THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 9 AUGUST 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005976295
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: August 9, 1968

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006300190001-7
;
The President's Daily Brief
August 1968
23
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006300190001-7
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006300190001-7
THE PRESIDENT'S
DAILY BRIEF
9 AUGUST 1968
1. South Vietnam
2. Mexico
In talking recently, with George
Carver, Prime Minister Huong said he
is confident of his ability to curb
the corruption pervading the Saigon
establishment; the prime minister be-
lieves it must be eliminated if the
government is to survive.
Huong said that he has the com-
plete support of President Thieu in
this task and that the people, now
that they see he means business, are
volunteering information about cor-
ruption. One of the major problems
is that his inspection staff is too
small to give adequate attention to
all the information it is receiving.
Turning to another subject, Huong
claimed that covert Communist agita-
tors are working among such groups as
the Buddhists, the Catholics, students,
and the military. He said that the
Buddhists are inherently susceptible
to Communist propaganda and that he
has proof that some of the Buddhist
leaders are Communist agents.
The call has gone out for a nation-
wide student strike. Students in
Mexico City are set for a mass demon-
stration today/
50X1
50X1
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006300190001-7
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006300190001-7
ouX1
3. Israel-Jordan
4. Iraq
5. Nigeria
6. Communist China
The Israelis are getting tougher
than ever in their public statements
and will certainly launch more and
harder attacks against Jordan as ter-
rorist incidents continue.
Israeli sol-
diers, including reservists, were very
much in evidence on the streets of
Jerusalem on Wednesday.
The new "moderate" regime in Iraq
is in trouble. We can identify sev-
eral seriously disgruntled elements in-
side the countryr
/ Some com-
bination of such groups could try for
a takeover at any time.
The peace talks in Addis Ababa
will probably add up to nothing. An-
ticipating this, Gowon's federal forces
are preparing for a major push against
the Biafran heartland; it could come
as soon as Sunday.
The touchy issue of how far to go
in damping the Cultural Revolution may
be creating new strains in Peking. On
Tuesday, two nationally prominent news-
papers in Shanghai denounced unnamed
forces who were allegedly trying to en-
gineer the dismissal of members of Mao's
Cultural Revolution group. Using un-
usually lurid language, one paper ac-
cused these "enemies" of following the
traditional tactics of "eliminating
those who are close to the emperor" in
order to get at his leading lieutenant--
possibly a reference to Lin Piao or to
Mao's unpopular wife.
50X1
bux1
50X1
50X1
50X1
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006300190001-7
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006300190001-7
Top Secret
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006300190001-7
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006300190001-7
Top Secret
FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
1. Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
2.) North Vietnamese Reflections of U S
Political Attitudes
Top Secret
16
9 August 1968
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006300190001-7
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006300190001-7
t.))(1
Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
9 August 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
Hanoi's Next Tactics: We suspect Hanoi has
reached some new decisions on how to move next in
the Paris talks and in the war in South Vietnam.
Le Duc Tho probably is returning to Paris armed
with these decisions. The evidence on future tac-
tics is inconclusive, but the weight of it suggests
that stepped-up Communist military activity is
likely.
Recent propaganda supports military indications
which point toward another strong Communist military
push in South Vietnam. Taken at face value, this
evidence suggests that Hanoi concluded from the Hono-
lulu conference and from tough statements by President
Johnson and Secretary Rusk that its efforts to extract
concessions from the US have failed and that addi-
tional Communist military pressure is required.
On the other hand, the North Vietnamese have
recently begun to encourage others to regard the
Communist military posture during the past month or
so as evidence of "restraint" in response to US de-
mands. In the most direct public statement yet on
this issue, the official spokesman for Hanoi's dele-
gation in Paris told a newsman on 7 August to "close-
ly study the situation in South Vietnam during the
last few months."
This latter approach puts the Communists in a
position to go either way: they could prolong the
military lull in South Vietnam in the hope of in-
creasing pressure for unilateral US concessions; or
they could proceed with major military efforts and
claim this action was required because the US failed
to respond to a period of Communist "restraint."
50X1
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006300190001-7
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006300190001-7
*
*
*
* * *
* * *
?2-
50X1
50X1
50X1
50X1
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006300190001-7
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006300190001-7 50x1
* * *
North Vietnamese Agricultural Problems: Accord-
ing to a Nhan Dan article of 14 June on conditions in
Nam Ha Province in the Red River Delta, "never before
has a season begun as early as this year's, never be-
fore has there been a season in which labor problems
have reached such levels." While nowhere claiming a
labor shortage, the article asserted that without the
achievement of more "complex" supervision of labor,
the requirements in harvesting the fifth-month crop
simultaneously with planting the tenth-month crop
will not be met. There is also an allusion to the
?
need for better incentives for individual peasants.
We know from other sources that the weather this year
has been unusually cold and wet.
* * *
-3-
50X1
50X1
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006300190001-7
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006300190001-7 _
o0X1
* * *
NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
There is nothing of significance to report today.
?4-
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006300190001-7
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006300190001-7
Top Secret
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006300190001-7