POSSIBLE PRESENCE OF SOVIET GROUND FORCES IN CUBA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83R00184R002600040003-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 13, 2007
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: July 19, 1979
• Content Type: REPORT

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rt. Director of Top Secret
Central
lJ Intelligence
Possible Presence of
Soviet Ground Forces in Cuba
Interagency Intelligence Memorandum
Top Secret
NILIM 79- 13J
19 July 1979
Copy
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POSSIBLE PRESENCE OF SOVIET GROUND FORCES IN CUBA*
1. This memorandum addresses
the possible presence of an organic Soviet
2. After the withdrawal in late 1962 and early 1963
of Soviet strategic weapons and of some 20,000 combat troops
from Cuba
th
I
l
,
e
nte
ligence Community estimated that 3,000
to 4,000 Soviet military personnel remained there. By the
early 1970s this estimate had been lowered to annrnYimat-A1r
* This memorandum was prepared under the auspices of the National
Intelligence Officer for USSR and Eastern Europe in the Office of
Political Analysis, National Foreign Assessment Center. It was
coordinated within the Central Intelligence Agency; with the Bureau
of Intelligence and Research, Department of State; with the Defense
Intelligence Agency; with the National Security Agency; and with
the intelligence organizations of the Departments of the Army, the
Navy, and the Air Force. Information available as of 1200 EDT on
19 July 1979 was used in the preparation of this memorandum.
** The full range of issues involved in the Soviet-Cuban military
relationship will be dealt with in a forthcoming Interagency
Intelligence Memorandum.
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Missions
12. Depending on the size of the Soviet unit
its mission could
include any, some combination, or all of the following:
-- Training for Soviet personnel.
-- Training for Cuban personnel.
-- Development of Soviet tactics and training, and
evaluation of equipment, for tropical areas.
-- A small but concrete commitment of Soviet mili-
tary support for the Castro regime, which might
be intended as the nucleus of an expanded Soviet
military capability in time of crises.
13. Efforts are under way to obtain more information
on the presence of a Soviet ground force unit in Cuba:
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