MEMORANDUM FOR MESSRS. PROCTOR/WALSH FROM(Sanitized)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80B01495R000300070004-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: January 4, 2017
• Document Release Date: June 30, 2005
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: December 19, 1974
• Content Type: MF

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L ~~~ ~~L
Re the Henry J. Taylor article on Burma.
I checked with OCI, and the analyst there
was mystified as to Taylor's source. He saw no
possibility it was even a garbled version of any
of our reports. On learning had done
a study on the subject, I chec e wit
Same result. You may want to send the a no e
to that effect (see attached blue slip).
(DATE)
IOAU GN 54 101 WH PCH CMAYFBEMUSED101
9 ~ ~1
MEMORANDUM FOR: The ~~recto ~E~ti~eaa9~~
~~-
We have no idea where Taylor got the
material he attributes to "CIA." It bears no
resemblance to anything OCI or OPR have said
in print, or to the views of our analysts.
(DATE)
FORM N0. 101 REPLACES FORM 10-101
1 AUG 54 WHICH MAY BE USED.
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MEMORANDUM FOR: Lew Lapham, OPR
OCI thinks this is strange stuff indeed,
but can't see how any of its reporting could
have served as the basis for this article.
thoughts or suggestions as to how we should reY
spond to the DCI?
18 Dec 74
(DATE)
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MEMORANDUM FOR: D/OCI
Any idea where the thoughts attributed
to CIA might have come from? Can you give us
a respanse (or negative report} for the DCI?
l6 Dec 74
{DATE `-
i nuc sa
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 Behind the scenes, our Central Irite "~- , ma's Marxist economy approaches absolute
- enc_e A_g~enc se___ esBurma as Re .China's thrombosis. The economic failure of Marx-
x a e-vver victim. ~ ist economies is notorious, but there it is in
Burma about the size of Texas has. a al( but total collapse.
wild, mountainous frontier 1,200 miles long In June the workers in the patchwork of
- a third as long as our Canadian border- state-owned::.enterprises ~ staged wildcat
with Red China. And, until now, ?Red China. strikes (27 workers killed) against the rock-
has adopted a restrained role toward neigh- ?, eting pace of rice. The CIA finds that, to
boring Burma. But the CIA agents in Pe- this day, normal production.-->~ such as it
king find that this has changed. ? ._ " was -has never been restoeed. :~
The government cannot afford the spare
- In fact, they- find that 20,000 China= parts-and raw materials to keep factories
armed insurgents are now battling Burma's-. ; and transports going. A bus driver is forbid-
forces in a major engagement near Lashio, . den to lift the hood-when his bus breaks
close:.to Red China's border. Moreover; down for fear that. he may sell in the black
.3,000 North Vietnamese are heading into ~ market the engine parts--such l the black'
Burma's Shan Province: ~ - "marketeering. ~ . _ .. ~.
:.. The nation (29 million people) is cor- The-CIA finds that Ne Win's armed
rectty the Pyee-Daung-Su Tvfyanma-Naing- forces ofal li` 35,~n the army, 6,G00 in the
gan-Dew Union of Burma. Kipling ~ navy and 7,000 in a totally meaningless air
imrnortatized its city of Mandalay where force. In July most of the jets were wiped I
"the dawn comes up Like thunder" but the ~ ...out when five hit a mountainside in low
capital is Rangoon. ~ ~ monsoon clouds while attempting to bomb ;
- It is one of -Southeast Asia's most inac-? insurgents. It now has only three of the T-33
cessible and mysterious nations. Burma- . trainers the United States supplied I4 years
largely prohibits visitors; it is utterly prov- ago.
incial, totally fatalistic, neutralism is a fix- ' ~ ~ Red China's Yunnan-Kwang-si area and
ation, isolationism a creed. certain Burma territories dominate today's
The chief-of-state is Gen. Ne Win, 63. hastly narcotics operation. The -Burma-
This is the country of the late U Thant, for Thailand-Laos so-called Golden Triangle
10 years Secretary General of the United ~ annually produces about ZCO of an estimated
Nations, who died in New York Nov. 25. Ne 1,4C0 tons of illicit opium. And venal Ne
Win booted out U Thant in "a military-man- Win's crony is powerful Lo Hsing Han, born
aged power play. U Thant never returned to in Yunnan Province, China. ~
Burma.
Ne Win thinks like a sewer rat; instinc-
tively, probing smells, his- strength is his
suspicions and his varying estimates of his
enemies. He is always wily and his fatalism.
is a conskant convenience.
He has ma$e this into a racket. Ne Win
once told me in Burma: "Only Buddha can
help. anyone. Only Buddha can, help the
Burmese."
Ne Win told me that he 'prefers Manda-
lay to Rangoon, and it was there that I saw
him, his lidded eyes as rich as jade in a
face as pale as bread. But he is, in simple
truth, a venial playboy who travels abroad
incessantly --and always flamboyantly. He
plays golf and hobnobs with world dignitar-
ies whenever possible and, like Tito in Yu-
goslavia, fives in lavish splendor always
and anywhere.
Meanwhile, and not surprisingly, Bur-
tin>;mz~ior~r' rrrl'~s ~l,l~A~rArr
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Lo is the kingpin of Southeast Asia's
heroin traffic. He has his own private army, ~'
amazingly well equipped. His fields are the
largest in the world. Opium is the sap-the
tears - of a ripened poppy seed. The latex
is refined into the morphine base and then
made into diacetylmorphine, which we call
heroin. Lv. has the world's largest heroin
laboratories and plants. He operates the
world's largest system of carriers.
Ne Win's association with La is a mag-
nificently profitable association far Bur-
ma's chief-of-state.
The CIA o is that Mao Tse-tong
and ou en-Lai felt that they can wait until ,`
Ne Win dies or is booted out as he booted
out predecessor U Thant, and then Burma
will be sucked into Red China. But now the
Chinese-equipped insurgents and the North
Vietnarese guerrillas revise all previous
secret CIA estimates.
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