on the Growth of Disunity within Czech Leadership and Other Aspects
of the Current Status of the Soviet Occupation of Czechoslovakia,"
October 11,1968
Source: Czechoslovakia—Czech Crisis 8/68, Box 182, National Security File, Country File,
Lyndon Baines Johnson Library.
The CIA prepared this information report drawing on intelligence gathered between September 18 and
October 4, 1968. The report focuses on the "resignation and pessimism "spreading in Czechoslovakia, as
well as the status of Soviet troops.The first section of the intelligence memorandum reviews the mounting problems Dubček had encoun-
tered since his return from Moscow. Within the CPCz, CIA analysts reported, splits were emerging, in
part because of Gustáv Husák's steady shift toward a pro-Moscow position. Disunity in the leadership
was compounded by the marked rise in public discontent and disillusionment, as word of the Moscow
protocol and other secret compromises and reversals filtered out. These trends, the CIA correctly predicted,
eventually "may pave the way for the elevation by the Soviet Union of 'collaborators' to the lop positions
in the party and the government, and to the ultimate establishment of a new 'Soviet-friendly' government."CIA intelligence also addressed the acute problems facing Soviet military personnel inside Czechoslo-
vakia. These included decrepit barracks, unsanitary living conditions, and spreading disease with the
"great danger that severe epidemics may strike."
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Intelligence Information Cable
STATE/1NR DIA NMCC/MC (SECDEF JCS ARMY NAVY AIR) CIA/NMCC
NIC NSA SOO CNE CRS"Handwritten:" EXO DO/I
"2 lines excised"99
THIS IS AN INFORMATION REPORT. NOT FINALLY EVALUATED INTELLIGENCE.
"excised" 1117422 CITE "excised"
DIST 11 OCTOBER 1968
COUNTRY: CZECHOSLOVAKIA/USSR
DOI: 18 SEPTEMBER--4 OCTOBER 1968
SUBJECT: COMMENTS ON GROWTH OF DISUNITY WITHIN CZECH LEADERSHIP AND OTHER ASPECTS OF CURRENT STATUS OF SOVIET OCCUPATION OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA "excised"
PADA: "excised"
SOURCE: "block excised"
SUMMARY: "two lines excised"
99 This document was declassified in 1991, with parts 6 and 7 deleted for national security considerations. Other
sanitized sections appear to be classification codewords or names of sources.
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