CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1953/09/23

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 02869413
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: July 15, 2019
• Document Release Date: July 22, 2019
• Publication Date: September 23, 1953

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23 September 1953
Copy No. 67
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
DOCUMENT NO /0
NO CHANGE IN CLASS.
EI DECLASSIFIED
GLASS. CHANGED TO: TS S C
NEXT REVIEW DATE: 20 0 9
AUTH: HR 70-2
DATE: ./.242/17.9_ REVIEWER
Office of Current Inteltigence
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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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SECU INFORMATION
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SUMMARY
GENERAL
1. German prisoners reported shipped to USSR after June riots
(page 3).
SOVIET UNION
2. Purge of Georgian leaders eliminates Beria associates (page 3).
SOUTHEAST ASIA
ix New Chinese Nationalist air strip in Burma reportedly completed
(page 4).
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
tor( Special American aid asked for Iranian army (page 4).
5. Shah favors "supervised" elections for Iranian Majlis (page 5).
6. UN official expected to order Israel to drop plans for diverting
V? Jordan River (page 5).
Field Marshal Montgomery recommends reducing Greek army
(page 6).
WESTERN EUROPE
8. British again press for revision of proposed Austrian note to
Moscow (page 6).
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GENERAL
1. German prisoners reported shipped to USSR after June riots:
prisoners from East Germany were
seen headed east in trains and trucks
from various points in Poland within
a ew wee s ter the 17 June German riots. On 8 July a long
train loaded with Germans under armed guard was reportedly
observed and there were indications that it was going to the USSR.
Two trains, each with about 1,500 German prisoners, were seen
on 15 July, and on 24 July a train of 12 boxcars with German
prisoners was seen.
it is possible that
Soviet authorities have removed to the USSR many of those arrested
after the demonstrations, perhaps to prevent their release if new
riots should break out centered around East German prisons.
SOVIET UNION
2. Purge of Georgian leaders eliminates Beria associates:
The actions of the Georgian Central
Committee at a plenary session on 20 September suggest that
the meeting was called solely for the purpose of eliminating
Berta associates from the republic's party and government.
All-Union party secretary N. N. Shatalin was sent from Moscow
especially to attend the meeting. The first secretary of the party
was replaced, and a new Central Committee Buro elected; a sub-
sequent government decree removed the chairman of the Council
of Ministers. Virtually all of Beria's former associates have now
been replaced.
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SOUTHEAST ASIA
3. New Chinese Nationalist air strip in Burma reportedly completed:
Chinese Nationalist forces have constructed 3.3(h)(2)
a new air strip in southern Burma near the
important port of Moulmein, 3.3(h)(2)
withdrawing from the airfield at Mong
Hsat, their main base in Burma, because it is no longer secure.
Comment: This is the
construction of air strips in areas ox soutnern burma
controlled by Karen insurgents. Cooperation between the Karens
and Nationalists is not a new development, but further Nationalist
exploitation of this tie, following the collapse in Bangkok of nego-
tiations for the evacuation of the Chinese forces, would be especially
galling to the Burmese. They had considered the Karens virtually
defeated before they received arms from the Nationalists.
nMong Hsat had been subjected to an air attack on ZU September,
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
4. Special American aid asked for Iranian army:
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The shah proposed to Ambassador Henderson 3.3(h)(2)
on 18 September that the United States give
Iran additional financial aid to increase the
salaries of the noncommissioned officers
and low-ranking commissioned officers as well as to improve the
housing for the armed forces. The next day Minister of Court Ala
told Henderson that the army needed about $1,000,000 monthly to
carry out this program.
Comment: Poor pay and inadequate hous-
ing have long created low army morale. The shah apparently plans
to rely heavily on the army for support in the future and is trying to
give priority to improving its living conditions.
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5. Shah favors "supervised" elections for Iranian Majlis:
Ambassador. Henderson reports that the
shah believes it would be dangerous to
hold new Majlis elections before the
government has proved to the people
that its program is successful. If new elections become necessary,
the shah considers that they should be "supervised."
The shah also stated that if the elections
failed to produce a "good Majlis," he would dissolve it and exercise
dictatorial powers until improved conditions made it possible to
hold elections again.
Comment: Without Majlis participation,
the present government invites popular opposition.
Rigged elections are usual in Iran. The
army, over which the shah is now exerting more direct control,
could be an important factor in obtaining the election of deputies
who would support the regime.
6. UN official expected to order Israel to drop plans for diverting
Jordan River:
Aides of General Bennike, chief of staff
of the UN Truce Supervision Organization,
are certain that he will request Israel to
stop its efforts to divert the upper Jordan
River near the Syrian border. According
to the American consul general in Jerusalem, Bennike's decision
has not been announced but has been telegraphed to UN headquarters
in New York.
Comment: Syria has threatened to take
the issue to the UN Security Council if Israel does not cease this
activity, which it began about three weeks ago.
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7. Field Marshal Montgomery recommends reducing Greek army:
On 21 September Field Marshal
Montgomery, in separate conversations
with the Greek minister of defense and
the prime minister, recommended re-
duction of the Greek army from ten to six divisions in the interest
of a stronger economy. Montgomery reportedly will make a similar
recommendation to the Turkish government.
Ambassador Cannon in Athens fears that
Montgomery's recommendation may cause widespread popular
pressure for reduction of the armed forces.
Comment: General Gruenther has asked
Montgomery not to raise this subject during his visit to Turkey.
Montgomery made similar suggestions to Greek officials twice
last year. As in the past, his statement may renew Greek demands
for increased American aid in order to keep armed forces at their
current strength.
Montgomery's views were made public
the same day that he spoke to the defense minister and the prime
minister. He is reported to have argued publicly that in peacetime
a country is better off with a few well-equipped army divisions than
with a large number of understrength divisions.
WESTERN EUROPE
8. British again press for revision of proposed Austrian note to
Moscow:
According to the American embassy in
London, the Foreign Office now considers
it extremely urgent for the Western powers
to persuade the Austrians to modify the
text of their proposed new note to Moscow. Foreign Office officials
believe that the present draft implies that Austria has withdrawn
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support from the short treaty in response to Soviet insistence,
and that it would be certain to lead to a new Soviet note charging
that the West alone is responsible for blocking the treaty.
Comment: The draft Austrian note
states that "if the Soviet Union refuses to discuss the short
treaty," Austria will no longer support it. The draft fails to
mention that the Western powers in their notes of 17 August
agreed that the short treaty would not be introduced for con-
sideration at the meeting of the treaty deputies then proposed
for 31 August.
Previous Western efforts to revise
the proposed note, which will be reviewed by the competent
parliamentary committee on 23 September, have been brushed
aside by the Austrian government.
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