THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 15 SEPTEMBER 1972

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1969-1977
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005993521
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 16
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2016
• Publication Date: September 15, 1972

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The President's Daily Brief
15 Septem6er 1972
4 5
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Exempt from general
declassification schedule of E.O. 11652
exemption category 5B( 1),(2),(3)
declauified only on approval of
the Director of Central Intelligence
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF
15 September 1972
PRINCIPAL DEVELOPMENTS
Soviet agricultural problems are likely to be dis-
cussed at the party Central Committee plenum to-
morrow, with Brezhnev said to be bouyant about pros-
pects for a good harvest in the Virgin Lands.
(Page 2)
South Vietnamese Marines have repulsed several coun-
terattacks around the Quang Tri citadel. (Page 3)
Laotian Government forces are again moving slowly
toward targets on the periphery of the Plaine des
Jarres. (Page 6)
Chilean political tensions still simmer as President
Allende tries to lure the Christian Democrats into
a truce. (Page 7)
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
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CHINA
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
USSR
Agricultural problems arelike4 to be
discussed at the partg Central Committee
plenum scheduled to be held tomorrow.
According to an aide to party chief Brez1Inev4
the Soviet leader was in 'rather buoyant spirits"
following his return last meek from touring key
grain-growing areas of the Virgin Lands. The aide
told an official of our embassy in MOSCOW that
Brezhnev is convinced that his swing through the
Virgin Lands has succeeded in promoting an all-out
effort to bring in the harvest and help offset
losses elsewhere. The party boss was said to have
briefed the Politburo earlier this meek on the pros-
pects for a successful harvest in Soviet Central
Asia and Siberia.
The embassg agricultural attachg is tees
sanguine over crop prospects in these
areas. Weather conditions there have
remained poor since Brezhnevws?return,
and hCrVeeting Lsssmag be high because
of late ripening of the crops. In fact.
not even a bumper crop will come close
to offsetting the losses in other regions.
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OR
VIET
OLIANG;IN
Baldy
MR 1
QUA +G
NGAI
ONTUM
BINH
DINH
PHU
BON
Mekong
QUANG
DUC
PHUOC
TUYEN
0
LONG
K
GINN
TOY
China
P.HUOC
TUN'
VI NM
LONG
Capital Special Zone
CHUONG
THIEN
Gulf of
Thailand
AN
XUYEN
SOUTH VIETNAM
553595 9-72
178 MILES
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
VIETNAM
South Vietnamese Marines have turned back sev-
eral enemy counterattacks around the Quang Tri cit-
adel. Fighting has been heavy just south of the
fortress and near the Thach Han River to the west,
where government forces have occupied a major enemy
transshipment point. Yesterday the Communists fired
over 1,700 artillery and mortar rounds against the
Marines.
Intercepts indicate that the government's cam-
paign is hurting the Communists. One message noted
that "we are very tired," and another stated that
the South Vietnamese have engaged in "several good
battles," a rare admission that things are not going
well for the North Vietnamese.
Bad weather and allied mining of the rivers are
hampering enemy efforts to move supplies into the
city. The senior enemy authority for the northern
battlefront has been asked to dispatch North Vietnam-
ese naval and engineering personnel to help destroy
mines in the inland waterways.
Farther south, sporadic fighting has been re-
ported near Fire Support Base Baldy in Quang Nam
Province and near Tien Phuoc District capital in
Quang Tin Province. The North Vietnamese apparently
have moved a joint armor and artillery regiment,
equipped with 130-mm. guns and PT-76 tanks, into
the Quang Tin coastal region.
This movement is another sign of the im-
portance the Communists attach to in-
creasing their presence in the lowlands.
The recent increase in the fighting in
nearby Quang Ngai Province, where a Commu-
nist buildup is continuing, also points
to such intentions.
In the southern provinces, elements of the North
Vietnamese 7th Division have been detected moving
closer to the government's staging base for Route 13
operations at Lai Khe, north of Saigon. A flurry of?
enemy attacks in the lower delta has resulted in the
loss of a significant number of outposts in Chuong
Thien and An Xuyen provinces. These actions evi-
dently were carried out to mask the further infil-
tration of Communist main force units into the west-
ern delta from nearby Cambodia.
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
CAMBODIA
(continued)
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Northwest Cambodia
THAILAND
7-/
1
1/
BATTA M
E.>t
r
Cl. .
I -
1
Government forces
THAILAND
Kompong Thom
Communist
controlled
g...,....,:p:\ /,' , Kompong Chhnan
s ,'t
)
,efot? ' is r
(*) -
Phourninviller. -
? tv LES 25,
)/ci 4/th:.Q
553594 9-72 CIA
PHNOM PENH
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
The rice situation in Phnom Penh should-im-
prove markedly over the next several days. Almost
4,000 tons of rice from. Thailand and South Vietnam
are due to arrive this weekend by the Mekong River
route. In addition, about three weeks supply
should arrive at Kompong Som port within, the next
two or three days to be trucked to Phnom Penh'.
Meanwhile, the ,depletion of Phnom Penh's rice stock
hasbeen_slowed by daily airlifts of some 100 tons
from Saigon and.of 35 tons from Cambodia's Battam- ?
bang Province..
Government forces trying to reopen Route 5 to
Battambang are continuing their slow advance. The
two government columns, now totaling about 19 bat-
talions,., are still meeting only light resistance
from the estimated four battalions of Cambodian Com-
munist troops in the Ponley area..
5
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LAOS: PLAINE DES JARRES AREA
.trile - _.c
Miles 10
? Government-held location
? Communist-held location
A Highpoint
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=TfirregularsA
withdrawing
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ong Soul
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nts of
148 Regt
re ploy
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rho tank '1/4:',5?""
_ Ble'ung
lar task force'4,?;!'
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553596 9-72 CIA
_
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
LAOS
Government forces are again moving slowly to-
ward targets on the periphery of the Plaine des
Jarres. Four fresh irregular battalions that ar-
rived earlier this week on the western edge are ad-
vancing toward Phou Seu, a strategic height over-
looking the southern Plaine, while another four-bat-
talion force has set out for Phou Keng, a mountain
on the northern edge. Three irregular battalions
that had been stalled for the past five weeks near
Khang Kho have also resumed their march toward the
southern tip of the Plaine.
Intercepts indicate that the Communists have
been preparing to blunt yang Pao's renewed efforts.
Elements of the 866th Regiment have been ordered to
"annihilate" irregulars advancing from the west,
and elements of the 148th Regiment have moved from
the hills east of the Plaine to reinforce the 866th.
yang Pao is still having problems with disci-
pline and morale of some of his tribal irregulars.
A task force assigned to attack Communist supply
lines north of the Plaine has ignored orders and re-
treated to Bouam Long, its starting point, after
several days of skirmishing with Communist forces.
6
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
CHILE
Political tensions are still simmering, although
no new street violence has occurred this week. News
? media across the political spectrum are speculating
? that some sprt of power play by the military is in
? the offing.)
President Allend
, is still trying to
lure the Christian Democrats 'into a truce. For their
part, the Christian Democrats fear the continuing
unrest might preclude the congressional elections
they expect to win? in March, and they have not closed
the door on Allende's overtures. Opposition parties
suspended the joint march they had scheduled for yes-
terday, ostensibly because city officials authorized
an undesirable site for the demonstration. Actually,
the Christian Democrats were relieved. There was
little enthusiasm for the march in the party's rank
and file, and the turnout would not have matched the
one Allende got last week.
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NOTE
European Communities: The groundwork has been
laid for modest advances toward monetary union at
the EC summit meeting scheduled for next month in
Paris. The foreign and finance ministers of the
ten present and prospective EC members have now
agreed to establish a European Monetary Cooperation
Fund. Initially the fund will provide short-term
credit to alleviate members' temporary financial
difficulties. It will exclude the longer term
credits that Bonn fears could aggravate inflation.
?Suggested steps toward political integration have
been shelved, and it appears that the summit will
avoid provocative positions on EC relations with
the US and USSR or on international monetary prob-
lems.
8
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Top Secret
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