THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Tet Declassified
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 05974303
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 14
• Document Creation Date: April 27, 2019
• Document Release Date: April 30, 2019
• Publication Date: February 29, 1968

Approved for Release: 2019/04/17 005974303
The President's Daily Brief
�Thp�Serrei� 29 February 1968
23
Approved for Release: 2019/04/17 005974303
3.5(c)
TOP SECRET
Approved for Release: 2019/04/17 C05974303
DAILY BRIEF
29 FEBRUARY 1968
1. South Vietnam
2. North Korea
Tor SECRET -
Recent reports on the security
situation in rural areas of several
provinces show that the government po-
sition has deteriorated substantially.
In Tuyen Duc Province, the Viet-
namese Army has been drawn up in defen-
sive positions in and around the cities,
leaving stretches of the countryside
completely to the Communists. A number
of once pacified hamlets are no longer
safe, and two major highways in the
area which had been partially secure
for more than two years are now insecure.
Rural sections of Binh Long and
Phu Yen provinces are similarly affected.
Pyongyang's thinking on the Pueblo af-
fair, North rciT6F1 de-
fector
speculate about prevailing attitudes
and about upcoming moves from the North.
This man's views are worth considering
since he defected for personal reasons
and still retains his Communist outlook.
These are his conclusions:
--The talks can progress only when
the US representative signs a document
admitting and apologizing for intrusion
into North Korean territorial waters.
--The Communists undoubtedly have
made detailed plans through several
stages in the exploitation of the inci-
dent. They will mobilize all their
propaganda means and carry out brain-
washing activities and interrogations.
Approved for Release: 2019/04/17 C05974303
3.5(c)
3.3(h)(2)
3.3(h)(2)
3.3(h)(2)
3.5(c)
_Approved for Release: 2019/04/17 005974303
3.5(c)
3. Czechoslovakia
4. Soviet Union
-Ter
The confrontation between reform-
ers led by new party boss Alexander
Dubcek and conservatives headed by his
predecessor, Antonin Novotny, could get
out of hand. The power struggle is no
longer mainly an intraparty affair;
large segments of the population have
become engaged.
The struggle widened after Dubcek
unveiled a popular "action program" which
calls for a drastic reduction in the
party's influence and the "widest pos-
sible democratization of the entire po-
litical system." Conservatives countered
with an attack on the program's weakest
point, its commitment to carry out far-
reaching economic reforms. This succeeded'
in raising fears that reforms will mean
loss of jobs, rising prices, and a general
drop in the standard of living.
Dubcek, nevertheless, has got a
lot going for him. Associations of
writers, journalists, and farmers have
pledged their aid. The president of the
parliament and the party boss of the
city of Prague have turned away from
Novotny and have defended the program.
Novotny's strength lies in the still
unreconstructed party presidium and in the
bureaucracy. He undoubtedly was heartened
by Brezhnev's failure to endorse either
Dubcek or his program during his visit
last week.
The struggle could come to a head
in mid-March when the Central Committee
meets. In the interim, the efforts of
both sides to enlarge their support could
lead to domestic disorder.
3.3(
Approved for Release: 2019/04/17 005974303
h)(2)
3.5(c)
3.3(h)(2)
Approved for Release: 2019/04/17 005974303
Approved for Release: 2019/04/17 005974303
 Approved for Release: 2019/04/17 C05974303
5. Soviet Union
6. Communist China
7. Panama
TOP SECRET -
The dispute over control of the
electoral machinery is heating up again.
Backers of Arnulfo Arias are afraid
that the Supreme Court is about to sus-
pend the two pro-Arias members of the
three-man electoral tribunal. Removal
of these people would give government
candidate Samudio an open field to run
away with the election returns.
In an attempt to prevent the sus-
pension order, Arias is calling for a
mass demonstration in Panama City today.
3.5(c)
3.3(h)(2)
3.3(h)(2)
Approved for Release: 2019/04/17 C05974303
3.5(c)
Approved for Release: 2019/04/17 C05974303
-fop-S.eHaa_
Approved for Release: 2019/04/17 C05974303
Approved for Release: 2019/04/17 005974303
�Top-Seertit�
FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
Approved for Release: 2019/04/17 005974303
---TitS) Met� 3.5(c)
16
29 February 1968
Tor SECRET
_Approved for Release: 2019/04/17 005974303
Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
29 February 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
North Vietnamese Position on Reciprocity: The
recent assertions by two French observers that Hanoi
has given assurances it would do something "tangible"
in return for a bombing halt appear to be personal
views based on indirect sources, rather than accu-
rate reflections of North Vietnamese statements.
Jean Sainteny, a leading French expert on Viet-
nam, made such an assertion during a television in-
terview on 27 February. He said that if Hanoi was
certain that a bombing halt was "unconditional and
final," it would make some gesture, such as stopping
infiltration, to show its interest in negotiations.
Oliver Todd, a leftist French journalist of question-
able reliability on this subject, made a similar as-
sertion earlier this month. He claimed that Hanoi,
in response to President Johnson's San Antonio po-
sition, had "clarified" its position. According to
Todd, Hanoi would order a cease-fire and then a with-
drawal of some of its units from the South if the
US "withdrew its troops from the Demilitarized. Zone."
Todd later acknowledged to US Embassy officers
in Paris that he was not sure his article was an ac-
curate rendition of Hanoi's position. (It almost
certainly was not.) Last Monday a North Vietnamese
official in Paris refused to comment on Todd's state-
ment about reciprocity, claiming that he had not
read it.
* * *
TOP SECRET -
3.5(c)
3.3(h)(2)
Approved for Release: 2019/04/17 005974303
3.5(c)
TO SECRET
Approved for Release: 2019/04/17 005974303
* * *
Tor SECRET -
* * *
�2�
Approved for Release: 2019/04/17 005974303
3.5(c)
3.3(h)(2)
3.3(h)(2)
3.5(c)
�0�17L6S00 LIA70/61,0Z :aseaia Jo; panaiddV
,
rtr. " A
,,,Ar#11,17(,�
r�,y
"'Pk
1 '�P �
r
r
HAI NGUY,E4,14,,lid ,c,
t F/
I IC Y.
iet In
� ti 4
'
..1 f
Rajlroad,
4%Co,gsiruetkon '
� ttoa'd
illppaivem.ent*.
'
HAtOrONG
Cat Ba
.0
GULF OF TONKIN
�0�17L6S00 LIA70/61,0Z :aseaia Jo; panaiddV
Tor SECRET -
Approved for Release 2019/04/17 005974303
French Exports to North Vietnam Down:
According to Paris
trade figures, French exports to North Vietnam to-
taled about $600,000 in 1967, down from $2.2 million
in 1966. Moreover, the French did not provide the
North Vietnamese with any credit guarantees in
either year and expect a further fall in exports
this year because of Hanoi's inability to earn for-
eign exchange by the sale of coal.
France ranks a poor second to Japan in Hanoi's
total foreign trade, which over-all, is continuing
to decline.
* * *
New Road Construction: The new rail and road
construction in northeast North Vietnam is progress-
ing rapidly. Photography of early January showed
that about two-thirds of the roadbed for a new 67-
mile rail line between Hon Gai and Chu Nguyen (see
map) on the main rail line from China had been com-
pleted. This is a 60-percent advance over early
October 1967. In addition, a rail yard, three pass-
ing tracks, and about half the required bridges are
finished or under way along the line. Track could
be laid and the line completed within a year.
A new, nearly completed, high-quality road
from Ssu-lo, China, connects with the rail construc-
tion at Hon Gai. Other work is under way on a road
running west from Hon Gai toward Hanoi.
* * *
TOP SECRET
-3-
Approved for Release: 2019/04/17 005974303
3.5(c)
3.3(h)(2)
3.3(h)(2)
3.3(h)(2)
3.5(c)
 Approved for Release: 2019/04/17 005974303
French Correspondent on Dispersion of Installa-
tions: The French Press Agency correspondent Cabanes,
who justfinished a tour in Hanoi, apparently took a
trip of some 300 miles into the mountainous areas of
North Vietnam just before he left. He concludes from
his observations that the North Vietnamese have dug
into these areas in preparation for a long war and
for additional air attacks. He says the regime has
made these remote areas a secure refuge for vulnerable
administrative, economic, educational, and public
health facilities.
Cabanes' account, broadcast by the French Press
Agency on 23 February, has a strong propaganda flavor,
and conveys an impression of North Vietnamese determin-
ation and efficiency that undoubtedly is welcome by
the Hanoi regime. Our information on the dispersion
of population and production facilities indicates that
these measures have not proceeded quite so smoothly
and effectively as suggested by Cabanes.
* * *
II. .NORTH 'VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
Hanoi on Increased US Troop Strength: Hanoi
in its 27 February English language broadcast de-
scribed what it claimed were a series of US measures
-4-
Approved for Release: 2019/04/17 005974303
3.3(h)(2)
3.5(c)
� Tor SECRET
Approved for Release: 2019/04/17 C05974303
to step up conscription to continue "its hopeless
war of aggression in Vietnam." Quoting "Washington
reports," the broadcast stated that the US would
call up 48,000 men in the April draft, rescind the
provision which exempts graduate students from the
draft, and possibly mobilize a number of reservists.
"All these frantic military build-ups," the broad-
cast concluded, "definitely cannot save the US ag-
gressors from complete failure."
Tor :-:,ECRET
-5-
Approved for Release: 2019/04/17 C05974303
3.5(c)
3.5(c)
Approved for Release: 2019/04/17 C05974303
7tp-sece.t_
Approved for Release: 2019/04/17 C05974303