THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF - 1968/01/24

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Tet Declassified
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 05974240
• Document Creation Date: July 27, 2018

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The President's Daily Brief
ret 24 January 1968
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FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
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24 January 1968
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
24 January 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
More on the Phoenix: The Quaker yacht Phoenix
is scheduled to make its second visit to North Viet-
nam during the forthcoming Tet truce period. Accord-
ing to press accounts and reports from the consulate
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general in Hong Kong, six Americans and one British
citizen will sail the yacht from Hong Kong on the
23rd of January, with expectations of arriving at
Haiphong by noon on the 29th. The yacht is reported-
ly carrying $2,500 in drugs for the Red Cross of the
Liberation Front and $5,000 in surgical supplies for
the North Vietnamese Red Cross, all of which the
Quakers have stipulated must be used for treating
civilian victims of the war. During a press confer-
ence before embarking, Lawrence Scott, the leader
of the group, stated that Hanoi had granted permis-
sion for the yacht to visit Haiphong during the Tet
truce period. Permission to supervise the distribu-
tion of the donations or to travel to Hanoi was not
granted, however.
In connection with the voyage of the Phoenix,
Hanoi appears to be sticking to its current prohibi-
tion of foreign newsmen. John Porterfield, an Ameri-
can correspondent who had planned to sail with the
Phoenix crew, was refused permission to make the
voyage by the North Vietnamese authorities.
* * *
More Chinese Radar: The Chinese Communists have
added to their early-warning radar facilities in North
Vietnam.
new Chinese radar station in the Lai Chau area
of northwest North Vietnam. Two other Chinese stations
are located in the Yen Bai and Dien Bien Phu areas.
All of these stations and two others in China
are controlled by an air defense sector headquarters
and filter center near Mengtzu. �The sector, in turn,
reports directly to the Kunming Air District head-
quarters. In recent months, China has made a number
of improvements in its air defenses, apparently fo-
cused on the northwest Sino - North Vietnamese border.
* * *
Chinese Antiaircraft Unit Rotation: The Chi-
nese Communist 64th Antiaircraft Division, located
at Yen Bai, was replaced by an unidentified unit
from the Nanking Military Region on 20 January. This
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replacement completes the rotation cycle for the
Chinese antiaircraft units in the Yen Bai and Lang
Son areas. The next rotation--for the units at
Hanoi and Thai Nguyen--should come in about three
months.
* * *
II. .NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
Nothing of significance to report.
)-PT SECRET
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