CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00975A001400020001-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 3, 2004
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: December 17, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

~-~,~Iel,000,lzxllx,ooowj~ *,o 7-rAO,/- "IMM
25X1
1011
25X1
17 December 1953
D
Copy ?' 84
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
DOCUMEnjr No. ,
NO CHANGE IN CLASS. 5r
D CLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO: TS S 0
6=:r i Fit.V!EW DATE: LeCQ 9 - - -
i-..i H: HN 70-2
DATE: &'64,79 REVIEWER:.
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
25X1
25X1 0
l'oe
00
or,
ARMY .naoo:,..i.w(,) completed.
0
TOP SECRET
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Approved- Release 2004/07/08: CIA-RDP79T0097 001400020001-3
25X1A ^
SUMMARY
GENERAL
I. Beria and associates to stand trial (page 3).
2. Peiping presents aide-memoire to Pakistan on American "bases"
(page 4.
25X1
USSR may seek German participation at proposed Berlin meeting
(page 5).
25X1
FAR EAST
6. Communists reportedly still holding 6, 000 South Korean prisoners
(page 6).
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
7. Iraq's chief of staff wants informal military talks with Iran (page 6).
25X1A
Approved For Release 2004/07/08 : CIA-RDP79T00975AO01400020001-3
 Approved Fo 01400020001-3
25X1A
GENERAL
1. Beria and associates to. stand trial:
The sudden announcement that the case of
L. P. Beria and six of his close associates will be subject to the
hearing of a special session of the Soviet Supreme Court appears at
present to be a liquidation of Beria's followers in the secret police
rather than the opening gun in a general purge.
In the five months since Beria's arrest was
announced, the Soviet leaders have been quietly erasing his influence
from the MVD and the Caucasian Republics by various personnel
shifts. None of the six officials indicted as Beria's accomplices were
party leaders but all were directly connected with him through their
positions in the USSR's police organization and many had past associa-
tions with him in the Georgian Republic.
The announcement set no specific date for
the hearing, nor was there any indication whether it would be staged
publicly or held in camera. Both techniques were used during the
1930 purges.
The decision of the present Soviet "collective"
leadership to bring the case against Beria to a head at this time indi-
cates a belief that it is in firm control of the internal situation.
While the accusation formally connects Beria
with British intelligence efforts immediately following the Revolution,
this appears more as part of a necessary historical association than
as an indication that the USSR is launching a serious antis-Western
propaganda campaign.
25X1A
25X1A
17 Dec 53
Approved For elease 2004/07/08 : CIA-RDP79T0097 001400020001-3
 Approved Fo lease 2004/07/08 :CIA-RDP79T00975 01400020001-3
25X1A
25X1
25X1
25X1A
Peiping presents aide-memoire to Pakistan on American "bases":
a Middle Eastern defense pact.
hou stated that Peiping oncerne ecause of Pakistan's
proxi -t mt y to the Chinese frontier and argued that Asians "must rely on
each other,"
would neither grant bases ta. the United States nor n
qqqnrinfa wamif .. ;i.
Chinese Communist premier Chou En-lai
about 8 December presented to the Pakistani
ambassador an aide-memoire requesting con-
firmation of Peiping's belief that Pakista
Comment: Peiping's communication followed
a Soviet protest of 30 November and Chinese broadcasts denouncing the
American-Pakistani talks as a threat to the USSR, Communist China,
and Southeast Asia. Chou's appeal for Asians to "rely on each other"
illustrates the Chinese role in Sino-Soviet joint efforts to exploit Asian
"neutralist" sentiment.
Pakistan has been much less susceptible to
Peiping's maneuvers than have other Asian governments recognizing the
regime.
25X1A
Approved F
5AO01400020001-3
17 Dec 53
25X1
 Approved F ` elease 2004/07/08 :CIA-RDP79T00975 001400020001-3
25X1A
25X1
Ulbricht, acting East German premier, welcoming Western accept-
ance of a Berlin conference, indicates East German anticipation
that the USSR will agree to the meeting.
USSR may seek German participation at proposed Berlin meeting:
The 16 December statement by Walter
Ulbricht's remarks suggest continued
Soviet insistence that a united Germany could follow an independent
foreign policy but could never be incorporated in a Western military
pact. The speech further indicates that the USSR may urge that East
and West German representatives be invited to the Berlin conference.
Another East German spokesman has proposed that a mixed German
commission prepare a program for the meeting.
the East 25X1
25X1
German government is preparing studies to show that the principles
of democratization laid down at Potsdam have been followed in East
Germany. Such studies would.defend the East German claim to repre-
sentation at Berlin and support the Soviet desire for all-German elec-
tions without four-power supervision.
25X1A
Approved For Fla ease 20i,157`0 11'' "'0119,11 1 UU915A~
-
01400020001-3
17 Dec 53
25X1
 Approved Release 2004/07/08: CIA-RDP7 TT009 5' 001400020001-3
25X1A
25X1
FAR EAST
6. Communists reportedly still holding 6,000 South Korean prisoners:
25X1A
25X1
claimed on December that
6,000 South Korean troops are still being held in Communist labor.
battalions in North Korea. They said that on about 22 September
1,000 captives demonstrated in Pyongyang demanding repatriation
and that other smaller riots have occurred from time to time.
The escapees also claimed that they were
forced into slave labor near Pyongyang and compelled to dig tunnels
for gasoline and ammunition storage and to repair roads, buildings,
and bridges.
Comment. This is the first evidence of
the magnitude of North Korean violation of the prisoner provisions
of the truce agreement, which provide that all prisoners be repatriated
or delivered to neutral custody.
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
7. Iraq's chief of staff wants informal military talks with Iran:
25X1A
Turkey. 25X1 A
Two esca ees from North Korean army
service,
Iraq's chief of the general staff has informed
an American official that he believes the time
has arrived for informal Iraqi-Iranian military
talks in order to make plans for delaying any
Soviet attack directed through the two countries in an attempt to outflank
-6-
Approved For R4-lease 2004/07/08: CIA-RDP79T00975A
17 Dec 53
25X1
 Approved Release 2004/07/08 :CIA-RDP79T0097 A001400020001-3
25X1A
Comment: A principal deterrent to
collaboration between Iraq and Iran disappeared with the removal
of Mossadeq, but neither country will be able to build up an effective
defense without American military assistance. Iran may delay such
talks until it has assurances of receiving American support. It is
not likely, however, that any mutual defense agreement between Iran
and its neighbors would be possible until at least the oil dispute has
been settled and a Majlis is elected which is capable of carrying out
an effective domestic program.
Approved For
25X1A
0140002M0j6gc 53