments and consumption,
increase employment, protect the value of the lira, and continue social
progress."
Comment: Pella's fear of inflation has ob-
structed expansion of the Italian defense effort. In his "defense of the lira,"
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Pella, who exercises almost absolute control over the Italian budget, has
the full support of Premier de Gasperi and President Einaudi. Italian
defense expenditures are only 24 percent of the total budget.
The need for substantial appropriations to
offset the recent serious flood damage in Italy will reinforce Pella's stand
against pressure for a greater defense effort.
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