CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1954/01/20

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 03003784
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: August 20, 2019
• Document Release Date: August 30, 2019
• Publication Date: January 20, 1954

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20 January 1954
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CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
DOCUMENT NO afi.
NO CHANCE IN CLASS. T
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CLASS, CHANGED TO: TS S C
NEXT REVIEW DATE: � 2 CO 9
� AUTH: HR 70-
DATE: .41REVIEWER:
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Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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SUMMARY
GENERAL
1. Turkey reassures Yugoslavia on Balkan defense arrangement
(page 3).
SOVIET UNION
2.
FAR EAST
3. Comment on Communist reply to Thimayya's "turn-back" plan
(page 4).
SOUTHEAST ASIA
4. Comment on situation at Dien Bien Phu (page 5).
5.
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
6. Saudi Arabia rejects US military grant aid agreement (page 6).
7. Paris objects to Madrid's Moroccan policy (page 6).
LATIN AMERICA
8. Cuban revolution reportedly scheduled for 20 January (page 7).
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GENERAL
1. Turkey reassures Yugoslavia on Balkan defense arrangement:
Comment: Greece, Turkey, and
Yugoslavia are agreed that the tripartite treaty of friendship and
collaboration should be developed into a firmer defense alliance.
Delays by Greece and Turkey, as a result of their NATO ties, have
apparently aroused Yugoslav suspicions that those countries may be
developing positions on Trieste and Balkan defense which are at
variance with Yugoslav views.
SOVIET UNION
2.
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FAR EAST
3. Comment on Communist reply to Thimayya's "turn-back" plan
The Communist reply of 19 January to
General Thimayya's plan to turn back the prisoners to the detaining
sides on 20 January appears to be an effort to induce Nehru to change
his mind at the last minute.
The statement demands that Thimayya
abandon his plan and that Indian troops retain custody of the pris-
oners until the Communists have made "explanations" to their
satisfaction and until a Korean political conference has settled the
prisoners' fate. It concludes with a Communist offer to send troops
into the neutral zone if the Indians request it, as a guarantee against
possible South Korean intrusions or prisoner violence. It suggests
that troops will not be sent unless invited.
The reply seems designed to capitalize
on the NNRC majority report assigning to the UN Command primary
responsibility for the failure of the "explanations," the Indian recom-
mendation that the prisoners be held by the two commands until a
Korean conference meets, and the Indian fear of a South Korean effort
to free the prisoners if they continue in Indian custody. Thimayya's
immediate response was to reaffirm his intention to turn back the
prisoners "on schedule," and it seems probable that Nehru will not
interfere with the operation.
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SOUTHEAST ASIA
4. Comment on situation at Dien Bien Phu:
A comparison of Viet Minh dispositions
at Dien Bien Phu on 16 January with those of the previous week
shows that the enemy has tightened his encirclement of the French
garrison there. About 17 enemy battalions now surround the French
defensive position. The French still do not know whether an additional
six to nine battalions of an approaching force have reached the Dien
Bien Phu area, although elements are reported in the vicinity. No
recent information is available on the two enemy artillery regiments
reported moving westward from the delta area in late December.
According to the American army attach�
in Saigon, the enemy is now making close-in reconnaissance and the
French are certain that local deserters have given the Viet Minh com-
plete details on the Dien Bien Phu defenses.
5.
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No? I. 11 TLs\_iLL,
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
6. Saudi Arabia rejects US military grant aid agreement:
King Saud has rejected the latest draft
of a US military grant aid agreement
offered him because of the new obliga-
tions he believes Saudi Arabia would
have to assume. The acting foreign
minister told Ambassador Wadsworth that the real reason for the
rejection was the king's fear that his country would come under
American control "both in economic and military fields."
Wadsworth believes that Saud was
influenced by nationalistic advisers as well as by fear of criticism
from other Arab states at a time when rumors regarding the forma-
tion of a US-supported Middle East defense pact are current.
Comment: Saudi Arabia, which has long
been interested in receiving US military assistance, was in June 1953
the first Arab country to be offered grant aid. Since then, the Saudis
have indicated fear that certain provisions required by American legis-
lation would infringe on their sovereignty.
7. Paris objects to Madrid's Moroccan policy:
According to French representations made
in Washington, Paris, and Rabat, Moroccan
leaders meeting in Tetuan on 20 or 21 Janu-
ary will publicly proclaim nonrecognition of
the present sultan, autonomy of Spanish
Morocco, and collective allegiance to Spain.
The French maintain that such a development,
which they charge is being instigated by the
Spanish high commissioner, would incite fur-
ther terrorism and anarchy in all of Morocco
and would severely strain French-Spanish
relations.
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Comment: It is unlikely that Spain
would seek the secession of Spanish Morocco from the sultanate.
Current Spanish activities in Morocco are probably intended to
enlist Arab friendship and at the same time harass the French.
France hopes to use this situation to
enlist American support for its policies in this area.
LATIN AMERICA
8. Cuban revolution reportedly scheduled for 20 January:
\has stated that a revolu-
tion against the government of President
Batista will take place on 20 januar . Necessary aircraft are being
made ready in Mexico, according t
Comment No Cuban revolutionary group
appears able to muster a force capable of defeating the Cuban armed
forces, which number nearly 35,000. The American army attach�n
Havana reported on 1 December 1953 that the armed forces are be-
lieved essentially loyal to Batista.
The best information available on the
strength of revolutionary groups indicates that only some small
arms have been smuggled into Cuba9 that several anti-Batista
leaders could be hiding within the country, and that they own
privately some half a dozen small private planes.
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