Documents / FOIA release
This is the Central Intelligence Agency's Current Intelligence Weekly Summary of 23 March 1962, a secret digest from the Office of Current Intelligence covering world events. It reviews Soviet foreign policy on Berlin, the Berlin air corridors, disarmament and a nuclear test ban. It also covers Algeria, Argentina's elections, the Congo, Laos, South Vietnam, Guatemala, food rationing in Cuba and Middle East tensions. Special articles assess Brazil under Goulart and Turkey's economic prospects. It contains no UFO material.
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b)(1 Approved for Release: 2026/03/06 C03176167 CURRENT INTELLIGENCE WEEKLY SUMMARY v -\ ETALZNIETS REMOVED FRQM BULGARIAN CABINET At its first meeting on l5 and 16 March, the newly elect- ed Bulgarian National Assembly approved changes in the Council of Ministers which represent another victory for the pro- Khrushchev leadership of party First Secretary Todor Zhivkov over therpowerful Stalinist seg- ment in the party afid govern- ment. With his control now more solidly assured, Zhivkov stands a better chance to avert a Stal- inist challenge at the next par- ty congress, scheduled to begin in late August. The most important change was the ouster of Georgi Tsankov as minister of interior, a move which probably portends his ous- ter also from the party polit- y buro. A powerful and feared in- dividual who had held his min- isterial post since 1951, Tsankov was perhaps the most hard-line Stalinist in Bulgaria after ex- party boss Vulko Chervenkov, who was dropped from the polit- . buro last November at the onset of the new de-Stalinization campaign. The next most important change was the removal of Gen. Ivan Mikhailov as minister of defense. Mikhailov, who is at retirement age, saw service in , the Soviet Army in World War II and had been Bulgarian defense minister since 1958. His role in the factional problems of the Bulgarian leadership is not clear ) bX3) Tsankov was appointed, and Mikhailov reappointed, deputy chairmen of the Council of Minis- ters--less influential positions than ministerial posts--whereas Chervenkov was removed even from I I » I X I this post last December. This suggests that Tsankov and Mikhai- lov will not be included in the propaganda drive against Cherven- kov and the Stalinist influences in Bulgaria. 1 The regime appointed as Tsankov's successor Diko Dikov, a former deputy defense minister and most recently the head of a party central committee depart--I ment, thus bypassing the Ministry of Interior. Deputy defense minister Dobri Dzhurov, was named to replace Mikhailov. There were la number of other ministerial changes and appointments which probably have political overtones as well as being moves to im- prove administration.’ . Even though he probably has weakened the Stalinists by de- moting Chervenkov, Tsankov, and members of the lower party ap- paratus, Zhivkov still faces major problems in trying to erad- icate Stalinist influence. A large part of the membership of the party organization--built up under Chervenkov--remains ori- ented toward policies enunciated under him and now labeled Stalin- ist. Regime theoretical journals, moreover, have reported that at the November central committee meeting Chervenkov did not re- cant his "erroneous" views. (bX1 (bX3) Because he,cannot purge all suspected Stalinists from public life without crippling the party and government appara- tus, Zhivkov at present is re-‘ lying mainly on propaganda in an attempt to discredit Cherven- kov and his policies. According to recent reports, however, party members are not being dissuaded, and the people profess to see 35 Mar 62 r WEEKLY REVIEW Page 19 of 22 Approved for Release: 2026/03/06 C03176167
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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 42 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.