THE NORTH VIETNAMESE CRISIS

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP79T01762A000800050017-8
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
T
Document Page Count: 
8
Document Creation Date: 
December 20, 2016
Document Release Date: 
October 13, 2006
Sequence Number: 
17
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
August 8, 1964
Content Type: 
MEMO
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PDF icon CIA-RDP79T01762A000800050017-8.pdf463.78 KB
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Approved For ReleapgY ~i P79T01762A000800050017-8 ~1 ~V C:E NTRAL I N, T E'11 AGENCY THE NORTH VIETNAMESE CRISIS Information as of 1300 8 AUGUST 1964 PREPARED FOR THE NATIONAL, SECURITY COUNJCIL FURTHER DISSEMINATION OF INFO RMATION. CONTAINED HEREIN IS NOT ,AUTHORIZED TOP SECRET Approved For Release 2006/10/13: CIA-RDP79TO1762AO00800050017-8 Approved For Release 2006/10/13: CIA-RDP79TO 1762A000800050017-8 *-AOV V4001 This document contains classified information affecting the national security of the United States within the meaning of the espionage laws, US Code Title 18, Sections 793, 794, and 798. The law prohibits its transmission or the revelation of its contents in any manner to an unauthorized person, as well as its use in any manner prejudicial to the safety or interest of the United States or for the benefit of any foreign government to the detriment of the United States. Approved For Release 2006/10/13: CIA-RDP79TO1762AO00800050017-8 Approved For Rel fi6gk NO FOREIGN DISUEN SC No. 10119/64 8 August 1964 I. CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS A. North Vietnamese Military Activity B. Chinese Communist Military Activity C. Soviet Military Activity D. US Deployments II. OTHER COMMUNIST REACTION NO FOREIGN DISSEM TOP SECRET Approved For Release 2006/10/13: CIA-R?P79 17-8 Approved For Rely se,P619kCA TO1762A000800 50017-8 25X1 NO FOREIGN DI ona, SC No. 10119/64 8 August 1964 MEMORANDUM: The North Vietnamese Situation I. CURRENT SITUATION AS OF 1300, 8 AUGUST 1964 A. North Vietnamese Military Activity 1. I the Vietnamese Communists remain in a cant ous and defensive posture. Naval forces in the north sea fleet are dispersed, and periodically change their anchorage. Camouflage is being em- phasized. D. Chinese Communist Military Activity 1. No further information has been re- ceived on the reported movement of Chinese Commu- nist troops into North Vietnam on 6 August. 2. No major forward air deployments in the South China area have been reported since NO FOREIGN DI SECRE TOP Approved For Release 2006/10/13: CIA-RDP79 101 17-8 Approved For Release 200, NO FOREIGN DISSEM indications that augmentation of air strength on Hainan island is planned, typhoon Ida--expected to strike the mainland north of Hainan on 9 August-- may force evacuation of the approximately eighty aircraft now stationed there. 3. Further analysis of photography of 7 August shows that a full regiment of Chinese jet fighters could be in place at Phuc Yen airfield near Hanoi. Six aircraft were definitely identi- fied as MIG-15/17s. In addition, there were 22 aircraft unidentified as to type. While there are some 5. The Chinese navy continues to conduct routine fleet operations, mainly coastal patrols. There is no evidence of ships operating outside normal areas. There is no evidence 25x1 that any Chinese submarines are planning, or have commenced any movement southward. Chinese patrol craft operating south of Hainan island on 8 August withdrew to within four miles of shore when US naval units and aircraft appeared in the area. C. Soviet Military Activity No significant Soviet military reaction to the crisis has been reported during the past 24 hours. D. US Deployments 1. The De Soto patrol in the Gulf of Ton- kin has ended. 2. The aircraft, naval, and marine units scheduled to be in position by 8 August have all arrived on station. These include 38 B-57s, 30 F-100s, and 1,800 men of the 3rd Marine Division. All other deployments are proceeding as scheduled. NO FOREIGN DISREM TOP SECRET J Approved For Release 2006/10/13: CIA-RDP79 0017-8 Approved For Rel bF/1S-0/136KE 11. OTHER COMMUNI S?T REACTION A. Peiping has underscored its reluctance to have the UN play any part in dealing with the Indochina crisis. A People's Daily editorial on 8 August declared tha e s not competent to handle the question and insisted that a solution must be sought through the machinery established by the Geneva agreements. Chinese Communist broad- casts report that "popular indignation" against the US is spreading inside China. Protest meetings have taken place in Shanghai and in the capital of Sinkiang Province. B. Hanoi has not yet responded to the UN in- vitation either to send a representative to present the DRV case or to submit its views in writing. On 7 August Hanoi sent protest notes concerning US air strikes to the signatories of the 1954 Geneva accords. The Vietnamese are clearly less than sat- isfied with the role Moscow has played in the crisis thus far. In a review on 8 August of inter- national support which they have received to date, the Vietnamese failed to give the USSR credit for any aid beyond its condemnation of the US in the Security Council. Communist China, by contrast, was effusively thanked for its "outstanding" help. C. In his first comment on the crisis, Soviet Premier Khrushchev denounced the US air strikes against North Vietnam and, in an apparent effort to counter Peiping's criticism of the USSR's per- formance to date, warned that "if the imperialists dare to unleash war upon the socialist countries, the people of the Soviet Union will fulfill their sacred duty and will stand up for their motherland and for other socialist states." Khrushchev's re- marks were made in a speech during his current farm- belt tour of the North Caucasus and according to US wire services, were printed in today Izvestiya. D. Soviet propaganda continues to stress the dangers to world peace if the conflicts in Southeast Asia expand. E. Soviet representatives have made some ef- fort to probe the facts of the situation and to determine if US policy in the area has changed. On NO FOREIGN DIS SECRET 25x1 TOP Approved For Release 2006/10/13: CIA-RDP7 50017-8 Approved For Relet5op i1r JElali iff 017-8 6 August, Soviet `CABS correspondents in Bonn em- phasized to several US journalists that the USSR has no interest in getting involved. The TASS newsmen underscored the importance of determining the precise facts of the 2 August incident. A Soviet Embassy official i.n East Berlin, speaking "person- ally" with his US counterpart, took much the same line. NO FOREIGN DISSEM SECRET 25X1 TOP Approved For Release 2006/10/13: CIA-RDP7 I UP- 1I 71152AM 0017-8 Approved For Release 2006/10/13: CIA-RDP79TO1762AO00800050017-8 Approved For Release 2006/10/13: CIA-RDP79TO 1762AO00800050017-8