MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD FROM L. K. WHITE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80R01284A001800040006-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 24, 2005
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: January 10, 1968
• Content Type: MFR

Approved Folease 2005' NX
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10 January 1968
Morning Meeting of 10 January 1968
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DD/S discussed the recruiting situation at the University of
Wisconsin and reported that the Agency recruiters will ask interested
Wisconsin students to visit them in Milwaukee.
DD/S called attention to stories in the local press that CIA and
certain other Government agencies are among those who contribute to
air pollution in the area.
Carver noted that Kontum was attacked by the Viet Cong and
speculated that the anticipated Viet Cong attack on Khe Sanh may be
delayed until after the Tet holiday in the first week of February.
Carver called attention to a Life article on Viet Cong acts of
terrorism in Saigon.
Warner reported that 23 January will be satisfactory for a brief-
ing of Senator Fulbright.
DD/P called attention to the Sulzberger article in today's New
York Times concerning Soviet apprehension about Communist China.
Executive Director reported on the status of surge funding of the
two Radio projects.
The Director reported on the SIG meeting of 9 January and on an
SIG request for a National Estimate of the impact on the U. S. position
in Latin America resulting from our not providing F-5 aircraft to a
certain Latin American country. (See Action 1)
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The Director announced that John Warner will become the Deputy
General Counsel and that John Maury will replace him as Legislative
Counsel
1. The Director requested that D/ONE report to him regarding
the deadline for the Estimate requested by the SIG after he has checked
into the terms of reference. (D/ONE by 11 January)
2. The Director asked the DD/I to provide a briefing or a paper
for the Under Secretary of the Treasury on the subject of how the Soviet
overnment
s its forces stationed in forei
a
n countries
(DD/I b
g
p
y
g
.
y
17 January)
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 Foreign Affairs: Russian Dominoes
By C. L. SULZBERGER
PARIS-The most interesting
exposition of the so-called "dom-
ino theory" I have seen was
written by a Soviet commenta-
tor and has been made avail-
able to Western readers in the
current issue of the London
publication Survival. The article
was originally published by
Moscow's Literary Gazette over
the signature of. Ernst Henri.
Henri is the pseudonym for an
influential commentator named
Rostovsky.
The "domino theory" is an
aphorism for the strategic con-
cept that if all of Vietnam is
allowed to become Communist,
the entire Southeast Asian pen-
insula and probably Indonesia
as well will-follow suit, thereby
outflanking the Philippines to
the east and India to the west
and bringing an unfriendly gov-
ernment down to the frontiers
of Australia.
Not Common in Russia
In one or another form, this
theory has been endorsed by
three American Presidents-
Eisenhower, Kennedy and John-
son. But it is less frequently
expostulated in Soviet publica-
tions. I have never seen it
dealt with so extensively as by
Rostovsky.
Many Americans who criti-
cize President Johnson's Viet-
nam polic sist that there is
no dange Chinese imperial-
ism; that Tina is not really
expansionist, and anyway is
too preoccupied with internal
quarrels.
Other Theories
It is also asserted that, should
Communism spread in South-
east Asia, it would be anti-
Chinese, a kind of oriental
Titoist barrier. Finally, some
critics, perhaps inhibited by
limited acquaintance with Asian
geography or history, claim
there need be no link in future
relationships between such lands
as Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand
or Burma.
Not so Rostovsky. His view of
the "domino theory" makes the
American version look picayune.
He writes: "There can now be
no doubt that behind the slogan
proclaimed in Peking to the ef-
fect that 'the wind is blowing
from the East' is concealed a
concrete plan, which took shape
in the minds of Mao Tse-tung
and his associates apparently
back in the 1950's and which
has recently been labeled offi-
cially in China 'The Great Stra-
tegic Plan of Mao Tse-tung."'
Rostovsky says the "main
idea ... amounts to the setting
up of a sort of superstate em-
bracing not only eastern and
central, but later even western
Asia.... In a number of re-
spects the 'Mao plan' is~
ingly similar to the on
mous 'Tanaka plan' drawn up
by the Japanese military lead-
ers for conquest of Asia step
by step .. .
"Mao proposes to include in
his 'Reich,' apart from China it-
self, Korea, the Mongolian Peo-
ples' Republic, Vietnam, Cam-
bodia, Laos, Indonesia, Burma
and several other countries in
that region. In the second stage
of the 'Storm From the East' it
is planned to expand in the di-
rection of the Indian subconti-
nent, Soviet Central Asia and
the Soviet Far East. We
are faced with absolutely clear
intentions."
The vision is even more terri-
fying. Rostovsky writes: "With-
out a global atomic conflict, in
the course of which, as Mao
has admitted, a 'third' or a
'half' of mankind. may perish,
Maoist diplomacy cannot con-
ceive of the basic plan being
carried out.... The militarists
in Peking are obviously dream-
ing of another Chinese empire,
operating formally under the
red flag of socialism, but in
fact copying the militarist pol-
icy of the Chinese emperors-
the conquerors and mandarins
of long-forgotten centuries."
This analysis helps explain,
among other things, why Mos-
cow has such an unholy fear of
China and also why it quietly
works to limit the Vietnam wa
For Russia is scared that Clii-
nese bluster could provide a;
nuclear holocaust; furthermore;
that if China is allowed to as-
sert major influence over client '
parties and push revolutionary
warfare in Vietnam, Thailand
and Burma, the next battlefield
might be Soviet Asia.
It has thus become a cardinal
Soviet policy that China must
at all costs be' isolated, even it
embarrassment with extreme
Communist movements from
Peking to Havana. It also helps
explain why Asian nations from
Japan to Indonesia quietly fa:
Moscow's Version
It might be well for Ameri-
cans to realize at least that an-
other important capital appears
to share Washington's suspi;
cions. The "domino theory" Js
not a nightmare invented by
American politicians-or, if it
is, it pales beside Moscow's
version.
This does not necessarily
prove the theory is correct, but
U.S.S.R. are secretly in cahoots.
Perhaps they are. Certainly nei;
ther wants to see the world
destroyed.