MONTHLY REPORT -- LONDON BUREAU -- DECEMBER 1981

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83-00385R000200070005-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 8, 2007
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: January 6, 1982
• Content Type: MEMO

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6 January 1982
MLD-2002
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director, FBIS
FROM: Chief, London Bureau
THROUGH: Chief, Operations Group
SUBJECT: Monthly Report -- London Bureau -- December 1981
A. The second voice-grade circuit between Caversham and Vienna,
funded by FBIS, became operational on 1 January. Initially it
will be used for a continuous feed of Warsaw radio.
B. Bureau management focused heavily on recruiting in January. Our
efforts turned up a promising Cambodian applicant for Bangkok
who accepted a provisional offer of employment on 5 January. We
have been testing and interviewing 11 Polish monitor applicants
for the Austrian Bureau, out of a total of 40 respondents to an
advertisement. The most promising tests will be forwarded to
the Austrian Bureau for assessment. On the home front, efforts
began again to recruit a replacement for bureau technician
1when the last applicant on the short list
withdrew to take another job. Recruitment of a local boardman/
cruiser for the ROSET installation awaits Headquarters approval
of the position.
C. At the height of the Polish crisis, Southern England experienced
the worst December weather in 30 years. Several inches of snow
plus subfreezing temperatures transformed the BBC parking lot
into a dodge-em car rink. Inside.jCaversham Park was a tangle
of TV cables as BBC, ITV and the U.S. ABC aimed their cameras
at busy BBC Polish monitors in the Listening Room. BBC's
Nine O'Clock News on 14 December ended with a brief interview
with HMS David Witherow.
A. Editorial/Monitorial
1. On 6 December Warsaw radio broadcast recordings said to have
been made during the Solidarity session in Radom in which
several union leaders apparently took strong positions
regarding confrontation with the authorities. A week later
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martial law was imposed on Poland, its normal communications links
were cut and its public media all but disappeared. BBC immediately
instituted an open watch on the domestic service, which reduced its
broadcasts to a single national program from Warsaw-area transmitters,
booked a second voice line to Vienna to ensure best possible reception,
and marshaled all monitors with Polish capability and many cruisers
to cover and look for Polish sources. BBC also beefed up its overseas
operation to provide full coverage of Warsaw television, whose
announcers donned uniforms to read the news. As the military's grip
efficiently tightened and pockets of resistance were isolated, the
bureau moved a steady, copious stream of information, not only
items, but also a series of media behavior and other FYIs and
messages. Gradually, Poland's media began to reappear: first, a new
international service in various languages, then PAP for seamen in
morse, its maritime press service, some of its transmissions in
English and, finally, maritime radio broadcasts. After an initial
interruption, receipt of a limited number Polish newspapers resumed
at PMU, which faxed some interesting articles and airmailed several
latest editions to Vienna for processing/scrutiny since its veteran
monitor was away on holiday and its neophyte could not cope with the
load. PMU began to receive some regional papers toward the end of
the month in new format and containing mainly PAP-attributed material.
After processing PMU will airmail these papers to ELAD. Other
sources, such as the regional radios and PAP's morning casts in
English, remained untraced as the year ended.
2. The media of other nations also proved to be good sources of
information on developments in Poland. TASS was particularly
valuable: In addition to filing reports of its own, it carried
numerous PAP-attributed items otherwise unavailable. Moscow and
East European radios provided a lot of unique "factual" reporting
on the situation, and all Vatican Polish and some of its other
broadcasts were covered to monitor the church's role. Every
source in the bureau's coverage area was watched for reaction to
events, which included several commentaries on Soviet television's
Vremya newscast and Moscow's heated response to U.S. economic
sanctions against the USSR.
3. At AG's request, the bureau mobilized resources to cover Moscow
television's reportage of events connected with Brezhnev's 75th
birthday. With no indication that there would be any special, live
programming, the service was monitored inteively throughout the
operative period with focus on the regularly scheduled newscasts.
News footage of the arrival in Moscow of Bloc and other leaders
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and of award presentation ceremonies were recorded, video editorial
reports noting interesting segments were filed, and television and
radio coverage of leadership remarks were compared. Videocassette
recordings of relevant newscasts as well as of two film documentaries
on Brezhnev were expeditiously airfreighted to Headquarters for use
in preparing the 23 December TRENDS. Other efforts to exploit
Soviet television via its satellite system included monitoring of the
"Studio Nine" international affairs discussion programs on the 5th
and 26th. Work was split between Okinawa and London Bureau; the
former handled the advance FYIs and out-of-turns, and London and BBC
monitors did the fuller processing.
4. After a relatively long absence from the public eye and concurrent
speculation about his state of health, CPSU Politburo Member Grishin
reappeared at a Kremlin meeting on the 4th to celebrate the 40th
anniversary of the Battle of Moscow. The radio carried a live relay
of the gathering, and the bureau filed text of his 48-minute speech.
BBC increased its monitoring of German transmitters and editors
coordinated closely with Cologne Unit to cover Schmidt's weekend
visit to Berlin and meetings with Honecker. Numerous reports on the
leader's activities and remarks and the final communique were filed
at high precedence. An open watch was placed on Tripoli Voice of
the Arab Homeland following the U.S. charge that Libya had sent a
hit squad to kill President Regan and the latter's call for
Americans to leave Libya but the initial reaction came from JANA.
An interview with Al-Qadhdhafi in which he discussed Libyan-U.S.
relations was monitored that same evening, the 10th, from London
Independent Television, a source not usually covered. The bureau
also played a key role in reporting on the 3-day wanderings of a
hijacked Libyan airliner and the kidnaping of U.S. General Dozier
in Italy.
B. Cologne Unit
1. A snow storm in late December obscured the Unit Chief's view of
Cologne Cathedral and Cologne had a gloriously White C~istmas,
but normal activities suffered little disruption.
2. The unit provided a liberal file of reaction to the imposition of
martial law in Poland and the U.S. decision to invoke sanctions
against Poland and the USSR.
3. The unit processed from live coverage two government statements
by Chancellor Schmidt during the month, the first on Brezhnev's
visit to Bonn and the second on Schmidt's visit to the GDR.
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4. The Unit was informed by London Bureau on 7 December that traffic
could now be accepted by London at 150 bauds, but this will have
to await modifications that may take 3-4 months.
C. Islamabad Unit
The Unit recorded and forwarded to Gulf Bureau two weeks of Uighur
and Kazakh programming for training purposes. It also recorded
casts in Xinjiang and Xizang and forwarded them to Hong Kong Bureau-
for comparison purposes.
D. Communications/Engineering
1. Wordage from both PMU and BBC was the second highest December
total ever, 2,670,290 of them.
2. The air conditioner in the Autodin Room has been removed for
overhaul. The compressor will be installed in the existing
condenser unit on the roof when it is put back in service.
3. Obsolete nonexpendable teletype equipment is being disposed of
in accord with regulations.
4. PMU has now been totally converted to Smith Coronamatic electric
typewriters purchased with year-end funds. BBC did the electrical
installation work free of charge, with the bureau providing the
materials. PMU editors and monitors generally welcomed the
changeover.
A. A new teletype operator,
B. Teletype supervisor
8 December.
I I
C. Teletype supervisor took a two-day word processor
course starting 16 December, then prepared the attached production
report on BBC Wordplex equipment. Next month, the task will be
infinitely easier.
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began extended sick leave on
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To the Bureau: Juniorl 31 December en route
home from editorial training in Okinawa: Austrian Bureau Polish
Monitor 128 December - to assist the BBC's
Polish team.
Attachments
cc: Chief, Austrian Bureau
Chief, Cologne Unit
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