CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00975A011800030001-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 1, 2003
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: August 3, 1968
• Content Type: REPORT

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DIRECTORATE OF
INTELLIGENCE
D
Central Intelligence Bulletin
DIA review(s) completed.
Secret
50
3 August 1968
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No. 0225/68
3 August 1968
Central Intelligence Bulletin
CONTENTS
Vietnam: Situation report. (Page 1)
USSR-Czechoslovakia: On eve of Bratislava, Dubcek
calms his people's concern over Cierna. (Page 3)
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Congo (Brazzaville): Political crisis threatens
to bring wi esprea violence. (Page 7)
Egypt: Nasir's health (Page 8)
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C Vietnam: There is additional evidence that
Prime Minister Huang plans to reshuffle some of his
cabinet officers soon.
the shifts will take
placel next weer an will include replacement of the
finance minister as well as the governor of the na-
tional bank. Huong reportedly hopes to eliminate
some of the personality.. friction which has arisen
between government departments. If implemented,
the shifts should also strengthen the southern com-
plexion of the cabinet slightly, and perhaps improve
its technical competence.
For the time being, the prime minister seems to
be ducking the issue of any shifts in major cabinet
military posts. Reportedly, such a move was under
consideration. In part, it would have involved the
replacement of Minister of Defense Vien with Inte-
rior Minister Khiem, an ally of President Thieu. The
Huong government probably believes such a change now
would stir up too much resentment among the powerful
military. leaders in the government.
On the military front, over-all enemy action
remained light, although the Communists staged sev-
eral sharp, small-unit attacks against US positions
south of Da Nang and against a South Vietnamese bat-
talion in Hau Nghia Province. The pattern of enemy
activity this week seems to follow that of the past
seven days in which a significant increase occurred
in light enemy offensive activity, as if the Commu-
nists were tuning up for more extensive operations
in the near future.
Politically, the Communists have hardened their
propaganda line on. some aspects of a war settlement
during the last few days--possibly in reaction to
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C the firm allied stand reflected in the Honolulu com-
munique and in recent statements by US leaders. Prop-
aganda media in Hanoi, for example, have echoed the
tough position taken by the North Vietnamese nego-
tiators during the last session in Paris on their
four-point stand for ending the war. During this
meeting, the Communist spokesman again insisted that
the program of the National Liberation Front must
provide the basis for a settlement of the conflict.
Earlier, a North Vietnamese Foreign Ministry state-
ment had modified this demand in a manner suggesting
that Hanoi would not insist that the Front play the
central role.
Contradictory policy statements from North Viet-
nam, however, have long been a feature of Hanoi po-
litical maneuvering. Such statements apparently re-
flect the tactical situation at any given time, and
also serve to retain a degree of flexibility in the
North Vietnamese position.
(Map)
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USSR-Czechoslovakia: As the Soviets and their
like-minded allies gathered in Bratislava yesterday,
Czechoslovak party leader Dubcek had to take time
from conference preparations to calm the jittery
Czechoslovak people.
Dubcek was clearly alarmed by the "various spon-
taneous actions and meetings" of an anti-Soviet and
anti-Communist nature which took place after the
publication of the uninformative communique from
Cierna and the ambiguous explanation of it by Presi-
dent Svoboda. Dubcek's radio address yesterday
seemed to have the desired effect.
He said categorically that Czechoslovak sover-
eignty is not threatened. He reiterated that the
Soviets had accepted the party's action program, and
implied that no arrangement had been made for the
stationing of Soviet troops on Czechoslovakia's west-
ern frontier. Czechoslovak officials have indicated,
however, that the agreement at Cierna might entail
the presence somewhere else in Czechoslovakia of a
few hundred allied officers with supporting and tech-
nical services "not exceeding a few thousand."
Dubcek probably also was concerned about the ef-
fect of the demonstrations on the attitudes of the
party and government leaders of Bulgaria, East Ger-
many, Hungary, Poland, and the USSR attending the
meeting in Bratislava. During the Czechoslovak-
Soviet meeting at Cierna, the press in these coun-
tries had been hostile to Prague. After the Cierna
meeting was over, the propaganda barrage was silenced.
The Czechs apparently hope that the meeting in
Bratislava will be brief, and primarily for the pur-
pose of approving the Czechoslovak-Soviet modus
vivendi. Yesterday Czechoslovak Premier Cernik said
the Bratislava talks will concern "things which J
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[unite us," European security--i,e., West Germany--
economic cooperation, and Czechoslovakia's future
role in the international Communist movement. The
Czechoslovak people have been promised a report on
the meeting by Dubcek as soon as possible after it
is over--Saturday night or Sunday.
The Bratislava talks will be followed by visits
to Prague of Yugoslav President Tito and Rumanian
party boss Ceausescu, probably early next week.
There has been no substantial change in the
status of Soviet forces in and around Czechoslovakia.
Over 7,000 Soviet troops and all kinds of
ground combat equipment including "Scud" tactical
missile (150-mile range) launchers were observed by
the US Army attache in Prague on a trip through cen-
tral Czechoslovakia during the period 29-31 July.
These forces represent the major elements of a mo-
torized rifle division and some combat units probably
subordinate to the Soviet 38th Army headquarters
staff still located in central Czechoslovakia. Most
of the equipment and troops were moving eastward in
convoys.
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Congo (Brazzaville): The political crisis in
Brazzaville threatens the city with widespread vio-
lence.
A 6 PM to 6 AM curfew was put into effect after
President Massamba-Debat dissolved the National As-
sembly and suspended the ruling party's radical-dom-
inated political bureau on 1 August. The army has
been ordered to guard strategic locations and patrol
the city to maintain order. Armed youths of the rad-
ical-controlled militia reportedly are also in the
streets, and some clashes apparently have occurred.
There is also some evidence that the army may
be split, with northerners in the paracommando bat-
talion pitted against southern soldiers backing the
President. Brazzaville radio claimed the country
was seriously threatened by tribalism, and Massamba-
Debat later made a dramatic appeal for national un-
ity in which he pardoned all political prisoners.
Some paracommandos were later reported to have oc-
cupied the Brazzaville prison where political de-
tainees are held.
The President also called for an urgent meeting
of all party section heads and central committee
members yesterday. He has not yet announced the
membership of the newly created Committee for the
Defense of the Revolution, which is to replace the
party's political bureau.
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Egypt: According to Cairo's semiofficial news-
paper, Al-Ahram, Nasir's health has improved after
six days at a Soviet health resort. Nasir is al-
legedly responding well to treatment for circulatory
disorders that probably have resulted from diabetes.
Physiotherapy will continue for about three weeks,
which means that he will not return to Egypt until
around 20 August.
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