THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 31 JULY 1969

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1969-1977
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005976909
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2016
• Publication Date: July 31, 1969

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/2 : CIA-RDP79T00936A007300280001-6
The President's Daily Brief
31 July 1969
19
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
MAJOR PROBLEMS
?VIETNAM
In the private meeting in Paris on Tuesday between
Mr. Habib and Ha Van Lau, the Communists agreed to con-
tinue these sessions in the hope that they would be "free,
easy, and open"--presumably without the constraints of
higher level,
more
was in finding out
formal contacts. Lau's main interest
our minimum conditions for troop with-
drawals, how many troops we are prepared to take out and
when, and some additional US views on a political settle-
ment.
Ha Van Lau struck a familiar pose on mutual withdraw-
als,. In response to Habib's probing about withdrawals of
NOrth Vietnamese troops, Lau insisted that the US rephrase
its position so as to give no suggestion of a reciprocal
obligation by Hanoi. This is the same technique that
Hanoi used on the bombing issue a year ago when the Commu-
nists refused to recognize the principle of reciprocity,
but implied they would be prepared to respond positively
if the US acted on the assumption of Communist good faith.
Presumably they intend to let their military activity
speak for itself in the hope that this will satisfy US de-
mands and prompt both additional US troop withdrawals and
a cutback in allied military activity in South Vietnam.
The Communists may even be engaged in the same public
relations game they tried a year ago. During a slowdown
in military action in South Vietnam last summer, Xuan Thuy
implied to some newsmen that the lull was a response to US
demands for reciprocity for a bombing halt. In an interview
1
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
with Newsday on 30 July, the PRG's Madame Binh offered a
similar interpretation of the current battlefield lull.
She told the correspondent that the Communists are "acting
so that American troops will be withdrawn and unnecessary
American deaths avoided."
MIDDLE EAST
Fighting generally subsided this week, but some brief
actions in Syria and along the Suez Canal resulted in casu-
alties for both sides. Syrian aircraft and artillery
struck at Israeli positions in the Golan Heights -Mount
Hermon area yesterday in retaliation for Israel's air
strike on 30 July at fedayeen bases in the area.
In its first two meetings, the recently formed Jor-.-
danian,National Security Council adopted 4 number of decrees
designe6 to limit fedayeen activities.
Despite these additional signs that Husayn intends
to press forward with his scheme to bring the fedayeen into
line, we question how far he will be able to go. On sev-
eral-occasions in the past, he has worked up his courage to
move against the fedayeen only to back off at the last
moment.
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
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50X1
. ?
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
SOVIET AFFAIRS
It is now apparent that some Warsaw Pact states have
joined the USSR in the large-scale air exercise in Eastern
Europe. On 31 July, about 160 Soviet medium bombers flew
over Eastern Europe and drew reaction from about 110
interceptor aircraft--including some Polish and Czechoslo-
vak fighters. There is still no indication that ground
forces will participate, but Soviet transport flights con-
tinued on both 30 and 31 July. About 80 aircraft from the
USSR entered Poland and East Germany. Most of the tacti-
cal aircraft, noted in the first- phase of the exercise
last week, have returned to their home bases.
II. OTHER IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS
There is nothing significant to report.
3
? FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
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Top Secret
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/04/27 : CIA-RDP79T00936A007300280001-6