CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1955/12/10

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 03020459
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: September 20, 2019
• Document Release Date: September 26, 2019
• Publication Date: December 10, 1955

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CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
DOCUMENT NO I V
NO CHANGE IN CLASS,
IT DECLASSIFIED
CLASS CHANGED TO: TS S C
NEXT REVIEW DATE. .-P0/
AUTH: HR 70-2
DATE. REVIEWER:
�
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
_TOP SECRET
#7,
3.3(h)(2)
Copy No. 100 3.5(c1/
.//
10 December 1955
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CONTENTS
1. SOVIET OFFICIAL DENIES CHANGE IN ALLIED
STATUS IN EAST BERLIN (page 3).
2. EAST GERMANY MAY ASK PEIPING'S SUPPORT IN
GAINING ASIAN RECOGNITION (page 4).
3. DESTROYERS BEING CONSTRUCTED IN SHANGHAI
(page 5).
4. MILITARY SITUATION IN LAOS (page 6).
5. COSTA RICA SEEKING OAS INVESTIGATION OF CENTRAL
AMERICAN SITUATION (page 7).
THE ARAB-ISRAELI SITUATION
(page 8)
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1. SOVIET OFFICIAL DENIES CHANGE IN ALLIED
STATUS IN EAST BERLIN
A Soviet embassy protocol officer in
Berlin told
that the USSR intended
to continue to respect Allied rights in
East Berlin and had no intention of tearing up any four-
power agreement. He said nothing had changed as a re-
sult of Soviet commandant Dibrova's statement to the Amer-
ican commandant about the incident involving American
congressmen. According to the officer, the Soviet-East
German exchange of letters on 20 September merely for-
malized the existing situation and changed nothing about
Allied access to Berlin or Allied movement in East Berlin.
As proof that the situation is unchanged,
the protocol officer said that East Berlin is still open to
Allied vehicles and that Allied nationals who get in trouble
with East German police are still turned over to Soviet au-
thorities.
Comment While East German propaganda con-
tinues to deny that the four-power status
of Berlin still exists, it is becoming increasingly evident
that Moscow is permitting East Germany to assert its au-
thority only where this can be safely done without in fact cur-
tailing Allied rights in Berlin. East German propaganda may
have gone farther than the USSR intends in implying a threat
to the Allied position in West Berlin.
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2. EAST GERMANY MAY ASK PEIPING'S SUPPORT IN
GAINING ASIAN RECOGNITION
A representative of the West German
consul general in Hong Kong stated on
3 December that his government be-
lieved the chief purpose of East German
premier Grotewohl's visit to Peiping is
to enlist Communist China's aid in influencing neutralist
Asian nations to recognize East Germany.
Comment
It is unlikely that Asian neutral nations
will recognize East Germany at this time.
However, the Soviet and Chinese Communists probably be-
lieve that the desire of these nations for international co-
operation and contacts between governments "regardless of
ideological differences" will eventually permit East Germany
to gain recognition.
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3. DESTROYERS BEING CONSTRUCTED IN SHANGHAI
The type of ship in question is possibly
the 1,500-ton Soviet-designed Riga-class escort destroyer,
first built in 1952 at Kaliningrad. It would be the largest
warship of postwar design to appear in China.
Some 90 Soviet shipbuilders, many with
experience in building the Riga-class destroyer, "W-class"
long-ran e submarine and small patrol vessels, are in Shang-
hai. repared jointly with ORR)
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4. MILITARY SITUATION IN LAOS
Comment on:
Latest reports from Vientiane indicate
that government forces in Sam Neua
Province have at least temporarily
gained the upper hand over attacking
Pathet Lao troops.
the three
Pathet Lao battalions that attacked
government positions in the southern
part of the province are retreating
nortneastwaru. Bathet Lao objectives in the initial ac-
tion were to seize high terrain that controlled government
lines of communication into the province.
Government troops are now attempt-
ing to cut the line of retreat and to interdict the battalions'
supply routes. Although action is still centered in the
original area of attack, royal forces have already begun
to implement a plan to attack Pathet Lao munitions depots
in other areas, using small commando units. The action
may provoke a strong Pathet Lao offensive and expand the
area of hostilities.
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5. COSTA RICA SEEKING OAS INVESTIGATION OF CENTRAL
AMERICAN SITUATION
Costa Rican foreign minister Esquivel
on 7 December asked the secretary
general of the Organization of Central
merican a es to sound out the other member govern-
ments on a request to the Organization of American States
to investigate Nicaraguan charges of a Communist subver-
sive plot in Central America.
Comment Costa Rica is evidently trying to seize
the initiative from the rightist regimes
of Nicaragua and Venezuela in the recently renewed "war
of nerves" in the Caribbean area. In recent conversations
with American officials, high Nicaraguan and Venezuelan
officials have renewed their charges that Costa Rican pres-
ident Figueres is a leader of an international conspiracy
financed by the Soviet Union to overthrow anti-Communist
governments in the area. Figueres in fact has a long anti-
Communist record. However, he has an equally long record
of active opposition to area "dictatorships," particularly
those in Nicaragua and Venezuela.
Nicaraguan president Somoza is aware
of current plotting againsi: his regime by his domestic oppo-
nents and hopes to pin the blame on Figueres. The Figueres
administration, on the other hand, gives credence to reports
that preparations for a new "revolt" in Costa Rica, similar
to that of last January, are under way in Venezuela and Nica-
ragua. At that time the OAS was instrumental in bringing an
end to the fighting in Central America.
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THE ARAB-ISRAELI SITUATION
(Information as of 1700, 9 December)
has been
On 4-5 December two vessels with large
crates on deck reportedly arrived at Alexandria and berthed
in a heavily guarded area.
It declared "378 tons of general cargo (packed)" in addition to
its regular cargo of petroleum products when it passed Istanbul
on 2 December. Both ships evidently carried military equip-
ment--probably tanks and disassembled jet aircraft--and the
Alexander Nevsky may have carried other types of arms as well.
10 Dec 55
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