vigil l DEPT OF STATE APPEALS REVIEW PANEL ARP ORIGINAL DECISION UPHELD Exemptions 15 29% 1w 3 RELEASE IN FULL yr AOOITIONAL INFORMATION RELEASED 7 24437 Date ARP Action Gan at 27 October 1969 MEMORANDUM SUBJECT Possible Communist Reactions to US Military Readiness Tests 1 CIA has cooperated with DIA in maintaining an all-source watch on Soviet Warsaw Pact and Asian Communist military actions which might be in reaction to the US military readiness tests which began on 13 October Of the military measures ob- served only a few were sufficiently unusual to be considered as possible responses to the US readi ness posture Analysis of the reasons behind these military measures is complicated by Soviet aware- ness of exercise High Heels by Operation Deep Fur row in the Aegean area by the crises in Lebanon and Somalia and by the possibility that some of the Chinese and Soviet measures in the Far East may be related to each other rather than to the US posture 2 A list of the noteworthy Communist military measures follows COMMENT Because this action occurred less than two hours after the SAC standdown began and since it was apparently localized in the Far East we doubt that it was a reaction to the US readiness test 6i This predates actions taken by CINCEUR in the US readiness tests and probably reflects Soviet interest in exercise High Heels which began on l4 October and of which the Soviets were aware UNELASSIHED 1 - UMSSIHEH a Sign mm fi COMMENT US Naval Task Force 71 began operations in the Sea of Japan on 16 October This would be sufficient cause for increased Soviet Bl activity in the area 81 COMMENT This activity may reflect interest in the SAC standdown or the CINCEUR standdown of 16-1 October or perhaps both COMMENT We do not know the purpose of the Chi nese alert J and covers the opening of Sine-Soviet border talks on 20 October It also coincides with press stories of a US military readiness test based on the sudden breaking off of port visits by the USS Yorktown and Newport News and the deployment of Task Force 71 exercises into the Sea of Japan Thus the Chinese action could be in response to either Soviet or US actions or both or this alert may be the result of considerations of which we are not yet aware Bl Want -W 1 21 October--Two Soviet Navy missile ships were in the Red Sea en route to the Egyptian port of Safaga for a visit scheduled to begin on 24 October On 21 October the two ships had reversed course and headed out of the Red Sea They subsequently rendez voused with several other Soviet ships near the island of Socotra off Somalia COMMENT 0n 1 October three US Naval ships sailed to rendezvous in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia The Soviets were almost certainly aware of their presence which they may have associated with the 15 October assassination of the Somali president and the coup d'etat there on 21 October Thus although the move ment of the Soviet ships was probably at least in part a reaction to the presence of the three US ships it took place in the context of a local situation rather than as a reaction to a world-wide US military alert posture 3 Conclusions Of the many Communist military actions noted only the activity-seems clearly related to the US military readiness tests And even this might be directed less at the world-wide US posture than at the Spe cific Operations of High Heels Deep Furrow Task Force 71 and the tensions in the Middle East All of the other actions seem best explained by other considerations 3 I There has been no reflection of acute concern by the Soviets such as a nationwide military stand- down or general alert in the USSR There has been no reflection of the US military alert posture in Soviet or Chinese news media er in diplomatic ac- tivity                     National Security Archive    Suite 701  Gelman Library  The George Washington University    2130 H Street  NW  Washington  D C  20037    Phone  202 994‐7000  Fax  202 994‐7005  nsarchiv@gwu edu