EVALUATION OF AMERICAN EMBASSY SANAA REPORTING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP85T00287R000801480001-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 30, 2010
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: November 25, 1983
• Content Type: MEMO

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/12 : CIA-RDP85T00287R000801480001-2
MEMORANDUM FOR: Andrew Steinteld
Arabian Peninsula Affairs, NEA
Arabian Peninsula Branch, PG/NESA
SUBJECT: Evaluation of American Embassy
Sanaa Reporting 25X1
1. This office commends American Embassy Sanaa for its
excellent reporting during the period October 1982 through
September 1983. The Embassy's spot cables as well as its
lengthier assessments provide essential data for our research.
The Embassy has focused on the major developments--the winding
down of the NDF insurgency, the desperate straits of the YAR
economy, and the growth in the political strength of the Muslim
Brotherhood and the Yemeni right.
2. We find the quarterly reviews of the YAR's economic
performance particularly useful. We also believe the Embassy is
providing a good cross section of material in its weekly press
summary. We hope these serial reports are continued.
3. Among longer reports we note the following as
particularly useful examples:
-- The Zaydi Tribes of the YAR: The Fading Warpath (Sanaa
3487)
-- Saudi-Yemeni Relations: An Update (Sanaa 3846)
-- The Regime and the Military: Yemen's Key Synergism (Sanaa
4718)
4. We recognize the limitations on Embassy staffers' time
and the difficulty of getting about in the YAR, but we urge that
the Embassy expand its program of travel through the provinces.
We could use a good deal more of the reporting found in Sanaa
0296 (Trip Report on Tribal Areas of Eastern YAR: Marib and
Khawlan). A periodic assessment of the quality and the extent of
NESA M 83-1039
corn"DE NT-1.4L
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/12 : CIA-RDP85T00287R000801480001-2
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/12 : CIA-RDP85T00287R000801480001-2
CONFIDENTIAL
SUBJECT: Evaluation of American Embassy Sanaa Reporting
government control exercised in the provincial centers and
environs would be particularly useful.
5. We would also like to see more reporting from Taizz. if
one accepts that North Yemen is essentially two countries, a
Zaydi north and a Shafi'i south, it is essential that we get a
better appreciation of the view from,Taizz.
2
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/12 :CIA-RDP85T00287R000801480001-2
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/12 : CIA-RDP85T00287R000801480001-2
CONFIDENTIAL
SUBJECT: Evaluation of American Embassy
Sanaa Reporting
Distribution:
Orig -
Andrew Steinfeld
1 -
D/NESA
I -
C/NESA/PG
1 -
C/NESA/PG/P
2 -
NESA/PS
4 -
CPAS/CMD/CB
OIRG: DDI/NESA/PG~ I25Nov83)
3
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/12: CIA-RDP85T00287R000801480001-2