CIA spy notes lift lid on Cold War

– The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) declassified a trove of secret briefings given to presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, offering fresh insights into pivotal moments in Cold War history.

The 2 500 previously classified daily intelligence briefings are peppered with details about the slowly unfolding catastrophe in Vietnam, various international crises and attempts to understand the machinations of Soviet and Chinese leaders.

The 28 000 pages offer tantalising new insights into the context of Nixon’s historic visits to China and the Soviet Union – firsts by a sitting US president – and his eventual disgrace and resignation.

The briefings during the Ford administration detail the fall of Saigon, the evacuation of Lebanon and the death of Mao Zedong, former chairman of the Communist Party of China.

On February 21, 1972, the day Nixon landed in Beijing, the CIA noted which Chinese officials appeared at which events. Briefers later informed Nixon that the visit unnerved Moscow, worried Tokyo and encouraged European powers to engage with China.

On August 10, 1974, newly sworn-in president Gerald Ford’s briefing deals in detail with the global response to Nixon’s shock resignation. “None of the potential troublemakers has produced even a rumble,” his briefers noted.

On the last day of April 1975, Ford was bluntly informed that “President Minh surrendered Saigon unconditionally.” – AFP