Documents / FOIA release
This is an October 1968 contribution by the Central Intelligence Agency's Office of Strategic Research to National Intelligence Estimate 11-14-68 on Soviet and East European general purpose forces. It covers Warsaw Pact war plans for Central Europe, the effects of the Czechoslovak crisis, and the doubling of Soviet forces on the Chinese border since 1965. It also assesses ground, tactical air, naval and coastal defense forces. The text does not mention UFOs or unidentified aerial phenomena.
“Indian Air Force”2 pages
include the permanent stationing of Soviet ground forces in Czechoslovakia, will probably be aimed at developing combat-ready Soviet forces, approxi- matinga rn, inte Czech sector. The direction of these trends is toward a substantial increase in Soviet requirements for personnel and equipment for the ground forces and, consequently, in their expenditures for new facilities, operations, and maintenance. In terms of forces, they might raise the number of Category I divisions by as many as 30 and require substantial additional army and Front-level support forces. The cost of satisfying all of these requirements would be quite high without offsetting reductions. Substantial savings might be made in time through a radical reorganization of the ground forces establishment, which currently retains many bases and activities which apparently make little direct contribution to military capabilities. There is no evidence, however, that the Soviets seriously contemplate any such reorganization. Inertia and the tenacity of special interests are more likely to prevail. The requirements for other military programs, particularly in the strategic forces are also tending to rise sharply, and no significant savings are in prospect there. The magnitude of these competing require- ments is so great that compromises will almost certainly be necessary. We expect that, at least for the next year or so, the highest priority in the ground forces is likely to be accorded to increasing Soviet combat readiness in the forces for Central Europe. The buildup opposite China might be slowed down to accommodate the unexpected requirements re- sulting from the Czech crisis. In any case, we believe that the Soviet ground forces will continue to increase in size and in combat readiness for the next several years. - 54 - TOP °SE.RET
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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 115 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.