There’ll be no announcements until after November 3 of—1. New Pentagon plans for cutbacks in defense spending, closing of certain shipyards, military depots, camps; 2. No congressional on-the-scene investigation of the situation in South Vietnam, both the State Department and the Pentagon having turned down members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee who proposed such a trip; 3. No report by the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee on lax screening and clearing procedures in the State Department; 4. No overtures by the West German Government to Peking as per promise by Chancellor Erhard to Pres. Johnson; and, (on the plus side) 5. Probably no firing of suspended State Department security officer Otto Otepka. (Sen. Beall—R. , Md.— reports that for his sins Otepka has, among other menial chores, been assigned in recent months to indexing the Congressional Record.)
The well-informed Nation Française reports that Gen. Nguyen Giap, the victor of Dien Bien Phu, is directing the Vietcong war in South Vietnam. . . . More formal ties between the South Vietnam National Liberation Front and Red China forged last week when the NLF set up a permanent mission in Peking. … Hopeful note about American youth: the Army reports that the re-enlistment rate among GIs whose tour of duty runs out in South Vietnam is about 50 per cent— two and a half times the regular re-enlistment rate.
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